Last Epoch beats Path of Exile 2 in one massively important aspect

Last Epoch and Path of Exile 2 are in the trenches (Image via Eleventh Hour Games | Grinding Gear Games)

Amid Path of Exile 2's rousing success, Grinding Gear Games could be in the middle of an arms race against an unlikely adversary in Last Epoch, which has been slightly pulling ahead of the decade-old veteran studio in one crucial aspect. Both Last Epoch and Path of Exile 2 are loot-driven ARPGs; however, they find themselves at odds over their hunting methods for said bounty.

Path of Exile 2 is undoubtedly more complex and occasionally convoluting compared to Last Epoch, to no particular fault of the latter. Despite being the underdog in this situation, Last Epoch has somehow come out on top in at least one category: Loot.

When an ARPG is concerned, loot is king, more so when Path of Exile 2 is concerned. A good piece of gear with decent stats can make your campaign push or endgame mapping just that much better than when using subpar gear. With that in mind, let's take a look into a situation where Last Epoch is giving Path of Exile 2 a run for its money.

Last Epoch is pulling a fast one over Path of Exile 2 (without stacking IIR)

Ignore his sweet voice telling you to corrupt your gear unless you're certain (Image via Grinding Gear Games)

To deconstruct the matter at hand, we must look at the current loot situation in Path of Exile 2, which is being dominated by the affix "Increased Rarity of Items found" or Increased Item Rarity (IIR). As it stands, Path of Exile 2 players stand a better chance against the harsh realities of RNG if they stack as much IIR as possible to "upgrade" their loot.

In light of this revelation, Path of Exile 2 players are changing their gear accordingly to match the market's demand. The game has recently experienced a seismic shift in its trading economy. Divine Orbs have become the de facto tender of choice, relegating Exalted Orbs to second place. Likewise, gear prices, especially those with IIR affixes, have gone through the roof.

Last Epoch, despite the recent gold dupe and subsequent market crash, has stayed above any major drop-related incident. Thanks to the game's multi-pronged loot targeting and special drop allocations, players can outright chase down specific items for their builds. Eleventh Hour Games has even introduced a separate faction for targetfarming items, foregoing any need for stats such as IIR.

Also Read: Path of Exile 2 Defense guide: Energy Shield, Armor, and Evasion explained

Path of Exile 2's inability to lean on such inherent bonuses has ironically homogenized the loot chase, with every build becoming shoehorned into the same affix grind. Despite the game being much harder than the prequel, it is overall profitable to forego one defensive stat in favor of IIR for that extra Divine orb drop.

This, however, isn't the first time Grinding Gear Games has faced the difficult-to-balance concept of IIR and IIQ (Increased Item Quantity). Path of Exile has seen many changes to the system and has even gone through a balance pass over the historical IIR and IIQ stats attached to enemies.

The current situation is slightly different, as solo players can almost compete on the levels of groups in terms of magic find (IIR and IIQ), which has led to a greater infusion of tradable items at the cost of gearing diversity. While a market like Path of Exile 2 is hard to crash, a bland gear chase can indirectly lead to stagnation in build diversity if left unchecked.

Last Epoch's Season 2 promises a great many things (Image via Eleventh Hour Studios)

Historically, parties have always included a "Magic Find Culler" in their midst who "kills" the enemies to use their magic find stats to obtain the maximum amount of loot. Perhaps the most egregious usage of this playstyle was seen during the infamous Kalandra league when parties were "hunting" for specific God-touched rare monsters through hundreds of maps for a practical loot shower.

The solution to this problem is thankfully much easier to find as the game is still in Early Access. This manner of development cycle leaves the door open for significant shifts in gameplay. For example, the studio can opt to decouple the IIR and IIQ stats from gear, while giving the enemy factions a boost in both stats to make combat and loot grind more naturally lucrative.

Also Read: All Path of Exile 2 Campaign bosses, explored

Regardless, this only proves that this is the best time to be an ARPG enthusiast, with so many different ideas and concepts floating around. Last Epoch is set to receive its next major update in April 2025, while progress on Path of Exile 2's development is set to continue once the holidays come to an end.

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Edited by Adarsh J Kumar