Path of Exile 2 has revealed new gameplay, a boss fight, and a new class called the Mercenary.

Additionally, new features of the game include changes and new additions to the combat. This is really looking like a straight-up improvement to the isometric genre.

Let's go through the cool new things coming in Path of Exile 2.

New Controls

Firstly, let's go over the confirmation of the new changes to how you can control your character and this applies to any class and any weapon type.

You can now use WASD movement to control and move your character, allowing you to move separately while aiming. You can still use traditional click-to-move if you want to.

On top of this, there are changes to many character skills whereby you can move while casting, increasing the pace and intensity of combat.

Honestly, these changes together are great news to me, and it really does impact how the game will feel to play.

Mercenary Class

Regarding the Mercenary class, then we got a really good look at the new Mercenary class, which is a new crossbow-wielding character.

This class comes with unique crossbow options, mimicking a variety of different firearm types but in crossbow form.

They wanted this class to feel both responsive and snappy when firing the crossbow, similar to how shooting in first-person shooter games feels. So, they've gone deep into making different crossbows that function kind of like a sniper rifle, a shotgun, and even assault rifles.

These crossbows are layered on top with different elemental ammo types and even attachments that all synergize together in different ways.

New Weapon Types

For your character's equipment, you can only equip 2 crossbows at a time, and there are 3 different types to pick from:

• Burst Crossbow: Functions like a shotgun, firing a burst of arrows dealing little damage individually but packing a punch if they all connect to a single target.
• Power Shot Crossbow: Functions like a sniper rifle, dealing high damaging slow lower hits.
• Rapid Shot Crossbow: Very fast shooting with a high magazine capacity, allowing for chasing and evading enemies while keeping up the damage.

All Ammo Abilities

There are also ammo skills, which add another layer of depth on top of how these different types of crossbows function. There are slight differences in how they work across the different types, so let's go through them all.

Ammo abilities include Armor-Piercing Ammo, which makes your hits pierce through enemies, good for taking on a group at once.

However, for the Rapid Shot crossbow, each hit will erode an enemy's armor, eventually breaking it, negating the Burst Shot crossbows' drawback against armored enemies.

Meanwhile, for the Power Shot crossbow, if an enemy's armor is broken, you can then pull out your power crossbow to shoot them, triggering a special weak spot hit dealing massive extra damage and high stun on the enemy.

Then, you have Incendiary Ammo. This is good against single targets as it ignites them. With the Burst Shot crossbow, the more projectiles that connect to a target, the more damage it deals per hit, making it great for super close-range situations.

For the Rapid Shot crossbow, the incendiary ammo charges up before firing. As you continue to shoot, it heats up, dealing more damage per shot. Moreover, it boosts the fire damage of any grenades you launch and automatically ignites oil grenades.

Moving on to the Power Shot crossbow, this ammo transforms into a pseudo-rocket launcher, creating an explosive blast on impact for AOE damage. It synergizes with grenades, causing any fired on the ground to instantly explode.

Permafrost Ammo slows enemies by chilling them and has a chance to freeze them in place. Frozen enemies are vulnerable to a special effect of the armor-piercing ammo, making them explode for huge AOE damage nearby.

The rapid-fire crossbow can also shoot the ground with this ammo type to create ice crystals. These crystals act like mines, exploding when enemies touch them and applying chilling to slow them down. It helps set traps and establish a safe area before engaging in a fight.

The Power Shot crossbow creates ice walls on impact, blocking off areas in corridors and alleys to control enemies. These walls explode when broken by enemies, synergizing with Burst Shot crossbows' armor-piercing ammo for extra damage on Frozen targets.

New Grenade Gear Slots & Types

Additionally, there are new grenade gear slots and types.

The attachment slot in your crossbow is where grenades come from. It functions as a grenade launcher. It allows you to fire different grenade types with varied effects upon explosion.

These attachments function as skill gems, providing extra skill slots for your character and can be augmented with support gems. Grenades are fired separately from your crossbow's primary shooting and explode after a short delay, based on the type chosen.

There are 3 known types of grenades:

• Explosive Grenades deal massive damage with a delayed explosion.
• Flash Grenades deal slight damage but cause massive stun on enemies.
• Oil Grenades slow enemies by covering them with oil, leaving patches on the floor.

These combinations allow for interesting build potentials. The different crossbow types, ammo types, and grenade varieties synergize in unique ways. Witnessing a character utilizing these synergies against a boss was impressive. The boss fight showcased these strategies in action.