Normally we'd wait significantly longer before discussing what's coming up in the next large content update, but there's one specific area that we want to start discussing early: revamps of existing skills poe exalted orb. Our plan is that each content update going forwards includes a batch of revamped skills, starting with June's 3.3.0 release.

We're still in the early code prototyping stage for these changes but we'd like to make this an ongoing series of articles detailing our thoughts and progress on the skills we're changing.

The game has many old skills that have since been outclassed by other newer skills that perform their role better. Some skills excel in a specific situation (like destroying stationary bosses or dealing significantly more damage with a specific unique item) but fall behind when taking on the majority of end-game encounters. As an example, Ice Spear performs somewhat adequately in crit-based builds against stationary mid-range bosses, but the large number of support gems required to let it hit multiple targets make it underwhelming against groups of enemies, which contributes to it being one of the least popular skills in recent leagues. We've given skills like Ice Spear numeric increases in the past but they still lack the features that their alternatives offer.

Over time we will be trying to breathe new life into underused older skills with additional mechanics or significant mechanical reworks to make them feel like brand new skills. These will usually include an update to their visual effects to bring them up to the quality of modern skills.

Cold Snap is one such skill on our hit-list. We're poe currency buy trying out a version of the skill that still does the instant, large damage hit in a small area (with values increased to bring it closer to the scaling of other cold damage skills), while also releasing a larger pulse that chills and applies a cold damage-over-time effect to nearby enemies. This lets it keep its high damage hit output for those that enjoyed finding ways around the cooldown but also provides notable area damage in a way that makes getting around the cooldown less of a necessity.

It should fit into a cold damage build as a quick way to dispatch large weak packs while also working well when used alongside other skills when fighting a single tough enemy. We're still in the early stage of testing this skill out in real end-game builds, so we may still see further changes to Cold Snap as we try to make sure it has a place on some builds in the later stages of the game.

Our future skill development will involve working on skill themes that can give players a flavourful character style by picking skills that fit the theme. Often these themes will stick closer to the feel of a character or their Ascendancy classes. A good example of this is the new set of Corpse-based skills.

We'll also be reworking and improving older skills that already share mechanics and weapon types to have a more consistent theme. For example, the goal is to eventually offer the Marauder a full complement of Volcanic attack skills that deal fire damage, creating a fiery Chieftain-themed set of skills to try out as a player progresses through the story. Infernal Blow is one skill that we are planning to improve to make it a much more well-rounded skill choice for a Volcanic attack type character.