Path of Exile's Settlers of Kalguur Expansion Detailed, Path of Exile 2 Closed Beta Coming

Grinding Gear Games revealed the 3.25 update of their ever-popular action RPG Path of Exile. Titled Settlers of Kalguur, the July expansion contains various balance improvements set to shape up the meta and add new content when the expansion goes live on July 27.

Settlers of Kalguur will add a long list of balance work, but just like previous seasons, a new league will be introduced.

Here’s what you need to know about the Settlers of Kalguur Challenge League:

“In the Settlers of Kalguur Challenge League, players will help Kalguuran pioneers build the town of Kingsmarch and establish trade between Wraeclast and their homeland. Players will focus on mining exotic resources, hiring and protecting skilled workers to construct and defend the town, and build out a harbor to establish and manage trading. Once the town is constructed and trade is underway, players will be able to buy and sell currency and other stackable items in the Currency Trade Market, and craft and recombine powerful weapons and items on the Runesmithing Table.

Ascendancy classes will be refreshed with the addition of the new Warden class, as well as a rework of the Gladiator. The Warden will replace the Raider class, focusing on elemental attacks, damage mitigation and a specialization in Tinctures, which can now be found throughout the land. The Gladiator class maintains powerful skills for Bleeding and Block, along with receiving newly designed skills including the opportunity to invest in Retaliation Skills, a new type of skill that allows you to unleash devastating damage upon meeting certain conditions in combat.

Endgame content will see changes to many Scarabs, a 6th Map Device Slot, new encounters in Tier 16 and Tier 17 Maps, updates to Blight and Ritual and more. There will also be a set of new Chisel types and a massive increase in the drop rate of Valdo's Puzzle Boxes.“

The developers shared the patch notes for update 3.25 and as expected, it’s quite extensive as it tackles various changes to certain skills concepts and even adds quality-of-life changes. For those interested in deep diving into the changes one by one, patch notes are right here.

Console Love

The reveal of 3.25 also came with the developers improving console performance on PS5 and Xbox Series X as the action RPG is now taking “full advantage of PS5 and Xbox Series hardware” as you can expect a huge reduction in load times and texture pop-in. Good news as console performance has been criticized as of late, especially players on the PS5.

Path of Exile 2 Closed Beta coming soon

Grinding Gear Games also announced that they are hard at work in developing Path of Exile 2 and that the first closed beta test for the sequel will happen soon, encouraging players to sign up for a chance at being the select few to try out the game before launch.

The Settlers of Kalguur expansion goes live on July 27, at 4 AM (GMT+8).

---