Path of Exile 1 is not getting left behind. Curse of the Allflame (patch 3.29) drops July 24 and it's packed: a full underwater league, long-awaited reworks for Abyss and Legion, the return of the Mercenaries of Trarthus, a brand new Scion Ascendancy, a whole new endgame system called Atlas Anomalies, and a socket colour rework.
The headliner is the league itself, which more or less counts as Path of Exile's first real boat expansion. You link up with a pirate captain named Valerie and her navigator Vesper, whose soul is chained to a ship called The Sovereign by a strange power known as the Allflame. That same magic is your ticket to somewhere Path of Exile has never gone: the sea floor. You descend in a diving contraption called the Bathysphere, then place Allflame Lanterns around you to push the water back and carve out safe zones. Explore, loot, harvest luminous coral for Dead Man's Sulphur, and get back to the sub before the lanterns fizzle out, because the things in the dark absolutely do not want you seeing them. Val also drops loot capsules across the seabed so you can stuff them with plunder and have her haul it topside while you keep exploring.
Every dive you complete adds a Chart to Valerie's journal. You then arrange up to nine of those Charts on the Voyage Board, each carrying a modifier that hits either its neighbours or the whole run. Some flip drops into pure gold, others spawn friendly jellyfish for extra kills, others juice packs with Wildwood Wisps. The board's edges also carry Corruption Currents that shuffle between runs, so no two Voyages play out the same way. Certain Charts even lead to special destinations like anchor fields loaded with treasure, sunken Kalguuran shipments, and Abyssal pits waiting on the seabed.
Back on the ship, Dead Man's Sulphur powers the league's crafting system. Hand Vesper an item and a currency, and he splits it into several ghostly outcomes so you can preview the results and keep only the one you want. Every use leaves the item slightly more intangible, which means fewer previews next time, so grinding the same piece has a real cost. Rare seafloor treasures called Ducats unlock even stranger options. Kishara's Ducat spits out four ghost copies of an item, each keeping a random mod (great for making powerful crafting starters). Genteel's Ducat solves stat-requirement headaches by converting one attribute into another. Brinehook's Ducat bestows god-flavoured Aspects tied to the old pantheon of Wraeclast.
On land, the Mercenaries of Trarthus are back permanently. Starting in Act 3 you can wager gold to duel them, and winning nets you their gear plus their temporary service. In maps you can also request a Warrant, which lets you resummon that same mercenary later with their signature skills and a fresh loadout, or trade them to other players. Full Atlas tree and Scarab support means you can build your endgame around chasing them. And if you fall for one, the Scion's new Luminary Ascendancy lets you keep up to three mercenaries permanently, swap their gear freely, and shape your whole character around empowering them. This is the Scion's second Ascendancy in six months, which is honestly a lot.
Abyss and Legion both got overhauls. Abyss pits are now visible from the jump, spreading Abyssal energy through the mobs around them so their deaths funnel souls back into the pit until Kulemak's legion bursts out. No more chasing cracks across the map. Abyss is also the only place you can find Abyssal Jewels and Stygian Vises now, and there's a new Pinnacle Boss with a genuinely weird way to unlock it. Legion swaps out Incubators for Vestigial Unique Items. Enshrouding Crystals drop from Legion Generals and let you graft a modifier from one Unique onto another inside the Domain of Timeless Conflict. Talismans also got a rework and now drop exclusively from red Bestiary beasts, with their signature mods reclassified as enchantments so they compete with Blight anointments and hit much harder than before.
Atlas Anomalies are the other endgame addition. As Zana's meddling continues to unravel the Atlas, familiar Wraeclast pockets have started bleeding through, showing up as bonus locations you can enter without a map. One puts you across the table from Cadiro Perandus for Gold-based item trades. Others give you standalone versions of Reflecting Mists, Heist blueprints, Expedition logbooks, and the Sacred Grove. They ignore your Atlas tree and can often be revisited, so you don't need to save them for the perfect moment.
Two smaller changes that feel massive: sockets no longer have colors. Any gem, any slot, always. Colored sockets still exist as an upgrade layer where matching a gem's colour grants bonus quality, but the days of hoarding Chromatic Orbs just to run your build are done. Spellcasters also got a broad balance pass, with differentiated elemental archetypes, buffed caster staves, a new Mana-Charged Staff skill, and a fresh class of Exceptional Skill Gems called Pacts. Each Pact makes a bargain with a Beyond demon (Beidat, Ghorr, Lycia, K'tash) to supercharge your spells in exchange for a nasty personal affliction.
Two Supporter Pack lines are launching alongside: Plague and Remidus, one leaning into corruption and the other into purification, with cosmetics that carry over into Path of Exile 2. It's a nice sign that even with all the attention on the sequel, GGG is still shipping meaningful content for the original.
That’s a wrap for Path of Exile's Curse of the Allflame update. It will launch on July 24, 2026 as patch 3.29. Stay tuned to GamingTrend for more Path of Exile news and info!
