So, you’ve probably spent the last three days meticulously pathing your Fate of the Vaal temple. You finally got that perfect layout. Then GGG drops a patch, and everything feels different. Honestly, if you’re staring at the 0.4.0d patch notes today and wondering why your monsters are suddenly hitting like trucks, you aren’t alone.
Grinding Gear Games just pushed a significant update to the Path of Exile 2 Early Access, specifically targeting the 0.4.0d branch with a quick follow-up hotfix. It’s one of those granular "knob-turning" updates. They’re fixing the plumbing, basically. But for those of us trying to survive the endgame, some of these "fixes" are actually pretty heavy balance shifts.
The Quadrilla Problem and Why You’re Dying More
The biggest standout in the PoE2 patch notes today is a short, almost threatening sentence: "All Quadrilla monster variants have been working out and now deal more damage." This isn't just flavor text. If you've been cruising through maps thinking your defenses were "good enough," the Quadrilla mobs are here to humble you. They were apparently underperforming. Now? They’re a legitimate threat. This change ripples into the Trial of Chaos as well. While Bahlak, the Sky Seer, got a bit of a damage nerf to make him less of a one-shot machine, Uxmal, the Beastlord, got buffed. It’s a classic GGG trade-off.
They also tackled some weirdness with the Slow keyword. Monsters can no longer be slowed below 25% of their base speed. This is a massive blow to builds that relied on stacking chill and other slow effects to essentially "freeze" bosses in place while staying mobile. You have to actually engage with the mechanics now. Boring, I know.
Fate of the Vaal: Temple Stability and "Broken" Snakes
The community is currently split on the 0.4.0d changes to the Temple of Atziri. One of the most annoying bugs—where non-owners could see Medallions but not pick them up—has been fixed. It was causing a lot of "hey, why can't I grab this?" confusion in couch co-op and parties.
But there’s a darker side to the update. A lot of players are reporting that their temple layouts "destabilized" after the patch. GGG actually pushed a specific hotfix (0.4.0d Hotfix 1) to address a bug where you couldn't return to old Vaal Ruins instances, which was bricking entire temple runs. If you lost a 7-day progress temple, that’s likely why.
👉 See also: Solving the Secret Passage Puzzle in Veilguard Without Losing Your Mind
The Skill Winners and Losers
If you're playing a Druid or a Sorceress, you'll want to pay attention to the fine print here.
- Walking Calamity: Fixed a visual bug where the Spectral Fire explosion was half the size it should have been. It looks cooler now, but they also fixed a bug where the meteors displayed attack speed scaling when they shouldn't have.
- Phantasmal Arrow: This no longer targets the ground. This sounds minor, but it actually fixes a bunch of range bugs when you’re using Barrage or extra projectiles. It makes the skill way more consistent.
- Disciple of Varashta: This one was literally crashing the game. The hotfix today specifically addresses a client crash where these minions would essentially boot your entire party to the login screen.
The Smith of Kitava’s Temper skill also got a clarity pass. It explicitly states now that it cannot be used with Talismans. Sorry to the three people trying to make that niche interaction work.
Performance is still a "Work in Progress"
Let’s be real: the performance in the PoE2 Early Access is still a bit of a rollercoaster. This patch includes "further improved texture streaming" to stop textures from unloading while you’re actually looking at them. Xbox Series X players should see less blur, and PS5 players finally get to see the Phoenix Dodge Roll effect, which was apparently invisible until this morning.
Despite these fixes, the forums are still a mess of people reporting crashes with Firestorm and Hollow Palm Technique. If your game is still vanishing to desktop every 20 minutes, you might need to wait for the next "e" or "f" iteration of this patch.
Actionable Tips for Patch 0.4.0d
Don't just read the notes and go back to mapping. Change your approach.
- Check your Slow layers: If your build depends on slowing bosses to a crawl, go test it on a minor boss now. If that 25% floor feels too fast, you need more raw EHP (Effective Health Pool).
- Restart your client: This is a "no-restart" server patch, but the client changes (the ones that stop the crashes) only apply if you actually close the game and let it update.
- Watch the Quadrillas: Seriously. Don't face-tank them today. They "worked out," remember?
- Temple Safety: Before you open a new temple run, check your Atlas passives. Some nodes, like "Isn't it tempting?", were recently fixed to actually function. Your loot yield might be higher than you expect.
The meta is shifting toward stability and raw damage over "cheese" mechanics like infinite slows or bugged minion interactions. It’s annoying, but that’s the Early Access life. Keep an eye on your character sheet too—it now actually shows your Item Armour and Evasion properly, which is a nice touch for those of us trying to solve the puzzle of why we keep getting deleted by white mobs.