Summary
It has been a long time coming for Dawn of the Hunt afterPath of Exile 2’s initial early access release all the way back in December 2024, and while the update was disappointing in many regards, it was still a massive one for the game that built more foundations for the future. It added a new class, Ascendancies, over 100 Unique Items and Support Gems, made changes to the endgame, and more. The nerfs are a big part of the issues with the game currently, like the fact thatendgame loot inPath of Exile 2is very poor. Yet, patch 0.2.0 added some interesting mechanics to the Rune system, including a new Rune that can make some builds incredibly better-performing.
One of the main alluring points ofPath of Exile 2for fans of its predecessor will likely be buildcrafting and customization, something that takes a rather different approach fromPoE 1, but can still be immensely satisfying to pull off. For this reason, Runes are now more important than ever, thanks to the changes where players get versions of them scaled to certain levels, from Lesser at level 15 to Greater at 45. There are also four entirely new Greater Runes, and one of them can dramatically change the performance of certain builds.
Path of Exile 2’s Greater Rune of Alacrity Explained
This is the new Greater Rune of Alacrity, which has different effects based on where it’s socketed. On Martial Weapons, the Greater Rune of Alacrity will grant 8% increased Skill Speed, which is effectively an improved version of Attack Speed, as it also speeds up the animation of certain attacks and skills. For example,Path of Exile 2’s new Smith of Kitava Ascendancyis great for mace builds, and one of the best mace skills for single-target damage is Perfect Strike - but there’s a catch.
Perfect Strike can be extremely slow with maces that don’t have a high Attack Speed affix, but the Greater Rune of Alacrity fixes that. Likewise, crossbows can be painful to reload, but additional Skill Speed not only makes attacks faster, but it also applies to reload speed and its animation. The main problem with this newPath of Exile 2Runeis that it increases Skill Speed when used in a weapon, which is where most builds will want to put a Greater Iron Rune or a different type of damage Rune, overlooking the Greater Rune of Alacrity.
Why Using a Greater Rune of Alacrity in PoE 2 is Worth It
Yet, there is a strong case to be made about using this Skill Speed Rune, as it leads to more damage anyway, just not in a more “concrete” or visible way. In fact, most weapons that players go about buying from other gamers are listed on the officialtrading website forPath of Exile 2by their DPS, among other stats. Since Skill Speed is not a direct increase to DPS on the weapon and can only be accounted for in a full build, it’s easy to overlook it and go for damage Runes instead - the same with crafted weapons.
With the Perfect Strike example, Skill Speed not only makes the skill feel much better overall, but it can also make the difference between actually hitting a monster or boss and missing. This is because speeding up the animation leads to a quicker, fully-charged attack, reducing the risk of the enemy moving around or even knocking the player back.Path of Exile 2’s bossesoften have dodgeable strong attacks, so speeding up attacks also means one can more safely read the room to avoid incoming damage. A weapon’s DPS may be lower with the Greater Rune of Alacrity, but the overall DPS of a build may not, and even then, there are other benefits to consider.
