What's up gamers, how are you doing? I'm continuing my journey in Path of Exile, but now I'm not just playing to get through the story. I'm diving deep into the Keepers of the Flame expansion and exploring the whole Grafts system and the new skills you can get. Let me tell you, this expansion has completely changed how I approach the game, and I'm absolutely loving every minute of it.
The Genesis Tree - Growing Your Own Power
Now here's where things get absolutely wild. Once you've been working with Ailith for a while, she takes you to the Monastery of the Keepers. Hidden deep within this ancient sanctum is something called the Genesis Tree, and let me tell you, this thing is bizarre and brilliant at the same time. It's literally a giant, flesh-covered tree that grows rewards for you. We're talking currency, unique items, equipment, and most importantly - Grafts.
The Genesis Tree has its own passive skill tree that you can invest in to improve what you can grow. You want better chances at growing specific gear with certain stats? There are nodes for that. Want to grow twisted versions of currency items that are way more powerful? You can do that too. For example, there are these things called Foulborn currencies that you can create. One of them is basically an Exalted Orb but corrupted, and it guarantees adding a more powerful stat to your gear when you use it.
The whole system is surprisingly deep. You're collecting this resource called Graftblood from killing Hiveborn enemies, and then you spend it at the Genesis Tree to grow the items you want. It's like farming, but instead of plants, you're growing weapons, armor, and literal body parts. Pretty metal, right?
Grafts - The Creepy Arms That Make You Stronger
Okay, so let's talk about the main attraction: Grafts. These are probably the most unique and visually disturbing mechanic I've ever seen in Path of Exile. Grafts are essentially extra arms that you attach directly to your character's body. Yeah, you read that right - you're literally grafting additional limbs onto yourself to gain power. It's like something straight out of a horror game or Elden Ring, and honestly, I'm here for it.
There are 16 different types of Grafts you can obtain throughout the expansion, and each one grants you different benefits. Some give you passive bonuses like increased attack speed, elemental damage, or defensive stats. Others actually give you brand new active skills that you can use in combat. And the best part? As you progress through the expansion and level up your Genesis Tree, you unlock a second Graft slot, which means you can have two of these creepy arms working for you at the same time.
Let me give you some examples of what these Grafts can do. There's the Battering Uulgraft, which literally summons massive arms that erupt from the ground to smash your enemies. Then there's the Squalling Tulgraft, which casts this skill called Dance in the White - it's basically a deadly ice tornado that tracks enemies and fires projectiles when it crits. Some Grafts auto-cast skills for you, which is perfect for filling gaps in your build without having to manually activate everything.
The visual aspect is interesting too. When you have Grafts equipped, you can actually see these extra arms hanging off your character's back. If that's too creepy for you, Grinding Gear Games added an option to disable the visual in the microtransaction UI, but personally, I think it looks awesome. It really sells the idea that you're using forbidden power from the Breach to fight against the Breachlords.
Your Grafts also have another important function - they collect Graftblood automatically as you kill Hiveborn enemies. Each Graft has a maximum capacity that you can upgrade through modifiers on the Graft itself. Just make sure you visit the Genesis Tree to spend your Graftblood before you hit the cap, because any excess blood beyond the maximum is lost forever.
My Experience with the New Skills
I've been testing out different combinations of Grafts and the new wand skills during my Breach encounters, and the results have been impressive. The density of monsters in Keepers of the Flame encounters is no joke - enemies come at you in waves, and you need to be able to dish out damage quickly while staying mobile.
Kinetic Rain has been my go-to skill for most encounters. The ability to deal damage while also setting up Kinetic Anomalies that explode later gives you really good sustained DPS. During the more intense Breach Hive encounters, those delayed explosions have saved my life more than once by taking out enemies that were sneaking up behind me.
Pairing Kinetic Rain with the right Grafts has been a game-changer. I've been using one that auto-casts a curse on nearby enemies, which means I don't have to manually apply curses during combat. My second Graft provides passive attack speed and critical strike chance, which synergizes perfectly with how Kinetic Rain works.
The pacing of the expansion feels really well-tuned too. You're constantly getting new Graftblood to spend at the Genesis Tree, which means there's always something to work toward. The Foulborn uniques that drop are exciting because they have these special breach-themed modifiers that completely change how certain items work. I found a Foulborn Goldrim that gives chaos resistance instead of elemental resistance, which has been incredibly useful for dealing with the corrupted areas.
NOTE: The only downside is that you must keep in mind that if you change the graft, it will lose its accumulated blood and you will have to start from scratch with the new graft.
Bloodline Ascendancies and Build Diversity
One thing I haven't fully explored yet but I'm excited about is the new Bloodline Ascendancies. These are essentially secondary ascendancy classes that you can unlock alongside your main one. There are 10 different Bloodline options, and they're unlocked by defeating specific endgame bosses.
What makes this system interesting is that you have to make choices about where to spend your ascendancy points. You can split them between your original ascendancy and your Bloodline class, or you can even go all-in on the Bloodline ascendancy and ignore your original one entirely. This opens up so many new build possibilities and combinations that weren't possible before.
I'm currently playing as an Elementalist focusing on Kinetic Rain, and I'm planning to pick up a Bloodline ascendancy that complements my elemental damage focus. The flexibility is incredible, and I love that you can completely respec your skill trees now with just gold instead of having to farm for Orbs of Regret.
Quality of Life Improvements
I also want to mention some of the quality of life changes that came with this expansion because they've made playing Path of Exile so much better. You can now level up all your gems with a single click instead of clicking through them one by one. You can identify all items in your inventory at once without needing Scrolls of Wisdom. The Atlas passive tree and regular passive skill tree can be instantly refunded with gold.
But the biggest change is the asynchronous trading system. If you played Path of Exile 2 early access, you already know how revolutionary this is. You can now put items in special merchant tabs, and other players can buy them instantly even when you're offline. You don't have to stop what you're doing to make trades anymore. Just visit Faustus later to collect your earnings. This alone has made the game feel so much more modern and player-friendly.
I'm having an absolute blast with the Keepers of the Flame expansion. Not only do I have a better skill tree configuration now, but all these new skills and the Grafts system make the campaign more challenging and engaging. The progression feels rewarding because you're constantly unlocking new abilities and growing your Genesis Tree to create better rewards.
For me, the best part is how this expansion has reinvigorated my interest in exploring different build options. With the Bloodline ascendancies and all the new skills, there are more viable build paths than ever before. I'm already planning my second character to try out a completely different approach using some of the bow skills and different Grafts.
So yeah, gamers, that's my take on the Keepers of the Flame expansion and the incredible Grafts system. I'll be continuing my journey through this dark and twisted content, and I'll update you all with more discoveries and build ideas as I progress further into the endgame. The Breach Hives and uber bosses are waiting, and I can't wait to see what other secrets the Genesis Tree has to offer.
This is one of my favourite games, I really like it, it's almost addictive
Yes, it really is very good, it really is, and it's an RPG you can jump in, play a little, and quit; you don't need to spend 10 hours playing to progress. I'm just starting out; I'm level 11. Thank for your comment.