Here at mxdwn, we’ve been closely following Path of Exile’s fourth major expansion, Ascendancy, since its initial announcement last November. Grinding Gear Games has slowly been teasing content from this patch over the past few months, but, after much eager waiting, today marks Ascendancy’s entry into the public sphere.

You can watch Ascendancy’s official trailer below:

As is custom with Path of Exile, Ascendancy features an immense amount of patch notes, which can be read here. We’ll parse out the most important bits for you below.

First and foremost, every character has been granted a complete Passive Skill Tree reset, in accordance with the reworked passive trees that come with Ascendancy.

In the lore department, Path of Exile: Ascendancy will explore the backstory of the mad king, Emperor Izaro, who once ruled the island of Wraeclast (upon which Path of Exile takes place). Seeking a worthy successor to the throne, Izaro constructed lethal, trap-filled trials throughout Wraeclast to test his candidates. Those who passed the trials would earn the right to enter Izaro’s Labyrinth, a sprawling network of deadly mazes, vicious monsters, and untold treasures, whose rooms would shift their configuration every day.

The mad king Izaro himself. Might King Leoric of the Diablo series be his cousin?

To enter the Lord’s Labyrinth, players must first complete the Trials of Ascendancy. These micro-dungeons, which can be found in specific areas throughout the rest of the game, introduce players to the devious traps and map configurations that await them in the real tests to come. Once a player has completed all of the trials in any difficulty level, a portal will appear in Act 3’s Sarn Encampment for that difficulty level, which will whisk the player away to the Lord’s Labyrinth.

Upon entering the Lord’s Labryinth, players will be tasked with navigating a winding maze of procedurally generated rooms, filled with traps, puzzles, and secrets. Along the way, they will face off against the spirit of Izaro three times. How players perform in each fight will affect the consecutive fights; failing to destroy all of the damage-amplifying statues in one fight, for example, will cause Izaro to bring the intact statues to the next encounter, thereby making the fight more difficult overall. Rest assured: you will be able to access your Stash before each Izaro encounter in case you need to change up your skill set. And you most likely will, since Izaro can possess modifiers that allow only close-ranged attacks to hit him, or a modifier that punishes melee builds and rewards ranged play.

The prize for making it to the end of the Lord’s Labyrinth are Ascendancy Classes, and Ascendancy Enchantments. Classes allow players to further define their playstyles with an additional passive tree. For example, Witch players can choose the Necromancer Ascendancy Class to enhance pet and summoning builds. Or they may choose the Occultist Class to augment their damage-over-time spells and Curses.

Enchantments, meanwhile, allow players to imbue their gloves, boots, and helmets with special effects. Glove Enchantments grant players a “Word” skill that is triggered when certain conditions are met, like a meteor that falls from the sky every 12 seconds. Boot Enchantments give players boosts to their stats when certain conditions are met, and helmet Enchantments apply permanent bonuses to specific skills.

It should be noted that players must complete the Lord’s Labyrinth without dying to receive their rewards. Dying or returning to town via portal cancels the Labyrinth, and players must start again from the beginning. Players can complete Labyrinths solo or with a party, though no new party members may join while a Labyrinth is in progress. Solo players who complete labyrinths will be placed on a leaderboard based on their completion time. Those who complete the Labyrinth the fastest each day in each difficulty and each league will receive a special Unique Jewel as a reward. Since there are three difficulty levels and four leagues, twelve Unique Jewels will be given out a day.

Ascendancy also introduces a new league: the Perandus League. In the Perandus League, players can start afresh from the beginning, but with all of their old passive skills and gear. New items and challenges are to be found in this league, including Perandus League-specific cosmetic effects that can be purchased through microtransactions. This league is intended to draw old players back to the game, while keeping gameplay fresh for players of all playing levels.

In addition, a bevy of new skill gems, passive talents, items, maps, and rebalances have been introduced in the Ascendancy patch. You can read about them in the aforementioned patch notes.

Path of Exile: Ascendancy launches today as a free update on PC.