Path of Exile's 3.22.1 Patch Brings in Big Balance Changes to Trial of the Ancestor, Exploding Orbs Change, & More

A huge patch has been pushed to Path of Exile to make improvements to the core league mechanic, Trial of the Ancestor. With those changes also comes a load of bug fixes, and some much needed improvements to loading screens. Here's a quick recap followed by the full path notes for Patch 3.22.1.

Patch 3.22.1 Recap

Trial of the Ancestor

• A forfeit button has been added.
• You can now see your revive progress above your head.
• Totems are now visually repaired if they are healed.
• Several chieftains now deal more damage. Now you really need to play dodgeball.

Tattoos

• There are six new Tattoo items that can drop from Trial of the Ancestor.
• A new vendor recipe has been added that lets you turn 3 of one Tattoo into a single random Tattoo of the same tribe.

Trial of the Ancestor Warriors

• Death's Guide, Jadecrafter, Moon Dancer, Mystic Prophet, Storm Conduit, Sunset Sage, Tawhoa Shaman, and Tidecaller have had their life reduced.
• Bloodbound Warrior, Camouflaged Tuatara, Frenzymonger, Lunar Turtle, Moon Dancer, Riptide and Tidecaller are now cheaper.
• Spear Dancer has had their damage lowered by ~30%, and the range of which they can use their Engage Skill has been lowered by ~33%.
• Titanic Shell Warrior has had its Life lowered by ~20%, and now takes more damage while it is protecting totems.
• Titanic Shell Warrior also now respawns 50% slower.

Skills

• Exploding Orbs (Monster) now only spawns a single orb.
• Mirage Archer can once again use skills triggered by Manaforged Arrows.
• Auras supported by Guardian's Blessing Support now persist after changing area.
• Summon Raging Spirit has new text that clarifies it converts physical damage to fire.

General

• Loading screens improved in "many situations" and no longer wait to finish loading effects of other characters.
• You can now vendor items to Divinia at the entrance to the Forbidden Sanctum. Yay!
• Forbidden Flame and Forbidden Flesh now always reactivate their associated passive skills on revive.
• Raider's Quartz Infusion & Avatar of the Veil Ascendancy Passives now correctly apply when reviving.
• Fixed a rare bug that allowed dead characters to remain in Hardcore Leagues.

Challenges

• Relentless Rituals now also includes Rare monsters instead of just Uniques
• Harrowing Harbingers can now receive boss credit via the Beachhead map.

Maps

• Einhar's Memory of the Sacred Grove had a bug fixed which could cause Tier 3 plants to not upgrade to Tier 4.
• Crimson Temple Map no longer has an issue where Abyss encounters could fail to spawn.
• Some maps, such as Sunken City, Lava Lake, Belfry and Pit of the Chimera, no longer spawn Maven bosses outside of the map's bounds.

Path of Exile 3.22.1 Patch Notes

Quote From Grinding Gear Games

Trial of the Ancestor Improvements and Fixes

• Added a forfeit match button that can be used when your Ancestral Totem has been banished in stalemate situations.
• Added an indicator above player characters that displays your revive progress when you have been killed in a match.
• Added 6 new Tattoos that can be obtained in the Trial of the Ancestors.
• Added 2 new Field Items.
• Added a vendor recipe that can be used to trade three Tattoos from a tribe for a random single Tattoo of that same tribe.
• Added an indicator that displays which of your Warriors were placed in your previous match when viewing Favours.
• Purchasing a Warrior or Equipment item from a Chieftain or Navali now causes them to offer a different Warrior or Equipment item for purchase respectively after your next match.
• Tribe Chieftains now converse between matches in The Halls of the Dead.
• Ancestral Totems are now visually repaired if they are healed.
• Some Warriors had both high Life and Energy Shield, making them much tankier than similar Warriors. We've lowered the Life of the following Warriors: Death's Guide, Jadecrafter, Moon Dancer, Mystic Prophet, Storm Conduit, Sunset Sage, Tawhoa Shaman and Tidecaller.
• We've also lowered the Favour Cost of the following Warriors, as their value didn't compare to other Warriors of similar Favour Costs: Bloodbound Warrior, Camouflaged Tuatara, Frenzymonger, Lunar Turtle, Moon Dancer, Riptide and Tidecaller.
• The Spear Dancer has had their damage lowered by roughly 30%, and the range of which they can use their Engage Skill has been lowered by roughly 33%.
• Riptide's Hook Toss Skill now deals damage when pulling an enemy, and interrupts them.
• Jadecrafter's Encase in Jade Skill now interrupts targets.
• Updated the information text on the match planning screen to clarify Warriors are interrupted and unable to take any actions for a duration when they take 5% of their combined Life and Energy Shield as damage while Banishing an Ancestral Totem.
• The Titanic Shell Warrior has had its Life lowered by roughly 20%, and now takes more damage while it is protecting totems.
• The Titanic Shell Warrior also now respawns 50% slower.
• Updated the Titanic Shell Warrior's Totemic Protection Skill description to clarify it is applied to multiple totems.
• Utula's Fireball skill now deals roughly twice as much damage at level 83 in the Trial of the Ancestors.
• Rakiata's Geyser skill now scales with level, and their Sweep skill has had its damage increased. The damage of their Leap Slam skill has also had its damage increased at level 83.
• Kaom's Slam and Fire Fists skills have had their damage increased, the final Fire Fist now deals roughly two and a half times more damage. Kaom also now deals more damage in their Axe Stance.
• Improved the behaviour of Chieftains when a player isn't in range of them, they are now mean killing machines.
• The Lacerate, Rock Throw, and Vine Cascade Skills used by Maata and Akoya now track the target during their use.
• Ancestral Totems that have been empowered by the Mystic Prophet's Totemic Fortification Skill now have an effect applied to them to display this.
• Updated the visual effects of the Mystic Prophet's Prophetic Return Skill to make them more noticeable.
• Self-inflicted damage no longer triggers the Death Draw debuff while banishing Ancestral Totems.
• Lowered the price of many Field Items.
• Increased the effect duration of the Nightcloak, Stampede and Volcanic Idol Field Items.
• Increased the effect radius of the Invulnerability, Jadecrafter and Tribal Reconstruction Idol Field Items.
• Walls constructed by the Great Barrier Idol now last 30 seconds instead of 10. These walls can also no longer be knocked back.
• The Stampede Idol now summons 10 stampedes of spiritual boars, instead of 3.
• Updated the descriptions on some Warrior Skills, such as the Hinekora's Horn Spiritual Capture skill, to clarify their effects.
• Pressing Ctrl + Click on any of the Chieftains or Navali in The Halls of the Dead now brings up their Favours window even if they have new dialogue available for you.
• The number of skills used by Minions summoned through Loyalty Tattoos modifiers has been reduced. These Minions are primarily used for their buffing abilities and their other skills had a lot of visual impact without dealing much damage.
• Updated the icon art for many Tattoo-replaced Passive Skills to be more appropriate.
• The Rakiata's Dance Unique Sword 3D art now matches the one held by Rakiata themself.
• Loyalty Tattoos that take effect while a Unique Enemy is in your Presence now have their range displayed in the Character Panel.
• Fixed a bug where Maata's Vine Cascade Skill was dealing less damage than intended.
• Fixed a bug where the Bloodbound Warrior would use their teleport skill when near their Ancestral Totem.
• Fixed a bug where being revived by the Death's Guide Warrior in a Trial of the Ancestors Match was not reactivating your Auras or respawning your Animated Guardian.
• Fixed a bug where clones of the Camouflaged Tuatara Warrior would remain after their Ancestral Totem had been banished.
• Fixed a bug where the Lunar Turtle's Cold Breath Skill was visually smaller than the actual size of the damaging area.
• Fixed a bug where Warrior names were removed from Ancestral Totem nameplates when the Warrior died.
• Fixed a bug where Hinekora's Lock could be applied to items that can't be modified, such as Unique Fragments.
• Fixed an issue where the duration of the effect of the Lani Hua's Gift Idol was less than described.
• Fixed an issue where the radius of the Freezing Wave Idol was less than described.
• Fixed an issue where the description for the Jade Shaman's Buried in Jade skill had a lower duration than the actual duration of the effect.
• Fixed a bug where some Field Items used by Chieftains, such as the Stampede Idol, were being triggered when an enemy was behind them, instead of in front of them.
• Fixed a bug where Chieftain's Field Items were being activated prior to a match starting.
• Fixed an issue where the duration mentioned on the descriptions on the Tawhoa's Blessing and Jadecrafter Idol Field Items were lower than the actual duration of the effects.
• Fixed an issue where the radius mentioned in the description of the Nightcloak Idol was lower than the actual radius.
• Fixed a rare bug where the Frenzymonger Warrior could drop items on death.
• Fixed a bug where players could die at the end of a match if they were linked to Minions with a duration, such as Skeletons.
• Fixed an issue where lights in the Eye of Destiny could flicker when placing Warriors.
• Fixed a bug where the first Trial of the Ancestors match could not be started if you only had Field Items placed and no Warriors.

General Improvements

• Loading screens no longer wait to finish loading the visual effects of other characters before you load into the area.
• Improved loading screen duration in many situations.
• The Exploding Orbs Monster modifier now spawns a single Exploding Orb, which emerges from behind the Rare Monster with the modifier. The audio for the Exploding Orb has also been changed to be better telegraphed.
• Weapon Range displayed on Melee Weapons and other descriptions that use ranges with values now instead use metres. The reminder text for "Close Range" and the description of Presence range in the Character panel also now use metres.
• In the 3.22.0 patch, a change was made that caused Mirage Archer to no longer be able to use Skills triggered by Manaforged Arrows Support. We have restored this behaviour, and Mirage Archer now states that it can use Triggered Attacks as though they were not Triggered.
• Auras supported by Guardian's Blessing Support now persist after changing area.
• Updated the description of the Destructive Play Atlas Keystone Passive Skill to clarify Maven needs to be able to cast a skill in order to summon the additional bosses. Killing the boss prior to Maven casting Up the Stakes will result in Maven leaving without doing so.
• Updated the Relentless Rituals challenge to require defeating Rare or Unique Monsters in Rituals, instead of just Unique.
• All Beachhead Harbinger Bosses can now grant credit towards the "Defeat Harbinger Bosses" portion of the Harrowing Harbingers Challenge.
• Added text to the Summon Raging Spirit Skill description to clarify that the Minions convert all physical damage to fire.
• You can now sell items to Divinia at the entrance of The Forbidden Sanctum.
• Allocated Crucible Passives on items are now considered when filtering by stats on the trade website.
• Improved the audio of the Heralding Minions and Toxic Monster modifiers.
• Improved the visibility of Lycia, Herald of the Scourge's Tornado Beam skill.

Controller-specific Changes

• Improved the UI when placing Warriors and viewing Favours in The Halls of the Dead while using Controller Input mode.
• Fixed a bug where Jewel Sockets on the Passive Skill Tree could not be navigated properly when using Controller Input mode.
• Fixed a bug where items would be dropped on the floor when attempting to move them to your stash in The Halls of the Dead or The Forbidden Sanctum when using Controller Input mode.
• Fixed a bug where currency items could not be used on non-Corrupted Vaal Side Areas in Controller Input mode.
• Fixed a bug where Stash Tab Folders could not be created in Controller Input mode.

Ruthless-specific Changes

• The Vaal Orb vendor recipe has been re-enabled in Ruthless.
• Fixed a bug where "Nearby Enemies are Blinded" from Saboteur's Born in the Shadows Ascendancy Passive was not working in Ruthless.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a bug where Abyss encounters could fail to spawn in the Crimson Temple Map.
• Fixed a bug where some maps such as Sunken City, Lava Lake, Belfry and Pit of the Chimera could spawn Maven's additional bosses in inaccessible locations with the Destructive Play Atlas Keystone Passive Skill allocated.
• Fixed a bug that caused Stygian Spires in Abyssal Lich fights to not spawn any monsters.
• Fixed a bug where the Primal Crushclaw captured from Einhar's Memory of Harvest Beasts was not providing a free use of Map Crafting Options made available by having The Seventh Gate Atlas Keystone Passive allocated.
• Fixed a bug in Sanctum where the Orb of Negation Affliction caused the Unique Relic modifier for duplicating offer rewards to have no effect.
• Fixed a bug where Ngamahu, Flame's Advance was not providing any of its stats when allocated through the Forbidden Flame and Forbidden Flesh Unique Jewels.
• Fixed a bug where stats provided by Ascendancy Passive Skills allocated through the Forbidden Flame and Forbidden Flesh Unique Jewels were not reactivated upon resurrecting.
• Fixed a bug where Raider characters were not gaining the effects of the Quartz Infusion or Avatar of the Veil Ascendancy Passive Skills when reviving within an area.
• Fixed a bug where Eldritch Implicit modifiers that cause you to drop Scorched, Brittle, or Sapped Ground while Moving were not working when you revived within an area.
• Fixed a rare bug that allowed dead characters to remain in Hardcore Leagues. This bug affected less than 100 characters.
• Fixed performance problems in Kaom's Dream, Kaom's Stronghold, and the Infested Valley map.
• Fixed a bug where the "25% chance to Trigger Level 20 Summon Elemental Relic when you or a nearby Ally Kill an Enemy, or Hit a Rare or Unique Enemy" on Guardian's Unwavering Crusade Ascendancy Passive Skill was not applying to hits or kills from totems.
• Fixed a bug where the Alternate Quality effect on the Divergent Purifying Flame Skill Gem wasn't working correctly.
• Fixed a bug where Vengeant Cascade was increasing Spectral Throw's initial projectile speed instead of their return speed.
• Fixed a bug where reserving Life from Damage over Time would not cause Energy Shield Recharge delay if the reservation forced your current Life to drop.
• Fixed a bug where versions of the Kintsugi Unique Body Armour that dropped or had a Divine Orb used on them since 3.19.0 were not working with the "15% increased Maximum Life if there are no Life Modifiers on Equipped Body Armour" Life Passive Skill Mastery.
• Fixed a bug where versions of the Tombfist Unique Gloves that dropped or had a Divine Orb used on them since 3.21.0 were not working with the "+700-1000 to maximum Life if there are no Life Modifiers" modifier on the Utula's Hunger Unique Body Armour.
• Fixed a bug where Controlled Blaze did not work with Skills used by Minions.
• Fixed a bug where having multiple different skills of the same type supported by Controlled Blaze, such as two Ground Slam Skill Gems, was not counting Ignites separately.
• Fixed a bug where Avenging Flame, triggered by Flamewood Support, was not affected by modifiers to projectile speed, and was not interacting with the Black Zenith Unique Gloves.
• Fixed a bug where the visuals from Avenging Flame, triggered by Flamewood Support, could sometimes linger.
• Fixed a bug where Totem skills could sometimes be double-cast in Predictive Networking Mode.
• Fixed a bug where Einhar's Memory of the Sacred Grove could fail to upgrade Tier 3 Harvest Seeds to Tier 4.
• Fixed a bug where monsters and player minions had 0 maximum Fortification, meaning they were not benefiting from sources of Fortification such as Fortify Support, or the Kingmaker Unique Axe.
• Fixed a bug where The Retch Unique Belt was not dealing Chaos Damage over Time when you leeched through the Crown of the Pale King Unique Helmet.
• Fixed a bug where the "increased Energy Shield from Equipped Body Armour" Shaper-influence modifier was not working correctly.
• Fixed a bug where the "Reused at the end of this Flask's effect" Flask Enchantment would wait for Linked Targets Flasks to end if the Flasks used were the same, and equipped to the same Flask slots when used with the Ceinture of Benevolence Unique Belt.
• Fixed a bug where Chance to Block Projectile Spell Damage from having the relevant Crucible Passive Skill on an equipped Weapon was not displayed in the Character Panel.
• Fixed a bug where defeating the Cortex Map Boss while there are at least 12 Void Pits or Pylons active was not granting credit towards the Predicated Pinnacle Powers Challenge.
• Fixed a bug where completing a Tier 16 The Beachhead Unique Map was not granting credit towards the Harrowing Harbingers Challenge.
• Fixed a bug where opening Chests at the end of the Eternal Labyrinth of Fortune did not provide credit towards the Grand Gripping Grail Challenge.
• Fixed a bug where corrupting a Map in your Map Stash Tab was not providing credit towards the Completely Complicit Corruption Challenge.
• Fixed a bug where stash highlighting from the Trade Website direct whisper feature was not working when using hideout invitations to trade.
• Fixed the ordering of modifiers on the Kahuturoa's Certainty Unique Boots.
• Fixed a bug where blood from the Beastmaster's Armour Set could persist across area transitions.
• Fixed a bug where the Blood Rain Hideout Decoration microtransaction was just regular rain.
• Fixed a bug where Herald of Thunder microtransactions were missing some of their visuals for its buff effect.
• Fixed a bug where the Black Aura Effect microtransaction visuals had turned grey.
• Fixed a bug where the dragon on the Dragonfire Portal Effect microtransaction would breath fire at your allies.
• Fixed a bug where the visuals of the Heritage Kinetic Blast microtransaction did not scale with changes to area of effect.
• Fixed a bug where Arctic Armour's visual effects could get out of sync.
• Fixed 7 instance crashes.
• Fixed 3 client crashes.