Welcome, Exiles, to the spoiler season for Path of Exile upcoming patch 3.22! In this guide, we'll dive into 3 exciting teasers: Trauma Support, Unending Nightmare and New Atlas Expansion. These additions promise to bring new and intriguing gameplay mechanics to your builds and farming strategies. And changes, improvements, and new mechanics that this update brings to the Atlas, shedding light on what players can expect from this highly anticipated expansion.

 

• Trauma Support: Unleash the Power of Bone Shatter
• Unending Nightmare: A New Delirium Keystone
• The Evolution of Atlas Expansions
• A Shift in Approach

 

↖ Trauma Support: Unleash the Power of Bone Shatter

Trauma Support is a skill gem that offers a unique twist to the bone shatter mechanic. If you've ever desired bone shatter's specific scaling combined with flicker strike, then this gem is for you. However, it may not work well with multi-strike, as Bone Shatter doesn't favour this support.

 

The gem provides a significant amount of physical damage to attacks, similar to Bone Shatter, along with backlash damage. Additionally, its damage multiplier increases based on the number of trauma debuff stacks you have. To determine its full potential, we need to know if it causes a Shockwave pulse like Bone Shatter when stunning an enemy. It appears from the teaser video that it may not, but further confirmation is needed.

 

Notably, Trauma Support may synergize amazingly with Facebreaker gloves due to its added attack physical damage. If this synergy exists, Facebreaker builds with Trauma Support could become incredibly powerful.

 

Moreover, Trauma Support's alternate qualities may bring exciting possibilities. If it offers cubic scaling similar to Divergent Bone Shatter, the gem could unlock entirely different build opportunities, especially for Juggernaut, Slayer, or Trickster ascendancies.

 

↖ Unending Nightmare: A New Delirium Keystone

Unending Nightmare introduces a new Keystone that has sparked both curiosity and debate. This Keystone turns delirium mirrors into more manageable delirium maps, making it a great option for players who can't handle 100 Delirious Maps effortlessly.

 

The trade-off for using Unending Nightmare is losing the ability to find simulacrum splinters or delirium orbs in your maps. However, it can be beneficial in various scenarios:

• Farming divination cards in maps with tricky layouts (e.g., defiled Cathedral, Haunted Mansion).
• Running maps with already corrupted drops, especially when the delirium mirror spawns more than 50% of the time.
• Pairing with eight-mod corrupted rare Elder Guardian occupied maps from the Divination card "The Price of Protection."
• Keep in mind that Unending Nightmare may change your evaluation of other Atlas passive tree support for the delirium mechanic. Whether you use it temporarily or incorporate it into your permanent build, experimenting with this Keystone can yield intriguing results.

 

↖ The Evolution of Atlas Expansions

Before delving into the specifics of Patch 3.22, let's briefly review the history of Atlas expansions in Path of Exile. Over the years, Grinding Gear Games has released major overhauls to the endgame system. Patch 2.4 introduced the Atlas of Worlds, which added the Shaper and his mini-bosses, Sextants, and shapeable map tiers. Patch 3.1 followed with the War for the Atlas expansion, introducing the Elder encounter, Uber Elder, and region-specific Atlas passive trees. Subsequent patches, like 3.9 and 3.13, continued to overhaul and transform the Atlas.

 

↖ A Shift in Approach

However, in a recent Q&A, Grinding Gear Games revealed a change in their approach. They only aim to hold back major Atlas improvements once a complete overhaul is ready. Instead, they now release incremental changes as they become available, integrating them into each new expansion.

 

Patch 3.18: Atlas Keystones	The 3.18 update brought a host of Atlas keystones to the passive tree, with a focus on endgame content. Players received 20 new Atlas keystones, some dedicated to Uber Pinnacle bosses, while others offered unique benefits and playstyle alterations. These changes paved the way for more specialized Atlas strategies.
Patch 3.19: Atlas Memories	The 3.19 update introduced Atlas memories, aiming to provide a taste of different Atlas experiences. While some memories fell short of expectations, others resulted in significant loot drops. It was an experimental feature that added depth to the endgame but had room for improvement.
Patch 3.20: Enhanced Atlas Support	Patch 3.20 focused on enhancing Atlas support for existing mechanics like Heist, Legion, and Ritual. This update bolstered passive tree options and provided players with more choices for tackling these mechanics.
Patch 3.21: Gateways	The 3.21 update brought gateways to the Atlas, allowing players to traverse quickly between distant regions. While some players found them costly and situational, they added an interesting dimension to Atlas exploration.
Patch 3.22: The New Atlas Expansion	Now, with the highly anticipated Patch 3.22, we can expect another season full of Atlas keystones. This time, the focus shifts towards accessibility, as these keystones will be obtainable earlier in progression. The update includes 20 new Atlas keystones, with one already confirmed to triple the radius of Expedition bombs but restricts players to using only one bomb. These new keystones will transform familiar Atlas content, providing players with unique playstyle options and upsides balanced with corresponding downsides.

 

Conclusion:

Path of Exile's patch 3.22 looks promising with the introduction of Trauma Support and Unending Nightmare. As more details and gameplay information emerge, keep an eye out for the potential of these new additions to shape your character builds and farming strategies. May your journeys in Wraeclast be filled with excitement and rewards!