Path of Exile's next expansion has officially arrived on the horizon, and Grinding Gear Games pulled back the curtain during the July 16th live reveal. With the 3.29 update titled Curse of the Allflame, players are now getting the complete picture of new skill gems joining the game. This guide covers everything confirmed for this league, including two brand new Transfigured gems (Holy Hammers of Spirals and Reap of Butchery), four new Pact Exceptional Skill Gems, two new Exceptional Support Gems, additional Transfigured skills, and the sweeping balance pass to spellcasters.
Before jumping into each gem, here is the full list of all new skills and support gems on what 3.29 is bringing to the table.
PoE 3.29 New Skills & Support Gems
Path of Exile 3.29 Curse of the Allflame is the next major expansion for PoE 1, launching on July 25th following the GGG Live reveal event on July 16th. The league takes players beneath the sea, tasking them with helping Corsair captain Valery and her ship the Sovereign recover treasures using the Allflame-powered bathysphere.
On the skill side, Game Director Mark Roberts confirmed that GGG is focusing this patch on self-cast spellcasters, an archetype that has struggled with scaling in the endgame. This includes:
A brand new category of Exceptional Skill Gems called Pacts
Two new Exceptional Support Gems
Multiple new Transfigured skill variants
A new base skill called Mana-Infused Staff
Widespread balance changes to existing spells and supports
Let's go through each category in detail.
PoE 3.29 Pact Gems (Exceptional Skill Gems)
One of the biggest additions in 3.29 is a fresh set of Exceptional Skill Gems called Pacts. Each Pact is themed around a specific Beyond Demon (plus Lycia), and using one grants a powerful buff at the cost of an Affliction debuff rather than the usual mana cost.
There are four Pact gems in total:
Pact of Beidat
Cast a pact that empowers spells firing projectiles, applying area effects to targeted locations, or firing chaining beams. Empowered spells deal more damage and have enhanced coverage. Using this skill burdens you with an Affliction.
Pact of Ghorr
Cast a pact that empowers your damage-over-time spells while burdening you with an Affliction. This skill also grants the Hunger of Ghorr buff for a duration, causing Fleshrend to trigger periodically. Ideal for DoT-focused builds looking to plague enemies.
Pact of K'tash
Cast a pact that empowers your damaging Vaal spells while burdening you with an Affliction. Empowered Vaal spells deal more damage, have less soul gain prevention duration, and refund souls on use. This finally gives Vaal spells a sustained scaling option.
Pact of Lycia
Cast a pact that empowers the next channelling spells you cast yourself, burdening you with an Affliction. Empowered spells deal more damage and periodically trigger lightning bolts while channelling.
How Pacts Play
Rather than paying mana per cast, Pacts trade off resources by placing debuffs on your character, but the reward is a sizable damage and mechanic boost to your spells. GGG designed these specifically to give self-cast archetypes a proper scaling ceiling.
PoE 3.29 Exceptional Support Gems
Two brand new Exceptional Support Gems are joining the roster in 3.29.
Coursing Currents Support
Supports skills that hit enemies. It provides increased effect of Chill and Shock inflicted with supported skills, plus these interactions:
Enemies become Chilled when they are Shocked by your hits
Enemies become Shocked when they are Chilled by your hits
This gem is perfect for hybrid Cold/Lightning builds that want to double-dip on both ailments.
Crystalfall Support
Supports Slam skills. Supported skills will trigger Falling Crystal on hit, calling down a giant crystal of abyssal soulstone from above that slams the targeted location. Cannot support triggered skills or skills used by things other than you.
Slam builds now have a dedicated support that adds an entirely new damage layer through the falling abyssal crystal.
PoE 3.29 New Transfigured Skills
GGG also added multiple Transfigured skills to the game in this patch:
Holy Hammers of Spirals
The theme here is all about Power Charge scaling, and the transfigured version pushes that scaling into an entirely new direction with a spiraling cascade pattern from the sky.
Key stats:
Cost: 9 Mana
Attack Speed: 85% of base
Attack Damage: 244.4% of base (up from 120% on the standard version)
Effectiveness of Added Damage: 244%
Requires Level: 28, 42 Str, 29 Int
Skill effects:
Slams the ground, consuming all Power Charges and calling down a Holy Hammer from above
Additional hammers cascade in an outward spiral for each Power Charge consumed
50% of Physical Damage Converted to Lightning Damage
Base radius of 1.2 metres
15% more Damage per Power Charge removed
Holy Hammers cascade up to 7 times (built in)
+1 cascades per Power Charge removed
Requires a Mace, Sceptre or Staff
How it compares to the base skill:
The standard Holy Hammers only cascades twice by default, calling down two additional hammers when spending a Power Charge. Holy Hammers of Spirals bakes seven cascades directly into the skill and adds another cascade for every Power Charge consumed. If you're running nine Power Charges, that means a huge amount of spiraling coverage plus a healthy damage multiplier per charge.
The trade-off is that damage is spread out across the entire cascade rather than being concentrated on a first big hit like the base version. This makes Holy Hammers of Spirals lean heavily into clear speed while still offering respectable single-target output with enough Power Charges stacked up. Visually, expect an absolute spectacle on the screen, the base skill was already flashy, and the spiral variant looks even more intense.
Reap of Butchery
The second teased gem is a transfigured version of Reap, and it changes the playstyle from ranged to melee-range positioning.
Key stats:
Cost: 31 Life
Cast Time: 1.00 sec
Critical Strike Chance: 6.00%
Effectiveness of Added Damage: 130%
Requires Level: 28, 42 Str, 29 Int
Skill effects:
Deals 34 to 51 Physical Damage
Deals 163 Base Physical Damage per second
Base duration is 2.00 seconds
Modifiers to Spell Damage apply to this Skill's Damage Over Time effect
Base radius is 3.2 metres
Gain a Blood Charge if this Skill Hits Enemies and none of them Die
Lose a Blood Charge when an Enemy Dies while affected by this Skill's Debuff
Costs 20% more Life per Blood Charge
Deals 25% more Damage per Blood Charge
How it compares to the base skill:
The most important difference is the casting mechanic. Base Reap can be cast anywhere on your screen around a target of your choice. Reap of Butchery, on the other hand, swipes the scythe around your character, which is why the base radius is much larger - 3.2 metres compared to 2.5 metres on the original.
The gem trades some raw hit damage for stronger sustained pressure:
Lower flat physical hit damage (34–51 vs. a higher ceiling on the base gem)
Lower Effectiveness of Added Damage
Higher DoT damage (163 base physical damage per second)
Higher duration
More damage per Blood Charge (25% vs. the base version's lower multiplier)
The Blood Charge mechanic itself remains the same in function - gain a charge when you hit enemies and none die, lose one when a debuffed enemy dies. However, Reap of Butchery gets more mileage out of each Blood Charge, giving it a stronger ceiling as you stack them up during longer fights.
This gem should work well for players who want to play Reap as a self-centered AoE ability with strong single-target damage-over-time output, rather than the more traditional ranged single-target usage that base Reap and Vaal Reap have been known for.
Holy Sweep of Hammerfalls
A Strength/Intelligence Transfigured skill that swings a two-handed mace or staff in a circle, calling down waves of holy hammers for a duration. Increases and reductions to Attack Speed will affect the rate at which these hammerfalls occur.
Divine Blast of Radiance
A Strength/Intelligence Transfigured skill that projects a beam of holy light from your shield to a targeted location, causing an implosion of holy energy. The energy then lingers as an orb for a short duration, periodically releasing larger explosions. Attack speed modifiers affect the rate of explosions.
PoE 3.29 New Base Skill Gems
Alongside the Pact and Transfigured additions, GGG rolled out a brand new Intelligence/Strength base skill called Mana-Infused Staff. It plays into the caster block archetype and gives staff users a fresh reactive tool.
Mana-Infused Staff
Skill effects:
Infuses your staff with arcane energy
Lowers your mana costs
Increases your chance to block
When you block, you release an arcane wave, damaging enemies in a ring-shaped area over a duration
This skill directly targets the mana problem that self-cast spellcasters have struggled with, while also opening up a block-based damage playstyle. Damage scales off your maximum mana, so investing in mana pool and block chance simultaneously turns defense into offense. It also pairs well with the new Ascendancy notables added to the Assassin, Occultist, and Inquisitor, which give those classes generic spell casting scaling for the first time.
PoE 3.29 Skill & Support Gem Changes
Beyond the new gems, 3.29 brings one of the widest spell balance passes in years. Here's a breakdown of the direction and the key numbers.
General Direction
Most Spells that got base damage buffs also received higher damage growth per gem level (e.g., Divine Ire now deals 37% more damage at gem level 30, up from 27%).
Shadow-themed Physical Spells and pure Cold Hit Spells now have higher crit chances.
Pure Fire Spells now have generally lower crit chances but lower mana costs and higher effectiveness of added damage.
Pure Lightning Spells now have generally lower cast times but cost more mana per cast.
Notable Buffed Spells
Ethereal Knives
Now fires 10-15 Projectiles (previously 10-13)
Critical Strike Chance now 10% (previously 6%)
250% Effectiveness of Added Damage at gem level 20 (previously 220%)
Deals 1104 to 1656 Physical Damage at gem level 20
Fireball
Base radius now 1-1.8 metres at gem levels 1-20 (previously 0.9-1.4)
480% Effectiveness of Added Damage at gem level 20 (previously 370%)
Base Mana Cost reduced by 20% at all gem levels
Divine Ire
75% Effectiveness of Added Damage at gem level 20 (previously 50%)
Deals 321 to 482 Physical Damage at gem level 20
Bladefall
160% Effectiveness of Added Damage at gem level 20 (previously 140%)
Deals 713 to 1070 Physical Damage at gem level 20
Freezing Pulse
Now fires 1-5 Projectiles at gem levels 1-20 (previously 1 at all gem levels)
Critical Strike Chance now 7.5% (previously 6%)
370% Effectiveness of Added Damage at gem level 20
Ice Nova
Now has 25% chance to Freeze
Critical Strike Chance now 7.5% (previously 6%)
250% Effectiveness of Added Damage at gem level 20
Lightning Conduit
170% Effectiveness of Added Damage at gem level 20 (previously 140%)
Base Mana Cost increased by 25% at all gem levels
Voltaxic Burst
Critical Strike Chance now 10% (previously 5.5%)
60% of Lightning Damage Converted to Chaos Damage (previously 40%)
Explosion deals base Lightning Damage equal to 10% of corpse's Maximum Life (previously 6%)
Winter Orb
Now fires 2-3 Projectiles at gem levels 1-20 (previously 1)
25% chance to Freeze
Critical Strike Chance now 7.5% (previously 6%)
Discharge
Cooldown reduced to 1 second (previously 2 seconds)
15% higher base Damage per Charge removed at all gem levels
Hexblast
Cooldown reduced to 1 second (previously 2 seconds)
Cast time reduced to 0.85 seconds (previously 1 second)
Base Mana Cost reduced by 15% at all gem levels
Faster Cast Times (Lightning Spells)
Lightning Spells across the board got faster cast times paired with higher mana costs:
Arc: 0.6s (from 0.7s), +25% mana cost
Ball Lightning: 0.6s (from 0.7s)
Crackling Lance: 0.5s (from 0.65s)
Lightning Tendrils: 0.2s (from 0.23s)
Shock Nova: 0.6s (from 0.7s)
Spark: 0.6s (from 0.65s)
Storm Call: 0.4s (from 0.5s)
Lightning Warp: 0.6s (from 0.7s)
Orb of Storms: 0.4s (from 0.5s)
Reduced Mana Cost (Fire Spells)
Fire Spells got mana cost reductions of roughly 20% at all gem levels:
Fireball, Firestorm, Blazing Salvo, Flame Dash of Return
Flame Surge, Flame Surge of Combusting, Flameblast (all variants)
Rolling Magma, Bodyswap, Vortex
Renamed & Reworked Gems
Dark Pact → Dark Bargain
The skill has been renamed. Both Dark Bargain and Dark Bargain of Trarthus now have a 10% Critical Strike Chance (previously 7%). Dark Bargain of Trarthus now sacrifices 50% of your Life to deal 600% of Sacrificed Life as Chaos Damage at seven Ruin (up from 500%).
Vaal Gem Changes
Vaal Blade Vortex: Crit Chance now 10% (previously 6%)
Vaal Fireball: Base radius 1-1.8m (previously 0.9-1.4), 330% Effectiveness of Added Damage at gem level 20 (previously 240%)
Vaal Firestorm: Base radius 1.8m (previously 1.3), Burning Ground lasts 6 seconds (previously 4)
Vaal Ice Nova: 25% chance to Freeze, Crit Chance 7.5%, 180% Effectiveness of Added Damage at gem level 20
Vaal Storm Call: Cast time 0.4s (previously 0.5), strikes every 0.2s (previously 0.25)
Vaal Spark: Base duration 3 seconds (previously 2), Crit Chance 6% (previously 5%)
Support Gem Changes
Communion Support (formerly Minion Pact)
Supports Spell Skills that hit enemies
Cannot modify Minion skills
Supported Spells deal 20 to 30 added Physical Damage per Permanent Minion at gem level 3
Cost and Reservation Multiplier: 150% (previously 100%)
Cast while Channelling
Triggers a Supported Spell every 0.4-0.32 seconds while Channelling (previously 0.45-0.35)
Supported Triggered Spells deal 20% less Damage (previously 30%)
Barrage Support
Supported Skills deal 50-44% less Damage (previously 68-62%)
Fires 4 additional Projectiles (previously 3)
Cost & Reservation Multiplier: 200% (previously 150%)
Companionship Support
No longer grants 40-60% more Maximum Life to solo Minions
Now grants 24-28% less Damage taken for solo Minions
Cast on Ward Break
Supported Spells have 5% increased Cooldown Recovery Rate per 100 Ward, capped at 400%
Unleash Support
Supported Skills deal 45-26% less Damage when Reoccurring (previously 45-36%)
Ballista Totem / Spell Totem / Blastchain Mine / High-Impact Mine
All received "less damage" nerfs at gem level 20, tightening totem and mine scaling.
Archmage Support
Supported Skills gain Added Lightning Damage equal to 8-14% of Unreserved Maximum Mana (previously 10-16%)
Gem Socket Color Rework
Since this directly affects how gems are used, here's the quick version:
Any color gem can now be socketed into any equipment socket
Matching gem color to socket color grants +10% Quality to the gem
Sockets are now White by default, with a small chance to roll Red/Green/Blue
Chromatic Orbs are now rarer and force at least one Non-White socket
Jeweller's Orbs and Orbs of Binding always add White sockets
New crafting bench options replace the old R/G/B options: Two, Three, or Four Non-White Sockets
This change removes one of the oldest friction points in the game, letting players equip upgrades without being locked out by socket colors.