Path of Exile 2 Patch 0.30A Roadmap: What’s Changing and Why It Matters

Grinding Gear Games has unveiled its 0.30A roadmap for Path of Exile 2, a patch that is less about sweeping expansions and more about urgent fixes and quality-of-life updates the developers want live this week. While 0.30 introduced a wealth of new content and systems, it also revealed bugs, balance problems, and mechanical frustrations that need quick correction. Patch 0.30A aims to tackle these issues head-on, from Strongbox exploits to reworks of infamous bosses and improvements to controversial mechanics like the Well of Souls.

This article breaks down everything in the roadmap: the fixes, nerfs, buffs, and quality-of-life changes that will shape the next phase of POE2 Currency.

The Urgent Fix: Strongbox Duplication Exploit

The first and most pressing issue on Grinding Gear Games’ list is the Strongbox duplication exploit, a bug with potentially devastating implications for the trade league’s integrity. Unlike many exploits that are only found by power gamers digging through code, this one is accidentally discoverable by casual players. That means it isn’t just a niche, high-level abuse—it’s something many players could stumble into during normal gameplay.

While casual players may shrug off a sudden shower of loot as “good luck,” others have been farming the exploit hundreds of times, causing inflation and destabilizing trade. Grinding Gear Games has already deployed thirteen hotfixes since 0.30’s launch, but this is the first one they’ve openly acknowledged as critical enough to demand a rapid patch before 0.30A goes live. Expect this to be addressed in hotfix 14, likely within days.

Abyss Rebalancing: Making the Early Game Less Brutal

One of the most significant areas of change is the Rise of the Abyssal content. Abyss monsters introduced in 0.30 have proven both visually overwhelming and disproportionately deadly in early acts. 0.30A tones down the chaos in several key ways:

Staggered ability scaling: Abyss monsters will now gain abilities gradually across Acts 1–3, rather than spawning with their full endgame toolkits in Act 1. This should prevent early-game players from being wiped by late-game mechanics.

Specter accessibility: Abyss monsters can now be bound as specters, expanding options for minion builds.

Monster-specific adjustments:

Vessel of Kulamax’s teleport slam can no longer be avoided, but its damage has been reduced.

Abyssal Stranglers’ crystal wall damage has been nerfed.

Shepherds of the Pit move slower and deal less damage with their corrupted ground effects.

Striders of the Pit have a global cooldown on their spear slam, so they can’t all nuke players simultaneously.

The Lightless Moray’s invulnerability phase has been clarified, and its shade form ignite reduced.

Alongside these balance tweaks, Grinding Gear Games is also removing the motion blur effect when Abyssal pits close. While visually impressive, this effect, combined with Firestorm and ignite-heavy builds, often degraded performance even on powerful PCs.

One-Time Rare Monsters and Specter Nerfs

Another surprising adjustment involves one-time rare monsters in the campaign. These monsters often serve as unique encounters tied to specific map icons or points of interest. Players have been taming them as beasts or specters, which created a potential balance nightmare: what if a guaranteed campaign specter turned out to be the best specter in the game?

To avoid “permanent bricking” of characters who missed one-time encounters, Grinding Gear Games is nerfing the power of these monsters when used as specters or beasts. While some players may see this as unnecessary preemptive nerfing, the goal is to ensure build diversity and prevent hard-to-replicate one-off monsters from dominating the meta.

Sprinting Improvements

The sprint mechanic in Path of Exile 2 has been widely praised, but it still suffers from quirks. One of the most frustrating was the auto-target lock, where sprinting away from an enemy could cause players to unintentionally turn around mid-run to attack it. This lock-on has now been disabled, a small but welcome quality-of-life improvement.

That said, sprint’s biggest issue—collision with minor terrain features—remains. Until Grinding Gear Games smooths terrain hitboxes, sprint will remain an “A- tier” mechanic rather than the S-tier system it could be.

The Well of Souls: Still a Frustration

If Abyss monsters were too deadly, the Well of Souls is simply too tedious. This system, replacing Path of Exile 1’s instant unveil mechanic, forces players into a loading screen, a small zone traversal, and a long animation every time they unveil an item. The first run feels atmospheric; by the tenth, it’s infuriating.

0.30A introduces minor speed-ups to the process, but the community consensus is clear: the system needs a complete overhaul, not a bandaid. Ideally, unveiling should return to POE1’s quick right-click system, keeping the Well of Souls as a one-time story interaction instead of a constant grind.

Boss Adjustments: From Torvian to Minor Fixes

Bosses across both the campaign and maps are receiving a broad wave of changes.

Major Boss Updates

Torvian, Hand of the Savior: Widely considered the hardest boss of Act 4, Torvian’s freeze buildup and projectile speed are being nerfed. Some of his skills now have longer cooldowns. Torvian was often harder than the Act 4 final boss—something Grinding Gear Games wants to correct.

Doriani’s Interlude (Blood Mage Twins): Respawn mechanics have been fixed so both bosses always return together if a player dies mid-fight.

Minor Boss Updates

Abilities from bosses like Kertog and The Great White One can no longer be avoided.

Asmardi’s triple lacerate tracking is now more forgiving.

Scourge of the Skies birds’ storm attack can no longer be dodged.

Quill crabs have had their damage reduced (again).

Players can now use portals after defeating Siora, fixing a confusing bug.

Oswin the Dread Warden now clears his own debuffs on death.

Together, these changes bring bosses closer to Grinding Gear Games’ intended difficulty curves while removing bugs that made some encounters disproportionately frustrating.

The Whirling Slash Nerf: A Mid-League Balance Shift

The single biggest balance change in 0.30A is the nerf to Whirling Slash, a movement-skill-attack hybrid that unintentionally scaled travel speed with attack speed. Players were essentially moving twice as fast with no downside, creating both a gameplay imbalance and a trade economy distortion.

Now, increased attack speed will shorten travel distance rather than doubling movement speed, bringing Whirling Slash in line with intended design.

This fix, though necessary, has sparked debate. Some argue that Grinding Gear Games should offer full passive tree respecs and gem refunds to players who invested heavily in Whirling Slash builds, similar to how POE1 occasionally resets trees after massive changes. Still, most agree that this nerf signals a healthy new direction for balance philosophy: fix broken interactions mid-league, rather than letting them dominate an entire season.

Bug Fixes: From Dodge Rolls to Boss Glitches

Beyond balance and mechanics, 0.30A includes a massive list of bug fixes, some of which significantly affect gameplay:

Dodge Roll Body Blocking: Fixed an issue where players couldn’t roll past partially surrounding enemies. This will be a huge quality-of-life boost, especially against Abyss monsters that excel at surrounding players.

Specter Healing Bug: Minions were incorrectly benefiting from out-of-combat regeneration during combat. This fix makes minions behave as intended, though some players may feel it as a survivability nerf.

Crossbow Reload Failures: Weapon swapping occasionally broke reloads—now fixed.

Travel Skills in Boss Arenas: Some arenas, like Asmardi’s, didn’t allow movement skills. This is now corrected.

Duplicate Act 4 Boss Bug: The final boss could spawn a second version of itself. Needless to say, this has been fixed.

Map Completion Issues: Several maps, including Wayward Isle and Jade Dials, had completion-stopping bugs.

Other smaller but notable fixes include telegraph clarity for Silverfist attacks, unique items now storable in stash tabs, and corrections to misleading skill descriptions.

What It All Means for the Future

Patch 0.30A is less about adding content and more about stabilizing the foundation of Path of Exile 2. Grinding Gear Games has demonstrated a willingness to act quickly on balance issues—something many players felt was missing in earlier patches like 0.20. By addressing exploits, rebalancing bosses, and nerfing broken skills mid-league, they’re signaling a more responsive development cycle.

Not every fix will satisfy the community—the Well of Souls remains a pain point, and Whirling Slash players will feel burned—but overall, 0.30A represents a healthy step toward long-term balance and polish.

Final Thoughts

Path of Exile 2’s early access journey has been bumpy, but patches like 0.30A show that Grinding Gear Games is listening and iterating quickly. If 0.20 was marred by loot scarcity and a one-build meta, 0.30A seems determined not to repeat those mistakes.

The Strongbox exploit fix will stabilize the economy, Abyss nerfs will smooth early progression, and boss adjustments will make the campaign more consistent, cheap Path of Exile 2 Currency. Meanwhile, balance changes like the Whirling Slash nerf set the tone for a future where overperforming builds are addressed swiftly rather than dominating for months.

The road to a fully polished Path of Exile 2 is long, but with patches like 0.30A, it’s clear that the developers are willing to take bold steps in the right direction.