Path of Exile reveales new profession

17^th of April, 2011

About a week and a half ago, Grinding Gear Games revealed a new profession that will be available in, the free2play ARPG, Path of Exile – The Duelist. The Duelist is the fourth profession to be revealed (following the Marauder, Ranger and the Witch) from a total of six professions which will be available once the game launches, and is the first profession to focus on more than one attribute.

For those who have not yet heard of the game I can tell that Path of Exile is a mostly standard ARPG, apart from its rather unique skill system which it will be using, that is explain in more detail here. The skill system in the game is based on three attribute: Strength, Dexterity and Intelligence, from which the power and effects of all the skills are derived. The Duelist, for example, is a profession whose skills are derived from a combination of Strength and dexterity. The talents of the characters in the game are made up of two parts: a skill tree, from which you can buy only passive talents which are available (apparently) to all professions, and runes, which are basically the active skills of the characters. All the items in the game are filled with sockets into which you are able to insert said runes in order to create combination of skills. E.g. (as can be seen in the video in the link above) a multiple attack fire rune will cause a bow to fire several fire arrows at once with each attack. The most basic runes will become available along the course of the game, and special runes will be available from NPC traders or as loot from enemies.

On the surface it seems that the game is going to be very story driven with a compelling mood setting, and the fact that the game is going to be free2play can’t really hurt either. The game’s beta phase should be starting in the next few months and the game will be available for PC only.

By MJORGLORY