U4GM What Guide to POE2 Fate of the Vaal Temple Medallions
Posted: Fri Dec 19, 2025 8:53 am
The Fate of the Vaal refresh in Path of Exile 2 finally feels like someone asked, "What's the point of this run?" and then actually fixed it. You can feel it the moment you step in: rooms aren't just dead space anymore, they're trying to pay you back. Even the conversation around PoE 2 Currency makes more sense now, because a temple clear isn't just a dice roll where you hope one room lands.
Numbers That Actually Matter
First, the simple part: the room modifiers are basically juiced across the board. A lot of values feel close to doubled, and that alone changes the baseline. You're not doing a full build-and-clear cycle just to shrug at the loot. But what really sells it is how the new Tier 3 rooms behave. Hitting max tier isn't "nice to have" anymore. It spawns specific, nastier enemies tied to what you built. Corrupted Abominations show up because you chose that route. Royal Sentinels, High Priests—same deal. It's a clean trade: you push danger on purpose, you get a shot at better drops on purpose, and the whole thing feels less like filler content.
Treasure Vault Goes From Meh to Mandatory
The Treasure Vault rework is the kind of change veteran players will clock instantly. Before, you'd grab it if the other options were trash, then move on. Now it drops a global buff on the whole temple: 25% increased item rarity. That's not a tiny perk, it's a planning anchor. You start thinking in layers—Vault early, then stack your higher-investment rooms so the whole run gets multiplied. It also changes how you talk about "good" layouts. Sometimes the best choice isn't the flashiest room, it's the one that makes every other room hit harder.
Currency Benches and the New Safety Nets
The currency benches are still the awkward bit. Yes, being able to itemise Exalt, Vaal, and Alchemy rewards after Act 3 is a real relief. No more "use it right now or lose it" pressure. But the payout is still one orb per bench, and that stings when you compare it to how much smoother everything else got. The bright spot is player control: Medallions let you juice a temple with Waystone modifiers for ten runs, and that matches how endgame should work—risk should pay. The reroll Medallion is huge too. Bad room choices don't have to brick the whole plan anymore, and with the Architect changes plus consoles linking to any adjacent room, pathing feels stable instead of fragile.
Why It Finally Feels Worth Repeating
What I like most is the loop. Build, fight, profit, then build again—but with fewer "welp, guess I'm done" moments. Tier 3 decisions show up on the battlefield, the Vault pushes you to think globally, and Medallions give you a way to steer the experience instead of being dragged by RNG. Even if the benches still feel undercooked, the temple is now a place you can run on purpose, not just out of habit, and that's why the u4gm poe2 chatter around temple value is getting louder in the first place.
Numbers That Actually Matter
First, the simple part: the room modifiers are basically juiced across the board. A lot of values feel close to doubled, and that alone changes the baseline. You're not doing a full build-and-clear cycle just to shrug at the loot. But what really sells it is how the new Tier 3 rooms behave. Hitting max tier isn't "nice to have" anymore. It spawns specific, nastier enemies tied to what you built. Corrupted Abominations show up because you chose that route. Royal Sentinels, High Priests—same deal. It's a clean trade: you push danger on purpose, you get a shot at better drops on purpose, and the whole thing feels less like filler content.
Treasure Vault Goes From Meh to Mandatory
The Treasure Vault rework is the kind of change veteran players will clock instantly. Before, you'd grab it if the other options were trash, then move on. Now it drops a global buff on the whole temple: 25% increased item rarity. That's not a tiny perk, it's a planning anchor. You start thinking in layers—Vault early, then stack your higher-investment rooms so the whole run gets multiplied. It also changes how you talk about "good" layouts. Sometimes the best choice isn't the flashiest room, it's the one that makes every other room hit harder.
Currency Benches and the New Safety Nets
The currency benches are still the awkward bit. Yes, being able to itemise Exalt, Vaal, and Alchemy rewards after Act 3 is a real relief. No more "use it right now or lose it" pressure. But the payout is still one orb per bench, and that stings when you compare it to how much smoother everything else got. The bright spot is player control: Medallions let you juice a temple with Waystone modifiers for ten runs, and that matches how endgame should work—risk should pay. The reroll Medallion is huge too. Bad room choices don't have to brick the whole plan anymore, and with the Architect changes plus consoles linking to any adjacent room, pathing feels stable instead of fragile.
Why It Finally Feels Worth Repeating
What I like most is the loop. Build, fight, profit, then build again—but with fewer "welp, guess I'm done" moments. Tier 3 decisions show up on the battlefield, the Vault pushes you to think globally, and Medallions give you a way to steer the experience instead of being dragged by RNG. Even if the benches still feel undercooked, the temple is now a place you can run on purpose, not just out of habit, and that's why the u4gm poe2 chatter around temple value is getting louder in the first place.