From the announcement of POE 2 a few years ago, to the early access launch of POE 2 in December 2024, to now, I believe you should have been looking forward to the official version of the game to meet you as soon as possible.
Although the specific launch time of the official version cannot be determined at present, the arrival of Dawn of the Hunt may indicate that the official version is not so far away from you!
Dawn of the Hunt is actually Path of Exile 2 Early Access patch 0.2.0, which will be available at 12:00 noon Pacific Time on April 4, 2025, and will be released on multiple platforms.
Unlike other patches released before, Dawn of the Hunt is actually the first season of the game. In addition to the basic effect of fixing bugs, it will also bring you some new content and changes. This will not only redefine POE 2, but it is also likely to pave the way for the launch of the official version.
It is worth noting that after the patch goes live, your game economy will be reset, and the available currency may be reset to zero, so you must start farming from scratch, or buy POE2 Currency through reliable channels. However, if you want to farm currency quickly, you can’t do without various battles, and battles are closely related to your character’s class and the endgame content that can be explored, so we will focus on the changes brought by patch 0.2.0 to these two aspects.
New Class & Ascendancy Classes
Previously, POE 2 development team stated that there will be 12 classes in the official version, and there are only 6 in the current early access. If the game is really going to launch so many classes in the official version, it is very necessary to test them by adding some new classes in the pre-released patches or updates. In case these new classes have any shortcomings, they can be adjusted in time before the official version goes online.
At Dawn of the Hunt, the first new class brought to you is Huntress, her two Ascendancy classes, and three new Ascendancy classes belonging to three other different classes.
New Class Huntress
You can think of Huntress as a powerful warrior, but unlike the existing Monk or Warrior, she can use both a spear and a buckler as weapons, skillfully combining melee and ranged attack capabilities to deal with most combat situations and enemies – her elemental spear attacks can form super long combo chains, and her good blocking ability can provide a smooth counterattack method.
In fact, Huntress’s spear is a new basic POE 2 item that can be used as a throwing weapon or melee weapon, and the buckler can stun monsters when blocking. Even better, if you have enough POE 2 Divine Orbs to re-roll these gears and the roll results are good, they can even exert more powerful power.
5 New Ascendancy Classes
These new Ascendancy classes are Ritualist and Amazon for Huntress, as well as Lich (Witch), Smith of Kitava (Warrior) and Tactician (Mercenary). Their effects are as follows:
- Ritualist: Releases corrupted life force to enemies by sacrificing flesh and blood, and uses blood sacrifice and plague as weapons.
- Amazon: With precision and elemental fury as the main advantages.
- Lich: Good at creating chaos and curses, and can use his own life to enhance energy.
- Smith of Kitava: Can improve your forging skills.
- Tactician: Helps you destroy enemies while earning more POE 2 Currency.
Upgraded POE 2 Endgame System
The endgame system is a very important part of most ARPGs, and this is also true for Path of Exile 2. Since the launch of the early access, players in the game community often express that they feel that the current endgame playability of the game is not high enough, so POE 2 will add some new content through Dawn of the Hunt.
7 New Endgame Maps
Exploration map is one of the gameplay of POE 2 endgame, and it is also the main source of orbs for you during the endgame stage. In order to strengthen the importance of this gameplay, this 0.2.0 patch will add 7 maps at once! This means that you will be able to earn game resources by exploring 8 endgame maps after April 4.
Among them, The Fractured Lake was revealed separately in advance. The water scenery here looks surreal, and the monsters that appear here will also be mirrored into doubles, which means that the difficulty of the battle will also be upgraded. Fortunately, if you complete all challenges and reach the end of this map, you will get an amulet and a ring as a reward!
New Endgame Mechanism
This mechanism is Cleanse The Corruption, which will bring a special kind of corruption into Wraeclast and continue to expand to form new areas. There is a Corrupted Nexus in the center of each area, and you will encounter 3 terrible new bosses here. As long as you defeat them, the corrupted area will be purified, but the purified map will generate additional new monsters and bosses. The good news is that if you continue to defeat them, you will get a set of modifiers and Divine Orbs, or other rarer orbs (if you are lucky enough).
The above is a detailed introduction to the new class and new endgame system in the upcoming 0.2.0 patch Dawn of the Hunt. I hope it can be helpful to you! I wish you a better gaming experience in POE 2 in the future!
