u4gm Why PoE 2 Dawn of the Hunt 0.2.0 Feels Huge
Quote from Billo Nali on January 15, 2026, 11:42 amI logged in expecting a regular balance pass, maybe a few new toys, then log off. That's not what Dawn of the Hunt (0.2.0) is doing. It's the sort of update that makes you stare at your stash, rethink your plans, and start sketching a new character at 1 a.m. If you're jumping in fresh, you'll quickly notice how much early gearing matters now, and even something as simple as a Divine Orb buy mindset can change how fast you stabilise a build when the market's swinging hard.
The Huntress isn't "just Ranger again"
The Huntress feels like she's built around timing rather than raw spam. Spears look straightforward until you actually try to keep distance without losing damage. You poke, you slide out, you re-enter. Miss that rhythm and you'll eat hits you didn't expect. The first hour can feel a bit stiff, not gonna lie, but once attack speed and a couple of movement options come online, it starts to click. Boss fights especially feel different. You're not just standing there holding a button; you're reading patterns, choosing windows, and accepting that greedy swings get you punished.New gems, new headaches, in a good way
The new skill and support gems are where the patch really messes with your brain. Some of the interactions aren't the usual "more damage, less mana" stuff; they change how you route your whole setup. You'll find yourself dropping an old favourite support because the new one lets your skill behave in a totally different way. Clear speed combos are already popping up, and you can tell which ones are going to get clipped later because they feel a little too easy. And yeah, the trade site is doing its usual thing: one streamer shows a spicy setup, and suddenly anything related to it doubles overnight.Build changes: painful, but it forces better choices
A bunch of previously comfy builds took hits, and some folks are mad about it. I get it. Nobody likes seeing a starter get gutted. Still, the shake-up is doing something PoE needs: it's making people think again. The passive tree tweaks around the Huntress start create odd hybrid routes that weren't worth considering before. Now they might be. Defence also feels like it matters earlier, so you can't just pretend you'll "fix resists later" and cruise. You'll either adapt, or you'll spend your night jogging back to your corpse.What I'd tell anyone coming back this week
Give yourself permission to experiment and to brick a character or two. That's the fun phase, before the meta calcifies. Keep an eye on prices, don't overcommit to one hyped interaction, and save currency for the moments you actually feel your build hit a wall. If you'd rather skip some of the grind and just get your hands on currency or items safely, a lot of players lean on u4gm for quick delivery and a smoother start without having to live on the trade site all day.
I logged in expecting a regular balance pass, maybe a few new toys, then log off. That's not what Dawn of the Hunt (0.2.0) is doing. It's the sort of update that makes you stare at your stash, rethink your plans, and start sketching a new character at 1 a.m. If you're jumping in fresh, you'll quickly notice how much early gearing matters now, and even something as simple as a Divine Orb buy mindset can change how fast you stabilise a build when the market's swinging hard.
The Huntress isn't "just Ranger again"
The Huntress feels like she's built around timing rather than raw spam. Spears look straightforward until you actually try to keep distance without losing damage. You poke, you slide out, you re-enter. Miss that rhythm and you'll eat hits you didn't expect. The first hour can feel a bit stiff, not gonna lie, but once attack speed and a couple of movement options come online, it starts to click. Boss fights especially feel different. You're not just standing there holding a button; you're reading patterns, choosing windows, and accepting that greedy swings get you punished.
New gems, new headaches, in a good way
The new skill and support gems are where the patch really messes with your brain. Some of the interactions aren't the usual "more damage, less mana" stuff; they change how you route your whole setup. You'll find yourself dropping an old favourite support because the new one lets your skill behave in a totally different way. Clear speed combos are already popping up, and you can tell which ones are going to get clipped later because they feel a little too easy. And yeah, the trade site is doing its usual thing: one streamer shows a spicy setup, and suddenly anything related to it doubles overnight.
Build changes: painful, but it forces better choices
A bunch of previously comfy builds took hits, and some folks are mad about it. I get it. Nobody likes seeing a starter get gutted. Still, the shake-up is doing something PoE needs: it's making people think again. The passive tree tweaks around the Huntress start create odd hybrid routes that weren't worth considering before. Now they might be. Defence also feels like it matters earlier, so you can't just pretend you'll "fix resists later" and cruise. You'll either adapt, or you'll spend your night jogging back to your corpse.
What I'd tell anyone coming back this week
Give yourself permission to experiment and to brick a character or two. That's the fun phase, before the meta calcifies. Keep an eye on prices, don't overcommit to one hyped interaction, and save currency for the moments you actually feel your build hit a wall. If you'd rather skip some of the grind and just get your hands on currency or items safely, a lot of players lean on u4gm for quick delivery and a smoother start without having to live on the trade site all day.