Breach of the Way of the Old Gods is a new Breach crafting system in the Path of Exile 2 patch 0.5. It allows spending of resources collected from Breach content (principally Hiveblood and Wombgifts) on specific gears, currency (including POE 2 Orbs) and items for the Breach environment using a branching node setup instead of the random drops it uses in its default mode.
What does the Genesis Tree give you?
Several branches with various outcomes (rings/amulets, currency, Breachstones, gear bases, and maybe new items in 0.5).
Progression through tree by points – points are assigned to nodes within a tree to unlock and upgrade nodes that control reward types, reward yields and quality rolls, expanded concept of the old PoE1 Genesis Tree.
Free respecs: points can be reset anytime, making experimentation and theorycrafting easier.
How you use it
Play Breach content and collect Wombgifts (special components) and Hiveblood (core currency).
Open the Genesis Tree interface, spend some resources, and select a branch or a node that you wish to push.
The more you invest, the more your tree will boost the likelihood and quality of the rewards you want to receive (such as getting additional mods or base types or more valuable currency).
For others, the tree serves as a mid to late game progression sink, and can be used as a semi determinate method to generate gear, currency and/or Breachstones without solely relying on RNG trading or farming.
Best Genesis Tree Branch Setups in PoE 2 0.5
1. Focusing on gear: SSP / solo play
Focus on branches that give ring, amulet, and gear base modifiers that roll high tier (max life, elemental resistance, damage, or hit based sustain) as well as high-tier base drops that may happen frequently.
Perfect for anyone who does not wish to trade extensively but wants to gradually feed into branches which will enhance their gear pool & build rings/amulets.
2. Currency / economy focused (SSF moneyball/ trading)
Concentrate on targeting the currency nodes that give you more of high demand items (Exalted Orb, Breachstones, or mid-tier currencies) and less chance of getting “trash” rewards.
This is great for those who wish to turn Breach content into profit or in cheaper access to higher level crafting later on.
3. Breach‑support setup (Breach farming slayer)
Add nodes that will improve Breachstone yield and increase the number of Breachstone types (such as elemental, meta, new variants from 0.5)
This can be helpful if your primary progress path is Breach, as better, more common or more rewarding Breach encounters can mean more and better stones.
4. Hybrid “safe” build
If you don’t know which to settle for, a standard first advice is a hybrid branch set up:
Small points to add to gear (ring/amulet) and to the economy to maintain your progress.
Add some Breachstone nodes in the middle to retain a solid Breach loop.
Don’t commit too many changes to any particular branch until you have tested out the node yield performance in 0.5.
The tree is open for free respecs, so you can take an aggressive build and pick up your game again if you see that some nodes aren’t doing so well or if the meta changes with a minor hotfix.