Path of Exile 2's 0.5 Return of the Ancients expansion is adding a wave of new endgame uniques that open up entirely new playstyles. Among the most anticipated are Nightfall, a Breachlord shield with its own throwable skill, and Redemption, a modified crossbow purpose-built for grenade devastation. Both items arrive on May 29th with the full expansion launch, and both have the community buzzing with build possibilities. This guide covers how each item works, what builds they enable, and where to farm them.
New Grenade Launchers and Runes of Aldur in Return of the Ancients
The Return of the Ancients expansion introduces a brand-new weapon base type: the grenade launcher crossbow — alongside the Runes of Aldur system that lets players further customize Kalguuran unique items. The grenade launcher base expands on the existing bombard crossbow concept but takes it to a completely different level, with a dedicated grenade-oriented mod pool that you can craft as rare items too. Combined with the new uniques built around these systems, Mercenary and Warrior players have some wildly different endgame paths to chase. Below, we'll go through both Nightfall and Redemption in detail: what they do, how to build around them, and how to get your hands on one.
Nightfall Effects, Best Uses/Builds & How To Get
Nightfall is the shield of Breachlord Tul herself, and it comes with a granted skill called Soaring Midnight. When activated, you throw the shield outward as a projectile. From there, you have two options:
Do nothing, and the shield returns to you on its own.
Activate the skill again while the shield is airborne to teleport to the shield's location and slam it down for massive area damage.
The slam has a 4-second cooldown, but here's where things get interesting: catching the returning shield or destroying ice crystals will reset that cooldown entirely. In the right setup, you can chain throws and slams continuously and become an unstoppable avalanche of cold destruction.
Skill Tags and Scaling
Soaring Midnight carries both a projectile tag and a melee tag for the slam portion. This means the skill double-dips from both projectile and melee scaling, which is a rare and powerful combination. The skill specifically states it cannot split and cannot fork, but it says nothing about chaining — and since ricochet counts as chain, the shield can bounce off terrain before you teleport to it.
Projectile speed scaling is relevant here too. A faster-moving shield gives you longer range and quicker repositioning for the teleport slam.
Best Uses and Build Theorycraft
The community has already identified several promising directions for Nightfall builds:
Frost Wall Cooldown Reset Loop — Since destroying ice crystals resets Soaring Midnight's cooldown, pairing Nightfall with a level 1 Frost Wall spell creates near-permanent uptime on the shield slam. Frost Wall generates crystals that the returning shield shatters on its path, immediately giving you another slam. You can socket Glacier support on the Frost Wall and Verglas on the Slam itself for a big chunk of extra cold damage.
Abyssal Lich AoE Scaling — The slam portion benefits from area of effect increases. Players looking to maximize the slam's destruction radius can pursue Abyssal Lich-related AoE scaling, though you'll want a Temporalis or other cooldown reduction to smooth out any gaps.
Shield Wall Defensive Hybrid — Nightfall still functions as a shield for blocking purposes. A shield wall build that rotates between blocking, throwing, and slamming offers both offense and defense from a single gear slot.
The item requires level 84 and has a notably high Strength requirement, which limits some class combinations. However, some players are already theorycrafting ways around this — such as pairing it with Giant's Blood effects or using it on naturally high-Strength Warrior builds.
How To Farm Nightfall
Nightfall is a Breach unique that drops from Breachlord Tul in endgame encounters. You'll need to engage with the Breach mechanic in maps, collect enough Tul splinters or access Tul's domain through endgame Breach content, and defeat the Breachlord for a chance at the shield. As a boss-specific endgame unique, it cannot drop before you reach the appropriate endgame tier — plan on being well into maps before you see one. Target-farming Tul breaches and prioritizing cold-themed Breach encounters will be your most consistent path.
Redemption Effect, Best Uses/Builds & How To Get
Redemption is not really a crossbow at all. It's built on an entirely new base type — the grenade launcher, created during the peak of the Trarthan wars and lore-wise wielded by Ratha Azadi herself. The weapon cannot use normal ammunition skills, but it specializes in leveraging every grenade skill in your arsenal with devastating efficiency.
The core mechanic revolves around a buff called Explosive Fervour. Once you've fired enough grenades (approximately 20 grenade skill uses), Explosive Fervour activates. While active, it does two things:
Removes the cooldowns on all your grenade skills.
Dramatically increases your grenade fire rate.
The result is an absolute barrage of explosions. You can fire a medley of different grenade types — cluster bombs, fire grenades, whatever you have socketed — in rapid succession with zero cooldown restrictions. The community has already compared this to "going on an actual rampage."
Key Limitations to Consider
Redemption is not without trade-offs. You cannot scale it with crit easily, as grenades rarely invest in critical strike. You cannot use other ammunition types, which locks you out of many traditional crossbow interactions. The Explosive Fervour buff is temporary and requires a ramp-up period of roughly 20 grenade casts, so there is no permanent uptime — you'll cycle between building charges and unleashing your burst window.
Perhaps the most discussed limitation is mana cost. When you're firing grenades with zero cooldown at a massively increased fire rate, your mana drain becomes extreme. Any viable Redemption build will need a serious mana sustain solution.
Best Uses and Build Theorycraft
Full Grenade Rotation Mercenary — Load up multiple different grenade skills and cycle through them during the ramp phase. Once Explosive Fervour pops, spam your highest-damage grenade relentlessly. This is the straightforward approach and likely the most popular.
Mortar Hybrid — Some players are curious about whether mortar turrets firing grenades count toward the Explosive Fervour charge counter. If mortars contribute charges, you could drop turrets to passively build toward your burst window while still dealing damage during the ramp phase.
Boss Burst Specialist — The ramp requirement means Redemption might shine most in boss encounters where you can build charges on adds or during transition phases, then dump your entire grenade arsenal during damage windows.
The new grenade launcher base type also drops as a rare item with its own mod pool, meaning even without the unique, players can craft grenade-focused crossbows. This opens up the archetype beyond just Redemption itself.
How To Farm Redemption
Redemption is an endgame unique dropping from high-tier content in Return of the Ancients. While the exact source hasn't been fully confirmed, the item is associated with Trarthan lore and endgame encounters. Given its power level and the fact that it introduces a brand-new base type, expect it to come from late endgame content — likely pinnacle or near-pinnacle boss encounters. Keep an eye on community drop reports after May 29th for confirmed sources, and plan to farm deep endgame maps or specific encounter types tied to Trarthan content.
Both Nightfall and Redemption represent a design philosophy that the community is enthusiastically embracing: uniques that don't just provide stats, but fundamentally change how you play. Nightfall turns your shield into a Captain America-style weapon with teleport slams, while Redemption turns the Mercenary into a walking demolition crew. With the new grenade launcher base type also available as a craftable rare, grenade builds have a dedicated equipment path for the first time.
Return of the Ancients launches May 29th. Start planning your builds now — there are more uniques coming, and GGG clearly isn't done showing off what this expansion has to offer.
