Path of Exile: Forsaken Masters Preview, Third Master Announced

GameSpot’s Kevin VanOrd has penned a preview/interview for Path of Exile’s second major update Forsaken Masters, which includes an exclusive reveal of the third “master” included in the expansion, Elreon, the Loremaster, and an overview of what the developers are trying to provide with this update. From the article itself:

Elreon joins armourmaster Haku and master assassin Vorici as one of several experts in their respective fields who dared to oppose Dominus, the High Templar and commander of the Ebony Legion. In my first encounter with Dominus when first playing Path of Exile, the tyrant scolded me for daring to bite the master that called me to him. Wraeclast is fortunate that I was not the only one to stand toe to toe with him, however, and it’s clear that master Elreon has more to offer this broken land than I ever could. Wilson says of Elreon, “He’s made it his quest to try to defend holy relics that are scattered throughout the world. Every time you encounter him, he’s praying next to some relics. Inevitably, the relics get attacked by a whole bunch of monsters, and his goal here, ideally, is to defend the relics.”

As Wilson told me Elreon’s story, I was reminded of famous flagellant Dominic Loricatus, who whipped himself while reciting psalms as a means of providing penance for his mortal sins, and wore chain mail to further chafe his punished flesh. “As you talk to [Elreon], you find out he’s going for a bit of martyrdom. There’s an undertone in his speech: he kind of wants the monsters to win and make a martyr of him, because he’s been exiled and so on.” Wilson also shared what writer Royal McGraw has authored on the subject. “Elreon has a death wish. He’s been betrayed by the Templars and has come to question everything about his faith. Where stronger minds have prevailed, Elreon’s has crumbled. All he wants now is to take his place at God’s side, but in order to do that, he must become a martyr, no easy feat in Wraeclast. To this noble end, he has concocted a desperate plan: a series of last stands that will one day see him slain and conveyed to the kingdom of God above.”