Path of Exile 2's first big patch of 2025 is here, bringing new maps, quality of life tweaks, unique item and monster rebalancing, and—let's see—improved visuals for 'Chaos Pustules'

pcgamer.com:

Path of Exile 2 is kicking off 2025 with its first major patch—and it's a doozy. As promised in the patch preview released last weekend, Grinding Gear Games has returned from its holiday break to tackle some of the most pressing issues and smooth out some of the friction players have faced in the weeks since PoE 2's early access launch. Patch 0.1.1 delivers a long list of additions and changes, ranging from retuned endgame maps to rebalanced uniques to general quality of life tweaks.

First up in the patch notes, GGG's targeting frustrations players have run into when progressing into endgame mapping. Players attempting the Arbiter of Ash pinnacle boss will now have a bit more wiggle room to work with as they learn the fight: At its base difficulty, you'll get 6 respawn attempts, with the number of respawns decreasing at higher difficulties.

Citadels, challenging endgame nodes on the Atlas map that—in addition to offering rare loot—drop key fragments needed for facing the pinnacle boss, will now be easier to locate: They'll be marked by a pillar of light in the shrouded portions of the Atlas map, so you can clear your way towards them more directly.

Four new types of tower maps will have been added, and map areas are also getting checkpoints and a minimum threshold of three rare monsters. Roughly one in four maps will now have bosses, and GGG has adjusted map areas to «have more distinct specialities for the content they contain.» Some maps might spawn twice as many chests; others might have 50% more rare monsters, or essences, or strongboxes.

Monsters that have been particular nuisances for players, like grenade-throwing Forsaken Miners and meteor-dropping Lost-men Zealots, have been nerfed, hopefully meaning fewer sudden deaths and map-ending murders from off-screen. Likewise, the visual effects for enemy abilities and hazards have been adjusted to make it clearer when you're standing where you shouldn't be. According to the patch notes, all sorts of exploding