Last week, the highly anticipated Path of Exile 2 Early Access released its first major update, Patch 0.2.0 Dawn of the Hunt, which brought a lot of new game content. Among them, the most exciting for many players is the new league and the new mechanics that come with it, such as Azmerian Wisps that this guide will introduce to you.
In this new patch, Azmerian Wisps officially entered Wraeclast and became a league mechanic in this sequel that has been well received since its release last year. In order to make your POE 2 exploration process easier, this guide will introduce you to all the specific information about Azmerian Wisps and some rewards you can get from them.
What Are Azmerian Wisps?
In short, Azmerian Wisps are some entities that you can find in the campaign area or maps in the endgame content provided by POE 2. These multi-colored creatures will quickly flee when you approach them, and the closer you are to them, the faster they move.
Conversely, if you start to retreat instead of chasing them, the little creatures will slow down. But be aware that if you stay too far away from these Wisps for a long time, they will disappear instead. So when you encounter them, please catch up.
Currently, you will first interact with this new mechanic in The Grelwood in Act 1, where you will encounter Azmeri Spirit’s avatar and a new NPC named Delwyn who tracks these entities. It will eventually lead you to a monster.
How Does It Work?
In the current POE 2, each Azmerian Wisp is adapted to a respected animal in the culture of the same name, so when you encounter monsters halfway through chasing them to their final destination, Wisp will grant them some powers, and the specific buffs will be based on the animal relationship they have, making them more challenging.
For example, Azmerian Wisp associated with Great Bear will grant additional health to monsters it passes through and increase the chance of stunning you during combat. Eventually, these flying entities will find a Rare or Unique Monster to possess, granting it a new ability on top of the normal benefits it provides.
Again, this new ability is based on the type of animal associated with the creature itself. Using Great Bear example again, Azmerian Wisp associated with it will add the ability for the possessed rare or unique monster to summon Spectral Bear, who will slam around the boss’s area.
These Rare or Unique monsters possessed by Azmerian Wisp will reward you with more POE 2 Currency and loot such as Talismans after you defeat them, depending on how many monsters they possessed before reaching their final destination and how many monsters you cleared.
Types Of Azmerian Wisps
At this stage, POE 2 Early Access only adds four Azmerian Wisps in Patch 0.2.0 Dawn of the Hunt, but in the previous developer livestream, we can learn that more types of small creatures will appear in subsequent leagues and game content to keep players fresh at all times.
Below are the benefits provided by each Azmerian Wisp to monsters encountered on the road and the combat capabilities it will provide to the final boss. In fact, when facing these benefits and combat capabilities, you only need to pay attention to the damage ability and defense in your build. The best way is to buy POE2 Currency at the nearest checkpoint before entering the area where this mechanism exists to upgrade the gear that provides a lot of benefits.
Azmerian Wisp Of The Great Bear
Just introduced, it will provide more extra life to the small monsters it possesses and increase the chance of stun you, and it will provide the boss with a Spectral Bear that can slam the player.
Azmerian Wisp Of The Winter Owl
These little creatures will provide bonuses like extra cold damage and energy shields to monsters you encounter during your exploration, and will continue to cast a Wind Vortex on you when they die, and their area damage capabilities are also very strong.
When they reach their final destination and attach to the boss, they will provide an additional attack move that can summon a Tornado. In the process of fighting this Azmerian Wisp, you may need to pay attention to the super area damage.
Azmerian Wisp Of The Wild Cat
This Azmerian Wisp will provide some increased crit and dodge chances to monsters on the side of the road, and will grant a Feline Spirits to the final boss, giving it greater mobility and damage capabilities.
Sacred Wisps
Unlike the previous Azmerian Wisps with animal names, this is a very rare Wisp and has a unique mechanism for providing monster buffs. Currently, there is only one Sacred Wisp in the game, which is Sacred Wisp of the Cunning Fox.
According to its description in Path of Exile 2, it can’t buff the small monsters it passes by, because it only affects the final monsters: it can upgrade normal monsters to magic monsters; upgrade magic monsters to rare monsters; and upgrade rare monsters to unique bosses.
Other Updates Related To Azmerian Wisps
Because of the addition of Azmerian Wisps, Path of Exile 2 also adds a new endgame map with a similar name in this patch, Azmeri Ranges, which is also the place where Azmeri civilisation once lived.
Now this place has been occupied by corrupted monsters, and your task is to defeat them. Interestingly, there will be multiple Azmerian Wisps, which makes some unique bosses in this map familiar and strange.
The above is the league mechanism called Azmerian Wisps added in the current POE 2 Patch 0.2.0 Dawn of the Hunt and its specific working method. I hope this guide can make it easier for you to explore the game content after this major patch and find more fun in it.