Path of Exile League 5: Player Engagement and Market Trends

Path of Exile's current league shows strong player engagement and positive market trends, setting the stage for an exciting transition to Path of Exile 2.

### State of the League: Week Five Insights on Player Engagement and Currency Trends
* 🎮 " As of week five, we see a **significant improvement in player count**, with **68,000 players active**, indicating a **strong engagement** compared to the previous Necropolis league.
* 📈  The current league, Kandra, has shown **consistent player growth month over month**, suggesting that recent changes to melee mechanics and new content have successfully **attracted both new and returning players**.
* 🗓️  With the open beta for Path of Exile 2 scheduled for **November 15**, the anticipation may lead to an **increase in player numbers** as players prepare for the transition.
* 📊  Twitch viewership remains robust, with **11,300 viewers engaged**, reflecting sustained interest in the game and potential for growth as excitement builds for the upcoming sequel.
* 💰  The currency market has seen notable fluctuations, including a **20% drop** in the price of mirrors, while certain items like Tainted Divine Tear Drops have risen by **26%**, indicating **active trading and farming opportunities**.
* ⚔️  The top five ascendancies currently dominating the meta include **Slayer, Trickster, Hant, Chieftain, and Juggernaut**, with builds like **Lightning Strike and Hex Blast** leading the charge in popularity.
* 📅  Overall, the league has been well-received, with **new mechanics enhancing gameplay** and **currency exchange systems improving trading efficiency**, setting a positive tone as the community looks forward to **future developments**.

Welcome back, you filthy Exiles. So, I thought I'd do something a little different. I thought we'd make a really quick state of the league sort of video. Now, we're in week five, obviously, and yeah, some interesting things are happening. But anyway, we'll do a quick rundown: player count, Twitch numbers. I was thinking major currency movements over 100 C on the currency market. There's definitely been some big shifts and some interesting things worth farming. And then beyond that, top five ascendancies being played and the particular build within those five ascendancies. And overall, we'll just cover off on a quick brief of the stability of the league. Hint hint, I think it's going pretty well. Anyway, let's delve into the video and have a chat about that. Okay, so the first thing that we'll take note of here is based on Steam charts. There is definitely a significant improvement on the previous league, Necropolis, compared to the Kandra league, which we're currently in. So basically, we're looking at all-time

24-hour as at the fifth week of League. I believe we're in at 68,000, which is pretty damn good playing currently of the last hour. And this is as of the 28th to the 8th, uh, 2024, uh, was 35.8 th000. Now, what we can see in the May and the June numbers, or even the April, May, June numbers, is the previous League was just totally lackluster compared to the current league where that we're in. And what we're seeing is a, uh, is a more consistent and long-drawn-out sort of enhancement in the number of players month on month. Even though we're into the second month of the league at the current gure, it doesn't seem to be any real slowdown point, which is a really good sign that the CH changes to melee, as well as all the new additional content with the, uh, you know, city building and all the rest of it, have actually pulled in the player base and/or attracted players back to the game.

which is a pretty good position for Path of Exile to be in, especially leading into the fact that, you know, we're looking at Path of Exile 2 potentially. Well, Path of Exile 2, now confirmed, is coming out to open beta on the 15th of November. So, what that means is this is a really good position from a player base level for Path of Exile to transition into Path of Exile 2. And the other question here is what will they do as far as League goes when Path of Exile 2's open beta comes out. Will it be another League gets announced at the same time? It's very unlikely 'cause they're going to want to give people the opportunity to play POE2 without worrying about POE1 and being behind the eight ball. So, it'll be really interesting to see how the player numbers sort of shift over the coming months, especially with the lead-up to POE2. The other thing that we may actually also see is that the

player base will actually increase, and the player numbers may actually go back up the closer to the POE2 release date. This will be potentially people coming back to the game and, you know, blowing off the rust, um, or potentially people getting excited and wanting to experience the first game. So, what we might actually see for the first time ever is a player base increase in the months leading up, uh, or the months preceding, many months preceding the, uh, the league, uh, launch, which, um, for 3.25 is looking good. We actually may see player numbers increase over the next two months, uh, leading into November, but it's anyone's guess at this stage. I sort of suspect that might be the case, but it's, uh, it's definitely very good, and it's significantly more fun with more players playing, and it's a lot easier to trade. Uh, more players means the trade market stays a lot more stable for a lot longer as well, which is what we're also observing with the new currency exchange system. But yeah, overall player numbers

are really strong and uh hopefully they uh they keep ticking up and yeah it looks like Path of Exile is really starting to uh to pull its weight in the arpg market right now. Now as far as the interest of the play base on Twitch, we're still looking at 11.3 th000 people tuning in to uh to The Path of Exile twitch channels and whatnot, which is really good to see because it means there's tons of people still interested in playing and engaging and uh and these numbers haven't really dropped as significantly as what they did in the last league. And so yeah, there's a really strong following of people still very interested in the game, which is good to see and that'll probably enhance over the next month or two months as we sort of start to step more into the Path of Exile to Hype sort of uh ladder that we're going to be working through. But anyway, twitch is still going strong with Path of Exile as well, so no real drop.

off on that front either. Okay, so just on the currency market front. So we've got a 20% drop in the price of mirrors of Kandra. Obviously, seen a lot more mirrors coming in, especially with the league mechanic with shipping. Hur's lock is down 11%, but you know, we're talking absolutely enormous numbers here. Mirror shards are down by 14% as well. This could be a symptom of them becoming a little more common just with some of the currency strats that are going on for this league. Val orbs are at 1.5 K chaos. So they're saying it's down 11%, but it seems to be an upward swing reflecting Miss again. They're up by 25%. Fracturing orbs down by 10%. Tainted Divine tear drops up by 26%. Awakener orbs, I believe there was something going on with a build that was using this, which has absolutely throttled the price up. So if you are interested in farming Cyrus, this would be a really good way to

make Bank of farming Cyrus or Uber Cyrus um beyond that orbs of Dominus which drop from Maven encounters. They're up by 2% set 381 chaos uh for some odd reason. Hunter EX olded orbs are trading at 3 151 when compared to every other type of exalted orb which is at 229 neat or on an average. So that while they are up by 35% uh Hunter exalts are sort of standing out. So there's definitely something going on most likely that's because of the number of bleed builds that are going on that used dot um tailoring orbs as well. They're up by 44% and then we get down to the blessing of Chula which is at 183 chaos and divines are sitting comfortably at 152 chaos and they've dropped in price as well by 10%. Orbs of conflict are out by 25% around 137 and then we've got our blessings which are sitting at 100 C which is really interesting because it means that bridge

could potentially be a farming mechanic that might be worth your time. And there's definitely something going on with this because these are all going up, you know, by an average of about 40%, not taking into account extreme outliers. But basically, you know, your blessings are all going up in price, which alludes to the fact that something is trading that's coming out of breach. And it's not just the blessing, but if the blessings are going up, there's a drop that's potentially going up that the blessings are used on, which could allude to something worth looking into and identifying whether or not there is a target unique coming from that mechanic that might be worth your time in farming breach for. Okay, so just from a quick cursory look of the different builds that are currently in meta, I've sort of went through the top five ascendancies, which currently are the Slayer at 17%, Trickster 15%, Hant at 133% of all players, Chieftain at 9%, and the

Juggernaut at 8%. Interestingly, Gladiator has slipped down to 7%, with Warden at 6%. But still, they're very strong builds that sit within those categories, but they're not quite in the top five just at this stage. Now for the Slayer, obviously, Lightning Strike is the most popular build period for this ascendancy, closely followed by Frost Blades of Cab Bases, and then Flicker Strike, and then various other builds that sort of go through. Interestingly, Cyclone's up there, but that could just be because it's appended to other skills. But if that is the case, then Cyclone might be making its way back. But overall, definitely, this is Lightning Strike. It was just a ridiculous skill this league and is being totally abused on this Slayer, which is good to see because it is a very good skill. Now for the Trickster, it's Hex Blast, Lightning Strike, and funnily enough, things like Splitting Steel and Flicker Strike, and basically, most of these builds are using Ephemeral Edge.

setup with M with energy Shield stacking, and they're getting to ridiculous levels of immortality as a result of that. Trickster again for this league is just one of the best builds as far as from a tank ability standpoint. You can deep delve with it, you can take it through to Ubers, it's just really lucrative and in a really strong spot so far as to date until maybe something else comes out later in the league that's a little more wild and a little more crazy. But it's good to see the Trickster still on top in the number two position. Okay, so the next one is the Hant. There's basically only one build being played on this overall aside from some other minor offset builds, but Ice Over or Frostbolts, which is essentially an AFK build, so it is very strong in the community that we do like our AFK builds. So, it'll be interesting to see Path of Exile 2 and the position it takes on this sort of thing, but yeah, no, this is extremely dominant.

build and also really easy build once you get it started and working really well. But uh, that's the third ascendency that's currently dominating the uh, The Meta breakdown currently in builds. Okay, so the fourth ascendency that's currently on top is the chieftain. Now, with the changes to things like armor and defense, we've started using a lot more petrified blood base builds and blood magic builds as a result. And interestingly, things like uh, AutoCast fire storm is like 4% uh, fire trap and RF obviously dominate on the chieftain 'cause it is one of the best ascendancies to play RF on still to this day. And detonate dead of Scavenging is definitely up there as well as cremation as well. Uh, basically many of these builds are either stand idle and let the uh, the build do the damage builds. And/or are just AutoCast cast wind stun builds. And the reason being is a lot of the time they're using these builds to farm either you know, 1,000 dep delve uh, or to

take on ultimatums, and you just basically AFK ultimatums and whatnot, or ritual farming as well, but overall, it's still one of the most dominant ascendancies 'cause it is very easy to overcap all resistances and deal with a lot of the elemental damage in the game, where things like the jugg and things like that have been hamstrung this league just a little bit with the changes to things like unbreakable. But overall, I've got an AFK cman stun build, and it's probably one of the most fun builds I've played in a number of leagues. But, uh, yeah, uh, number four on the list. Okay, so the final ascendancy is obviously the Juggernaut, and this is as a result solo Le because of molten strike of zenith. It basically just dominates from a strength stacking Chaos on hit conversion build. Um, the build is expensive to get maxed out, and you will need to put some mirrors into it, and obviously, that was worth it for a lot of players. It is a

really solid build and probably one of the most intricate builds I've seen in a very long time. Super strong in delve. Uh, Steve is again, I believe, running with this, but he's since changed his build up a little more. Um, but yeah, there's a ton of people playing it. Obviously, it's just a great meta pick for the league, but it will set you back a bit of currency to get it working. Uh, some people have reported having a few issues with it, but it is one of those things where the more you invest into it, the better it's going to get, and you're going to hit some pretty crazy numbers on the DPS scale, and it is extremely tanky as well. But uh, yeah, this is the fifth build in the list of builds, um, that are in the top five currently in the week, in the fifth week of uh, League. Okay, so as an overall summary of what I think of the league and based on talking to the community and whatnot, uh, it's two thumbs up. It's a good League, solid League. It's all that needs to be

said, uh, the gold changes were really good. Uh, it's actually really enjoyable to basically play and farm gold mechanics and get outcomes of that. The inclusion of things like shipping, auto mapping, all that sort of stuff, being able to level your town up, makes it a hell of a lot more fun. You think like that would distract from the main game, but it actually gives you an alternate route to farming. So, you can go down in delve and have your mappers auto-map for you, which I think is a really good feature. And people are making a lot of currency out of that too. Uh, things like ultimatum are in a good spot, rituals in a good spot, blight's fun. Uh, delve still pushing down in delve, it's a lot of fun. There's still plenty of players playing delve, and the market has improved. And I'll do a video on that tomorrow night, uh, talking about what to farm out of Del and how to make currency. There are things like, uh, certain divination cards for all's uprisings that aren't

great though, but it is what it is. Uh, outside of that, overall as a strong player base, it's easy to make currency with the currency exchange too. So basically, you can autoflip or you can just flip everything as soon as you make it. So you can make liquid currency to be able to fund your builds and get things working really quickly. Um, and again, the currency exchange was a really good inclusion into the game, and with some more improvements, that's going to be a great mechanic in both Path of Exile one, hopefully if it continues, fingers crossed that it continues. Um, and then basically, you know, moving into Path of Exile 2, I think they made the right choices with it and the way that that's been delivered. Um, overall, like not being able to trade items in a currency exchange market, uh, like an auto window, I think is probably the right decision to make. Otherwise, it'll just become overly complicated. Thinking as an example, Last Epoch is really clunky, and while it's a cool concept, it doesn't really work very

well um but the way it's been done in this circumstance is perfectly fine. Like you're still always going to have that issue with having to hit the trade button on a bunch of things and hope to God somebody's going to respond to you. But I don't know how you do that efficiently unless you add like a whole new UI or whatnot. And you know we might see something totally different in Path of Exile too. But if uh if things stay like how they are in Path of Exile one I'm perfectly happy and I think most people are perfectly happy to uh to accept that. CU it's a huge improvement on how we used to uh trade previously. Overall though I think uh the position of where T7s are and the changes they've made in some of the post patches during the league have been really good. And T7s are in a nice spot where it's achievable, it's doable, it's not this thing in the near distant future where you're probably never going to

fully achieve it. I think where currently is with the mod roles that you can get onto it and things like that. Uh, where they don't sort of coalesce with too many difficult mods at the same time makes it achievable to farm T7s now for, you know, a larger portion of the player base, which is good. So, the other thing is the melee changes were fantastic. Obviously, it's really good to see Mee sort of get back up into a really good spot. Spellcast is still really strong as well. There, like a good equal blend across the board. And obviously, the changes to things like Warden have been some welcome improvements to the game. But overall, I'm really happy with the game after playing for what, 11 years, 12 years, or up to something like that. I think it's something like that. Um, I think this is probably the best position Poe has been in in a very long time. Definitely since like 3.15 League. Um, which funnily enough was when they made all the changes to defenses and brick.

Mele and sort of whatnot that have sort of reverted back to uh previous that change or you know prior to that change, and the game is in a really good State. And hopefully, it just continues to improve from this point onwards. But that's my uh my sort of uh recap from a more casual, I guess, player um and whatnot. But yeah, overall great League, really happy with it. I think most people are too as well. Okay, so if you like videos like this, let me know in the description or the comments below, sorry um. I'm trying out some different stuff in format and things like that, so I thought this would be like a really good video just as a bit of a recap. And I was trying to do like series with itemization and stuff like that, just obviously been working away, so I haven't had as much time as I usually would. But if people want to see this more consistently, maybe we do this video like every second week or something like that uh, let me know below um. If you like this

sort of stuff, but anyway, uh, drop me a like, drop me a sub, usual stuff, uh, don't forget to follow the Twitch. I'll be online a little bit later on. I've got to go hit the gym after I finish recording and upload this though, and uh, I will see you guys later. Have a good one.

WINNING! More and More Each Day | League Recap Week 5 | PoE 3.25 Settlers of Kalguur

Jorgen

Player count in the current Kandra league has significantly improved compared to the previous Necropolis league, with 68,000 players in the last hour as of week five.

The consistent month-on-month increase in players is a positive sign, likely driven by CH changes to melee and new content.

The upcoming open beta for Path of Exile 2 on November 15th may lead to a shift in player numbers, with the potential for an increase in the months leading up to the release.

Path of Exile's Growing Influence and Currency Market Trends

Path of Exile is gaining traction in the ARPG market, with 11.

3k viewers on Twitch, indicating strong player interest.

The currency market has seen a 20% drop in the price of Mirrors of Kandra and other currencies, while some, like Tainted Divine Tear Drops and Hunter Exalted Orbs, have experienced significant price increases.

The overall stability in player engagement and the upcoming Path of Exile 2 hype suggests a promising future for the game.

Current Meta and Farming Opportunities in Path of Exile

Blessing prices are rising by an average of 40%, suggesting a potential farming mechanic worth exploring in breach.

The top five ascendancies currently are Slayer, Trickster, Hant, Chieftain, and Juggernaut, with Slayer's Lightning Strike being the most popular build.

The Trickster is also strong, using Ephemeral Edge for energy shield stacking and offering high tankability, while the Hant's Ice Over/Frostbolts build is dominating with its AFK playstyle.

Dominant Ascendancies in the Current Meta

The top ascendency builds currently dominating the meta are the Scion, Chieftain, and Juggernaut.

The Chieftain's popularity is driven by petrified blood and blood magic builds, with a focus on auto-casting damage.

The Juggernaut's strength comes from a chaotic on-hit conversion build, offering high DPS and tankiness, but requiring significant investment to max out.

Overall, the league is receiving positive feedback from the community.

Positive Changes in Gold Mechanics and Gameplay

The gold changes in the game have been enjoyable, offering alternate farming routes and features like shipping and auto-mapping.

Delve gameplay remains popular, with players making currency through auto-mapping and the currency exchange.

Overall, the game's improvements and mechanics are well-received, with a strong player base and achievable goals for T7s.

The current mod roles make it easier for a larger portion of the player base to farm T7s.

Melee changes and spellcasting balance have improved gameplay, along with welcome changes to Warden.

Overall, the game is in its best position in a long time, with hopes for continued improvement.