Path of Exile - Sacrifice of the Vaal launching next week

A major content update is coming next week for Path of Exile players. Path of Exile: Sacrifice of the Vaal will be shaking up a great deal of the Path of Exile meta-game. In addition to new 'Corrupted' areas that will contain new boss characters, there will be a great deal of item content tied to the lost Vaal civilization. I got to check out a build yesterday and what I saw definitely looks like it will revitalize my interest in Path of Exile.

First up is the new Vaal Skill Gems. For those of you who wanted your skills to do a little something more, these orbs are for you. Vaal Skills take some skills and multiply them to the Nth degree, but require a little bit more effort in order to make use of them. Rather than consume mana, these skills consume souls that are acquired by killing enemies. 

The Vaal have also left valuable orbs for players to find, and these Vaal Orbs are going to add a new dimension to the item meta-game that Path of Exile already boasts. These orbs will now 'Corrupt' any item they are used on, and in doing so, random attributes can be added to the item, or nothing could happen at all. This includes changing the slots for gems, with the potential for adding the rare 'White Socket' to an item. They can also be used on skills too, giving players the potential to break the level cap on those skills. Last but not least, these orbs can even be used on maps, giving players the chance to increase the difficulty on those maps, in exchange for better items.

There will be new Leagues added in Sacrifice of the Vaal as well, the first being the new brutal Cut-throat League, that allows players to interact with each other Ultima style, making it possible to lose their gear at the hands of other players. The other new League is the Invasion League, and this will prove to be a lot more dangerous to players who like to farm items, as boss characters can appear pretty much anywhere in Wraeclast. For players looking for more PVP but less risk involved, the Sarn Arena will allow for 16-man Free For All battles.

And of course there's more story content, allowing players to learn more about the lost civilization of the Vaal, and defeat their resurrected queen, Atziri. This new content patch will be live on Wednesday, March 6th, and is just the start of a glut of content that will be coming throughout 2014. For more information, visit the Path of Exile website.