Path of Exile 2 Dawn of the Hunt Update Details Revealed, Patch Notes To Come

After over a month of enticing teasers, Grinding Gear Games has finally unleashed the full details about the 0.2.0 update for Path of Exile 2. Officially called Dawn of the Hunt, this is the first major content update to Path of Exile 2 since the game dropped into Early Access in December 2024. And now, Grinding Gear Games has finally let players in on those big juicy secrets they were hiding. The Path of Exile 2 livestream took place on the GGG Twitch channel on March 27th. While the stream unleashed a ton of details about the April 4th update, the full patch notes will not be available until early next week.

While the full, nitty-gritty details won’t arrive until the full patch notes drop next week, there’s plenty to dig into from the Dawn of the Hunt livestream today. The livestream began with a brand-new trailer for the Dawn of the Hunt date, which gave us more insight into the story surrounding the Path of Exile 2 update, along with a massive list of everything new we can expect. But first, check out the new gameplay trailer that dropped during today’s live stream for a deeper look at the Huntress and some new mechanics.

New Class – The Huntress

The Huntress class is also confirmed to arrive with the 0.2.0 update. Unfortunately, it looks like we’ll be waiting a while for the Druid, which many players hoped would also be featured in this update.

During the GGG livestream, we got an in-depth look at gameplay for the Huntress class. One key highlight is that she’ll bring in a brand-new parry ability, mixing up combat gameplay. In total, the Huntress brings in 20 new skills for players to uncover, including Hit and Run, Savage Counterattacks, and Primal Fury.

Huntress Ascention Class Options

When she arrives with the Path of Exile 2 0.2.0 update, the Huntress will have two Ascenation Class options. Here’s what we know about them so far.

The Ritualist takes a wild on the wild side of Azmeri tradition, using animal sacrifices to increase her own power by absorbing that of defeated prey.

Meanwhile, the Amazon Ascendancy is designed for players who want to hunt more than just animals, with skills designed to take her traditional fighting abilities to the next level.

New Ascenency Classes

In addition to the brand-new class, the Path of Exile 2 Dawn of the Hunt update brings in new Ascendancies for three current classes. As previously teased, we will get a new Ascendancy for the Warrior, Mercenary, and Witch classes. Along with the images previously shown off in teasers, we now have the official names for the three new Ascenancies:

• New Warrior Ascendancy – Smith of Kitava
• New Mercenary Ascendancy – Tactician
• New Witch Ascendancy – Lich

These join with the two new Huntress Ascendancies to bring five new options to Path of Exile 2.

New Skills, Supports, and Items

Along with the new classes, the Path of Exile 2 Dawn of the Hunt update will bring in a whole host of new skills, support gems, and items for players to use. The new skills include a Raise Spectre ability that lets you summon enemy souls in combat, while the Summon Rhoa ability brings a friendly Rhoa mount into combat with you.

There are also over 100 new support gems and new items, meaning there will be a lot for players to explore once the update arrives on April 4th.

New Endgame Maps

The Dawn of the Hunt update for Path of Exile 2 will introduce seven new endgame maps, three of which have been officially revealed. The new maps showed during the livestream are:

• The Fractured Lake
• The Ezomyte Megaliths
• The Silent Cave

In addition to these areas, players will find five additional new maps as they explore the new content.

New Encounters & Mechanics

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The livestream also covered a few new types of encounters that will arrive with the update. The new encounters are:

• Azmerian Wisps, which flee and infuse themselves into other monsters, making them stronger
• Rogue Exiles, who will challenge you to a fight to the death
• Four New Unique Strongbox Encounters, including The Ogham’s Legacy and Ixchel’s Torment

The update also introduces new mechanics, including an endgame ability to cleanse corruption from certain maps. The new mechanics featured in today’s Path of Exile livestream are:

• Cleanse the Corruption after defeating powerful bosses at a Corrupted Nexus
• Corrupted Essences to create new, unpredictable outcomes

There is truly a ton of new content to look forward to when the massive 0.2.0 update arrives in Path of Exile 2 on April 4th. The developers did also clarify that players will be able to continue their current character if they would like, though they do encourage players to consider starting a new character to check out the updated league. The full patch notes for the update are set to drop next week, so we’ll have the complete list of changes arriving with the 0.2.0 update then.

Are you planning to play the new Huntress class or do you have your eye on a new Ascendancy for this Path of Exile 2 update? Let us know in the comments below!