Path of Exile 2

Path of Exile 2’s latest update doesn’t just bring new content — it takes a few big steps back from what the early meta was turning into. One of the clearest examples of that is the removal of Grim Feast. The gem was incredibly strong, especially in Energy Shield builds, and now it’s simply gone from the game. For now, players can’t use it, and that alone changes a lot about how defense-heavy builds work.

Grim Feast had great   It was a major reason Energy Shield became such a dominant defensive layer. The way it worked made it easy to double your energy shield, especially in Chaos Inoculation or hybrid setups. Just picking up remnants added more than enough energy shields to push builds into overpowered territory. That setup became the obvious go-to for any exile wanting to maximize survivability.

With the gem removed, those builds lose a big part of their advantage. Energy Shield still works, but without Grim Feast, it’s no longer the best answer in nearly every situation. That puts pressure on players to rethink their builds, especially ones that relied on Chaos Inoculation to bypass Chaos damage and lean into raw EHP.

The developers haven’t removed the gem permanently. It might come back at some point, but it’s clear it won’t return in its old form. Based on how much it affected the balance of the game, the rework will probably take it in a new direction. For now, though, it’s completely disabled and not available through gemcutting or other means.

This move also suggests something bigger. Rather than reworking the entire Energy Shield system right away — which would take time — the team has chosen to deal with the most obvious outlier first. Grim Feast wasn’t just strong. It created a situation where other defensive setups couldn’t really compete. By pulling it out, the devs are giving space for other options to breathe again.
Armour, for example, still needs work. It’s been lagging behind for a while, and many players feel it just doesn’t hold up in harder fights. If Energy Shield gets dialed back and Armor gets some buffs, the result could be a more balanced system where multiple defenses are actually viable instead of just one.

The rest of the patch brings in new options anyway. With five new Ascendancies and over a hundred unique PoE 2 items, players have plenty of new tools to mess around with. So even though losing Grim Feast is a big shift, there’s a lot to work with in the current patch. Build diversity might actually improve simply because one path isn’t crowding everything else out anymore.

The meta will shift, and players will have to adapt. The most popular Energy Shield setups are going to feel different without their strongest support gem, and we will miss it. But it also boosts the creativity to explore new directions. Either way, the update draws a line under the early version of the game and pushes things into new territory.

Grim Feast might return in some form later, but if it does, it probably won’t be what it used to be. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. Sometimes stepping away from the most comfortable option leads to more interesting ideas — and in a game like Path of Exile, that’s where the fun often begins.