Senior Game Designer Rory discusses moving from an overall discussion of skills that would be inserted and how stone could fit into poe trade that design structure. For example, taking the foundation skill of Detonate Dead and altering it with the addition of a stone was something that the team. Of course, some skills worked better than others in this regard, however, as Rory states, all of that is part and parcel of game development. .

We'd also prototyped a skill codenamed "Infernal Sweep" which was a fiery area of effect sweep assault that exploded nearby corpses. Early testing revealed it felt bad to use, having to swing twice to first kill several enemies then again to detonate their bodies to get larger area damage. The skill was spectacular, but didn't play well unless it was fostered in both starting place and damage to the point at which it both invalidated the functions of Sweep and Infernal Blow. This skill went back to the drawing board poe blessed orb we will likely see it in future with additional mechanics or without the dependence on corpses.

The article further goes into specifics about Support Stone and how layout iterates in concept to completed job. You can check it out here.

Elder Uniques

Comparable to poe reddit gems, a range of "elder uniques" were added in War for the Atlas that may simply fall from Your Elder himself. Game Designer Hrishi took some time to discuss the Cyclopean Coil, Blasphemer's Grasp, Nebuloch, Hopeshredder, Shimmeron, Impresence along with Watcher's Eye.