PoE 3.29 Luminary Ascendancy Guide

Ben Author

Created - 22.07.2026 Updated - 24.07.2026

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The Luminary is the third ascendancy class available to the Scion, next to the Reliquarian and the Ascendant. What separates her from the other Scion ascendancy classes in PoE is that her entire identity revolves around the Mercenaries of Trarthus, who have returned in Patch 3.29. Read further to learn more about this new ascendancy class in Path of Exile: Curse of the Allflame.

What is the Luminary Ascendancy in PoE 3.29?

The new Luminary ascendancy class in Path of Exile: Curse of the Allflame was specifically made to cater to the Mercenaries of Trarthus, which is a returning mechanic from a few leagues ago.

Unlike when they were first introduced, the Mercenaries are now temporary allies that aid you in battle after you successfully defeat them in a duel. If you want to make their services more permanent, you have to go for the Luminary ascendancy class, specifically with the “Noble Blood” node taken.

Noble Blood is an ascendancy node that lets the Luminary hire a Mercenary permanently. The Luminary can have up to three Mercenaries at a time. However, she can only have one Mercenary active in combat, while the other two remain in town or in the hideout.

Aside from that, the equipment on Mercenaries cannot be PoE unique items, unless you select the appropriate ascendancy nodes on the Luminary. For instance, allocating the “Legendary Arms” ascendancy node allows you to equip the Mercenary with unique weapons, shields, and quivers.

Among all of the PoE Luminary ascendancy nodes, however, there are no nodes that let her outfit the Mercenary with unique body armor. This is likely intended to prevent certain interactions from coming to fruition, such as the insane “Nearby Enemies Have Lightning Resistance Equal to Yours” mod from Doryani’s Prototype.

In addition, because the Luminary is a Mercenary-focused ascendancy class in PoE 3.29, it has nodes that take full advantage of allied interactions as well. For example, the “Oath of Fealty” makes “Link Skills” like Soul Link and Vampiric Link have an infinite attachment duration. Furthermore, the aforementioned ascendancy node does not come with the inherent downside of using Link Skills, where if a Mercenary dies, the link owner does not die along with them.

If you like the Mercenaries so much, then the PoE Luminary ascendancy class might be the best fit for you!

How Do Permanent Mercenaries Work?

If you want to try out the new PoE Luminary ascendancy class in Curse of the Allflame, there are still certain things you need to know about the permanent Mercenaries. They are:

• Mercenaries will begin to appear from Act 3 onwards.
• The Luminary can hire up to three different Mercenaries. However, only one can be active in battle.
• The other two Mercenaries stay behind and are available in town or in the hideout.
• You cannot change Mercenaries anywhere. You have to interact with them in town or in your hideout if you want to switch.
• Mercenaries cannot equip unique items by default. You’d have to allocate the specific ascendancy nodes from the Luminary to gain the ability to do so.
• While the Mercenaries can equip almost every type of unique item in PoE 3.29, they cannot wear unique body armor.
• Mercenaries do not count as party members anymore, which means that they cannot influence monster difficulty and loot drops.
• Only the Luminary has the ability to change the gear of Mercenaries in Path of Exile. Permanent Mercenaries can be outfitted with any item in the game, including normal, magic, and rare items. Unique items require the relevant ascendancy nodes to equip, with the exception of unique body armor.

PoE Luminary Ascendancy Nodes

With the ascendancy nodes available to the Luminary in PoE 3.29, she can either be built as a primary damage dealer with the accompanying Mercenary set as a support, or a bona fide support character that aids the Mercenary in combat.

That said, here are the PoE Luminary ascendancy nodes in detail:

This PoE Luminary ascendancy guide was written prior to the release of Patch 3.29, which means that it is still unclear whether this new ascendancy class has eight points that can be allocated or higher. The reason for pointing this out is that the Luminary has 17 nodes in total (5 major nodes and 12 minor nodes).

If the Luminary does have only eight points like the rest of the PoE ascendancy classes, then you have to think very carefully about how you wish to proceed with this particular Scion ascendancy class.

Legendary Arms might be a popular choice among PoE Luminary builds, mainly because the ability to equip Mercenaries with unique weapons is just too hard to pass up. For instance, you can have the Mercenary use the Kingmaker, which would then give you some incredible bonuses, such as +50% critical strike multiplier, +10 Fortification, and culling strike.

It is also worth noting that there is no node for granting permanent Mercenaries the ability to wear unique body armor, likely as a measure to balance Mercenaries out, preventing them from being too overpowered compared to other forms of minions available in Path of Exile: Curse of the Allflame.

How Luminary Mercenary Equipment Works

By default, you can change any item on your permanently hired Mercenary in PoE 3.29 when you play the Luminary ascendancy class. However, you can only have them wear unique items when you allocate the appropriate ascendancy nodes.

If you only want the Mercenary to act as a support character, then allocating “Legendary Helmets” is a good idea. This is so that you can have them wear Leer Cast, which is a unique helmet that grants a 50% increase in damage.

On the other hand, if you like to have the Mercenary gain so much power because you want them to kill enemies for you, then you can take Legendary Helmets and Legendary Arms. This is because there are so many good unique helmets and weapons that the Mercenary can use to great effect.

Here are just some of them:

• Eye of Malice: Provides the Mercenary a chance to inflict fire or cold exposure on hit.
• Voidforge: A pretty good weapon that allows the Mercenary to deal heavy elemental damage to enemies.
• Starforge: The same as Voidforge, albeit it lets the Mercenary deal heavy physical damage to enemies.
• Blood Price: Reduces the max life of nearby enemies by 8%, giving them only a 92% total life pool.
• Crown of the Tyrant: Reduces the resistances of all nearby enemies by 10%. Pair this with a high-damaging elemental weapon to maximize the effect.
• Cane of Kulemak: Specifically, the version that comes with a chance to explode enemies on kill, dealing a quarter of their maximum life as chaos damage.

Luminary vs. Other Scion Ascendancy Classes

So, how does the Luminary stack up against the other ascendancy classes available to the Scion? Here’s a table for quick reference:

FAQ

How Many Mercenaries Can the Luminary Permanently Hire?

Three. However, only one Mercenary can be active in battle, while the other two await their turn in town or in the hideout.

Can the Luminary Change Mercenary Equipment?

Yes. In fact, it is the only PoE ascendancy class that has the capability to do so.

Take note that you have to allocate the appropriate nodes to equip unique items on your Mercenary.

How Can I Access the Scion Class?

As part of Patch 3.29, the Scion is now available to all players without first unlocking her, unlike in the previous seasons.