The next update for POE is on the way, get prepared for the the thrill of the hunt with the Bestiary League.
In the upcoming Bestiary update, releasing on March 2, players will be able to join the Bestiary Challenge League, allowing adventurers to capture monsters and store them in a player base known as the Managerie. In this new area, you’ll be able to invite friends to see the many beasts you’ve captured and also interact with new NPC characters to learn more about the league and what’s expected of you. It’s expected that the Menagerie will exist alongside player hideouts.
Players will be slowly building their Menagerie, in a twisted Pokemon-esque adventure to catch-em all. You’ll then use combinations of these beasts as sacrifices to gain buffs or in crafting your items. One example is the Corrupted Blood modifier, which when combined with a crafted item acts like a Vaal Orb. The twist is that Corrupted Blood doesn’t have a chance to debuff the item like a Vaal Orb normally would. There are dozens of recipes for players to discover, the next over-powered build may be just around the corner thanks to the Managerie.
There’s not much detail yet on how the existing mechanics like the Atlas or The Elder from previous updates will be impacted by the new league. Although we do know that a new end-game battle that will feature BOTH Elder and Shaper bosses is on the way. If you need to brush up on your Path of Exile skills, check out our beginners guide. If you need a refresher on how The Elder works, check out the War for the Atlas guide.
Grinding Gear’s Chris Wilson told Shacknews that only the absolute best of the best would be able to walk into this battle with the Elder and the Shaper and survive. So expect to take a fair few deaths on this one folks.
But a new collection mechanic and incredibly tough bosses aren’t the only new additions in Bestiary. Bestiary adds to the pile with 29 new Unique items – but it also provides the devs with an opportunity to change that perception for the better with Prophecies. GGG are planning the expand the effect of Prophecies by creating more interaction between Uniques and Prophecies.
Here’s a quick rundown of the core features as detailed by the developers coming for this update:
- The Bestiary Challenge League: With a fresh economy and brand new mechanics, the Bestiary Challenge League is ideal for existing, returning, and brand new players to experience the award-winning gameplay Path of Exile has to offer.
- Capture Dangerous Beasts: Track Wraeclast’s most dangerous animals, weaken them, and capture them to make them your own. There are around 250 regular beasts and 40 legendary beasts to capture.
- Complete your Bestiary: As you capture beasts from across Wraeclast, they are marked in your Bestiary, a permanent record of your progress through this league.
- Populate your Menagerie: Visit and observe the beasts you’ve captured whenever you want, then use them to fuel your Beastcrafting.
- Beastcrafting: Perform the ritual of Sacrifice by Combat at the Blood Altar to create and augment potent items. There are dozens of powerful recipes that require the sacrifice of different combinations of beasts that you have collected.
- New End-Game Foes: Capturing and crafting with the right set of beasts may grant you entrance to difficult spirit boss encounters with powerful Unique item rewards.
- Bestiary Sets: The Bestiary League contains four new sets of items based on the powerful spirit beasts. Mix and match them with other items and discover potent new builds.
- The Story Continues: High-level players will be able to challenge The Elder and The Shaper simultaneously, deep in the centre of the Atlas of Worlds–the toughest boss encounter in Path of Exile yet!