Path of Exile 2 Patch Notes 0.5.2: a whole section on softening monsters

What changes

• The Prismatic Rune in Remnant Encounters no longer provides Always Shocks to Monsters, and the resistances granted to Monsters by this has been reduced. It also now provides All Damage contributes to Flammability and Ignite Magnitude to Monsters. The damage gained as a random element benefit has been removed, but this is still present when Empowered by a Power Rune.

Fixes and additions

• Significantly improved the rewards from Remnant Encounters Tier 14 Maps and above. Many of the 3 slot runic inscriptions no longer appear at these levels, or have a reduced chance to appear from Tier 10 Maps onwards.
• Runefather's Alloy and Runebinder's Alloy are now found as 8 slot runic inscription rewards in Remnant Encounters.
• Bond Rune in Remnant Encounters has been changed. It still causes Rare monsters in each wave to transfer Modifiers on Death, however it now spawns fewer Rare Monsters overall (especially when paired with a Power Rune) but the number of Modifiers the Rare Monsters can have goes up per wave.
• Every section of the Ocean revealed by an Expedition Logbook is now guaranteed to contain at least one Grand Expedition.
• The Runemastered Ornate Ringmail Body Armour basetype now has 725 Armour, 206 Energy Shield, and 130 Ward (previously 210 Armour, 60 Energy Shield, 112 Ward).
• The Runemastered Venerable Defender Shield basetype that provides Energy Shield now has Energy Shield values of 135 (previously 56).
• Farrow can now be invited to your Hideout in the Runes of Aldur Leagues.
• Added Quest markers to the Runesmithing Knowledge interactables in Acts 2, 3, 4 and Logbooks to draw attention to them.
• The Journey to the East Quest item now provides more direction on what to do with it, and can now only be turned in to Dannig in the Ruins of Kingsmarch.
• Transcendent Alloy can no longer be applied to Foci and Wands.
• Rog no longer continues appearing at the end of the Uhtred fight if you have already spoken to him there.
• Dannig no longer continues appearing at the end of the Olroth fight if you have already spoken to him there.
• Tujen no longer continues appearing at the end of the Vorana fight if you have already spoken to him there.

What changes

• The Partial Translations Atlas Master option has been redesigned. Instead of granting 20% chance for double effect of Explicit Modifiers on Tablets, it now grants Randomly gain between 0 and 40% increased effect of Explicit Modifiers on Tablets.
• Mortuary Map, which is only available through the Unexpected Missions Jado Atlas Master option now allows you to replace a Limb (the same as in Atziri's Temple) at the end of the Map Boss Fight.

Fixes and additions

• Added a new On the Wind multichoice Keystone Atlas Passive, granting the option between Azmeri Spirits with 50% increased Movement Speed, or Azmeri Spirits no longer dematerialising when there are no players nearby.
• Added various indicators to help guide players to use an Ancient Mechanism after defeating the Arbiter of Divinity.
• Queen's Rituals from the Mysterious Rites Atlas Passive now have 10 additional Omens in the first set of Favours.
• The Mysterious Rites Atlas Passive now describes all of the other bonuses the Queen's Ritual previously had as well.
• Added a new Necrotic Catalyst which adds quality that enhances Minion Modifiers on a Ring or Amulet. There is also a Refined Necrotic Catalyst, both of which are available through the Genesis Tree.
• Added a quick-action menu to the Endgame Map when playing with a controller. Press-hold X/Square with the Endgame Map open to show this menu.

Fixes and additions

• Halved the amount of Toughness that Unique Enemies in the Fog gain during Delirium Encounters.
• Halved the amount of Increased Damage that Normal, Magic and Rare Enemies in the Fog gain during Delirium Encounters.
• Delirium Shards on the Bar now spawn when you get to the correct depth, as opposed to slightly earlier. They also now placed better when spawning to be less likely to be directly on the players location.
• Delirium Mirror Shards spawned from hitting depth targets on the Bar no longer persist after a Delirium encounter ends.

What changes

• Significantly reduced the damage on the Chaos Beam from the It That Hates Breach Monster. They also no longer fire chaos projectiles at range, and instead now uses a Melee combo if you are in a close proximity.

Fixes and additions

• Azmadi, the Faridun Prince's dashes can no longer hit twice, and their dash skills have been adjusted so they aren't used on targets in melee range.
• Siora, Blade of the Mists now has more wind-up time on her Cyclone and Chaos Strike Skills. Their Cyclone skill is now unblockable (red flash), while the Chaos Strike can now be blocked. The damage of their Lighting Strike skill, Cyclone skill, melee attacks and combos has been reduced, and a cooldown has also been added to their melee combo skill. These changes also apply to variations of this boss.
• The Diamora, Song of Death and Syvora, Daughter of the Deep Boss fights now only have a single petrification phase.
• Lowered the life of Jamanra, the Abomination by roughly 17%.
• Reduced the damage of Veynar, the Frostbane's Cascading Slam skill, this change also applies to variations of this boss.
• Reduced the damage of the Cannon Barrage and both Slam skills used by Malgor, the Nautilord. This also applies to variations of this boss.
• Reduced the damage of the Flame Geysers and both Slams skills used by Serath, the Scaled One. This also applies to variations of this boss.
• Significantly reduced the damage of Chaos Volatiles from Ritual Altar encounters and Monster Modifiers.
• Reduced the damage of the Hand Slam skill used by the Tendril Sentinel Monster.
• Reduced the damage of the laser attack from the Cecaelian Ravager Runic Monster as well as reducing the damage of its Slam attack.
• Reduced the damage of the Fireball skill used by the Krell Skullcrawler Runic Monster.
• Reduced the damage of the melee combo used by the Starlit Harvester Runic Monster.
• Reduced the damage of the Snipe skill used by the Cultist Archer Monster.
• Reduced the damage of the channeled cold beam skill used by the Blackblooded Elite Abyss Monster.
• Reduced the damage of the Fire beam skill from the Lightless Vengewing Abyss Monster.
• Reduced the damage of the shade form explosion from the Lightless Moray Abyss Monster as well as its flamethrower attack.
• Reduced the damage of the Slam and Lightning Strike skills used by the Strider of the Pit Abyss Monster.
• Reduced the damage of the Electric Lightning Flail skill used by Delirium Monsters with the Scatter Storm Modifier.
• Reduced the damage of the triple Slam skill used by the Fury Delirium Monster.
• Reduced the damage and attack speed of the Pure Fury Delirium Monster.
• Significantly reduced the damage of the Rage and Malice Delirium Monsters.
• Fireballs shot by turrets in the Trials of the Sekhemas no longer create an invisible area of effect explosion when they collide with something.

What changes

• Delwyn is now found once again, closer to the Hunting Grounds entrance, instead of inside of a wall somewhere else in the level.

Fixes and additions

• The Spirit Walker's Bear Spirit companion now has a base presence radius of 8 metres (previously 4 metres).
• The Smash to Smithereens Skill, granted by the Facebreaker Unique Gloves when transformed by the Martial Artist's Way of the Stonefist Passive Skill, now explicitly states that it has no sockets.
• The Zarokh's Gift Passive Skill now grants a Sinister Jewel Socket (previously Jewel Socket).
• The Ice Storm Notable Passive now has 15% reduced Effect of Chill on you, and 15% increased Magnitude of Chill you inflict. It no longer provides Unaffected by Chilled Ground, which was non-functional.
• The Lightning Storm Notable Passive now has 15% reduced Effect of Shock on you, and 15% increased Magnitude of Shock you inflict. It no longer provides Unaffected by Shocked Ground, which was non-functional.
• Bitter Dead now has a base Critical Strike chance of 12%.
• Effects that prevent players from recovering Life, Mana or Energy Shield except in specific ways, such as Vaal Pact, Cat O' Nine Tails or Indigon, no longer prevent recovery caused by core game systems (including but not limited to: checkpoints, healing wells, levelling up). This also means that changing areas while you have one of these effects can no longer cause you to lose Life, Mana or Energy Shield. Effects that prevent all forms of recovery (such as Lich's Eternal Life) have not received this change.
• Flames now point towards the location of the Boss in The Azak Bog upon completing the Flameskin Ritual in the area.
• Azmerian Wisps will now choose a nearby target when they are released from a Monster, as opposed to a random one.
• Devour can no longer consume living players. Liches are friends, not food!
• Improved the visibility of Rogue Exiles, as well as their behaviour. They should now also not have their Life Bars appear when they are so far away.
• Improved Conductive Runes' description to explicitly state that its damage is not based on your weapon's damage.
• An effect is now played on characters when gaining a Shrine buff.

Fixes and additions

• Fixed a bug where The Runeseeker Quest in Act 3 could not be completed when playing on your second character in that league.
• Fixed a rare case where the Immured Fury Quest Map could be hidden in the fog of war.
• Fixed a bug where Atlas Passive Tree Skills were sometimes not displaying their Quest requirements.
• Fixed a bug where Ailith's Quest Breachstone reward did not appear while the Atlas UI was open.
• Fixed an issue where Unique items dropped by Pinnacle Bosses were not allocated to the Map owner.
• Fixed a bug where the Verisium Anvil would not preview the effects of Augments when Runeforging.
• Fixed a bug where all versions of Runemastered Eyes of the Runefather were Bucklers, rather than only the version with Parry.
• Fixed a bug where you would be unable to see the "A Garment of Rings" dialogue option with Dannig if you had migrated from Solo Self-Found or Hardcore without also migrating your league process and stashes.
• Fixed a bug where Swift Alloy was not obtainable as a runic inscription reward.
• Fixed a bug where Warding Rune of Nourishment was not obtainable as a runic inscription reward.
• Fixed a bug where Conductive Runes would deal no damage if you had certain two handed weapon types equipped.
• Fixed a bug where Conductive Runes' damage did not scale with modifiers to hazard damage.
• Fixed a bug where Tor Gul, the Defiler could get stuck and become unable to use skills in certain situations.
• Fixed a bug where Vastweld, the Colossal Guardian in the Forge Map could not be damaged until it moved.
• Fixed a bug where you could still enter the Hive Fortress after failing the encounter.
• Fixed a bug that caused Deliriousness to not be added on killing Rare or Unique monsters in Maps within Fog Banks.
• Fixed a bug where you could be teleported out of Ritual encounters when fighting The Fungus Behemoth.
• Fixed a rare issue where certain Maps would spawn only one variety of Monster packs.
• Fixed an issue where some Martial Artist Fist of Stone Modifier descriptions were not correctly appearing, even though they would still apply.
• Fixed a bug where the Mist Ravens summoned by The Raven's Flock Unique Staff did not count as allies in your presence.
• Fixed a bug where Fleeing Rogue Exiles sometimes did not drop loot.
• Fixed a bug where Rogue Exiles could sometimes stray from the Essence crystal they were supposed to be contained in.
• Fixed a bug where the Book of Specialisation was delayed in dropping after killing the Mighty Silverfist.
• Fixed a bug where the Transcension Device could present you a limb that you already have.
• Fixed a bug where the Unique Helmet Decree of Acuity did not provide Runic Ward upon Runeforging in the Verisium Anvil.
• Fixed a bug which could cause some skills to be unusable in Abyssal Depths.
• Fixed a bug which could cause triggered skills to be invisible while shapeshifted in Abyssal Depths. This was most commonly encountered with Shred's Ice Fragments.
• Fixed a bug where Warbringer's Warcaller's Bellow Ascendancy Passive Skill could sometimes explode the same corpse an unlimited number of times.
• Fixed a bug where Aldur's Legacy could not be socketed into the Runeseeker's Call Unique Runic Fork.
• Fixed a bug where Briarpatch could not be supported by Support Gems that require Skills to deal damage.
• Fixed a bug where Support Gems that cause Skills to consume Charges, or Armour Break or Elemental Ailments on an enemy, were not mutually exclusive with other Support Gems that consume the same thing.
• Fixed a bug where a number of Support Gems that add Charge-consumption behaviour to Skills did not allow Support Gems that modify Charge consumption to be socketed into the Skill.
• Fixed a bug where some Minions could not be supported by Minion Splash.
• Fixed a bug where the small Passive Skills leading up to the Everlasting Infusions and Empowering Infusions Notable Passive Skills were swapped.
• Fixed a bug where the Skeletal Brute's Shattering Roar command skill did not intimidate enemies.
• Fixed a bug where the Quality bonus granted to Molten Blast by the Gemling Legionnaire's Advanced Thaumaturgy Passive Skill granted 1 less Projectile than intended and displayed on the wrong tab of the Gem.
• Fixed a bug where the Forgotten Wardens' percentage of Damage from Deflected Hits is taken from Damageable Companion's Life before you was not functioning correctly. This fixes the reported case where players using Forgotten Warden with a Stoat Idol socketed into it would die unexpectedly.
• Fixed a bug introduced in 0.5.1 that affected interacting with objects, causing you to move to them rather than interact if you held the button down too long.
• Fixed a bug where some Modifiers, including Alloy modifiers and Liquid Emotion modifiers, did not have any Gold value with vendors.
• Fixed a bug where the Disciple of Varashta's Djinn could display Rage visual effects.
• Fixed a bug where Backwash Map checkpoints did not teleport players to correct location sometimes.
• Fixed an issue where the tradeable An Audience with the King was not available on the Currency Exchange.
• Fixed a bug where searching for Unique items on the in-game market did not work for non-English clients.
• Fixed a bug where some Delirium monsters were missing audio.
• Fixed an issue where The Raven dialogue could be stuck on a specific line when entering Delirium Mirrors.
• Fixed an issue where the character would constantly comment on the delirium fog disappearing. The Mercenary will no longer complain about how ill he is every Map.
• Fixed a bug where Fire-Infused Comet did not deal damage with the Abyssal Comet Skill Effect microtraction equipped.
• Fixed a bug where the Mesmer Pet Microtransaction ability was not working when using a controller.
• Fixed three client crashes.
• Fixed four instance crashes.