Path of Exile Mirage 3.28 Patch Notes – Full Breakdown of All Major Changes

The Path of Exile Mirage 3.28 Patch Notes introduce extensive balance adjustments across player mechanics, skill gems, support gems, ascendancies, bloodlines, the passive skill tree, unique items and item systems.

Path of Exile Mirage 3.28 Patch Notes

• Player Changes

The 3.28 update brings important core mechanical changes affecting Totems, Intelligence scaling and reflection mechanics.

• The Templar now wakes on the Twilight Strand with Holy Strike as the starting skill gem and Hallow Support as the starting support gem.

• Totem Placement Speed now also scales the speed at which Totems emerge.

• Ranged Attack Totems now have a base placement speed of 0.5 seconds (previously 0.35).

• Channelling Spells such as Lightning Tendrils of Escalation and Blight now channel toward enemies from further away when used by Totems.

•  Intelligence now inherently grants 1% increased Maximum Energy Shield per 10 Intelligence (previously per 5 Intelligence).

• All sources of reduced Reflected Damage Taken have been replaced with a percentage of Damage cannot be Reflected. Some legacy items will still retain the old stats.

Skill Gem Changes

Mirage 3.28 introduces extensive adjustments across minion skills, Brands, totems, melee abilities and channelling mechanics. These changes include numerical tuning, duration updates, effectiveness scaling and mechanical clarifications.

• Minion Skill Adjustments

Several minion-based skills received direct improvements.

Holy Slam, used by Herald of Purity and Dominating Blow Minions, now has 32% more Area of Effect.

Absolution and Absolution of Inspiring now have a base debuff duration of 3 seconds (previously 1) and a base Minion duration of 15 seconds (previously 10). Sentinels of Absolution now have 44% more Area of Effect with their Empowered Lightning Blast skill, which now deals 40% more Damage.

Animate Guardian of Smiting now scales from 0–76% more Damage (previously 0–38%), and its Smite Attack impact radius has increased to 2.1 metres (previously 1.5 metres).

Raised Spectres no longer gain a hidden more Elemental Damage bonus when converting Physical Damage to Elemental. In addition, they now scale their monster level further past gem level 20, with a level 30 Raised Spectre now being level 85 (previously 81).

Summon Holy Relic now grants 9–985 Life regenerated per second to Minions at gem levels 1–20 (previously 9–464).

• Brand Skill Updates

Brand skills have received substantial numerical adjustments.

Penance Brand now deals 10% more Damage at all gem levels and has 520–630% Effectiveness of Added Damage at gem levels 1–20 (previously 470–570%). It no longer has 30% less Damage with Ailments. Quality now provides Deals +0–15% more Damage with Hits against Branded Enemy (previously +0–10%).

Penance Brand of Conduction now activates every 0.1 seconds while Attached (previously 0.15). Its Quality now provides Deals +0–30% more Damage with Hits against Branded Enemy (previously +0–15%).

Penance Brand of Dissipation now activates every 1 second while Attached (previously 0.75). Pulses now deal 20% more Damage with Hits and Ailments per Energy after the first (previously 30%). Quality now provides Deals +0–15% more Damage with Hits against Branded Enemy (previously +0–10%).

Storm Brand now deals 3–10 Lightning Damage at gem level 1 (previously 3–8), scaling to 150–449 at gem level 20 (previously 92–277). Its Effectiveness of Added Damage is now 45–55% at gem levels 1–20 (previously 30% at all levels). Storm Brand now deals 80% more Damage with Hits against Branded Enemy at all levels (previously 80–130%).

Storm Brand of Indecision Quality now provides Deals +0–15% more Damage with Hits against Branded Enemy (previously +0–10%).

• Totem and Channelling Changes

Totem and channelling interactions have been adjusted.

Holy Flame Totem now fires 3–6 Projectiles at gem levels 1–20 (previously 3 at all levels) and now has the AoE gem tag.

Holy Flame Totem of Ire now deals 20% more Damage at all levels and has 40% Effectiveness of Added Damage (previously 35%). It now also has the AoE gem tag.

Channelling Spells such as Lightning Tendrils of Escalation and Blight will now channel toward enemies from further away when used by Totems.

Charged Dash’s description has been clarified to specify that the more Damage while Channelling if Illusion has finished moving only applies to Damage with Hits. This is not a functional change.

Storm Burst now places an orb immediately on casting, rather than after the first channel interval.

• Melee and Area Skill Reworks

Several melee and AoE skills were updated numerically.

Consecrated Path now has 273–468% Effectiveness of Base and Added Damage at gem levels 1–20 (previously 227–417%). Its Quality now provides Deals +0–15% more Damage with Hits to closer targets (previously +0–10%).

Consecrated Path of Endurance Quality now provides Deals +0–15% more Damage with Hits to closer targets (previously +0–10%).

Earthshatter now has an Effectiveness of Added Damage of 158–329% at gem levels 1–20 (previously 171–393%).

Static Strike now has a base enemy zap range of 2.5 metres (previously 2), a base duration of 4 seconds (previously 3), and Beams now deal 30% less Damage (previously 40%).

Sweep has been reworked and is now called Holy Sweep. It swings a two-handed mace or staff in a circle, calling down Holy Hammers that land randomly on a number of enemies struck. Hits from these Holy Hammers cannot be evaded.

Viper Strike of the Mamba now has 30% less Attack Speed if Dual Wielding and each weapon hits separately if Dual Wielding, dealing 20% less Damage. It also now cannot inflict multiple Poisons in the same Hit.

• Additional Skill Adjustments

Detonate Dead of Scavenging now has 70% less Damage with Ailments (previously 60%).

Energy Blade Quality now provides Buff grants 0–10% increased Attack Speed (previously Buff grants 0–5% more Maximum Energy Shield).

Purifying Flame of Revelations now has a Mana cost of 5–20 at gem levels 1–20 (previously 6–25), a base cast time of 0.6 seconds (previously 0.7), and Shockwave now deals 150% more Damage (previously 110%).

Thunderstorm’s explosion now deals 300% more Damage with Hits and Ailments. This was previously described as simply more Damage, but was only applying to Damage from Hits.

Winter Orb projectile speed modifiers now affect the time it takes for projectiles to impact the ground.

Portal can no longer have its casting interrupted by self-damage.

Vaal Gem Changes

Two Vaal skills received direct numerical and scaling improvements in Mirage 3.28.

Vaal Domination:

Ascended Sentinels now gain +2 Sunder radius per stage (previously +1) and deal 300% more Damage (previously 200%).

Vaal Absolution:

Ascended Sentinels now deal 300% more Damage (previously 200%), have a base duration of 20 seconds (previously 15), and gain 44% more Area of Effect with their Lightning Blast cascade skill.

These adjustments significantly increase the burst impact and scaling of both Vaal minion skills.

Support Gem Changes

Mirage 3.28 restructures parts of the Support Gem ecosystem, particularly affecting Awakened gems and interaction rules between upgraded and base versions.

• All Awakened Support Gems can no longer be obtained, except Awakened Empower, Awakened Enlighten and Awakened Enhance.

• The Divination Cards The Cheater and The Desecrated Virtue have been temporarily disabled. Existing versions cannot currently be turned in.

• The Labyrinth craft that exchanged a Support Gem for its Awakened version has been removed.

• The Labyrinth craft that exchanged a Support Gem for a random Exceptional Support Gem now specifies that it grants a random Empower, Enlighten or Enhance.

• Greater versions of Supports no longer function alongside their non-Greater versions. If both are socketed, the Greater version takes priority. Affected examples include:

  • Multiple Projectiles / Greater Multiple Projectiles

  • Volley / Greater Volley

  • Spell Echo / Greater Spell Echo

• Lesser Multiple Projectiles Support has been renamed to Multiple Projectiles Support.

• Autoexertion now reserves 20% Mana (previously 15%).

• Overexertion now grants 7–10% more Damage per Warcry Exerting an attack (previously 12–18%) and 10–14% more Damage if Exerted (previously flat 10%). It no longer displays support for Triggered Attack skills that cannot be Exerted.

  
  

These changes directly impact high-end support gem stacking and progression paths.

Ascendancy Changes

Chieftain

• The Hinekora, Death's Fury Notable now has Enemies you or your Totems Kill have 10% chance to Explode (previously 5%), dealing 250% of their maximum Life as Fire Damage (previously 500%).

Guardian

• Sentinel of Radiance is now permanent and has approximately 36% more Movement Speed (does not persist between areas).

• Harmony of Purpose and similar effects now grant Greater Shrine variants instead of regular Shrines.

• Time of Need now removes Curses and Ailments every 4 seconds.

• Added new Notable: Marshal of Divinity.

Warden

• Lesson of the Seasons now grants -25 Damage taken of each Damage Type from Spell Hits per Bark.

• Avatar of the Wilds now grants 100% more Elemental Damage while Unbound.

Assassin

• Opportunistic now provides Damage cannot be Reflected.

Saboteur

• Perfect Crime now has 30% less Damage with Triggered Spells.

• Like Clockwork now has 50% increased Cooldown Recovery Rate.

• Calculated Risk now makes Damage of Enemies Hitting you Unlucky.

Elementalist

• Liege of the Primordial no longer grants 50% increased Effect of Buffs granted by your Golems.

Ascendant

• Assassin Notable now provides Damage cannot be Reflected.

Bloodline Changes

Bloodline Passive Skills have been adjusted individually.

Aul

• King’s Might, King’s Heritage and King’s Contempt now grant their Aura effects while you have minimum Frenzy, Endurance or Power Charges (previously no charges).

Breachlord

• Otherworldly Appendages renamed to Cryogenesis.

• If Intelligence is highest Attribute, all added Damage is treated as Lightning.

• If Dexterity is highest Attribute, all added Damage is treated as Cold.

Catarina

• Prolonged Servitude now grants Minions 20% more Damage while on Low Life (previously 15%).

Farrul

• Primal Roar now grants 4% increased Attack Speed per Minion, up to 80%.

• Spectral Tigers have 50% less maximum Life but deal slightly more Damage and attack faster.

Lycia

• Sinner Saint now converts 67% of Fire, Cold and Lightning Damage to Chaos (previously 50%).

Nameless

• Unlight Silhouette now grants added Chaos Damage equal to 25% of Life Cost (previously 20%).

Olroth

• Boon of the Mountain now grants 50% less Damage Taken from Damage over Time while Unbroken Ward.

• Boon of the Sun now grants 30% faster Ward Restoration per Enemy Hit taken Recently.

• Enhanced Starlight now grants 70% increased Ward from Equipped Armour Items.

• Ward Shatter has significantly adjusted damage scaling and cooldown.

Oshabi

• Vivid Cat now grants 50% increased effect of Marks while Elusive.

Passive Skill Tree Changes

The Passive Skill Tree receives structural additions and mastery adjustments.

• Two new clusters have been added to the west of the Templar starting area:

  • One granting Accuracy and Effect of Consecrated Ground

  • One granting Accuracy and Attack Area of Effect

  
  

• A new Protection Mastery has been added, providing 50% of Damage from your Hits cannot be Reflected (replacing the previous Mastery that granted 65% reduced effect of Wither on You).

• The Defiled Forces Notable no longer refreshes the Duration of Ignite on Enemies you Curse. Instead, it now grants Curse Skills 15% increased Cast Speed.

• The Evasion and Energy Shield Mastery now grants 1% increased Evasion Rating per 10 Intelligence (previously per 5 Intelligence).

  
  

• The Fire Mastery that previously granted 50% chance to refresh Ignite Duration on Critical Strike has been replaced with a new Mastery granting:

  • +12% to Fire Damage over Time Multiplier

  • 50% increased Ignite Duration on You

  
  

These changes continue the broader shift toward reflection standardization and mastery rebalancing.

Unique Item Changes

A significant number of Unique Items have received numerical adjustments, reworks or mechanical clarifications in Mirage 3.28. Some changes affect existing items, while others only apply to newly dropped versions.

Updated Unique Weapons

• Bino’s Kitchen Knife

• Poison spread radius increased to 3 metres (previously 1.5).

• Nearby Allies now Regenerate 400 Life per second (previously 200).

• Chaos Resistance increased to +17–27% (previously 8–12%).

• Existing items can be updated with a Divine Orb.

  
  

• Bloodseeker

• Now has 200–250% increased Physical Damage (previously 200–220%).

• No longer grants 5% increased Attack Speed or 5% increased Movement Speed.

• Now grants 15–25% increased Life Reservation Efficiency of Skills.

• Grants 5–10% increased maximum Recovery per Life Leech for each 5% of Life Reserved.

• Some changes do not affect existing items.

• Essentia Sanguis

• Now adds 1 to 650–850 Lightning Damage (previously 600–700).

• Now grants +200–300 to maximum Energy Shield (previously 30–40).

• Maximum Recovery per Energy Shield Leech is now Doubled.

• Implicit changed to 2% of Attack Damage Leeched as Life (previously Physical only).

• Divine Orb can update certain values.

• Lioneye’s Glare

• Attacks you use yourself Repeat an additional time.

• Attacks you use yourself have 50% more Attack Speed.

• Implicit now grants 20–24% increased Global Physical Damage (previously Elemental Damage with Attack Skills).

• No longer grants 10–20% increased Attack Speed.

• Pledge of Hands

• Socketed Gems are now Supported by Level 1 Greater Spell Echo (previously Level 30).

• Now has 50–100% increased maximum Mana (previously 50%).

• Divine Orb can update Mana values.

• Support level change affects existing items.

• Voltaxic Rift

• Now treats Enemy Monster Chaos Resistance values as inverted.

• No longer causes Hits to Shock as though dealing 300% more Damage.

• Soul Taker

• Now consumes 2–4 Souls when you Kill a Rare or Unique Enemy with this Weapon.

• Does not affect existing versions.

Updated Unique Armour and Accessories

• Bloodnotch

• Now recovers 20–30% of Damage taken from Stunning Hits as Life (previously 40–60%).

• Existing items can be downgraded with a Divine Orb.

• Hand of Heresy

• Melee Attacks now gain +0.8–1.6% Critical Strike Chance against Excommunicated Enemies.

  
  

• Marohi Erqi

• Now has 40–50% increased Area of Effect (does not affect existing items).

  
  

• Shaper’s Touch

• Now grants +2 Accuracy Rating per 2 Intelligence (previously +4).

• Existing items can be downgraded with a Divine Orb.

• Sibyl’s Lament

• Left Ring Slot: 100% of Elemental Hit Damage cannot be Reflected (previously 80%).

• Right Ring Slot: 100% of Physical Hit Damage cannot be Reflected (previously 80%).

• Divine Orb can update to new values.

  
  

• Supreme Truth

• No longer grants 20% increased Elemental Damage.

• Now causes Attacks with this Weapon to inflict Hallowing Flame on Hit.

  
  

• Unseen Hue

• Now drops from regular Incarnation of Fear.

  
  

• Woespike

• Now has 40–50% less Impale Duration (previously reduced 25–40%).

• 20–30% chance on Melee Hit for the strongest Impale to last for 1 additional Hit (previously 45–60%).

• Now drops from Uber Incarnation of Fear.

  
  

• Added new Replica Unique: Replica Gifts from Above.

• Strongboxes that contain an additional Unique Item modifier will now drop a Unique Item matching the type of item dropped from that Strongbox if possible.

Item Changes

Mirage 3.28 introduces adjustments to item drops, currency balance and crafting systems.

Currency and Drop Distribution

• Currency Items now account for a significantly larger portion of dropped items.

• This does not affect Scrolls of Wisdom or Portal Scrolls.

• Non-Unique Equipment items are approximately 6% less common as a result.

• These changes do not affect Ruthless.

  
  

• Relative rarities of several currencies have been adjusted.

  • Exalted Orbs and Regal Orbs are now comparatively more common.

  
  

• Increased penalty to Gold and Map drops on Breach and Blight monsters.

• Lowered how much Modifier Tier Rating is granted to Rare items generated from Kingsmarch Shipping, Kingsmarch Mapping, Gambling and the Genesis Tree.

  
  

Reflection System Expansion

Several item modifiers now provide higher Reflection immunity values:

• Essence of Insanity on Rings now grants 60% of Hit Damage cannot be Reflected (previously 40%).

• Synthesis Implicits on Rings and Quivers now grant up to 30% of Damage cannot be Reflected (previously 15%).

• Influenced Ring Modifiers now grant up to 75% of Elemental or Physical Hit Damage cannot be Reflected (previously 55%).

• Watcher’s Eye modifiers now grant up to 75% of Damage from your Hits cannot be Reflected for specific damage types (previously 50%).

Additional Item System Adjustments

• Justified Ambition Divination Card can once again reward Cortex.

• Primordial Bond Cluster Jewel Notable now grants 20% increased Effect of Buffs from Golems (previously 40%).

• Low Tolerance Cluster Jewel Notable now grants 200% increased Poison Damage on non-Poisoned Enemies (previously 300%).

• Small Attack Block Cluster Jewels can now roll the new Notable: Fiery Aegis.

• Medium Exerted Attack Cluster Jewels can now roll the new Notable: Holy Word.

• Runegraft of Refraction no longer allows Skills to chain an additional time and now allows Projectiles to chain an additional time instead.

• All Horticrafting Bench Flask Enchants have been removed. Existing items remain unchanged.

• Beastcraft recipe to apply Hinekora’s Lock to a Magic Item can no longer be used on Corrupted Items.

• All Essences now stack to 10 (previously 9).

• Unique Maps now have a fee of around 2000 Gold when purchasing from a Merchant Tab.

• Itemised Beasts now have vastly lower Gold fees, and those fees no longer depend on the modifiers on the Beast.

Conclusion:

Path of Exile Mirage 3.28 introduces sweeping balance and systemic adjustments across player scaling, skill design, ascendancies, bloodlines, itemization and drop systems. Reflection mechanics have been standardized across multiple layers of progression, numerous skill gems have been tuned or reworked, and item economy balance has been refined.

This breakdown covers all nine major categories of changes provided, preserving every listed adjustment while organizing them into a structured and readable format.

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