Path of Exile 2 is gearing up for Return of the Ancients and Grinding Gear Games is opening the floodgates on announcements. In a short official video, Mark Roberts, the game’s director, reveals two new unique items rounding out the endgame arsenal: Nightfall, a shield built for aggressive gameplay, and Redemption, a fake crossbow designed to rain grenades. All of this follows the full GGG Live recap that already laid the groundwork for this expansion.
Return of the Ancients reveals two major uniques
Mark Roberts stepped up to introduce two new unique items joining the game with the Return of the Ancients update: Nightfall and Redemption, two endgame-focused pieces of equipment.
Nightfall is a shield. It belongs to Tul, a breach lord who ruled over a frozen, desolate wasteland. Tul was never satisfied with what she had. She looked toward other worlds, wanted more for her brood, and waged war to claim it. Nightfall is designed to give you the same offensive capability as a breach lord.
Redemption is a Trothan weapon of absolute destruction. Both uniques are being added with Return of the Ancients.
Nightfall: the avalanche shield of breach lord Tul
Tul introduces a unique shield named Nightfall. Far from a simple defensive accessory, it becomes the central tool of a brand-new combat mechanic. Everything revolves around the skill Soaring Midnight, which turns the shield into a projectile.
Using Soaring Midnight hurls the shield forward. If you do nothing, it automatically returns to your hand. This is a basic usage mode, enough to keep up pressure at range.
Nightfall, the new unique shield from Return of the Ancients. Tower Shield Fortress, level 84 and 769 Strength required, directly grants the Soaring Midnight skill.
Reactivating Soaring Midnight while the shield is airborne changes everything. You instantly teleport to its position, then slam it into the ground for massive damage. That’s the core combo of Nightfall. The cooldown resets in two situations: catching the shield on its return or destroying ice crystals. In the right conditions, you can chain slams back to back and literally become an avalanche.
The shield is thrown forward, then the player teleports to it for a devastating ground slam. Bonuses visible: +150 Strength required, 18% increased Block Chance, 285% increased Armour, +33% Cold Resistance, and 15% of Fire damage taken as Cold damage.
Redemption: a fake crossbow built for grenades
Redemption is no ordinary weapon. Forged at the height of the Traan Wars, it was crafted for Ratha Aari herself, a warrior of House Aadi. The goal was clear: send a message to rival houses that had the poor idea of doubting the ferocity of the Aadi. That kind of message is delivered in explosions.
Redemption, the grenade crossbow forged for Ratha Aari of House Aadi. Trothan Cannon stats and description visible on the right.
Mechanically, Redemption breaks away from the classic crossbow model. It cannot use standard ammunition skills. Its specialty is everything that explodes: grenades. GGG talks about an « explosive rhythm », a cadence built around successive throws to maximize area damage.
The most surprising detail from the reveal is elsewhere: Redemption is technically not a crossbow. GGG created a brand-new base type for this unique, specifically oriented around grenades. This base type is available in endgame and can be crafted as a rare, with a mod pool dedicated to grenade mechanics. A weapon whose form deceives, but whose purpose is unambiguous. The perfect time to revisit the complete breakdown of patch 0.5 and its reworks before launch.
Explosive Fervor: no-cooldown rampage, available May 29
Once you’ve built up enough carnage with Redemption, the real chaos can begin. Explosive Fervor then triggers and completely changes how you play your grenade skills: cooldowns vanish. You throw, you throw again, no waiting.
The mechanic goes further. If you chain grenades without interruption, your fire rate climbs significantly. The result is brutal: everything in front of you is wiped off the map in seconds. This is rampage mode in its most direct form.
Nightfall and Redemption will be available as endgame unique items in Return of the Ancients. Both drop in endgame, suggesting that this grenadier loop will be reserved for builds that have already progressed. To dig into what the expansion has in store beyond these two uniques, the recap of patch 0.5’s biggest changes remains the most complete read available.
Return of the Ancients launches on May 29. There’s still time to think about your build direction and decide whether no-cooldown grenade spam is the experience you’ve been waiting for since the game launched. The video summary by Kami gives a solid overview in under five minutes.
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