While Path of Exile and Destiny 2 are two very different games, the newest upcoming expansion for the former introduces a little something that most Destiny 2 players will immediately recognize. Path of Exile players deal damage mainly through the use of Skill Gems, which can be socketed in pieces of gear to link them to Support Gems, thus increasing their damage output or changing the way they work. In Path of Exile Expedition, there will be a new Skill Gem for bows called Storm Rain; it fires an arrow in the sky that eventually lands and deals damage on impact, and then it sticks in the ground and periodically deals lightning damage to enemies.
Using the skill multiple times links arrows with one another via a beam of lightning, creating patches of ground where enemies will be constantly damaged. Destiny 2 players are likely aware of a special Exotic gun called Anarchy, which is considered the king of DPS in PvE content because of its pulses of Arc damage, and also because it can be combined with the mod Breach and Clear for even more damage. Path of Exile's Storm Rain is basically Anarchy, but since Grinding Gear Games' title has more of a Dark Ages type of setting, this new Skill Gem is understandably not fired with a massive grenade launcher.
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Path of Exile and Destiny 2 do have more in common than meets the eye, including the fact that in both games, players can use their wits to create peculiar builds to tackle all sorts of content. Where Path of Exile has Skill Gems, Support Gems, and Unique items, Destiny 2 comes with guns that have each their own perk pool, Exotic items, and a varied set of mods to choose from. Of course, there are also classes in both games, with Path of Exile having seven base classes and a total of nineteen Ascendancy classes that offer different takes on gameplay, while Destiny 2 has currently three main elements with three subclasses each and also Stasis.
Because of this, the branching effects of each component drastically change the way each game is played, and even if Destiny 2's Anarchy and Path of Exile's Storm Rain have comparable effects there's no way to predict how impactful the latter's new skill will be. Anarchy is going to be rightfully nerfed in Destiny 2's next major patch, which comes towards the ends of August with the introduction of the game's fifteenth Season. On the other hand, Path of Exile is a game where players have to very careful with balancing their builds between effectively clearing areas filled with minor monsters and dealing enough single-target damage against bosses.
This means that Storm Rain's premise could sound very promising, but it remains to be seen what its damage numbers will effectively be when the new Path of Exile League lanches this Friday on PC. Regardless, for those players who also happen to be fans of Bungie's Destiny 2, this new addition to Path of Exile's set of Skill Gems can be an easter egg of sorts, or even enough to warrant making a build around it. This goes to show that even very different games most likely share some fun similarities and who knows, maybe Destiny 2's Season 15 will inadvertently include something that many Path of Exile players will recognize, making things come full circle in a way.
Path of Exile: Expedition releases on PC and macOS July 23, 2021, and for Xbox One and PS4 on July 28.