Disgusting Visual Bug – Arrow Permanently Impaled in Character’s Back (Cause Identified)

Update - May 3, 2025: MTX identified as cause.. details below

I've pinpointed the cause of the visual bug. it's triggered by the Invisible Buff Effect MTX.

When this MTX is equipped, the arrow remains permanently stuck in my character's back. The moment i remove the MTX, the arrow disappears immediately. Re-equipping it brings the arrow back again, without fail.

To confirm it’s not an issue with the Arctic Armour skill itself, i replaced it with a different version of Arctic Armour from another gem. The bug still persisted as long as the Invisible Buff Effect was active. So the issue clearly stems from the MTX, not the skill.

However, i later realized that the bug only occurs when the MTX is applied to Arctic Armour. When the same Invisible Buff Effect is applied to other aura skills, the visual glitch does not appear. So this seems to be a specific compatibility issue between Invisible Buff Effect and Arctic Armour.

Additionally, i tested this MTX on multiple characters and the exact same arrow appears in the same location on each one. This confirms the issue is not character-specific but tied to the MTX’s behavior.

This MTX appears to be interfering with how certain projectile visuals are cleaned up, but only in combination with specific skills. I hope this helps isolate the problem. Definitely needs fixing.


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I've run into a disturbing visual bug in PoE2 that has remained unresolved for over 15 hours of gameplay. It’s immersion-breaking and frankly quite disgusting to look at.

Problem:

An enemy mob shot an arrow that visually pierced my character’s back — and it never left. The arrow is permanently stuck in my back, visible in all zones, menus, and even after relaunching the game. It’s as if my character is cursed with an eternal puncture wound.


What I've tried (all failed):
Letting the character die and respawn
Unequipping and re-equipping all armor and MTX
Switching zones (portals, waypoints, logout/login)
Playing with a different character, then switching back
Fully closing and reopening the game

Manually clearing cache folders:
%userprofile%\Documents\My Games\Path of Exile 2\
%appdata%\Local\Grinding Gear Games\

Deleting ShaderCache, Minimap, and logs
Changing graphics settings to force asset reload
Using the --waitforpreload launch argument


Additional Info:

The arrow persists in all instances and scenes.
It stays regardless of armor/cosmetic loadout.
While it doesn’t affect mechanics, it absolutely ruins the character’s appearance and immersion.
This happened with a bow-wielding mob in a standard combat scenario.

Here are the screenshots — the stuck arrow is clearly visible.

Is it a bug, or modern art? Either way, it’s still on display. Almost 40 hours later, not a single pixel moved. bump

I used to be an adventurer like you. Then I took an arrow to the knee...

It's your pet arrow now.

Did you ever have an urge to scratch an itch on your back, but you're built for comfort and not flexibility and you are also not some type of pretzel that German cook put in the oven?
So you either ask someone to scratch or buy one of those dumb sticks with 'hand palm' on it's end.

Well, your Sorc just one step ahead and has a stick in case of an itchy liver.

+1 on my sorc too. It's stuck since the start and I'm lvl 85 now

This made me laugh, tho.

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SKSlicer#4747 schrieb:

+1 on my sorc too. It's stuck since the start and I'm lvl 85 now

Just to update, i’ve pinpointed the cause of the issue. It turns out the visual bug is triggered by the Invisible Buff Effect MTX. I’ve updated my original post with more details about the problem, so feel free to check it out. Hopefully, this helps others who are facing the same issue.

"

fatih4915#0193 schrieb:

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SKSlicer#4747 schrieb:

+1 on my sorc too. It's stuck since the start and I'm lvl 85 now

Just to update, i’ve pinpointed the cause of the issue. It turns out the visual bug is triggered by the Invisible Buff Effect MTX. I’ve updated my original post with more details about the problem, so feel free to check it out. Hopefully, this helps others who are facing the same issue.

I honestly thought it's another troll-meme post, like some people do here often. No way, lmao.

Btw, if think about it: considering that this doesn't happen with other auras, the arrow is probably some placeholder/marker/invisible object that probably was forgotten to be hidden or something else happened that didn't hide it.