Grinding Gear Games has wrapped its reveal stream for Path of Exile: Curse of the Allflame, the next major league update launching July 24. It is one of the more content-dense league announcements in recent memory, touching new endgame mechanics, a foundational system rework that has not been revisited in nearly two decades, a brand new Ascendancy class, permanent Mercenary companions, and sweeping improvements to several legacy mechanics. Here is what matters most.
Plunge into the Depths: The Voyage System
The headline new mechanic coming in Curse of the Allflame sends players underwater using the Bathysphere, an Allflame-powered submersible that descends to the ocean floor under the guidance of corsair captain Valerie and her cursed navigator Vesper. Survival depends on strategically placing Allflame Lanterns, which push back the surrounding water and carve out temporary safe zones. Players harvest Dead Man’s Sulphur from coral formations, complete timed encounters before the lanterns fade, and retreat to the Bathysphere when the darkness and the creatures inside it close in.
Every completed dive logs a Chart in Valerie’s journal, and those Charts can be arranged into a single interconnected expedition spanning the ocean floor, with up to nine Charts forming one Voyage. Each Chart brings its own modifier, ranging from converting item drops to Gold, summoning friendly jellyfish, unleashing Tormented Spirits, or introducing entirely new encounter types. Corruption Currents shift randomly between Voyages, altering adjacent Charts and pushing players to experiment with different layouts rather than settle into a fixed pattern. Special Charts can also unlock unique destinations including abandoned anchor fields, lost Kalguuran shipments, and sunken Abyssal pits.
Dead Man’s Sulphur also powers the new Allflame Crafting system aboard The Sovereign. Combining an item, currency, and Sulphur lets Vesper split the item into multiple ghostly possible outcomes, letting players inspect each result before locking in their choice and discarding the rest. It is a meaningful upgrade for high-stakes crafting decisions, with one important catch: each use makes the item progressively more intangible, reducing the number of future outcomes Vesper can generate. Ancient Ducats, found only in the deepest and most dangerous Charts, add further unique crafting options outside any other existing system, including effects that preserve individual modifiers, swap attribute requirements, or apply Aspects drawn from Wraeclast’s ancient gods.
Sockets and Links Reimagined After Two Decades
The socket and link system has been part of Path of Exile since launch, and Curse of the Allflame marks the first time GGG has fundamentally redesigned it in close to twenty years. The change is cleaner than it might sound: players can now freely socket any coloured skill gem into linked equipment regardless of socket colour. Coloured sockets are not gone, but they have been repositioned as a meaningful progression reward through quality bonuses rather than a gating mechanic that punishes off-color builds.
Alongside this, spellcasting receives a comprehensive balance pass that differentiates elemental archetypes, strengthens Intelligence Ascendancies, and significantly buffs caster staves, which have been underserved for a long time. The bigger addition for dedicated spellcasters is a new class of Exceptional Skill Gems called Pacts. Each Pact grants dramatic new behaviors to self-cast spells in exchange for powerful demonic afflictions, opening build possibilities that lean hard into the risk-reward philosophy the game has always been built on.
Mercenaries of Trarthus Return as a Permanent Mechanic
The Mercenaries of Trarthus return in Curse of the Allflame, this time as a permanent core mechanic rather than a limited league system. Starting from Act 3, players can challenge honour-bound warriors to duels, wagering gold for the chance to claim their equipment and earn their temporary service in return. Winning a duel brings the Mercenary into the fight without inflating monster life or item rewards, keeping the balance intact for players who prefer not to over-tune their clear speed.
In Maps, Mercenaries can grant Warrants, allowing that same specific warrior to be summoned again in a future Map with their signature skills and a fresh set of gear. Warrants can also be traded to other players, adding a new dimension to the player economy. The system receives full Atlas Passive Tree and Scarab integration this time around, giving dedicated Mercenary runners more control over encounter frequency and rewards. Several new Mercenary types are also being added, including an elusive warrior found only in rare deep-sea encounters tied to the Voyage system.
The Scion’s Luminary Ascendancy
Built directly on top of the returning Mercenary system is the Scion’s brand new Ascendancy class, the Luminary. Where other players interact with Mercenaries as temporary allies, the Luminary turns them into a permanent army. The Luminary can permanently recruit, equip, and customise Mercenary companions, building a commander-style playstyle that has no real equivalent anywhere in the current game. It is a meaningful expansion for the Scion, who has long felt like the most open-ended but hardest to focus class in Path of Exile, and the Luminary gives her a distinct identity for the first time in a long while.
Everything Else Worth Knowing
The update does not stop there. Abyss has been comprehensively reworked, borrowing improvements from Path of Exile 2 to replace the crack-chasing format with open pits that corrupt nearby enemies. Defeating them feeds souls into the Abyss, culminating in a faster Kulemak encounter with better feedback and no backtracking. Abyss also becomes the exclusive source of Abyssal Jewels and Stygian Vises, gains a new Pinnacle Boss with exclusive Unique rewards, and receives a refreshed Atlas Passive Tree and new Scarabs.
Legion gets an equally significant overhaul with Vestigial Unique Items as its new signature reward. Legion Generals can now drop Enshrouding Crystals that transfer powerful modifiers from one Unique Armour to another within the Domain of Timeless Conflict. Combat now triggers automatically after enough key enemies are freed, Splinter stack sizes are larger, and the reward tracker has been redesigned for clarity. Talismans return as Bestiary-exclusive rewards with enchantment-based modifiers, new crafting potential, and updated Unique Items.
Atlas Anomalies are a new category of endgame location that appear after completing Maps influenced by Voidstones and require no Map to enter. Each Anomaly is a self-contained encounter, from trading with Cadiro Perandus for items using Gold to dedicated versions of mechanics including Reflecting Mists, Heist, Expedition, and the Sacred Grove. They can be revisited until their rewards are claimed, making them a low-friction way to engage with favourite mechanics outside of the standard Map loop.
Two new Supporter Pack series are available for the Curse of the Allflame update, The Plague and Remidus, launch alongside the update with opposing aesthetics of corruption and purification. All cosmetics are purely visual and fully compatible with Path of Exile 2.
