# Path of Exile 2: Significant Update Introduces Gameplay Enhancements, Balance Changes, and New Support Gems
Grinding Gear Games (GGG) has revealed a substantial update for *Path of Exile 2*, shortly after the game’s launch. This update incorporates player feedback, bringing in a range of gameplay enhancements, balance changes, and thrilling new support gems. The modifications are designed to improve the overall experience, lessen frustration, and offer greater versatility for players as they traverse the dark and intricate realm of Wraeclast.
Here’s an in-depth overview of the key changes and highlights from the preliminary patch notes.
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## **Key Gameplay Enhancements**
### **Revamped Fast Travel System**
A major quality-of-life upgrade is the enhancement of the fast travel system. Players will now have the ability to travel among checkpoints within the same area, making exploration and backtracking much easier. Moreover, checkpoints will be placed at all entrances and exits of areas, facilitating smoother movements between zones.
### **Reduced Costs for Passive Point Respecs**
Resetting passive skill points has become much more economical. Previously, the expense of resetting passive points rose steeply with character levels, making it challenging to experiment with builds during mid- and late-game. The new update has flattened the cost curve, decreasing gold expenses by about 40–50% during these phases.
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## **Lessened Frustration in the Trial of Sekhemas**
The Trial of Sekhemas, a vital challenge in *Path of Exile 2*, has undergone several modifications to alleviate its severity:
– **Honor Damage Modifications:** Players engaged in melee will experience a 35% reduction in Honor Damage taken. This benefit, however, lessens as players increase their distance from enemies, promoting close-range combat.
– **Damage Over Time (DoT) Resolution:** A glitch that allowed DoT effects to inflict triple the intended Honor Damage has been fixed. Additionally, Honor Resistance now operates properly, offering players improved defense.
– **Enemy Ability Adjustments:** Frustrating post-death effects, such as those that pull players into corruption, have been mitigated or temporarily removed.
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## **Endgame Balancing: A More Manageable Challenge**
The endgame content, which was previously deemed excessively challenging, has been rebalanced to deliver a more equitable challenge:
– **Removal of Elemental Resistance Penalties:** Maps of Tier 6 and Tier 11 (and above) no longer carry extra elemental resistance penalties. Resistance values are now uniform across all endgame maps.
– **Chaos Damage Scaling Adjustment:** Chaos damage now scales more moderately in the endgame, diminishing the risk of one-shot deaths from specific enemies.
– **Reduction in Critical Hit Damage:** Monsters’ critical hits inflict 40% less bonus damage, rendering encounters less severe.
– **Breach Encounters:** The density of monsters in Breach encounters has been lowered, especially the occurrence of elite monsters, making these events more feasible.
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## **Skills and Support Gems: Buffs, Nerfs, and New Options**
### **Enhancements for Underperforming Builds**
A number of skills and builds have received upgrades to bolster their effectiveness:
– **Rolling Slam and Shield Skills:** These skills, particularly in the mace range, have been optimized for improved performance.
– **Bow Skills:** Skills that generate Frenzy Charges have been refined, enhancing the dynamism of bow builds.
– **Bone and Chaos DoT Spells:** Builds centered around the Occult have received power increases, boosting their damage capabilities.
– **Quarterstaff Skills:** Certain skills in this category have been enhanced to promote their use.
### **New Support Gems**
Two fresh support gems have been added, providing more customization options for builds:
– **Tremors Support:** This gem adds several aftershocks to abilities, albeit at the cost of a damage reduction.
– **Bidding Support:** This gem amplifies the damage of minion command skills, granting a new option for summoner builds.
### **Exposure Support Gems**
Support gems dedicated to fire, lightning, and cold exposure will no longer apply a damage penalty. However, their mana cost multiplier has been elevated to 120%, creating a balance with their newfound strength.
### **Targeted Adjustments**
To keep balance in check, certain overperforming skills have been adjusted:
– **Skeletal Arsonists:** The spirit cost has been raised, leading to a minor decrease in the number of Arsonists that can be summoned at elevated levels.
– **Tornado and Vine Arrow:** The damage-over-time element of these skills has been lowered at higher levels.
– **Magnetic Salvo:** This skill is now restricted to using its tethered Lightning Arrows only, eliminating potential exploitation in party scenarios.
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## **Further Character and Item Balances**
– **Charm Modifiers:** Modifiers on belts now show up earlier and more frequently, with “of Symbolism” accessible from level 23 and “of Inscription” from level 64.
– **Electrocute Modifications:**