Path of Exile 2 0.4.0 preview — The Last of the Druids

Path of Exile 2's 0.4.0 update introduces the long awaited Druid, a hybrid Strength/Intelligence shapeshifter who lost his humanity after his fellow druids were destroyed. He wields elemental magic and three animal forms through Animal Talismans. Let’s take a look at the three forms he can transform into.

The Three Forms

The Bear specializes in slow, devastating Rage-powered attacks. Generate Rage with Maul, then unleash Furious Slam, Rampage (stomping continuously), or Walking Calamity (summoning a firestorm). Ferocious Roar is a meta gem that breaks enemy armor while accepting Warcries from other classes, even letting you transform into the fire god Kaom as a bear. Bears generate Endurance Charges by consuming Rage.

The Wolf delivers fast cold-focused combat. Lunar Assault freezes enemies, Rake knocks explosive ice shards off them, and Pounce marks targets to summon wolf minions when killed. Cross Slash triggers marks without kills and propels ice fragments toward targets for massive explosions. Like Ferocious Roar, Pounce accepts Mark skills from other classes. Arctic Howl buffs your pack and adds cold damage to slams, while Lunar Blessing transforms you into an Arctic Werewolf with extended duration through Rage consumption.

The Wyvern offers ranged breath attacks and melee. Devour corpses to generate Power Charges that supercharge your abilities. Rend with Power Charges creates lightning AoE, Rolling Magma spits bouncing fireballs, oil barrage makes enemies easier to ignite, and charged wings vomit lightning projectiles. Flame Breath lets you fly around raining fire from above.

Human Form and Support Gems

Human spells last extended periods to complement shapeshifting. Volcano creates persistent magma spouts, Entangling Vines slow enemies, and Thunderstorm makes enemies wet (easier to shock and freeze, synergizing with Wyvern and Wolf). Watering plants extends durations and boosts effects. Spell Totems (costing 3 Endurance or Power Charges) automatically cast any spell in the game.

Over 30 new support gems include Fan the Flames (spreads fire on Wind skills), Accelerated Growth (explosive plants), Advancing Storm (moves storm skills across battlefields), Echoing Cry (repeats warcries), and Grounding Shocks (shocked enemies arc lightning to nearby foes).

Ascendancies

The Shaman harnesses Rage as a spellcaster, gaining spell damage from anger and continuous Rage generation. Wisdom of the Magi unlocks exclusive mods on all Runes and Idols for Shamans. Bringer of the Apocalypse summons elemental storms around you after dealing enough elemental damage.

The Oracle masters Foresight. Fateful Vision shows visions of your future self using skills for massive damage if you follow that path. Converging Paths merges future and present timelines at critical moments. The Unseen Path adds over 130 new passives to the Druid tree through alternate future knowledge.

Fate of the Vaal League

Ancient Vaal remnants scattered throughout Wraeclast attract and affect nearby creatures. Activating five remnants opens a portal to Atziri's lost underground temple. Each run gives you 6 rooms to place, crafting your own dungeon with strategic positioning. Room placement matters enormously because adjacent rooms level each other up for better rewards and harder challenges. After each run, some rooms destabilize and you rebuild by adding 6 more rooms, making the temple progressively larger.

Time Travel and Crafting

Doryani's time portal takes you to right before Atziri triggered the cataclysm. Accessing The Architect unlocks entirely new rooms from the past with powerful rewards. A level 3 Corruption Chamber applies a second corruption to already-corrupted items, adding another enchantment with 50% destruction chance. The level 3 Alchemy Lab drops corrupted Soul Cores with unique mods. The level 3 Sacrificial Chamber further corrupts Vaal Uniques by replacing one mod with a random one. The Flesh Surgeon lets you replace limbs with robotic versions granting random bonuses (lost on death though).

Medallions manipulate the temple: Quipolatl's artificially boosts rooms without requirements, Juatalotli's prevents destabilization for guaranteed double rewards. All crafting machines can create currency items for later use or trading.

Defeating The Architect unlocks rooms with specific rewards (uniques, runes, currency, niche crafting). End game includes stacking dungeon mods from level 3 rooms and banking multiple runs. The Royal Access Chamber leads to Atziri herself, with rewards like Atziri's Rule (staff boosting corrupted gems that spawns mirrors splitting projectiles into novas).

Major System Changes

Rise of the Abyssal goes core as a random endgame mechanic with its own Atlas Tree and Tablet system. Abyss crafting and Instilling were removed from Waystones based on community feedback, with some power returning through buffed Tablets (craftable to Rare with 4 mods after defeating Arbiter of Ash). No more waystone crafting will be added beyond basic currency. Tablets can now be corrupted for random outcomes.

Delirium fog was toned down significantly as well. Monster scaling changed from adding 40% more monsters at high tiers to instead giving 40% more drops, experience, and life to existing monsters. This is to reduce visual clutter on screen.

Performance and Balance

The team has implemented CPU optimization that delivers at least 25% higher frame rates with fewer spikes, especially noticeable on consoles. Balancing includes 11 new Uniques, dozens of rebalanced existing uniques, 21 rebalanced Lineage Supports plus 9 new ones, nearly all ascendancies changed (some drastically like Smith of Kitava), 90 rebalanced active skills across all classes alongside 20+ new Druid skills, and over 250 new passive skills. Originally planned endgame content unfortunately has been pushed to 0.5.0, which will bring existing league upgrades, new Pinnacle bosses, and a significant Atlas passive tree overhaul.

That’s a wrap for Path of Exile 2’s The Last of the Druids update. It will launch on December 12, 2025 as patch 0.4.0. Stay tuned to GamingTrend for more Path of Exile 2 news and info!