Changes to the Labyrinth

The decision to remove the Cruel and Merciless difficulties with the launch of Path of Exile: The Fall of Oriath has a lot of tangentially-related changes associated with it. One of the largest is how the Labyrinth ties into gameplay and the new layout of the world.

Currently, there is one version of the Labyrinth per difficulty, each granting two ascendancy points, with a final Labyrinth found through maps that brings the total of ascendancy points to eight. The ascendancy trees were designed from the start to accommodate eight points, and specifically that those points be distributed in groups of two. Each time you gain ascendancy points you have the potential to reach a new major ascendancy passive.

We want to maintain this structure for The Fall of Oriath. There will still be four total Labyrinths, they'll each award two ascendancy points, and they will each require you to complete a series of trials, though the total number of trials is being reduced.

You'll still need to complete six trials to gain access to the Aspirants' Plaza via the Sarn Encampment. From here you will be able to access all four versions of the Labyrinth, as long as you have fulfilled their requirements. The requirements for all of the Labyrinths as of The Fall of Oriath will be:

• Normal-equivalent Labyrinth: Six trials.
• Cruel-equivalent Labyrinth: Three trials, as well as completion of the previous Labyrinth.
• Merciless-equivalent Labyrinth: Three trials, as well as completion of both previous Labyrinths.
• Endgame Labyrinth: Six trials, as well as completion of all previous Labyrinths.

These requirements will all be displayed on a UI similar to the master-crafting benches. The UI will show the trials you still need to complete for each Labyrinth, including the Endgame one.

Because the point at which you may unlock the second and third labyrinths are going to differ (you won't necessarily be anywhere near the Sarn Encampment), the Aspirants' Plaza will have a Waypoint that, once activated, lets you return to it at any time.

Much of the feedback we've received since the Labyrinth was added focused on the length and difficulty of the Labyrinth itself, so for the first Labyrinth we are removing some of the areas in the leadup to each fight with Izaro. You will still fight Izaro three times, but the time between each fight will be significantly shorter. This also means that a failed run will generally feel less bad, since you'll be able to regain lost ground more quickly. We will also be looking at ways to simplify certain mechanics in the earliest Labyrinth.

You may also gain access to later Labyrinths at different levels to what is currently the case, so we'll be trying to ensure that the Labyrinth areas line up with the expected levels of the players running them.

For Labyrinth speed-runners, the way we handle tracking your run will change as well. Your run will count as having been started from the moment you choose which Labyrinth you want to run. As soon as you do that, the door opens and the timer begins.

To summarise: though the moment-to-moment Labyrinth gameplay will be much the same in 3.0.0, the amount of time you spend accessing and running through the early labyrinths will be significantly shorter, simpler, and you'll be able to access all versions of the Labyrinth from the Aspirants' Plaza.