The hack and slash Path of Exile is hosting a special event for the upcoming update. You can earn money and cosmetic items worth up to $53,750 if you complete the new content quickly enough.
What kind of challenge is this? On December 13, the “Conquerors of the Atlas” update will go live. It expands the endgame with new challenges, and you can even create your own bosses.
This new endgame will also serve as the occasion for the “Awakener Kill Event.” The aim is for players to defeat the new, tough boss “Awakener” and earn prizes.
Real money for the first, chance at prizes for all
How do you participate in the challenge? To participate in the event, you need a character that has played in the Metamorph HC SSF League. You also need a map at maximum level. You can level maps using Watchstones.
Only the Awakener kills at the highest level count for the prize. To track progress, there will be a leaderboard that Grinding Gear will publish with the release of Patch 3.9.0.
What can you win? The first players to defeat the Awakener on the highest difficulty will receive real money prizes:
- 1st place – $8,000
- 2nd place – $4,000
- 3rd place – $2,000
- 4th-15th place – $500
Additionally, there are special prizes for defeating other bosses.
Furthermore, among all players who defeat the Awakener at the highest level within a month, there will be a random draw for a bundle with an item worth $1,187.5 from the real money shop. A total of 20 players will receive such a prize.
Boss fights are a challenge
How difficult will the boss be? Bosses in Path of Exile can be tough, especially if you are not a necromancer and you defeat them naked. However, the Awakener is said to be the hardest boss of the Conqueror according to the developers.
So we can be curious to see how long it takes for the first players to make it onto the leaderboard. On reddit, players have already expressed their excitement for the race in a thread:
- FightingGamesFan: “I’m so hyped. I’ve been waiting for a reason to play SSFHC and here it is.”
- czulki: “Finally, the game gets a real event. They should do this much more often.”
- Kuunux: “Looks like I’m going to play HC SSF for the first time in this league.”
Other users, like Frolkinator, are mainly looking forward to the fail clips.
Collaboration between developers and players
Who is hosting the event? The event is hosted by Grinding Gears in collaboration with the content creator Zizaran who has also handled the real money prizes, while the developer is responsible for the shop prizes.
You can read the exact prizes and participation rules in a forum post.
What else is happening in Path of Exile? After the update and the boss challenge Grinding Gears will focus on Path of Exile 2.0.
This is a kind of add-on, which, however, represents a good time for newcomers. The version will also compete with Diablo 4, even though it will likely be released earlier.
Initial tests for Path of Exile 2.0 are planned for the end of 2020.
