Path of Exile Curse of the Allflame sends players beneath the seas of Wraeclast aboard the Bathysphere, introducing a massive socket rework, the permanent return of Mercenaries, a new Luminary Ascendancy, and sweeping endgame changes.
The seas of Wraeclast have kept their secrets for centuries, but corsair captain Valerie and her cursed navigator Vesper are done waiting. Path of Exile Curse of the Allflame drags exiles beneath the waves aboard the Bathysphere, an Allflame-powered vessel built to survive the crushing dark, in search of relics no one has touched in generations.
Alongside the new underwater expedition, the expansion overhauls core progression with the game’s biggest socket and link rework in nearly two decades. It also permanently brings back the Mercenaries of Trarthus, introduces the new Luminary Ascendancy for the Scion, and refreshes endgame content with major updates to Abyss, Legion, and Talismans.
Here is everything you need to know about the massive additions coming to the sea of Wraeclast.
Path of Exile Curse of the Allflame release date
Path of Exile Curse of the Allflame launches Friday, July 24, 2026, bringing the expedition beneath the waves on PC, Steam, PlayStation, Xbox, and the Epic Games Store.
How to survive the depths
Every expedition begins with a descent inside the Bathysphere, dropping straight to the ocean floor. Once there, survival comes down to how well you manage light.
Allflame Lanterns push back the surrounding water and carve out temporary pockets of safety, but every encounter has to be cleared before the lantern’s glow fades.
Once darkness closes in, the creatures waiting beyond the light come for you, and the Bathysphere becomes the only way out.
Harvesting the coral formations and creatures found in the depths yields Dead Man’s Sulphur, a new resource that fuels both the expedition itself and Vesper’s curse.
| ELEMENT | EFFECT |
| Bathysphere | Allflame-powered vessel that carries you from The Sovereign down to the ocean floor for each expedition. |
| Allflame Lanterns | Deployed to force back the surrounding water, creating a temporary safe zone to fight, loot, and explore in. |
| Dead Man’s Sulphur | Harvested from sea creatures and coral formations; fuels Allflame Crafting and Vesper’s curse. |
| The Fading Light | Every encounter must be finished before the lantern dies, or the creatures beyond the light attack. |
Path of Exile new League: Voyages and Charts
Every completed expedition is logged as a new Chart in Valerie’s journal. Charts can then be arranged on the Voyage Board to link together into one interconnected expedition across the ocean floor, with up to nine Charts forming a single Voyage.
Each Chart carries its own modifier, which can affect either its neighbours or the Voyage as a whole, so stacking the right combination is the difference between a quick payday and a very bad time.
Shifting Corruption Currents add another layer on top, randomising the effects on neighbouring Charts with every new Voyage you build.
| CHART MODIFIER | EFFECT |
| Gold-touched | Transforms equipment drops from the Chart into Gold instead. |
| Jellyfish swarm | Summons friendly jellyfish to assist you through the Chart. |
| Wildwood Wisps | Empowers the monsters found within the Chart. |
| Tormented Spirits | Unleashes Tormented Spirits into the encounter. |
| Corruption Currents | Randomised effect applied to neighbouring Charts each time a new Voyage is built. |
Special Charts can also reveal rarer destinations hidden beneath the sea, including abandoned anchor fields, lost Kalguuran shipments, and sunken Abyssal pits.
Path of Exile new Crafting system: Allflame Crafting
Dead Man’s Sulphur also powers a brand new crafting system found aboard The Sovereign. Combine an item, a crafting currency, and Dead Man’s Sulphur, and Vesper will split the item into several ghostly possibilities, each representing a different crafting outcome.
Inspect each one, pick your favorite, and the rest vanish for good — but every use leaves the item a little more intangible, gradually shrinking how many outcomes Vesper can offer on that item in future.
Rare Ducats, relics left behind by the pirate lords who once ruled Wraeclast’s seas, unlock crafting effects that exist nowhere else.
| DUCAT | EFFECT |
| Kishara’s Ducat | Creates multiple ghostly copies of an item while preserving each copy’s individual modifiers. |
| Genteel’s Ducat | Transforms one attribute requirement on an item into another. |
| Brinehook’s Ducat | Grants mysterious Aspects inspired by the ancient gods of Wraeclast. |
Path of Exile new Ascendancy: The Luminary
The Mercenaries of Trarthus are back for good this time, becoming a permanent core mechanic from Act 3 onwards.
Honor-bound warriors can be challenged to duels for gold and a chance at their gear, and a victorious duel earns their temporary service without inflating monster life or item rewards.
Mercenaries found in Maps can also grant Warrants, letting you summon that same warrior again in a future Map or trade the Warrant to another Exile (player) entirely.
The Scion receives a brand new Ascendancy Class for the occasion: the Luminary, a true commander able to permanently recruit, equip, and customize Mercenary companions, opening up entirely new build possibilities built around powerful allies.
New Mercenary types arrive alongside her, including an elusive warrior found only in rare encounters deep beneath the sea.
| ABILITY | EFFECT |
| Noble Blood | Unlocks the option to permanently hire Mercenaries found in the wild. Permanently hired Mercenaries deal less damage than temporarily hired ones, but you can freely change their equipped gear; however, passives that affect your Mercenary do not apply to temporary hires, and permanently hired Mercenaries will only follow a Luminary with this passive allocated. |
| Command & Customisation | Equip and fully customise your permanent Mercenary companions, opening up build possibilities centred on powerful allies rather than solo play. |
| Expanded Roster | Grants access to new Mercenary types exclusive to Curse of the Allflame, including an elusive warrior found only in rare encounters deep beneath the sea. |
Path of Exile Endgame Overhaul: Abyss, Legion, and Talismans
Abyss has been comprehensively reworked, bringing across many of the improvements Path of Exile 2 introduced.
Instead of chasing winding cracks across a zone, encounters now begin from pits that are already open and corrupt nearby enemies, defeating them feeds their souls into the Abyss until it unleashes Kulemak’s legion in a faster, backtrack-free fight with improved feedback.
Legion’s new signature reward is the Vestigial Unique Item. Legion Generals can drop Enshrouding Crystals, which transform Unique Armour within the Domain of Timeless Conflict and let powerful modifiers move from one Unique to another.
| MECHANIC | OVERHAUL |
| Abyss | Reworked pit-based encounters, exclusive Abyssal Jewels and Stygian Vises, a refreshed Atlas Tree, new Scarabs, and an all-new Pinnacle Boss. |
| Legion | New Vestigial Unique Items, Enshrouding Crystals, larger Splinter stacks, auto-starting combat, and a redesigned reward tracker. |
| Talismans | Revitalised as Bestiary-exclusive rewards, with new enchantment-based modifiers, crafting potential, and updated Unique Items. |
Path of Exile new Atlas content: Atlas Anomalies
Zana’s continued meddling has begun destabilising the Atlas, and strange new locations called Atlas Anomalies are appearing throughout its regions after completing Maps influenced by Voidstones.
Unlike traditional Atlas content, Anomalies do not require a map to enter, and can often be revisited until their rewards are claimed.
| ATLAS ANOMALY | WHAT IT OFFERS |
| Cadiro Perandus | Bargain for valuable items using Gold. |
| Reflecting Mists | A dedicated version of the Delirium mirror encounter. |
| The Nameless Seer | A standalone Ritual-inspired encounter. |
| Heist / Expedition / Sacred Grove | Self-contained versions of each mechanic, tackled without a Map. |
Sockets, Links, and Spellcasting Balance
Socket colors receive their biggest redesign since Path of Exile launched almost twenty years ago. Any colored skill gem can now be placed into linked equipment, while colored sockets remain meaningful through quality bonuses instead of gating what you can equip at all.
Spellcasting gets a full balance pass alongside it, elemental archetypes are more distinct, Intelligence Ascendancies are stronger, and caster staves are significantly better.
A new class of Exceptional Skill Gems called Pacts also arrives, each one granting dramatic new behaviour to a self-cast spell in exchange for a powerful demonic affliction.
