Description
Path of Exile's most powerful item will be easier to get in Ultimatum – Destructoid
The iconic Headhunter will drop for more players
As players start to become more familiar with specific builds and meta items of Path of Exile, they are bound to come across one item mentioned a ton: Headhunter.
And, realistically, a bunch of flasks and Watcher's Eye. But you don't wearthose, so they don't count. Personally, I've never owned a Headhunter because it's always too expensive. Plus, I don't reallyplay builds that utilize its unique mechanic very well. But I still want one really bad. If anything, just to say I've had one before.
In Path of Exile‘s upcoming expansion, Ultimatum, Grinding Gear Games is adding Headhunter to the default drop pool, meaning it can drop at any time while playing. So why is this belt so sought after? And how much could this update change its availability?
Why is Headhunter so good?
There's a reason why almost half of the high-level builds have a Headhunter equipped by the end of the league. Headhunter has some nice stats (flat life, Dexterity, and Strength are great on so many builds), but it's really that last modifier that makes this an item sought after by all: When you Kill a Rare monster, you gain its Modifiers for 20 seconds.
As most ARPG players can attest to POE currency trade , Rare monsters often carry with them multiple mods to make them harder. Things like increased resistances, speed, charges (frenzy, power, endurance), etc., can all be inherited by the player for 20 seconds. Keep in mind, in Path of Exile, 20 seconds is a long time. Plenty of things last for just a few seconds like flasks, Vaal skills, and modifiers with the recently descriptor. Headhunter mods begin to stack up pretty quickly, especially considering the snowball effect of piling more and more mods onto a build already built for speeding through a map.
Here's a great video from YouTuber SeanyC that does a great job explaining (and showing) how powerful Headhunter is:
Why is Headhunter so valuable?
This comes down essentially to the basic economic principle of supply and demand. Headhunter was introduced early on in Path of Exile‘s life during the Nemesis league. At the time, the league was for the Hardcore players only so it didn't quite garner a huge following other than wow that looks nuts! (Hardcore leagues are those in which if characters die, they are removed from the league.) Needless to say, it continued to gain popularity as more and more people got their hands on it in future leagues.
Thing is, the only real way, until Ultimatum league, to gain a Headhunter was to use a type of currency called Ancient Orbs. These are pretty rare (though less so in the recent Ritual League thanks to Harbinger Atlas Passives) and will turn a unique into another unique of the same type. Problem is, Ancient Orbs can only turn another belt into a Headhunter if two requirements are met: the belt must have the same (or higher) item level, and the map the player is in must be tagged with the Nemesis mod. The only way to do this is to use the map device to add a Nemesis influence to a map POE orbs .
So players will get the Nemesis influence onto a map (using Harvest, most likely), enter the map, and keep using Ancient Orbs on other unique belts and hoping for the best. Here's a quick video example of someone who is incrediblylucky, getting it in only six attempts. The chances are extremelylow, and there are just so, so many videos of people mindlessly applying Ancient Orbs to belts and accidentally rolling over a Headhunter. So here's a timestamped video of that happening for fun.
