5 Path of Exile 2 skills have already been nerfed since release
Within a week of release, the developer has deemed multiple skills in Path of Exile 2 to be in an "unacceptable balance state," with the latest one being Raging Spirits. Nerfs are always bad news for at least a fragment of the playerbase, as some will find their mid-game progression or endgame performance curbed by the reductions. Yet, considering the game is in early access, it's natural that developers want to calibrate it to some standard of balance.
The developer feels that these early days are the best opportunity to dish out the initial series of nerfs for the greater good, saying:
"As much as we are trying to avoid nerfing skills and builds, it is better to do this early before it feels obligatory to use the skill. It is important that a wide variety of skills feel viable and fun to play and it simply diminishes all other abilities when one is clearly outshining the others like this."
All Path of Exile 2 skills that have been nerfed as of December 10, 2024
Path of Exile 2 developers are staying transparent with regard to what skills they find overtuned. In a series of X posts since release, they explained which ones have been (or are) under their crosshair before the nerf-hammer is delivered. The following skills have been inflicted with said hammer thus far:
Supercharged Slam
This Warrior (Mace) skill deals damage based on how long you channeled to build up its Stages. Due to a rather fast channeling time required for each stage, it was dealing "far too much damage" according to the developers. The base damage of the skill was reduced by 60% in Path of Exile 2 0.1.0 Hotfix 6, with plans to address channel time thresholds for each stage in a future patch.
Magnetic Salvo
Magnetic Salvo is an interesting one because it requires pre-existing lightning projectiles stuck on enemies or in terrain. This late-game Ranger (Bow) skill thus needs some setup before they can dish out the damage, but even then it was found far too powerful. Its damage was nerfed by 40% in 0.1.0 Hotfix 8.
Gas Arrow, Gas Grenade
These two spells were both nerfed not because they were too damaging, but because of how easy it was to meet its detonation triggers. Right now, persistent lingering fire spells like Flame Wall can detonate them. Their damage was nerfed massively in Path of Exile 2 patch 0.1.0b:
- Gas Grenade's explosion base damage was reduced to 150%-468% at gem level 1-20 (previously 240%-749%).
- Gas Arrow's explosion base damage was reduced to 100%-312% at gem levels 1-20 (previously 250%-780%).
However, the developers wish to revisit this later. Instead of making it flat damage on the skills themselves, they will make these deal damage based on the potency of the Ignite spell used to detonate them.
Raging Spirits
The holdover of the fan-favorite SRS spell from the first game, this Skill Gem was nerfed in Path of Exile 2 hotfix 0.1.0c such that it can only summon five Raging Spirits per cast. This is the first Buff Gem to be nerfed, but there's a post-scriptum that may worry some players who are building around Metagems:
"After this hotfix, we will be making adjustments to other Trigger Meta-Gems. In particular, we are going to be moving towards it being that you will not be able to apply very weak ailments from low level abilities to build energy."
If you're using the unified Energy system shared by Buff Gems to make Cast-on-X builds, now is the time to recalibrate your ideas as more nerfs of this fashion are likely to hit sooner rather than later. On the plus side, though, the developers are committed to making the early-game experience better for new players. It started with "unlucky drop protection" changes in a recent patch, but GGG has no plans to introduce phasing during dodge-roll.
Check out our other guides on the game:
- Path of Exile 2 Beginner tips
- Path of Exile 2 Crafting guide
- Path of Exile 2 class tier list for beginners
- Path of Exile 2 Keystone passives