'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,/9j/2wBDAAYGBgYHBgcICAcKCwoLCg8ODAwODxYQERAREBYiFRkVFRkVIh4kHhweJB42KiYmKjY+NDI0PkxERExfWl98fKf/2wBDAQYGBgYHBgcICAcKCwoLCg8ODAwODxYQERAREBYiFRkVFRkVIh4kHhweJB42KiYmKjY+NDI0PkxERExfWl98fKf/wgARCAAGAAoDASIAAhEBAxEB/8QAFgABAQEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMH/8QAFQEBAQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAgP/2gAMAwEAAhADEAAAAMOmGX//xAAgEAACAQQBBQAAAAAAAAAAAAACAwEABAUSBhEUMUFR/9oACAEBAAE/AOOcjPFBdSiGCw1kO0T42903MWTGsPtjjYpnpt9r/8QAFhEBAQEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAEQAB/9oACAECAQE/ADG//8QAFhEAAwAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAES/9oACAEDAQE/AJR//9k='%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
The final GGG Live of the year just revealed all the new features of Path of Exile 2's upcoming 0.4.0 update, releasing on December 12, 2025 PST. Between the new Druid class' many shapeshift forms, a gazillion fresh crafting shenanigans, and an in-depth Vaal Incursion 2.0 league, just the teaser of what's coming is half an hour long. So for those out of the loop, here's the quick summary of the big features.
As this is an abridged explanation of the exciting stuff, we will skim over some of the details. However, if you've not been on the Druid bandwagon or 0.4.0 speculations, this should serve as a primer for Path of Exile 2 Last of the Druids update.
Path of Exile 2 0.4.0 summarized: Everything you need to know about Druids update and new League
Before we go over (some) details on each feature, here's a rundown on the big hitters in Path of Exile 2's upcoming update (0.4.0):
Trending
- The Druid class is finally here.
- You can see through the Delirium fog.
- Echoes of the Vaal League will introduce a build-your-own-dungeon mode and a new Pinnacle boss, Atziri.
- Endgame and balancing changes.
- Major improvement to performance in CPU-bound cases.
- 250 new nodes on the Passive Tree (with 130 more if you're a specific new Ascendancy)
- Spell Totems.
Last of the Druids, but not the least
The Druid is the first INT-STR hybrid class in Path of Exile 2, and so it has the combination of melee and spellcasting gameplay you would expect.
- The human form has various spells that do things on their own, but more importantly, act as primers for other spells you can cast in various beast forms. This includes a volcano spell that spits out fire (similar to the first Trial of the Sekhemas boss), and plant-based skills such as vines that entangle or slap enemies around.
- Equipping Talismans, a new two-handed weapon type, you can turn into available beast forms dictated by the talisman. In other words, non-Druid classes can also shapeshift if they meet the talisman's requirement.
- Unique Talismans also let you turn into unique Beasts, and one such form that was demonstrated is a horned infernal demon form.
Other than these unique edge-case forms (only the demon that we know of), Druid is shipping with three possible beast forms you can switch to: bear, wolf, or wyvern.
- The Bear hits hard, with stompy skills aligned towards fire, and/or just raw physical damage. This form also has Ferocious Roar, a metagem that can slot other warcry Skills for various effects. The bear can also generate Rage and Endurance charges, and then channel that into its Skills.
- Turning into a wolf (or werewolf, really), the idea is to be agile, appropriately feral, and also do some Cold-Freeze stuff (due to your Lunar connections) expected of a real packmate. Examples include freezing enemies and then shredding them to create shards of ice that you can shatter to do even more damage, pouncing on enemies, using a Mark-related metagem to slot Mark skills, triggering it to spawn wolf minions, and running on all fours to move faster than usual.
- As the Wyvern form, you can kill mobs by slicing them with your feathers, eat their corpses to gain Power charges, and then consume them to get lightning attacks. You also have the option to fly and spit out goblets of fire (and Oil, apparently).
- You can dodge-roll and sprint as all shapeshift forms!
Druid Ascendancies
In Path of Exile 2 0.4.0 update, the Druid will ship with two Ascendancies to start with:
- Shaman: The Shaman harnesses ancient Azmeri powers to get unique extra boosts from Runes and Idols, uniquely uses Rage to empower spell damage, and calls down natural calamities around him.
- Oracle: Become an Oracle to gain exclusive access to 130 new Skills on the Passive Tree, and use the power of Foresight to see visions of yourself and enemies to deal much more damage if you follow the prophesied path.
Echoes of The Vaal: Incursion 2.0 with big crafting options
Coming in Path of Exile 2 0.4.0, Echoes of the Vaal League basically gives you a way to craft your own dungeon through a layout menu. Imagine Sekhemas Trial, except you lay out all the pieces, and gain incremental rewards for making the content more challenging.
- By interacting with the league (enemies from the old Atziri civilization), you can open portals to an ancient Vaal lost temple.
- The lost temple gives you a large grid layout you can modify before you dive in. Each run of this temple (or temple run, if you will) will give you six additional pieces you can place on the grids, as well as paths leading up to it from the entrance.
- Some of the rooms will also be destroyed after you finish the run, but the rest of the layout will be preserved for your next run.
- The goal, with six additional rooms to place each time you open another portal to the temple, is to reach Atziri, the new Pinnacle boss.
Other than Atziri herself, though, there are a lot of challenges and rewards to be found in these rooms themselves. You can buff the monsters and challenge level in each room by specific adjacency bonuses (and other means you unlock later), so it's like a mapping-lite minigame in and of itself.
Grafting and double-corruption
A Flesh Surgeon room in the Vaal Temple, if sufficiently levelled up, lets you replace one of your limbs with prosthetics, granting various bonuses. These bonuses are permanent, as long as you don't die. Because if you die, you respawn with your regular god-given limbs.
Meanwhile, the Sacrificial Chamber room has a much more powerful and permanent upgrade (potentially) if you can get it to level 3. This summons a boss fight, and then afterwards a contraption that can modify a Vaal unique, randomly removing one of its modifiers and replacing it with something else.
Another type of crafting-currency gamble you can partake in with this Path of Exile 2 0.4.0 League is the Corruption Chamber, where a device lets you Corrupt an already Corrupted item once again (with a 50% chance of destroying the item instead).
Endgame, balance changes, and everything else
As far as it pertains to the Endgame, the biggest change in Path of Exile 2's 0.4.0 update is regarding monster density. Instead of monster density ramping up as you're going deeper into the endgame, it's the durability and damage of individual monsters that will scale up.
This basically ensures that the Endgame changes in 0.3.1 will now roll out throughout the entire mapping journey after 0.4.0, making it a better fit with Path of Exile 2's more deliberate pace rather than the frantic zoomies of Path of Exile 1. The magic find is also getting scaled up to result in similar amounts of ground drops as before.
The second biggest change (or for some, maybe the biggest for real) is some optimization being done to make Endgame less prone to frame drops and stuttering. GGG promises at least 25% improvement in Path of Exile 2 0.4.0 performance over the last patch in CPU-bound cases.
Otherwise, here's the standout changes to note:
- Abyssal League is now being moved mostly into the Endgame, and that League mechanic is getting its own Atlas tree.
- You can no longer Abyss-craft Waystones.
- After defeating Arbiter of Ash on a character, you can then upgrade your Precursor Tablets up to Rare.
- Delirium fog is now (mostly) cleared up, so you can play Path of Exile 2 in 0.4.0 instead of playing Silent Hill.
- Other than the 11 new Uniques being added, "dozens" of other Uniques are getting buffed.
- Over 90 Skills have undergone balance adjustments, mainly buffs.
- 250 new Passives on the Tree, as mentioned earlier.
- 30 new Support Gems are coming (and some of them are quite game-changing, too).
- 21 Lineage Gems have also been either rebalanced or reworked.
- Spell Totems are now a thing, but you must spend either three Endurance or Power Charges to summon one.
That's about all the changes that we thought were important about Path of Exile 2 0.4.0: Last of The Druids. The finer details (and likely those that matter if you're out to decide which build you want to try this League) is in the patch notes.
Stay tuned for more PoE2 news and guides on Sportskeeda.
