Path of Exile: Curse of the Allflame - Everything You Need to Know

Ben Author

Created - 19.07.2026 Updated - 19.07.2026

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GGG has finally revealed the juicy details of Path of Exile: Curse of the Allflame, the upcoming league that is set to release next week. Learn everything there is to know about this league, including the main league mechanic, reworked endgame systems, and new items, among others.

PoE Curse of the Allflame: Release Date

Path of Exile: Curse of the Allflame is set to launch on Friday, July 24, at 1 PM PDT for PC and consoles.

PoE Curse of the Allflame: Main League Mechanic

The upcoming PoE Curse of the Allflame challenge league is deemed the “true” exploration of the seas because it takes you on a wide voyage underwater, scouring any treasure you may find underneath the surface.

During the course of the campaign, you will come across an NPC named Valerie, a corsair captain who seeks your help to find charts for underwater travel. Ultimately, she wants you to find hidden treasures underwater.

The charts are scattered throughout Wraeclast, contained mostly inside cursed treasure chests. Be careful, though, as these charts are heavily guarded by the undead, rival corsair factions, and the creatures of the deep.

When you are in possession of a chart, you can hop aboard Valerie’s ship, known as the Sovereign. This ship is remarkable because it is powered by Vesper, a native of Valerie’s origin who is bound to the ship, powering it with the curse of the Allflame. From here, you can use the chart to descend to the depths of the sea inside a vessel called the Bathysphere.

To prevent yourself from drowning, Vesper gives you the power to manipulate Allflame Lanterns, which not only illuminate the surrounding areas while you’re under the sea but also serve as your lifeline. When the lanterns are extinguished, you have to head back to the surface immediately.

Your main goal underwater is to find illuminated corals that, when broken down, turn into Deadman’s Sulphur. The Dead Man’s Sulphur is used as an ingredient for crafting some pretty powerful PoE items. Additionally, collecting enough Dead Man’s Sulphur leads you to the next step of the mechanic—planning a voyage.

Valerie keeps track of your progress when you dive underwater. When you have completed a number of charts, you can then plot a voyage, which is essentially a much more in-depth sea excursion.

Each square represents a previously completed chart. The charts also come with modifiers that can make your underwater travels more challenging, but that is in exchange for better rewards. You have to use the appropriate charts that your PoE build can run. Otherwise, you won’t be able to complete the voyage successfully.

So, what will you do with all of that Dead Man’s Sulphur? Well, you can actually use it for Allflame Crafting. Talk to Vesper below the ship’s deck to bring up the UI.

Allflame Crafting requires Dead Man’s Sulphur, as well as a crafting currency of your choosing. When you press the “Craft” button, three items of the same type that have the possible outcomes from the crafting currency you have used will appear.

For instance, if you’ve placed a rare belt and a PoE Exalted Orb as the crafting currency, three copies of that belt will be created, with a completely different outcome for each one.

There are new crafting currencies called “Ducats” that you may acquire during your underwater explorations as well. Ducats can result in some pretty overpowered outcomes, such as Kishara’s Ducat, which splits an item into four, each retaining a single modifier from the original.

The resulting item can be used for endgame crafting, so if you like that kind of stuff, then you should definitely give Allflame Crafting a try when PoE 3.29 launches soon!

The Mercenaries of Trarthus Return

The Mercenaries of Trarthus have now gone core in Path of Exile: Curse of the Allflame. They start to appear in Act 3, but the really impressive ones are available in the endgame when you encounter them in maps.

You can challenge them to a duel. When you come out victorious, the Mercenary will accompany you in battle for several maps before they go their separate ways.

Additionally, you can choose to take one of their items as well. If you are not satisfied with the gear they have currently equipped, you can request a “Rematch” so that you can get a Mercenary Warrant. The Mercenary Warrant can be used in other maps to have the same Mercenary stated on that warrant to appear again; only this time, with a completely new set of gear.

It is important to note that Mercenaries no longer count as party members in PoE 3.29. Hence, when they do aid you in combat, their presence will not affect monster life and the rewards you’re going to receive.

Mercenaries are only temporary allies for most of the PoE classes in Curse of the Allflame. However, that changes if you play the new ascendancy class in PoE 3.29—the Luminary.

PoE 3.29 New Ascendancy Class: The Luminary

The Luminary is the third ascendancy class for the Scion in Path of Exile: Curse of the Allflame. Her headlining feature is that she can permanently hire Mercenaries in the game, albeit not as powerful as the ones that aid you temporarily in battle. To compensate for that, the Luminary has the “Noble Blood” ascendancy node, which allows her to change the gear of the permanent Mercenary accordingly.

This PoE ascendancy class can have up to three Mercenaries, but only one of them is active at a time. The other two will await her command in town, so they have to be manually interacted with if there is a need to change Mercenaries.

Aside from that, the Luminary has the “Legendary Arms” ascendancy node. This enables the permanent Mercenaries to wear PoE unique items, and their damage output is amplified for every piece of unique gear they have equipped.

The Luminary is pretty much a minion ascendancy class that is focused on Mercenaries. You can either have her deal damage to enemies herself, with the Mercenaries providing some much-needed support, or have the Luminary go for a more support role, giving ample assistance to the Mercenaries while they pummel the monsters to the ground.

Abyss Overhaul

A couple of outdated endgame systems have been reworked in Path of Exile: Curse of the Allflame. One of these is the Abyss Mechanic, which now follows in the footsteps of the game’s successor, Path of Exile 2.

Instead of you having to follow a moving fissure on the ground, multiple cracks can now be seen on the ground if the map has an Abyss Mechanic on it. Monsters will spawn from these cracks, which you should defeat in a timely manner.

Enemies that you kill near the Abyssal Pits will have their souls go to the cracks below. When enough souls have been gathered, the Abyssal Legion will come out to defeat you.

One of the main reasons why Abyss has been overhauled in Patch 3.29 is so that you no longer have to chase a meandering Abyss in maps, which was pretty annoying. Instead, you have Abyssal Monsters spawning from the cracks, alleviating the need to wait until the action commences.

On top of that, you will have a fight against a new pinnacle boss for Abyss in PoE 3.29. Although that is the case, the official name of this boss has not been revealed yet, so it is up to you to find out what its name is.

Another important thing to note here is that Abyssal Jewels and items with Abyssal Sockets are now only obtainable in Abyss. So, if your aim is to farm those juicy Abyssal Jewels, you have to be acquainted with the newly reworked Abyss Mechanic in Path of Exile: Curse of the Allflame.

Legion Rework

What has changed for the Legion Mechanic in Patch 3.29? For one, the Legion in maps now automatically releases all remaining monsters once you have destroyed 90% of the encounter.

In addition, Incubators have been removed from the game. Gone are the days when you have to apply Incubators on your gear just to get something in return. Instead, Incubators are replaced with “Enshrouding Crystals,” which can drop from defeating Legion Generals in maps.

Enshrouding Crystals are a new type of PoE Currency that you can use on various unique items, such as helmets, body armor, gloves, boots, and shields. After using them on a unique item, you have to go to the Domain of Timeless Conflict.

Once inside, you will come across a “Crystal of Permutation” that, when interacted with, contains a receptacle where you can place your enshrouded unique item. After that, you have to defeat enemies in the ensuing battle for that item to be fully charged and ready to be transformed.

Take note that the enshrouded unique item may not be the same as the original item you have used previously in the process. For example, if you’ve used an Enshrouding Crystal on a Lightning Coil, the resulting item might not be a Lightning Coil. Thus, only use the Enshrouding Crystal if you have an extra copy of that coveted unique item.

Anyway, the finished product is called a “Vestigial Unique.” What separates it from the regular unique item in PoE 3.29 is that it comes with a random modifier from the original item that was enshrouded.

As revealed by GGG, the company used an Enshrouding Crystal on a Shaper’s Touch unique gloves. The resulting Vestigial Unique is Maligaro’s Virtuosity with the “2% Increased Evasion Rating per 10 Intelligence” mod from the Shaper’s Touch placed as “Vestigial Implicit Modifier.”

Apart from the Vestigial Uniques, Patch 3.29 brings some notable improvements to the Legion Mechanic itself. The “Unrelenting” Timeless Emblems have been removed. Instead, some of their modifiers are now applied directly to the regular Timeless Emblems.

Furthermore, higher legion monsters, like generals and sergeants, now drop more splinters in the form of larger stacks. This change was made to alleviate the need to click splinters one by one off the ground.

Atlas Anomalies

Zana’s actions in the previous expansions of Path of Exile have resulted in the Atlas destabilizing even further. This has caused strange locations to begin manifesting on the Atlas. These are called “Atlas Anomalies,” and they contain some interesting content when you traverse them. For example, the Anomaly Map called “The Manor Foyer” houses Cadiro Perandus, who will sell random unique items to you in exchange for some gold.

Atlas Anomalies can sometimes spawn on the Atlas whenever you complete a map that is affected by a Voidstone. Don’t worry, a message will pop up after you defeat the map boss, telling you that an anomaly has been discovered.

Item Socket Rework

GGG hopes to address a longstanding issue that has bothered beginners and veterans of PoE alike. That issue is none other than the socket colors.

Since the game launched, you’d have to recolor your sockets with Chromatic Orbs just to insert your preferred skills and support gems. In PoE 3.29, you can now place skills and supports into any socket, regardless of their color. This change is signified by the metallic-looking sockets, similar to the image you see above.

Now, there are still colored sockets on relevant items in Path of Exile: Curse of the Allflame. However, they now only provide certain bonuses, depending on which socket color it is. For example, putting a support gem into a green-colored socket increases the gem’s quality by 10%.

Despite the item socket rework, you still need Jeweller’s Orbs to increase the number of sockets on an item and Orbs of Fusing to link them together in Patch 3.29. Additionally, using a Chromatic Orb now guarantees at least a red-, green-, or blue-colored socket with each use.

Spellcasting Improvements

The developers admit that spells in Path of Exile have been overlooked for some time now. Fortunately, that is about to change in PoE 3.29, as many improvements are expected to make spells that you cast yourself even more powerful.

One of the ways to address this is the introduction of new “Pacts” in Path of Exile: Curse of the Allflame. These are new “exceptional” skill gems based on the Beyond Demons and Lycia that empower the next set of spells that you cast.

For instance, the Pact of Lycia empowers the next channeling spell you use, making it deal more damage, and periodically triggering lightning bolts as you continuously channel the spell.

These bonuses come at a cost, though, in that you are afflicted with a debuff when you activate them. Be that as it may, the extra power that can be gained from these new Pacts is enough to warrant their use.

Aside from that, certain ascendancy classes in PoE have new nodes that have something to do with improving spells. These are:

• Mystical Infusion (Assassin):
  • Spell critical strike chance Bifurcates.
  • 30% Less spell critical strike chance.
• Unhallowed Rite (Occultist):
  • Gain Spirit Infusion every second while channeling a spell.
  • Spirit Infusion: A stacking buff that grants faster start of energy shield recharge and more damage to channeling spells. However, this comes at the cost of a higher mana cost when channeling.
• Instruments of Justice (Inquisitor):
  • Base spell critical strike chance of spells is equal to that of the main hand weapon.

FAQ

When Does Path of Exile: Curse of the Allflame Release?

July 24 at 1 PM PDT for Consoles and PC.

What is the New Challenge League All About?

Aid the corsair captain named Valerie to uncover the treasures hidden beneath the sea. You gain a new resource called Dead Man’s Sulphur, which will then be used for Allflame Crafting from Vesper.

What Are the Reworked Endgame Systems?

Abyss and Legion.