Author: Game Infliction

Path of Exile 2 developer Grinding Gear Games has fully detailed the first major content update since the action RPG’s early access launch last year.

Dawn of the Hunt goes live at 9pm CET on April 4, and adds the new Huntress class. The Huntress is a Spear and Buckler user specialising in hybrid melee and ranged combat. Elsewhere, there are five new ascension classes: the Ritualist, Amazon, Smith of Kitava, Tactician, and Lich.

Players can also expect dozens of new encounters in the endgame, significant mechanical overhauls, over one hundred new unique items as well as significantly expanded crafting options.

The long wait for the Path of Exile 2 early access launch finally came to an end when it released on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X and S on December 6, 2024. It saw massive success, securing its place as the 15th most-played game Steam game ever.

But the game ran into issues, both technical and in design. GGG has worked to update the game in the months since, culminating in next month’s Dawn of the Hunt release.

At the same time, GGG continues to operate the first Path of Exile game, which still enjoys a healthy playerbase on Steam, as a live service. But this has proved challenging. In January, GGG was forced to apologize to fans of the first game after putting a new update on hold until a crucial update for Path of Exile 2 was released.

Meanwhile, Path of Exile 2 has found itself embroiled in an online dispute that revolves around X / Twitter owner Elon Musk’s admission that he paid someone to boost his account. When contacted by IGN, Grinding Gear Games declined to comment.

Here’s everything you need to know on Path of Exile 2 Dawn of the Hunt:

Obliterate your enemies with the hybrid ranged and melee Huntress

Step into the bloodstained boots of the Huntress, a dexterous and ferocious spear-wielding warrior. Banished from her homeland, she now stalks her prey using both ranged spear throws and close combat attacks. Her brutal arsenal is designed to make combat feel like a relentless pursuit, always in motion, moving into and out of melee range at a moments notice.

The Huntress can also Parry incoming attacks from monsters, stunning them before following up with one of several counterattacks. For example, use Disengage after a Parry to quickly jump back, gaining a Frenzy charge, then follow up with an empowered spear throw.

Stalk your prey with an array of elemental spear attacks that empower the Huntress to use some of the longest combo chains we have created on any class.

Create mayhem with five new ascendancy classes
With five new Ascendancy Classes, Dawn of the Hunt introduces fresh new ways to expand your build options.

• Ritualist (Huntress) – The Ritualist sacrifices flesh and blood, unleashing corrupted lifeforce upon their foes. She delved into the forbidden depths of Azmeri traditions, wielding blood sacrifice and plague as weapons
• Amazon (Huntress) – A peerless hunter who thrives on precision and elemental fury. The Amazon Ascension forges warriors into elite hunters, sworn to protect Azmeri Elders with lethal precision.
• Lich (Witch) – The Lich tears their own soul apart, becoming a master of undeath and chaos. The Lich is a master of Chaos and Curses who can use her own life to enhance her Energy.
• Smith of Kitava (Warrior) – The Smith of Kitava forges weapons of destruction in fire and suffering. Embrace sheer power and take Smithing skills to greater heights by resonating with the insatiable one – Kitava.
• Tactician (Mercenary) – the Mercenary Tactician brings military-grade brutality to the battlefield. As a former trained Blackguard Elite, the Tactician is able to decimate the monsters of Wraeclast while earning a healthy income at the same time.

Sharpen your arsenal with new skill and support gems
As well as 20 New Spear Skills designed for the huntress, we have two other much anticipated abilities.

• Raise Spectre – This skill lets you trap and summon the souls of almost any monster in the game. With hundreds of monster variants in Path of Exile 2, expect endless experimentation to find the perfect undead army.
• Summon Rhoa Mount – Call forth a Rhoa to fight by your side or mount it to move at full speed while attacking. But beware, taking too much damage can knock you off, leaving you vulnerable to a brutal fate.

This expansion also brings a massive overhaul to character development by adding over 100 new Support Gems to enhance build diversity. Support gems add a variety of interesting effects to your existing skills, modifying them in game changing ways.

For example, Haemocrystals turn bleed effects into explosive Vaal crystals, and Caltrops allow your existing skills to litter the battlefield with slowing hazards.

Unlock greater potential with Over 100 new Unique Items
Dawn of the Hunt brings a stronger focus on Mid and Endgame Unique items, ensuring high-level characters have more thrilling bounty to chase.

Unbridled power awaits with new crafting tools
New crafting tools have been introduced as rewards across many areas of the game:

• Over 20 new runes have been added allowing you to craft new mods onto your gear
• Runes now scale with multiple tiers, allowing for stronger mods that remain viable in the endgame.
• We’re expanding crafting options further by introducing more specialized socketable mods, with the first wave arriving in the upcoming content update.

Darkness lurks ahead
The Azmeri Spirit has made itself present in Wraeclast. When approached, these wisps will flee, and monsters it comes into contact with will be infused by it, making them more powerful. Wisps will also find and possess Rare or Unique monsters, granting them powerful new abilities, and powerful new rewards. There are twelve distinct types of wisp, each with their own mechanics and rewards.

New Maps
Dawn of the Hunt adds eight new Maps offering fresh challenges and rewards. Each of them come with interesting new encounters.

Be forced to fight mirrored Rare monsters in a shifting, warped reality in The Fractured Lake, or be thrust into the wild Ezomyte Forests of The Phaaryl Megaliths where rune-carved stones surge with energy. Survive the storm-fueled gauntlet of deadly boss waves, and you’ll earn full boss rewards and exclusive Runes

Unique Strongboxes

Find four new Unique Strongboxes, each with deadly mechanics and valuable rewards.

• Ogham’s Legacy features a rune-carved stone and a slain creature that, when activated, revives as a powerful Rare. Each defeat triggers another resurrection with added modifiers making the fight progressively more difficult, but also more rewarding.
• Ixchel’s Torment harnesses ancient Vaal thaumaturgy, unleashing Chaos-empowered guardians to protect a powerful artifact. Victors will be rewarded with a unique item featuring a specific Corrupted outcome.

Corrupted Essences

Essences receive major upgrades, with four new Corrupted Essences – Hysteria, Delirium, Horror, and Insanity – offering new combat mechanics and powerful new crafting outcomes, such as guaranteed double Enchantments when using a Vaal Orb on belts.

Cleanse the Corruption
Corruption has continued to spread throughout Wraeclast and has formed into larger and larger zones. In the centre of each one lies a Corrupted Nexus, the home of three new terrifying bosses, amalgamations of Corruption itself.

Upon defeating these bosses, any remaining areas within the zone of Corruption will become cleansed. Cleansed Maps have additional new monsters, a new boss and their own set of Modifiers and rewards.

Duel with Rogue Exiles
On your travels you will sometimes encounter Rogue Exiles – others like you who have been exiled and are openly hostile. They will challenge you – a fight to the death. These Exiles have capabilities to Dodge Roll, avoid your abilities with smart pathfinding, smart-targeting, and much more action-packed gameplay. Rogue Exiles use the same skills available to players, and even the same items. They aren’t just dressed up in those items, they know how to take advantage of the Uniques they are using.

Of course, if you are able to slay these Exiles, those items will all drop on the ground!

Dynamic improvements to endgame
Dawn of the Hunt significantly rebalances the endgame. The number of towers has been drastically reduced but they have been made much more powerful. Tablets now affect twice as many areas and running higher tier Maps in Towers increases this number further still. In addition, each Tower will be able to consume up to three Tablets at once.

These changes significantly reduce the amount of busy work required in endgame while improving your ability to use them. On top of that, Towers can now spawn with all mechanics, and have their own new Bosses!

Prepare for the Hunt
Rise as a hunter, or fall as prey on April 4th. The Dawn of the Hunt content update will also be made available in existing Early Access leagues for those wishing to play their existing characters. It is recommended to start anew in a fresh economy to get the full, recommended experience in the Dawn of the Hunt leagues.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

In a space as crowded as the soulslike genre, it can be difficult to stand out, but after two hours with the uber-difficult Wuchang: Fallen Feathers, it seems the folks at Leenzee Games may be onto something. Taking place in a magical reimagining of dynastic China, you play a pirate warrior who has some serious moves, making use of intricate and deadly spells, an arsenal of weapons with potent movesets, and an upgrade tree that’s much more involved than your typical action-adventure game. This makes for an adventure where, more often than not, I felt like the scary badass the rest of the world should be afraid of, rather than the other way around. Of course, the upper limit on just how much I could make myself feel like an overpowered Dynasty Warriors character was my own skill level and understanding of Wuchang’s extremely complex systems, which I could only dive so deep with during my limited demo. But what I’ve seen so far has me quite optimistic.

The main way Wuchang: Fallen Feathers seems to differentiate itself from its peers is that here, instead of a few basic sword moves, a handful of meager spells and abilities, and a tiny health bar, you’re given a pretty extensive toolkit of formidable tools to play with. Each weapon allows you to unleash unique flurries of attacks that send you soaring into the air, darting across the map, and performing insane feats of dexterity that are far beyond what’s possible in most soulslikes. It got to the point where I felt like the area boss stomping my enemies flat, rather than a scared, cautious adventurer facing incredible odds.

That feeling of superiority might have something to do with how those abilities are acquired: by harvesting them from fallen enemies. That’s right! Every defeated foe is more than just a handful of upgrade materials. You actually get to learn their moves and put them to use against future opponents, eventually turning you into a deadly reflection of everyone you’ve bested in battle, and in my time with it I already began to feel like a power-stealing badass in short order. And this was just the opening areas of the adventure too – I can only imagine how wild things get later on when you’re squaring off against more powerful opponents and presumably unlocking even more insane abilities.

Don’t get me wrong: there were still plenty of instances where my eagerness or lack of awareness got me absolutely smashed to pieces, but I also felt like I had way more options for cutting the enemy down to size. For example, one move I was given while wielding a giant ax let me leap straight into the air to ludicrous anime-level heights, then smash down on my opponent, stomping them flat and leaving a minion-shaped impression in the earth. Another weapon, fast moving dual blades, gave me the ability to fire off a bunch of small, sticky explosives every time I dodged, which then exploded doing a small amount of damage, but more importantly, interrupting enemy movement.

These abilities and weapon combos, combined with spells that let me do things like fire off a deadly disc of fire, allowed me to play much more aggressively than I’m accustomed to, and it’s clear there’s just a whole lot more to learn with Wuchang in general. I didn’t have nearly enough time to fully wrap my mind around the various skill trees, ability customization options that let me alter how my weapons functioned, and spellcasting system, but it’s clear this borrows quite a bit from RPGs and will need to be thought through if you want to max out your levels of badassery.

That will be pretty helpful to do too, because of the two bosses I took on in Wuchang, one of them was extremely aggressive and equally beefed up with fancy movesets. It took me quite a few tries to learn her quick, convoluted attack patterns, and master the timing for parrying her attacks, especially in the second half of the fight when each swipe of her blade sent out massive gusts of wind that knocked my on my butt and did way more damage than I thought the wind was capable of. Eventually, though, I stood triumphant against her devilish tricks. Rather than a feeble goon hopelessly outmatched by an enemy clearly above my power level, Wuchang’s boss fights made me feel a lot more like a peer locked in a duel with strong weapons and destructive abilities to see who was more worthy of success.

If there’s one part I didn’t get a completely strong read on, it’s Wuchang’s story, which centers on a disease spreading throughout the lands that drives people mad and makes them sprout feathers. I didn’t see enough to say whether or not this is likely to go the distance, but I will say I’ve lost count of the number of soulslikes in the past few years that have leaned on that incredibly tired trope. I get that having a disease that turns people into monsters offers a pretty easy reason to make everything in the world want to kill you, which is very helpful in this kind of game, but man am I ever tired of seeing it. I’d really like to see Wuchang break free from some of the story cliches in the same way it seems to be switching things up when it comes to combat style.

It’s also worth noting just how visually impressive Wuchang is, which is by no means the norm for the genre. Even if I was dying half a dozen times to the same boss or lost among a sea of disgusting, mutated enemies, I was at least able to content myself with how downright gorgeous everything looked, ruined and deeply troubling as the world was. That said, I did notice somewhat long load times after each humiliating defeat that respawned me back at a checkpoint, and I have to wonder how much of that hang time is owed to the world and characters looking so dang good. In fairness, there’s very little chance this thing’s been optimized enough to be representative of the final product, but since I was playing on a PC that seemed fairly powerful, it’s definitely something I’m going to want to keep an eye on as I check out future builds.

With only a short exploration area and two boss fights to contend with, I only caught a small glimpse at Wuchang: Fallen Feathers, but I already feel pretty good about its chances at being more than just another soulslike to add to the ridiculously overflowing pile. The movesets are intricate and interesting, the RPG mechanics seem deep and offer a lot of freedom (even if I can’t claim to understand some of them fully), and the boss fights gave me a serious run for my money that’s rare these days. All that’s already got me pretty excited to play more.

While Marvel Rivals players have spent months speculating about which heroes will soon join its roster, developer NetEase Games quietly added a Venom twerk emote that lets Spider-Man’s longtime rival throw it back like never before.

Fans of the super hero shooter have been beside themselves today after the version 20250327 update added a mysterious April Fools’ Day reward to the Galacta’s Cosmic Adventure event. It’s almost impossible to believe, but the evidence is undeniable: Venom can really shake it.

Social media has since been flooded with reactions to Venom’s newfound twerking abilities as fans try to cling on to the reality of the situation. It’s perhaps the most tongue-in-cheek thing NetEase has done since Marvel Rivals launched, and it opens the door not only for wackier April Fools’ Day shenanigans but stranger emotes in general, too.

It’s unclear if more April Fools’ Day-themed Marvel Rivals cosmetics are on the way, but if this is the only addition players get, it’s more than enough. It’s not technically available to claim and use just yet, but you can see some leaked footage shared by X/Twitter user @RivalsInfo below.

NEW Venom Twerk Emote In-game 🔥 #MarvelRivals pic.twitter.com/BMbQbk3tuZ

— RivalsInfo (@RivalsInfo) March 27, 2025

ARE WE DEADASS??? Even the game developers agree that venom is a freak istg😭😭😭 https://t.co/O1cTmUhscK

— Bagandži🥾 (COMMS CLOSED) (@Bagandzi) March 27, 2025

Dr Strange player: *opens portal in front of enemy team*
Venom player with the twerk emote: pic.twitter.com/unBjOTx0Uc

— Club_Black (@anima8791) March 27, 2025

Whether you’re a Marvel Rivals player or someone who has been keeping tabs from the sidelines, it’s been nearly impossible to dodge mentions of how “caked-up” Venom is in Marvel Rivals. It’s no doubt one of the team-based multiplayer game’s prevailing memes as post-launch updates continue to roll out, and NetEase has taken notice. Now, the Venom twerk emote will let you and your friends dance on the competition in a whole new way.

How to unlock the free Marvel Rivals Venom twerking emote

Unlocking the Venom twerk emote for yourself is relatively easy – and completely free. All you need to do is head to the Galacta’s Cosmic Adventure event in-game and start chipping away at each of its boardgame-like tiles by completing challenges. Roll enough dice to check every box and nab every reward and you’ll be granted access to what NetEase previously referred to as a “hidden twist surprise.” We now know that the mystery reward is this incredible Venom twerk emote, and it’ll be available to claim (assuming you’ve met those aforementioned requirements) come April 1.