PoE Curses Changes Balance Manifesto 3.20

Curses Patch Notes

Problem:
  • Currently, Hex Builds are at their weakest against monsters where they matter the most and at their strongest where they matter the least. This is partly because Hexes have hidden penalties which reduce their effectiveness when fighting unique monsters and pinnacle bosses (currently 33% and 66% respectively).
  • It's normal for these monsters to have various hidden penalties, as noting every single one would create a lot of clutter in their mod descriptions. Players can reasonably expect these monsters to be more difficult to fight, so in general, showing the entire list of penalties is not very necessary. However, the penalty against Hexes is an outlier because it's much more significant compared to other hidden penalties.
  • Because it is so substantial while also being hidden from players, it is unlikely to be compensated for during build creation and creates a notable disadvantage for Hex builds.
Solution:
We have removed both of these penalties so that Hexes will be consistently effective against all monsters in the game.

Specifics:
Pinnacle bosses, Map bosses, Incursion architects, Betrayal targets, Breachlords and others no longer have 33% or 66% less effect of curses on them respectively.
Problem:
Another issue that we feel undermines Hex builds is the Doom mechanic. We designed Doom with the goal of making self-cast Hexes more effective than other more trivial applications of Hexes, such as the Blasphemy and Hextouch Support gems. The Doom mechanic was somewhat successful in its goal, but came at the cost of adding a lot of complexity to Hex-related mechanics.

Solution:
We are removing the Doom mechanic and as a consequence will be making several other changes to mechanics that previously interacted with Doom. For example, all stats that reference Doom have been replaced with other curse-themed stats.

Specifics:
  • The Curse Mastery that grants "20% chance for Hexes you Cast which can gain Doom to be applied with Maximum Doom" and "30% increased Mana Reservation Efficiency of Curse Aura Skills" have been replaced. The Mana Reservation Efficiency mastery has been replaced as there is now a much larger amount of Mana Reservation Efficiency for Curse Auras on the passive tree.
  • Two new Masteries have taken their place. The first provides "You take 40% reduced Extra Damage from Critical Strikes by Cursed Enemies", while the second provides "Recover 1% of Life when you Curse a Non-Cursed enemy" and "Recover 1% of Mana when you Curse a Non-Cursed enemy."
  • Existing Curse Passive Skills have been fully reworked. There are now six Curse clusters on the Passive Tree.
  • The Vampirism cluster has moved location on the Passive Tree to make space for a new Curse cluster, and to become more accessible to the Witch starting location.

The Whispers of Doom Notable Passive Skill continues to give "You can apply an additional Curse." It now has a much larger selection of small Passives Skills leading to this Notable, which provide:
  • 5% increased Effect of your Curses.
  • Curse Skills have 10% increased Cast Speed.
  • 15% increased Area of Effect of Hex Skills.
  • 10% increased Mana Reservation Efficiency of Curse Aura Skills.
  • 15% increased Curse Duration.

The Malicious Intent Notable Passive Skill now gives "+2 to Level of all Curse Skill Gems." The cluster now has Small Passive Skills granting:
  • 15% increased Curse Duration.
  • 5% increased Effect of your Curses.

  • The Defiled Forces Notable Passive Skill gives "Refresh Duration of Ignite, Chill and Shock on Non-Cursed enemies you Curse" and "100% chance to Remove Elemental Ailments when you Cast a Curse Spell", with small Passive Skills in the cluster now providing "Curse Skills have 10% increased Cast Speed."

The Last Rites Notable Passive Skill now gives "Cursed Enemies you Kill are destroyed" and still provides "Enemies Cursed by you have 50% reduced Life Regeneration Rate." The cluster now has Small Passive Skills granting:
  • Recover 1% of Mana when you Kill a Cursed Enemy, and Recover 1% of Life when you Kill a Cursed Enemy
  • Recover 2% of Mana when you Kill a Cursed Enemy
  • Recover 2% of Life when you Kill a Cursed Enemy

The Skittering Runes Notable Passive Skill now gives "50% increased Area of Effect of Hex Skills", "20% increased Mana Reservation Efficiency of Curse Aura Skills", and "20% reduced Mana Cost of Curse Skills." The cluster now has Small Passive Skills granting:
  • 15% increased Area of Effect of Hex Skills.
  • 10% increased Mana Reservation Efficiency of Curse Aura Skills.
  • 10% reduced Mana Cost of Curse Skills.

  • The Steeped in the Profane Notable Passive Skill gives "15% reduced Effect of Curses on you" and "10% increased Effect of your Curses", with small Passive Skills in the cluster now providing "5% increased Effect of your Curses."

  • Quality on the Divergent Impending Doom Support no longer has 0 to -25% more Damage with Hits per 5 Doom on Hex. Instead, it now has 0-40% reduced Cooldown Recovery Rate.
  • Quality on the Anomalous Punishment Skill no longer has "Curse has 0-40% increased Doom gain rate." Instead, it now has 0-20% increased Curse Duration.
  • Essences of Delirium now provide 6-7% chance to Block Spell Damage for Amulets (previously "Hexes you inflict have +10 to maximum Doom).
  • The legacy "Hexes you inflict have +5 to maximum Doom" Essence modifier on existing Rings has been replaced with "5% increased Effect of your Curses."
  • The "Hexes you inflict have +10 to maximum Doom" Essence modifier on existing Amulets has been replaced with "10% increased Effect of your Curses."

Hexblast has had its skill mechanics and damage adjusted to account for the loss of Doom's scaling. Broadly speaking, it does less damage at the very top end of gameplay but getting it to a fairly decent level of damage is easier than before. It now removes a Hex with the lowest remaining duration from an enemy after damaging. Its damage is also more consistent because you no longer need to wait for Doom to build up.

Specifics:
Hexblast no longer has any Doom related stats. It now has a cast time of 1 second (previously 0.6), and a Mana cost of 16 at gem level 1 (previously 10), scaling up to 30 at gem level 20 (previously 20). It now deals 111 to 166 Chaos Damage at gem level 1 (previously 102 to 153), scaling up to 1514 to 2271 at gem level 20 (previously 1397 to 2096). It now has "100% more Damage with Hits if Enemy is Hexed", "40% more Damage with Ailments if Enemy is Hexed", "This Spell's Cast Time is added to its Cooldown if Triggered", and "Removes a Hex after Damaging." It also now has 340% Effectiveness of Added Damage (previously 310%).

Impending Doom has also had its base damage roughly doubled to compensate for this loss. We have replaced the Doomsday keystone with a new Hex-themed keystone, and introduced the new Cursed Ground Support which was reworked from the Doomsday keystone.

Specifics:
  • Doom Blast, from the Impending Doom Support, now deals 102 to 154 Chaos Damage at gem level 1 (previously 54 to 81), up to 1654 to 2481 at gem level 20 (previously 868 to 1301). Now has 370% Effectiveness of Added Damage at all gem levels (previously 200%).
  • The Doomsday Keystone Passive Skill has been replaced with the new Hex Master Keystone. This Keystone provides "Your Hexes have infinite Duration" and "20% less Effect of your Curses."

We've buffed a bunch of Hex-related unique items and have reworked unique items that previously interacted with Doom such as the Fated End unique ring. We've also added some powerful new unique items that interact with Hexes.

Specifics:
  • The Heretic's Veil Unique Helmet now has +2 to Level of Socketed Curse Gems (previously +1), and "Socketed Curse Gems have 30% increased Reservation Efficiency" (previously 20%). The reservation efficiency change affects existing items, though a Divine Orb will need to be used to update the display, or receive the level of socketed curse gems change.
  • The Cospri's Will Unique Body Armour now has 150-200% increased Evasion Rating (previously 120-160%), and "Always Poison on Hit against Cursed Enemies" (previously a 60% chance). It also now has +31-53% to Chaos Resistance (previously +17-29%). Existing versions of this Unique can be updated using a Divine Orb.
  • The Ylfeban's Trickery Unique Helmet no longer has "20% chance to Curse non-Cursed Enemies with a random Hex on Hit", existing versions of this Unique are unaffected. New versions of this Unique now have "Curse Enemies which Hit you with a random Hex, ignoring Curse Limit."
  • The Felbog Fang Unique Amulet now causes Enemies Cursed by you to be Hindered with 30% reduced Movement Speed if 25% of Curse Duration expired (previously 25% reduced), and Enemies Cursed by you take 35% increased Damage if 75% of Curse Duration expired (previously 25% increased). Existing versions of this Unique can be updated using a Divine Orb.

In most cases, systems that facilitate somewhat automated gameplay, like Hextouch applying Hexes automatically, should either come at a much higher cost or be less effective. In some cases, both are needed to counterbalance the significant upside of automation. Otherwise, the option to automate will always be the obvious choice and eclipse other more interactive gameplay styles. The Doom mechanic was aimed at fulfilling this function for Hexes, and is being replaced by alternative, simpler solutions.

We have added penalties to both Blasphemy and Hextouch Supports which grant less curse effect at all gem levels. Additionally, item mods that inflict a specific Hex no longer do so with increased effect. This includes items where the Hex is meant to be a downside on the player, such as Coward's Chains, Coward's Legacy or Soul Mantle.

Specifics:
  • Hextouch Support now has 35% less Effect of Supported Curses at all gem levels. Supported Skills now have 50% reduced Curse Duration at gem level 1 (unchanged), up to 31% reduced at gem level 20 (previously 12%). Quality now provides "Supported Skills have 0-10% increased Curse Duration", instead of 0-10% increased Effect of Supported Curses.
  • Awakened Hextouch Support now has 35% less Effect of Supported Curses at all gem levels. Supported Skills now have 30% reduced Curse Duration at gem level 1 (previously 10%), up to 26% reduced at gem level 5 (previously 2%). Quality now provides "Supported Skills have 0-10% increased Curse Duration", instead of 0-10% increased Effect of Supported Curses.
  • Blasphemy Support now has 25% less Effect of Supported Curses at all gem levels. Quality now provides 0-20% increased Area of Effect of Supported Curse Skills, instead of 0-10% increased Effect of Supported Curses.
  • Awakened Blasphemy Support now has 25% less Effect of Supported Curses at all gem levels. Quality now provides 0-20% increased Area of Effect of Supported Curse Skills, instead of 0-10% increased Effect of Supported Curses.
  • Hexes applied by Bane now have 25% less Effect.
  • Item modifiers that inflict a specific Hex no longer do so with increased effect. This includes instances where the Hex is a downside on the player, such as from Coward's Chains, Coward's Legacy, or Soul Mantle. This change affects existing items.
  • Curse on Hit modifiers that appear on Influenced Rings now only have a single tier, as both tiers are now identical. The level 80 version of the modifier is the one that has been kept.

Problem:
Different Hex types are not evenly balanced when applied via Hex-on-hit modifiers. Some Hexes like Vulnerability and Despair are much more powerful than others. This is because Hex-on-hit modifiers apply a Hex equivalent to the level 1 version of the Hex skill gem. Some Hexes are very strong at Level 1, relative to their Level 20 power, because they scale in a more gradual way with gem level. This means that in some cases, using Hex-on-hit is too powerful alongside its benefit of also applying Hexes automatically.

Solution:
We are stabilising the gem scaling rates of Hexes. In general, they should be twice as powerful at gem level 20 than they are at gem level 1.

Specifics:
  • Punishment now causes Cursed Enemies to take 30% increased Damage while on Low Life at gem level 1 (previously 40%), up to 58% at gem level 20 (previously 78%). It no longer has "10% of Overkill Damage from Killing Blows on Cursed Enemies is Reflected to other Enemies as Physical Damage".
  • Quality on the Divergent Punishment Skill no longer provides 0-20% increased Area of Effect. Instead, it now provides "0-10% of Overkill Damage from Killing Blows on Cursed Enemies is Reflected to other Enemies as Physical damage."
  • Elemental Weakness now causes Cursed Enemies to have -15% to Elemental Resistances at gem level 1 (previously -20%), up to -30% at gem level 20 (previously -39%). Quality on Elemental Weakness no longer causes Cursed Enemies to have 0 to -5% to Elemental Resistance. Instead, it now grants 0-10% increased Effect of Curse.
  • Quality on Anomalous Elemental Weakness no longer grants 0-10% increased Effect of Curse. Instead, it now grants 0-20% increased Curse Duration.
  • Flammability now causes Cursed Enemies to have -17% to Fire Resistance at gem level 1 (previously -25%), up to -36% at gem level 20 (previously -44%).
  • Frostbite now causes Cursed Enemies to have -17% to Cold Resistance at gem level 1 (previously -25%), up to -36% at gem level 20 (previously -44%).
  • Conductivity now causes Cursed Enemies to have -17% to Lightning Resistance at gem level 1 (previously -25%), up to -36% at gem level 20 (previously -44%).
  • The following Skills now have a base duration of 8 seconds at gem level 1 (previously 9), up to 11.8 at gem level 20 (previously 10.9): Conductivity, Despair, Elemental Weakness, Enfeeble, Flammability, Frostbite, Punishment, and Vulnerability.
  • Temporal Chains now has a base duration of 5 seconds at gem level 1 (unchanged), up to 8 at gem level 20 (previously 5.95).


Further changes to some Hexes are listed below.

Problem:
We feel that there are currently too many sources of Curse Effect available. This has created a large power gap between players that have no investment in Curses and those that have heavy investment into Curses, which has continually caused us to have the baseline effect of curses to be lower than we'd like.

Solution:
We are regulating the number of sources of Curse Effect throughout the game. This will also rein in the power of players building Curse Support characters. These changes have been focused on less-accessible sources of Curse Effect, such as Eldritch Implicits on helmets, rather than accessible sources like the Passive Skill Tree. The curse effect notables on cluster jewels have been replaced with other appropriate ones. For example, the one that used to grant Flammability effect now allows your Flammability Hex to apply to hexproof enemies and also causes your ignites on cursed enemies to deal damage faster.

Specifics:

  • The Eternal Labyrinth Helmet Enchantment that grants increased Effect of Curses applied by Bane now has a value of 10% (previously 15%). The Merciless version of this Enchantment can no longer be obtained, though existing versions are unaffected.
  • Labyrinth Helmet Enchantments that provide increased Effect to a specific Hex now have values of 10% for the Merciless Enchantments (previously 15%), and 15% for the Eternal Enchantments (previously 30%).
  • Eldritch Implicit modifiers on Helmets that provide increased Effect to a specific Hex now have values of up to 16% (previously 36%), up to 19% in the presence of a Unique Monster (previously 48%), and up to 22% in the presence of a Pinnacle Boss (previously 60%).
  • Eldritch Implicit modifiers on Body Armours that provide increased Effect of your Curses now have values of up to 12% (previously 20%), up to 15% in the presence of a Unique Monster (previously 28%), and up to 18% in the presence of a Pinnacle Boss (previously 36%).
  • The Glorious Vanity Timeless Jewel Notable transformation now grants 4-6% increased Curse Effect (previously 7-10%).
  • The Glorious Vanity Timeless Jewel small node transformation now grants 2% increased Curse Effect (previously 2-4%).
  • Increased Effect of your Curses modifiers can no longer roll on Abyss Jewels.
  • Small Cluster Jewel Passive Skills that grant increased Effect of your Curses now have values of 2% (previously 3%).
  • The increased Effect of your Curses Redeemer-influence modifier on Shields now has values of 8-12% (previously 12-15%). The lower tier version of this modifier can no longer be obtained.
  • The increased Effect of your Curses Veiled modifier on Shields now has values of 8-10% (previously 12-14%). Crafted versions of this modifier have been adjusted accordingly.
  • The Replica Doedre's Damning Unique Ring now has 10-15% increased Curse Effect (previously 15-25%). Existing versions of this Unique can be made worse with a Divine Orb.
  • The Jinxed Juju Unique Amulet no longer has 5-10% increased Curse Effect, existing versions of this Unique are unaffected. It also now has "10-15% increased effect of Non-Curse Auras from your Skills" (previously 5-10%). Existing versions of this Unique can be updated to the new values using a Divine Orb.
  • The Delve-exclusive Body Armour modifier that grants 10-15% increased Effect of your Curses can no longer roll.

The following Curse Cluster Jewel Notables have been reworked:
  • Lord of Drought now provides "Your Flammability Curse can affect Hexproof Enemies" and "30% increased Ignite Damage against Cursed Enemies."
  • Blizzard Caller now provides "Your Frostbite Curse can affect Hexproof Enemies" and "30% increased Freeze Duration on Cursed Enemies."
  • Tempt the Storm now provides "Your Conductivity Curse can affect Hexproof Enemies" and "30% increased Shock Effect against Cursed Enemies."
  • Master of the Maelstrom now provides "Your Elemental Weakness Curse can affect Hexproof Enemies" and "+1% to maximum Elemental Resistances if you have killed a Cursed Enemy Recently."
  • Misery Everlasting now provides "Your Despair Curse can affect Hexproof Enemies" and "Recover 2% of Energy Shield on killing Cursed Enemies."
  • Exploit Weakness now provides "Your Vulnerability Curse can affect Hexproof Enemies" and "Recover 2% of Life on killing Cursed Enemies."
  • Doedre's Gluttony now provides "Your Punishment Curse can affect Hexproof Enemies" and "You have Culling Strike against Cursed Enemies."
  • Doedre's Apathy now provides "Your Temporal Chains Curse can affect Hexproof Enemies" and "Enemies you Curse are Unnerved."
  • Doedre's Spite now provides "Your Enfeeble Curse can affect Hexproof Enemies" and "35% increased Critical Strike Chance against Cursed Enemies."
  • The following Cluster Jewel Notables can no longer roll: Forbidden Words, Master of Fear, and Wish for Death.
  • Existing Cluster Jewels that provided Inevitable Doom now provide Evil Eye.

  • We have removed the '15% increased Effect of your Curses' and 'Enemies you Curse have Malediction' stats from the Malediction notable in the Occultist's Ascendancy. The 'Your Hexes can affect Hexproof Enemies' stat has been moved from Profane Bloom to the Malediction notable. We will be renaming this notable passive as it no longer causes you to apply Malediction to enemies you Curse.
  • Due to the significant increase in the power of hexes against tougher monsters, the effects of this notable are still very strong, as the removal of the hex penalty cannot be understated. The massive buff to hexes especially applies to Occultists because they have access to more Hexes than other Ascendancies.
  • The curse effect removed from the notable previously known as Malediction has been moved to the passive skill tree, where it's available for everyone. This is important, because while the Occultist is still the strongest overall Ascendancy for someone who wants to specialise in applying many hexes, it's not mandatory to play for someone who merely wants to apply really strong hexes.
Specifics:
  • The Occultist's Profane Bloom Notable Ascendancy Passive Skill no longer provides "Your Hexes can affect Hexproof Enemies." It now provides "Cursed Enemies you or your Minions Kill have a 50% chance to Explode, dealing a quarter of their maximum Life as Chaos Damage" (previously 40% chance).
  • The Occultist's Malediction Notable Ascendancy Passive Skill has been renamed to Unholy Authority. It no longer provides 15% increased Effect of your Curses, or "Enemies you curse have Malediction." It now provides "Your Hexes can affect Hexproof Enemies."

Problem:
The current balance of Enfeeble and Temporal Chains makes them exceedingly strong against normal and magic monsters while being relatively ineffective against pinnacle bosses. For example, a level 20 Temporal Chains gem currently reduces a Pinnacle Boss' action speed by just 4%. You can get more than twice as much action speed reduction using any skill that chills. This is another case of Hexes being weakest where they matter most and strongest where they matter least.

Solution:
Because of the changes to Curse Effect, we're now able to make Temporal Chains and Enfeeble strong defensive options without requiring large investment into Curse Effect. In addition to changes to their overall gem levels and scaling, we are also planning to increase the "Cursed Rare and Unique Enemies have x% less Action Speed" modifier on Temporal Chains as well as increasing the "Cursed Rare and Unique Enemies deal x% less Damage" modifier on Enfeeble.

Specifics:
  • Enfeeble now causes Cursed Normal or Magic Enemies to deal 15% less Damage at gem level 1 (previously 21%), up to 29% at gem level 20 (previously 30%). It also now causes Cursed Rare or Unique Enemies to deal 9% less Damage at gem level 1 (previously 10%), up to 18% less at gem level 20 (previously 15%). Quality no longer grants 0-10% increased Effect of Curse. Instead, it grants 0-20% increased Curse Duration.
  • Quality on Anomalous Enfeeble no longer causes the Curse to have 0-40% increased Doom gain rate. Instead, it now grants 0-20% increased Area of Effect.
  • Temporal Chains now causes Cursed Normal and Magic Enemies to have 15% less Action Speed at gem level 1 (previously 20%), up to 29% at gem level 20 (unchanged). It also now causes Cursed Rare and Unique Enemies to have 9% less Action Speed at gem level 1 (previously 10%), up to 18% at gem level 20 (previously 14%). Quality no longer grants 0-10% increased Effect of Curse. Instead, it now grants 0-20% increased Curse Duration.
  • Quality on Anomalous Temporal Chains no longer causes the Curse to have 0-40% increased Doom gain rate. Instead, it now provides 0-20% increased Area of Effect.

While working on the updates outlined above, we took the opportunity to make some stat changes to Vulnerability and Despair to help make these gems cleaner. They are now more focussed on making enemies vulnerable to Physical and Chaos damage in ways that are generically useful for any build dealing primarily Physical or Chaos damage.

Specifics:
  • Vulnerability no longer has "Ailments inflicted on Cursed Enemies deal Damage 20% Faster". Now has "Cursed Enemies take 15% increased Physical Damage at gem level 1 (previously 30%), up to 30% at gem level 20 (previously 39%). Now has "Attacks against Cursed Enemies have 25% chance to inflict Bleeding" (previously 20%). Quality now provides 0-10% increased Duration of Bleeding on Cursed Enemies, instead of "Attack Hits against Cursed Enemies have 0-10% chance to inflict Bleeding."
  • Despair no longer causes Cursed enemies to take 15-25% increased Damage from Damage Over Time effects, and it no longer adds 9-46 to 12-76 Chaos Damage to Hits against Cursed Enemies. It now causes Cursed enemies to have -15% to Chaos Resistance at gem level 1 (previously -20%), up to -30% at gem level 20 (previously -29%). Quality no longer causes Cursed Enemies to take 0-10% increased Damage from Damage Over Time effects. Instead, it now provides 0-10% increased Effect of Curse.
  • Quality on Anomalous Despair no longer provides 0-10% increased Effect of Curse. Instead, it now causes Cursed Enemies to take 0-10% increased Damage from Damage Over Time effects.
Conclusion
In general, Hexes will be stronger against tough monsters and weaker against lesser monsters. We've removed Doom in order to simplify how Hexes work, introduced penalties to automated Hex application methods to keep them from outclassing self-casting, and made several other balance changes as a consequence of these overall changes.

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Balance Manifesto: Curses 3.20

In today’s final 3.20 manifesto, we’re discussing changes to Curses (specifically, Hexes) and our goal of making their effectiveness against different rarities of monsters more balanced.

TLDR:

  • Hidden monster penalties against curses have been removed.
  • Hexes are now stronger against unique monsters and at least twice as strong against pinnacle bosses, but are weaker against regular monsters.
  • The Doom mechanic has been removed, to simplify the Hex system. Anything related to Doom has been reworked so that it’s comparable to before.
  • The Occultist ascendancy class has had some stats removed and moved around to counteract some of the power gain from the above changes.
  • Enfeeble and Temporal Chains have been buffed.
  • To aid the above changes, some less-accessible sources of Curse Effect have been removed. This also acts as a nerf to Hex Support builds.
  • Hex gems have been rebalanced with the goal of ensuring that self-cast remains relevant compared to automatic curse application.
  • We’ve buffed a bunch of Hex-related unique items and reworked unique items that previously interacted with Doom.
  • We’ve also added some powerful new unique items that interact with Hexes.

Tips: Сurses are a type of temporary debuff. Curses are split into two categories: Hexes and Marks. Hexes are spells which apply the curse in an area of effect. Marks are spells which apply the curse to a single target.

Hex Strength Against Different Monster Tiers

Currently, Hex Builds are at their weakest against monsters where they matter the most and at their strongest where they matter the least. This is partly because Hexes have hidden penalties which reduce their effectiveness when fighting unique monsters and pinnacle bosses (currently 33% and 66% respectively).

It’s normal for these monsters to have various hidden penalties, as noting every single one would create a lot of clutter in their mod descriptions. Players can reasonably expect these monsters to be more difficult to fight, so in general, showing the entire list of penalties is not very necessary. However, the penalty against Hexes is an outlier because it’s much more significant compared to other hidden penalties.

Because it is so substantial while also being hidden from players, it is unlikely to be compensated for during build creation and creates a notable disadvantage for Hex builds

We have removed both of these penalties so that Hexes will be consistently effective against all monsters in the game.

The Doom Mechanic

Another issue that we feel undermines Hex builds is the Doom mechanic. We designed Doom with the goal of making self-cast Hexes more effective than other more trivial applications of Hexes, such as the Blasphemy and Hextouch Support gems. The Doom mechanic was somewhat successful in its goal, but came at the cost of adding a lot of complexity to Hex-related mechanics.

We are removing the Doom mechanic and as a consequence will be making several other changes to mechanics that previously interacted with Doom. For example, all stats that reference Doom have been replaced with other curse-themed stats.

Hexblast has had its skill mechanics and damage adjusted to account for the loss of Doom’s scaling. Impending Doom has also had its base damage roughly doubled to compensate for this loss. We have replaced the Doomsday keystone with a new Hex-themed keystone.

Curse-Related Uniques

We’ve buffed a bunch of Hex-related unique items and have reworked unique items that previously interacted with Doom such as the Fated End unique ring. We’ve also added some powerful new unique items that interact with Hexes.

Icon Description
Anathema Anathema is a unique Moonstone Ring. Ring.

Requires Level 49.

  • +21 to maximum energy shield
  • +37 to intelligence
  • 13% increased cast speed
  • 16% chance to gain a power charge when you cast a curse spell
  • your curse limit is equal to your maximum power charges

Flavour Text: Enraged by the incompetence of mortals
the demon-lord opens a gateway
Unleashing a litany of pain upon the world.

This new ring lets you scale your curse limit in a completely different way, by tying it to your power charge count. Or you can simply not scale it and put this on to apply 3 curses!

PoE Heretic's Veil 3.20

Here is an example of one of the rebalanced curse uniques. The Reservation Efficiency mod has been buffed from 20% to 30%, and the level of socketed curse gems has gone up from +1 to +2.

Ensuring Self-Cast is Powerful

In most cases, systems that facilitate somewhat automated gameplay, like Hextouch applying Hexes automatically, should either come at a much higher cost or be less effective. In some cases, both are needed to counterbalance the significant upside of automation. Otherwise, the option to automate will always be the obvious choice and eclipse other more interactive gameplay styles. The Doom mechanic was aimed at fulfilling this function for Hexes, and is being replaced by alternative, simpler solutions.

We have added penalties to both Blasphemy and Hextouch Supports which grant less curse effect at all gem levels. Additionally, item mods that inflict a specific Hex no longer do so with increased effect. This includes items where the Hex is meant to be a downside on the player, such as Coward’s Chains, Coward’s Legacy or Soul Mantle.

Hex Skill Gem Scaling

Different Hex types are not evenly balanced when applied via Hex-on-hit modifiers. Some Hexes like Vulnerability and Despair are much more powerful than others. This is because Hex-on-hit modifiers apply a Hex equivalent to the level 1 version of the Hex skill gem. Some Hexes are very strong at Level 1, relative to their Level 20 power, because they scale in a more gradual way with gem level. This means that in some cases, using Hex-on-hit is too powerful alongside its benefit of also applying Hexes automatically.

We are stabilising the gem scaling rates of Hexes. In general, they should be twice as powerful at gem level 20 than they are at gem level 1.

Scaling Curse Effect

We feel that there are currently too many sources of Curse Effect available. This has created a large power gap between players that have no investment in Curses and those that have heavy investment into Curses, which has continually caused us to have the baseline effect of curses to be lower than we’d like.

We are regulating the number of sources of Curse Effect throughout the game. This will also rein in the power of players building Curse Support characters. These changes have been focused on less-accessible sources of Curse Effect, such as Eldritch Implicits on helmets, rather than accessible sources like the Passive Skill Tree. The curse effect notables on cluster jewels have been replaced with other appropriate ones. For example, the one that used to grant Flammability effect now allows your Flammability Hex to apply to hexproof enemies and also causes your ignites on cursed enemies to deal damage faster.

The Occultist Ascendancy Class

We have removed the ‘15% increased Effect of your Curses’ and ‘Enemies you Curse have Malediction’ stats from the Malediction notable in the Occultist’s Ascendancy. The ‘Your Hexes can affect Hexproof Enemies’ stat has been moved from Profane Bloom to the Malediction notable. We will be renaming this notable passive as it no longer causes you to apply Malediction to enemies you Curse.

Due to the significant increase in the power of hexes against tougher monsters, the effects of this notable are still very strong, as the removal of the hex penalty cannot be understated. The massive buff to hexes especially applies to Occultists because they have access to more Hexes than other Ascendancies.

The curse effect removed from the notable previously known as Malediction has been moved to the passive skill tree, where it’s available for everyone. This is important, because while the Occultist is still the strongest overall Ascendancy for someone who wants to specialise in applying many hexes, it’s not mandatory to play for someone who merely wants to apply really strong hexes.

Temporal Chains and Enfeeble

The current balance of Enfeeble and Temporal Chains makes them exceedingly strong against normal and magic monsters while being relatively ineffective against pinnacle bosses. For example, a level 20 Temporal Chains gem currently reduces a Pinnacle Boss’ action speed by just 4%. You can get more than twice as much action speed reduction using any skill that chills. This is another case of Hexes being weakest where they matter most and strongest where they matter least.

Because of the changes to Curse Effect, we’re now able to make Temporal Chains and Enfeeble strong defensive options without requiring large investment into Curse Effect. In addition to changes to their overall gem levels and scaling, we are also planning to increase the “Cursed Rare and Unique Enemies have x% less Action Speed” modifier on Temporal Chains as well as increasing the “Cursed Rare and Unique Enemies deal x% less Damage” modifier on Enfeeble.

Vulnerability and Despair

While working on the updates outlined above, we took the opportunity to make some stat changes to Vulnerability and Despair to help make these gems cleaner. They are now more focussed on making enemies vulnerable to Physical and Chaos damage in ways that are generically useful for any build dealing primarily Physical or Chaos damage. We will confirm the specifics of these changes in the 3.20 expansion patch notes.

Hexblast

Hexblast has had its skill mechanics and damage adjusted to account for the loss of Doom’s scaling. Broadly speaking, it does less damage at the very top end of gameplay but getting it to a fairly decent level of damage is easier than before. It now removes a random Hex from an enemy and will deal more damage with hits and ailments if a Hex was removed in this way. Its damage is also more consistent because you no longer need to wait for Doom to build up.

Conclusion

In general, Hexes will be stronger against tough monsters and weaker against lesser monsters. We’ve removed Doom in order to simplify how Hexes work, introduced penalties to automated Hex application methods to keep them from outclassing self-casting, and made several other balance changes as a consequence of these overall changes.


FAQs

Are you changing Bane?

Bane will also have a curse penalty similar to Hextouch and Blasphemy.

Will you make Vixen's Entrapment work with Bane?

No.

Will Delve keep its depth-scaling curse effect reduction?

Yes.

Will the ''Less Curse Effect on Players'' modifier be removed from Temporal Chains?

No.

Can you change Hexblast so that the Hex it removes isn't random?

Yes, instead of removing a random Hex, Hexblast will remove the Hex with the lowest remaining duration. (i.e. whichever one would naturally expire first.)

Do these changes now encourage weapon-swapping builds?

No. Your curses will be removed if you lose the skill that applied the curse. Additionally, your Curses will be removed if you die or leave the area.This also applies to the Hex Master Keystone we revealed earlier today.

Can you give us more of an idea of how Vulnerability has changed?

It no longer has the stat, 'Ailments inflicted on Cursed Enemies deal Damage 20% Faster." This stat previously didn't work so this doesn't functionally change anything to remove it. We've also buffed its chance to bleed and it still has its increased physical damage stat.

How will these changes affect Doedre's Skin?

Doedre’s Skin is unchanged.

Does the change ''item mods that inflict a specific Hex no longer doing so with increased effect'' apply to corrupted glove modifiers?

Yes.

Will Hexes from items with a ''Curse on Hit'' modifier be affected by the new Hex related Cluster Jewel notables?

Yes, unless any particular notables specify otherwise.

You didn't mention Curse on Hit rings, Corrupted Implicits or CWDT linked with Curses. Have any of those things been changed?

Curse on Hit Rings and Corrupted Implicits no longer come with increased effect. The Cast When Damage Taken gem hasn't been changed.

Does the removal of boss penalties benefit Mark skills?

No.

How common is the Anathema ring?

:)

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