Path of Exile 3.29 Curse of the Allflame: Complete Guide to New Mechanics, System Overhauls, and Major Changes

Summary

Welcome to the full breakdown of Path of Exile: Curse of the Allflame, releasing July 25th. This expansion delivers one of the most ambitious updates in Path of Exile history, introducing an entirely new underwater league mechanic, reworking two classic leagues, bringing back Mercenaries, overhauling socket systems, and adding significant endgame content that will dramatically shift how players earn and spend resources—whether you're farming yourself or choosing to buy POE currency to accelerate your progress. Here is everything you need to know.

The Curse of the Allflame League: Exploring the Ocean Floor

The new league sends players beneath Wraeclast's frozen seas. You'll join Valerie, a corsair captain, in recovering lost Charts scattered across Wraeclast. These Charts guide her ship, The Sovereign, to locations rich with treasure.

Bathysphere and Allflame Lanterns

Once a Chart is obtained, you board The Sovereign and descend in the Bathysphere, a contraption powered by the Allflame. To survive underwater, you place Allflame Lanterns that push back the water and create safe zones. These Lanterns are powered by Dead Man's Sulphur, which you collect from strange luminous coral growing on the sea floor.

Charting and Voyages

As you explore, you Chart areas and collect Dead Man's Sulphur. Each Charted area reveals a special modifier that applies when used as part of a Voyage. The Voyage Board has nine positions, allowing you to connect Charts and stack modifiers. Examples include converting all equipment drops to Gold, spawning friendly jellyfish for extra loot, or empowering monsters with Wildwood Wisps.

Loot Capsules and Extraction

Each Chart in your Voyage contains a capsule that can store approximately one inventory of loot. Fill these capsules, signal Val, and she pulls them to the surface. Once you're satisfied with your plunder, call the Bathysphere for extraction and survive until it arrives.

Vesper's Crafting System

Belowdecks resides Vesper's soul, bound to the ship. This is where the league's crafting system comes into play. Give Vesper an item alongside a currency you'd normally use on it, plus Dead Man's Sulphur. The item splits into multiple ghostly forms, each representing a possible outcome. Choose the best result; the others disappear.

This system works with almost any crafting step, including influenced Exalted Orbs and fossil combinations. More potent crafts require more Sulphur.

Rare Ducats

The sea floor hides rare Ducats that warp items in unique ways:

Kishara's Ducat: Creates four ghostly copies, each keeping one mod from the original

Genteel's Ducat: Changes one attribute to another, solving item or gem requirement problems

Brinehook's Ducat: Makes you an emissary of Wraeclast's Gods, granting unknown Aspects

Returning Mercenaries of Trarthus

Mercenaries return from Act 3 onward. Before dueling, you see their gear and skills. Wager gold against an item the Mercenary carries. Win, and you claim the item; lose, and you forfeit the gold. Victorious Mercenaries aid you as allies in several areas, providing auras, buffs, or killing enemies.

Warrants and Trading

In Maps, you can request a Warrant from a Mercenary—a promise to duel again later with the same skills but new items. Each Mercenary grants only one Warrant, and Warrants are tradable to other players.

The Luminary Ascendancy (Scion)

For the second time in six months, the Scion receives a new Ascendancy class: The Luminary. This natural leader can permanently hire Mercenaries, with up to three at a time—two in reserve and one active. Unlike regular Mercenaries, you can change their equipped items. Luminaries can become support characters to their Mercenary or have their Mercenary support them.

Abyss Rework

Abyss receives significant modernization in Curse of the Allflame. Instead of following cracks across maps, Abyssal pits are now open, spilling energy into the surrounding area. Slaying subjugated enemies sends souls into the pit, drawing out Abyssal minions. Key improvements include:

No more backtracking

Visceral audio and visual feedback

New monster skills exclusive to Path of Exile 1

Abyssal Jewels and Stygian Vises remain exclusive to Abyss

Complete refresh of Abyssal Scarabs and Atlas passives

New Abyss Pinnacle Boss

A new endgame Pinnacle Boss arrives with its own set of brand new Unique items and a unique access method that players will need to discover.

Legion Rework

Legion now offers exclusive rewards through Enshrouding Crystals dropped by Legion Generals. These crystals can be used on Unique Armours and taken to the Domain of Timeless Conflict. Place the Enshrouded item inside and kill monsters to transform it. The result is a Vestigial Unique Item—a unique item with a powerful modifier transferred from the original. Examples include Shaper's Touch transforming into Maligaro's Virtuosity with a Vestigial Implicit Modifier.

Additional Legion improvements include:

Encounters start automatically after killing key monsters

Fewer splinters dropped, but in larger stack sizes

Unrelenting Emblems removed; regular Emblems absorb their effects

Reward progress tracked by charging crystals instead of flooding the screen

Talisman Overhaul

Talismans become exclusive rewards from the Bestiary. Red beasts drop beast-specific Talismans that are no longer Corrupted, making them craftable. Talisman modifiers are now Enchantments rather than Implicits, competing with Blight Anointments. Unique Talismans have all been improved, with Eyes of the Greatwolf offering crazy possibilities.

Atlas Anomalies

Zana's actions have destabilized the Atlas, creating Anomalies. When you complete Maps affected by a Voidstone, there's a chance an Anomaly manifests. These are selectable from your Map Device and don't require Map items to enter.

Examples include:

Cadiro Perandus's abode, offering valuable items for Gold

Reflecting Mists and Nameless Seer appearing in their own areas

A fully revealed Heist Blueprint wing

A Sacred Grove where plants have fully taken over

A Strongbox with a strange mechanism

Anomalies are unaffected by your Atlas Skill Tree and can be revisited until you purchase an item or reject all offers.

Socket System Overhaul

After nearly two decades, sockets no longer have colors. Any gem can now go into any socket. This addresses the long-running issue where finding a great item with mismatched socket colors prevented upgrades. Colored sockets still exist but function as an upgrade system rather than a restriction. Placing a matching-colored gem in a colored socket grants an additional Quality bonus. Chromatic Orbs now guarantee at least one red, blue, or green socket.

Spellcaster Improvements

Spellcasters receive significant attention. Spell damage types are now differentiated:

Physical spells like Ethereal Knives and Bladefall have a higher critical strike chance but lower damage

Lightning spells have higher cast speeds but cost more mana

New Ascendancy notables have been added to Assassin, Occultist, and Inquisitor. A new skill, Mana-Infused Staff, raises block chance, reduces mana costs, and retaliates with arcane lightning based on maximum mana.

Pact Skill Gems

A new set of Exceptional Skill gems called Pacts empowers spells at the cost of gaining special affliction debuffs. Examples include Pact of Beidat causing spells to create chaos, Pact of Ghorr for DoT builds, and unknown effects from Pact of Lycia and Pact of K'tash.

Supporter Packs

Two new series of Supporter Packs launch with Curse of the Allflame:

Plague Series: Includes Plague Weapon Skin, Plague Rat Pet, Plaguebearer Armour Set with Back Attachment, Plaguebearer Weapon Effect, Erupting Pustules Finisher, Plaguewraith Map Device (tracking kills by rarity), and Putrefying Portal.

Remidus Series: Includes Remidus Weapon Skin, Medi-Rhoa Pet, Remidus Knight Armour Set with Back Attachment, Remidus Knight Weapon Effect, Saints End Monastery Hideout, and Reservoir of Benediction Affinity Stash.

All microtransactions are available in Path of Exile 1, and with the massive new crafting and endgame systems introduced in this expansion, efficient farming strategies will be more important than ever for generating POE currency. Full patch notes release July 25th at 11 AM NZT.