The Red Queen showing up again in 0.4 isn’t just a wink at old-school players. It changes how people plan their runs, what they’re willing to farm, and what they’ll pay attention to in trade chat. If you’re already browsing PoE 2 Items, this patch is exactly why: a few drops now push builds from “works fine” to “why does this feel unfair?” and you’ll notice it the first time you compare your damage before and after an Atziri piece lands.

Atziri’s loot actually shapes builds

Atziri’s table is the headline, and it’s not subtle. Atziri’s Contempt is the kind of weapon that makes physical setups feel like they’ve been let off the leash, because you’re not just scaling one damage line anymore. It’s also locked to her pool, so no, you’re not going to lazily chance into it later. Then there’s Atziri’s Rule for caster players who love corrupted gem setups and want something that feels purpose-built instead of “good enough.” The big hook is Mirror of Refraction, which plays like a new toy you’ll keep trying to break in different content.

The weird chest and the boots people will keep

Atziri’s Splendour is where the patch gets a bit mischievous. Only Soul Cores, no normal gems, and it treats those cores as if they were sitting in a random equipment type. That means you’ll get moments where the roll feels like a prank, and other moments where you hit something special and suddenly you’re reworking the whole character around it. On the survival side, Atziri’s Step is back doing what it always did: quietly fixing problems. The evasion-to-deflection angle matters more than it reads on paper, and not getting Light Stunned by deflected hits is one of those lines you only respect after a nasty chain-hit nearly deletes you.

High-risk jewels and Druid talismans with attitude

People love gambling in PoE, so Flesh Crucible is going to get tested nonstop. A random Keystone can be brilliant, or it can brick your character with a penalty you can’t ignore. You’ll see players slap it in “just to see,” then spend an hour fixing resistances or damage because they got greedy. Druids got the flashiest new toys, though. Fury of the King pushes fire Bear setups hard by converting physical to fire and generating Glory on its own, which smooths out the whole loop. The Flesh Poppet is chaos in the best way, copying a random nearby enemy modifier when you shapeshift, so dense packs can turn into a slot machine that occasionally pays out in absurd power.

Quality-of-life drops that change your day

Not everything here is about boss-farming, and that’s a relief. Lavianga’s Spirits is the kind of flask design that feels made for tired hands: you don’t “drink” it, you just get steady recovery at a lower rate, which can keep mana-hungry builds from feeling like a piano recital. Drillneck returning will make projectile players mess with Pierce again, especially with returning shots after piercing, because it rewards good positioning and pack density in a way that feels tangible. If you’re planning your next character, you’ll end up weighing drops like these against the bigger chase uniques, and a lot of folks will still hunt for PoE 2 Items cheap when they’d rather spend their time actually mapping than refreshing trade tabs.