Path of Exile: Settlers of Kalguur Expansion First Look - ARPG City Building (2024)

Path of Exile's 3.25 update featuring the Settlers of Kalguur challenge league is around the corner, and there's a massive amount of content and changes to unpack. As with any new Path of Exile challenge league, Settlers of Kalguur introduces unique mechanics that completely change the feel of the game, while the accompanying 3.25 patch makes sweeping changes to melee combat, removes the Raider class in favor of a new Warden class, and so much more.

Game Rant was given an early look at all the content and changes that will be arriving with Settlers of Kalguur, and needless to say, it's a lot. As with any new Path of Exile expansion, Grinding Gear Games encourages players to peruse the patch notes once they're available, and they expect that it will take players at least a few days to fully understand the changes and what they'll mean for Path of Exile moving forward.

Players Will Manage a City in Path of Exile's New Challenge League

The headliner of this expansion is undoubtedly the challenge league mechanic for Settlers of Kalguur with players building and managing their very own town. At first, we were reminded of Final Fantasy 14's Island Sanctuary system, but building up and managing the burgeoning city of Kingsmarch is significantly less self-contained, with each slain demon on the battlefield being a small contribution. The first step is to gather construction resources, which are harvested from nodes on the field guarded by a corresponding enemy, such as Petrified Amber attracting a host of Blighted enemies. To harvest these resources, players must assign a Miner, which ties into the worker system.

Workers can be hired with gold dropped from defeated enemies or acquired elsewhere in League gameplay, and workers have individual specialties and wage costs that determine their effectiveness. They work in real-time, passively, effectively an idle game playing in the background while the player focuses on other things. Resources they gather can then be used to construct or upgrade structures in Kingsmarch like farms, smelters, taverns, and a harbor, increasing the effectiveness of workers or introducing new functionality. Kalguuran Map Devices can passively run queued-up maps for the player, while the Runesmithing Table allows players to apply effects normally reserved for Unique items to normal gear.

Stockpiled resources can then be sent to the harbor to trade with chosen ports, with some ports preferring one type of resource over another. Players can risk sending larger shipments for greater rewards, but there's a potential for mishaps that result in a lost shipment or killed workers. These shipments come with generous helpings of loot, currency, and other items, and like other Kalguuran League mechanics, they play out in real-time while players go about their day.

There's a lot more to the Kalguuran League such as an asynchronous currency exchange system among players, bosses that kidnap workers and can be fought or bribed, and even a Path of Exile 2 feature that has been backported: the ability to respec using gold.

Path of Exile Has Removed a Class, Added a Class, and Reworked Melee

Among the many changes 3.25 introduces, a drastic melee overhaul is something that stands out in particular. Grinding Gear Games has removed Melee Totem Skill Gems entirely, which is part of Grinding Gear's new melee philosophy that seeks to avoid set-and-forget gameplay. To compensate for the removal of a major passive damage source, nearly every melee skill has seen a positively massive damage increase, with abilities like Heavy Strike going from 313% Attack Damage to 552% Attack Damage, or Sweep going from 281% to a staggering 664%.

Since melee builds will now be forced to be in the thick of combat at all times, there have also been sweeping buffs to defensive options. All block passives have seen buffs, making it easier to reach the block cap through passives. Additionally, many Life Leech passives have had a boost. In addition, Vaal Pact has made a comeback providing Instant Life Leech only for melee users.

When it comes to classes, Path of Exile's Gladiator Ascendancy class has received a long-awaited rework. The new Gladiator leans heavily into the gladiator theme, with an emphasis on dual-wielding weapon combinations. Wielding a dagger might increase crit chance, while maces boost the player's AoE potential. Gladiators also have access to the new Retaliation skills, which are skills that can be activated once a certain condition is met. For example, Divine Retribution can only be activated after the player blocks. Overall, Gladiator looks like it's much more versatile and engaging to play, especially with the melee rework.

Meanwhile, the Raider class has been done away with altogether. Grinding Gear Games felt that the Raider was growing redundant, as many of its passives could be found elsewhere on the tree. To make each class feel distinct, the Raider has been replaced with the Warden. The Warden class is focused on elemental attacks, modifying skills like Shock, Freeze, and replacing Ignite with Scorch. Wardens also have access to Tinctures, which are reminiscent of the Affliction League's Flasks. Tinctures are placed on the belt and can be dropped as magic items, and they provide a powerful buff when used which can be further enhanced with passives.

Path of Exile 3.25 Comes With Quality of Life and Console Improvements

Path of Exile's console versions have also seen some improvements this time around, and console players should notice better performance and visuals. Loading times have been shortened, asset pop-in has been reduced, and textures should disappear less often in dense areas. On current-gen consoles, Path of Exile now uses the highest texture resolution and water effect quality, and there have been improvements to upscaling and anti-aliasing.

There have also been plenty of quality-of-life improvements. Waypoints now no longer need to be interacted with to unlock and will simply unlock when players walk near them. Mouse and keyboard players can now pick up items from further away, cutting back on some of the looting tedium. When players die, their previously active reservation effects like Auras and Heralds can now automatically refresh rather than needing to be triggered manually, and more bosses will have static lifebars to better keep track of their status.

This is an enormous patch and we've only really scratched the surface, so players should take a look at the patch notes when they're available to prepare themselves for Settlers of Kalguur's launch on July 26th. Although fans are waiting anxiously for Path of Exile 2, it's great to see that Path of Exile is continuing to receive major updates that even include features from its upcoming sequel.

Path of Exile

Path of Exile is a free-to-play MMORPG that plays similar to the Diablo series, with a top-down action-RPG structure. Players will pick classes, develop skills, build weapons, and more.

System

PC , PlayStation , Xbox

Platform(s)

PC , Xbox One , PS4 , macOS

Released

October 23, 2013

Developer(s)

Grinding Gear Games

Publisher(s)

Grinding Gear Games

Genre(s)

Action RPG

ESRB

M for Mature: Intense Violence, Blood and Gore, Sexual Themes, Nudity, Language

How Long To Beat

30 Hours