Grinding Gear Games have announced the release date for the Echoes of the Atlas expansion for Path of Exile. 

As stated in the press release, the expansion will add new end-game content, a new challenge league, new skills, and a new pinnacle boss- The Maven. If players slay three map bosses, The Maven will challenge players to fight those bosses again simultaneously. This escalates up to ten bosses at once, followed by The Maven herself.

Players can also gain new regional passive ability trees through their Atlas, which augments rewards and content found while exploring. New end-game rewards include three types of Craftable Watchstones which let players upgrade their Atlas to further improve rewards. They can be traded, never expire, and stack (unlike regular Watchstones).

Another end-game reward is The Maven’s Orb. This randomly upgrades items that have two or more influence modifiers- improving one and removing the other. This can be done even if it has been upgraded to its highest tier (into a new tier). Other items include 13 new unique items, and Divination Cards.

The new challenge league is the Ritual League, where players fight against the Ritual Altar and waves of monsters in the Ritual Circle. The more Rituals completed, the better the rewards (and enemies) will be.

Up to four end-game Ritual vessels can placed to summon more monsters, which means more rewards. Slaying monsters also earns Tribute, which can be spent to acquire items and rewards.  Echoes of the Atlas will launch January 15th on Windows PC and Mac, and January 20th on PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.

You can find the official and content reveal trailers below.

In addition, content from the Harvest and Heist expansions are being introduced to the core game with improvements.

Path of Exile is available on Windows PC, Mac (both via Steam), PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.

Image: Path of Exile official website.