Grinding Gear Games has confirmed that Path of Exile 2: The Last of Druids will drop on December 12. This free update is the third major post-early access debut patch for the hack-and-slash action RPG after Dawn of the Hunt and The Third Edict. The main features of The Last of the Druids include the new titular hybrid class, a dungeon‑crafting league, and a broad endgame overhaul that lands alongside a free weekend from December 12-15 on PC and consoles.
The Druid is Path of Exile 2's first hybrid Strength/Intelligence class, able to weave between spellcasting in human form and three distinct animal forms: bear, wolf, and wyvern. Its addition expands the game with 21 new Druid skills, over 30 new support gems, 11 uniques, and more than 250 additional passive skills.
From a lore standpoint, the Druid is a survivor of the King in the Mists who lost his humanity in the forests of Ogham and now seeks his missing wife and a way back to his former self. Mechanically, his identity revolves around Animal Talismans, a new weapon type that determines which form he can assume and grants that form's basic attack as a skill; casting a spell instantly returns him to human form, making form‑swapping a core part of regular combat.
The developers from Grinding Gear have described bear form as raw devastation. Players will be using Maul to generate Rage, then spending that Rage on big slams, Rampage, and the ultimate Walking Calamity, while also converting Rage into Endurance Charges for Ferocious Roar, a warcry Meta Gem that can socket warcries like Infernal Cry or Seismic Cry from other classes.
Wolf form, on the other hand, emphasizes mobility and cold damage: skills such as Lunar Assault, Rake, Pounce, and Cross Slash can be combined to freeze enemies, generate exploding ice fragments, and maintain a pack of summoned wolves, with Pounce acting as a Meta Gem for mark skills from other classes and Lunar Blessing transforming the Druid into an Arctic Werewolf for faster, harder‑hitting attacks.
Wyvern form rounds out the Druid's kit with a mix of melee and ranged elemental attacks built around Power Charges and corpse‑eating via Devour. Rend and Wing Blast inflict melee and lightning damage, Rolling Magma and oil spit can be used for fire and ignite setups, and a channeled lightning Barrage and Flame Breath for sustained ranged damage. All these skills are supported by human‑form nature spells, such as Entangling Vines and Thunderstorms. The latter can inflict the wet status on enemies to amplify shock effects.
Path of Exile 2: The Last of the Druids launches with two Druid ascendancies, Shaman and Oracle, with a third planned to be released later. Shaman focuses on spellcasting that converts Rage into elemental power: nodes like Druidic Champion and Furious Wellspring tie spell damage and temporary buffs to Rage, while Wisdom of the Maji adds Shaman‑exclusive modifiers to Runes and Idols and Bringer of the Apocalypse triggers roaming multielemental storms after sustained elemental damage.
Oracle uses foresight and timeline manipulation, with Fateful Vision showing future self‑casts of specific skills that gain large damage bonuses when replicated, and Converging Paths enabling Moment of Vulnerability to hit both present and future versions of enemies when they are susceptible to freeze, stun, or electrocution. Ascending as Oracle unlocks more than 130 new passives in the Druid section; allocating The Unseen Path grants access to options such as Self‑Sacrificing, which increases total minions at a higher reservation cost, and Corruption Endures, which adds a small chance to avoid death.
Path of Exile 2: The Last of the Druids is set to add a fresh wave of support gems and Meta Gems designed to cross‑pollinate class mechanics. Spell Totems, for instance, are a Meta Gem that lets players spend three Endurance or Power Charges to create a totem which automatically casts any socketed spell, opening up new lines of automation for casters and for Druids who generate charges via Rage and Devour.
Over 30 new support gems, including multiple Lineage Supports, are confirmed. Examples include Fan the Flames for fire spread on wind skills, Accelerated Growth for explosive plants grown by rain, Advancing Storm to move storm skills across the battlefield, Echoing Cry for repeating warcries, and Grounding Shocks to turn shocked enemies into lightning beacons. As part of a balance pass, 21 existing Lineage Supports were reworked, and roughly ninety active skills were adjusted across all classes.
On the league side, Fate of the Vaal sends players back to the height of Vaal civilization to challenge the Royal Architect and ultimately Atziri, positioned here as a new pinnacle boss. Xipocado, devoted to Atziri, stands between the player and access to the deeper temple. Overcoming him grants entry to additional crafting tools and a step closer to confronting the queen. Worshipped for her unparalleled beauty, Atziri was the infamous Queen who led her devotees into downfall; now she stands as a new Pinnacle Boss. Rewrite history and alter the fate of the Vaal.
One of the rewards from defeating her corrupted form is Atziri's Rule. This powerful new staff elevates all corrupted gems and enables players to exchange life for increased damage output. While wielded, Mirrors of Refraction periodically manifest across the battlefield; projectiles fired into these mirrors erupt into a splitting nova and can chain from one mirror to the next, dramatically amplifying offensive potential.
In maps, players encounter corrupted Vaal remnants that attract monsters; powering six of these devices opens a portal to Lira Vaal, an underground temple once ruled by Atziri, where a console allows players to assemble a custom layout using six room tiles per run.
The developers revealed that with Path of Exile 2: The Last Druids, the previous league, Rise of the Abyssal, is being folded into the core game as a permanent endgame mechanic. Abysses will no longer appear in every area by default, but can show up randomly in endgame or be targeted using new Abyss Tablets, which can be crafted to add Abyss‑specific modifiers and now have their own atlas passive tree with options for more monsters, deeper interactions with other leagues, and specialization in particular Abyss factions.
Abyss crafting and Instilling on Waystones are removed entirely to cut down on micromanagement and visual clutter; in exchange, Tablet modifiers are significantly buffed and can be upgraded to rare quality with four mods after defeating the Arbiter of Ash. The developers stated that future leagues will avoid adding more crafting directly to Waystones, while Fate of the Vaal provides an alternative in the form of Tablet corruption, which can yield a range of random outcomes.
Grinding Gear is also pushing to make endgame mapping feel less overwhelming without reducing rewards. Monster density no longer scales up in higher‑tier maps; instead, regular enemies gain roughly 40% more life, drop about 40% more items, and grant around 40% more experience at the top tiers, while monster speed modifiers are toned down and Delirium fog visuals are significantly reduced for better clarity.
As mentioned in the headline, the developers have also taken to heart the many complaints about the game's current performance. They claim that Path of Exile 2: The Last of the Druids includes CPU and multithreading optimizations that are expected to improve frame rates by at least 25% in many scenarios and reduce frame time spikes, particularly on consoles. Additional performance improvements are currently under development and will be rolled out over the coming months.
Path of Exile 2 didn't have the best early access launch. Still, one year later, its reception is slowly improving, as evidenced by the fact that recent user reviews on Steam are very positive, with a 93% rating. In contrast, the total review rating (including older reviews) sits at 75%. The Last of the Druids seems to be another solid step toward the full 1.0 launch, which still has no release window.