Path of Exile 3.27: This New Bloodline Ascendancy Is Insanely Powerful
With Path of Exile 3.27(Keepers of the Flame) introducing the new Bloodline Ascendancies, players have been eager to test which of the nine revealed tendencies will redefine the meta. While most nodes seem moderate or situationally useful, one stands out as potentially game-breaking: Farewell to Flesh, a Sanctum boss node that grants enormous scaling potential through Herald mechanics.
What "Farewell to Flesh" Does
The primary effect of this node reads:
"Herald skills have 2% more Buff Effect for every 1% of maximum Mana they reserve."
This means each individual Herald you use gains an increased buff effect based on how much mana that specific Herald reserves. For instance, if a Herald reserves 40% of your mana, that single Herald gains 80% more buff effect. With 90% reservation, that skyrockets to 180% more, and because this is a multiplier, it stacks multiplicatively with other sources like the Elementalist's passive tree bonuses or cluster jewels.
The secondary part of the node adds:
"Herald skills and minions deal 1% more damage for every 1% of maximum Life they reserve."
This secondary modifier can be relevant for niche Herald-based minion or self-damage builds, but the real powerhouse lies in that mana-based buff effect scaling. This node alone opens the door to extremely efficient flat damage scaling at a fraction of traditional high-budget build costs.
How to Build Around It
To demonstrate the power of Farewell to Flesh, let's consider a simple test setup using only a few easily obtainable uniques:
Essence Worm (level 38, Tier 4 unique)
Honorhome (level 12, Tier 5 unique)
Both are dirt cheap-Essence Worm costs around 10-20 chaos orbs, and Honorhome usually goes for 1 chaos. Using these two items with a basic Herald setup, you can achieve about 151-631 flat lightning and 279-420 flat cold damage.
To put that into perspective, a Tier 1 max-rolled wand typically grants about 21-354 flat lightning damage. This Herald setup effectively doubles that value - equivalent to having two perfect T1 flat rolls without even touching high-end gear.
And remember: this is achieved using only low-level uniques and a level 3 Empower support gem. The build still allows you to reserve one aura of choice (like Haste, Grace, or Purity of Elements) for free through Essence Worm.
Compared to High-End Builds
For further perspective, compare this to a high-investment Int-stacking Wander Trickster from last league that cost roughly 20 mirrors to fully optimize. That character achieved about 422-3,100 flat lightning damage.
By contrast, the Farewell to Flesh setup described above reaches roughly one-third of that total damage, using gear worth less than a divine orb. That's a staggering level of efficiency and value. It can save you a lot of PoE Currency and Items.
Pushing the Build to the Limit
If you want to take things even further, you can invest in maximum Herald buff scaling through the Elementalist Ascendancy, which synergizes perfectly with the node. By taking Bringer of Ruin and the three nearby Herald Buff Effect passives, then stacking six medium cluster jewels with Empowered Envoy, you gain an additional 120% increased Herald buff effect. Add in Herald-related tattoos and skill tree bonuses, and you'll reach absurd numbers.
In an optimized endgame setup with a level 4 Empower, you can achieve upwards of 1,300 flat lightning and 930 flat cold damage-roughly 75-80% of the damage from that 20-mirror Int-stacker Wanderer. The fact that such results are possible from a single ascendancy node combined with mid-tier gear is frankly insane.
Drawbacks and Limitations
Of course, this level of scaling doesn't come without a downside. Since you're reserving nearly all of your mana, you lose access to mana-dependent mechanics like Spellslinger. You'll also be forced to occupy one ring slot with Essence Worm, which provides no direct stat bonuses.
Even so, the raw damage increase from Herald effects more than compensates for these trade-offs. The Elementalist remains the ideal class for this strategy, but other ascendancies could also make use of it creatively. The multiplicative nature of the buff means nearly any Herald-based build gains enormous benefit.
Unlocking the Node
To acquire Farewell to Flesh, players must defeat the Sanctum boss, one of the easier encounters tied to the Bloodline Ascendancy system. In fact, many players defeat this boss within just a few hours of a new league launch, and boss carries are cheap to purchase if you don't want to run Sanctum yourself. Compared to other unlock requirements like Delirious Wave 15 or Feral Ascendancy, this one is remarkably accessible.
Why This Node Is So Good
The key takeaway is just how efficiently this node converts mana reservation into flat damage. Even a "basic" setup with only four skill points and no cluster investment yields more raw flat elemental damage than a triple-T1 wand, one of the highest-value single items in the game.
That kind of flat scaling obliterates white and yellow maps and lets you crush early content effortlessly. For early league starters, Farewell to Flesh might be the single most cost-effective power spike in all of 3.27.
Final Thoughts
Farewell to Flesh isn't just strong-it's potentially meta-defining for Herald-based Elementalist builds. It delivers immense flat damage scaling through cheap, easily obtainable gear and synergizes perfectly with mana reservation strategies. The fact that it requires only a Sanctum boss kill to unlock makes it a highly attractive choice for early-league players looking to dominate on a budget.
While it remains to be seen whether GGG will adjust the numbers before or after launch, this node's sheer multiplicative scaling potential places it among the most exciting additions to Path of Exile 3.27. Whether you're theorycrafting a Herald Elementalist, exploring aura-stacking hybrids, or just want absurd flat damage for pennies, Farewell to Flesh is absolutely worth experimenting with this league.
MMOexp POE Team