The new event league brings the Ritual across all areas, as the King in the Mists and his followers have spread their influence across Wraeclast, with the Nameless performing dark rituals across the land.

Throughout the Forbidden Rites event, players will encounter Ritual sites in every campaign area. After defeating enemies guarding an effigy, players can activate it to resurrect their foes and battle them again while dangerous plagues threaten the Ritual site.

Defeated monsters generate Tribute, where party members can now individually earn their own and spend it on rewards of their choice - so no one has to miss out. Players will also experience clusters of unique Ritual Effigies on the World Map, that grants Unique Rewards.

The Wildwood Returns
Ritual encounters will continue throughout Endgame, along with a mechanic that has made its return, providing additional ways to increase both difficulty and rewards. Acquire a Sacred Bloom through Ritual and use it to add a Wildwood entrance to an Endgame Map. Inside the Wildwood, you’d have limited time to follow trails and gather three types of Wisps: Primal, Vivid and Wild. Once released into the Map, these Wisps empower monsters in different ways. Primal Wisps can transform Normal Monsters into Magic Monsters, Vivid Wisps can add modifiers to Rare Monsters, and Wild Wisps increase the rarity of items dropped by monsters. The empowered enemies become considerably more dangerous in exchange for their improved rewards. Luckier adventurers might be able to seek out a fourth type…The Sacred Wisp.

Eight New League Challenges
The Forbidden Rites introduces eight event challenges, including objectives such as completing campaign Rituals, defeating named Rare Monsters and reaching level 90. Completing the challenges awards four exclusive cosmetics and a commemorative Hideout Statue. Rewards include the Locust Footprints Effect, Locust Swarm Finisher Effect, Wildwood Guardian Pet and Wildwood Affliction Level-up Effect.

Overhauled Trial of Chaos
0.5.5 brings an extensive overhaul of the Trial of Chaos, addressing player feedback from Early Access. Players can now pause the Trial between rooms, and return later to resume their run. Encounter objectives have been streamlined, with most objectives mostly now about slaying enemies, instead of more specific objectives like escorting the statue, or implanting Soul Cores. The change also introduces new Wager Modifiers and additional risk-and-reward decisions. These modifiers can substantially increase a Trial's danger while offering correspondingly powerful rewards, creating new strategic choices throughout a run.

The Endgame Trials can now extend to 30 rooms, with difficulty and rewards escalating along the way. Players who reach later rooms can obtain all three Trialmaster Fragments during a single run, providing a more reliable route toward facing the Trialmaster.

Faster Atlas Progression
After completing the main questline, players can venture beyond its walls in search of another Arbiter of Divinity key, opening the way to an even more formidable version of the boss. Overcome this heightened challenge, and your triumph will echo throughout the Fortress, automatically completing all remaining sections and clearing the way for your journey deeper into the Endgame.

Venture into the Ravines
New Abyssal Ravines will now appear while exploring the Atlas. Maps along a ravine contain Abysses, with rewards increasing as players progress and push back the Abyssal Legion. Reaching the final map guarantees an Abyssal boss encounter.

Runes of Aldur Content Goes Core
The Event League won’t feature Runes of Aldur content in every area, but Farrow, Dannig, and the Expedition will still remain available, including in Standard leagues. Expeditions can be encountered from Act 4 onward, while Expedition Tablets introduce additional ways to invest in the mechanic, including having two full Expeditions in one area, or two standalone Remnant encounters, or even getting as many Sentries per Expedition depending on Tablet mods acquired.

The existing Runes of Aldur league will also continue running for players who wish to finish their Endgame progression and challenges.

Duelist Deep Dive
Unveiled at gamescom Cologne 2026 and during the 0.5.5 livestream, the Duelist’s early-and endgame builds were previewed, showcasing his fast, aggressive, and fluid fighting style. Rather than following a rigid sequence of attacks, his Skills are designed to flow naturally into one another, allowing many ways to best your opponent. Certain Skills allow the Duelist to enter Ready Stance, creating an opportunity to unleash a deadly series of attacks.

Your Ready Stance has the ability to upgrade to Sand Stance, which sends out huge, swirling sand discs through the use of Sand Scour. Follow up with Perforate that not just doubly, but triply stabs enemies through a huge drill and bleeds them dry!

Players can also use Bloodied Blade to enter Blood Stance. When combined with the Default Attack, it unleashes a deadly blood wave that causes enemies to bleed, or create mini blood novas with Perforate! There’s a range of skill combinations and mechanics to master with the Duelist, which results in rewarding and huge damage payoffs.

Check out the Deep Dive here:


Plague and Remidus Supporter Packs and the Curse of the Allflame Mystery Box now available. Both the Plague and Remidus Supporter Packs and the Curse of the Allflame Mystery Box are now fully available in Path of Exile 2. The Mystery Box includes cosmetic items such as Armour Sets, Weapon Skins, Weapon Effects, Map Devices, Hideouts, a Tracking Scroll and the otterly adorable Otter trio!

The Curse of the Allflame Mystery Box is available through the in-game shop and Path of Exile 2 website here.

The Forbidden Rites and Patch 0.5.5 arrive next week in Path of Exile 2, on September 4 PDT. Patch notes will be made available soon.

For more information, please visit the announcement page at https://pathofexile2.com/register.

The media kit is located here

About Grinding Gear Games
Grinding Gear Games was founded in 2006 and is based in West Auckland, New Zealand. Its team members come from various countries and have diverse backgrounds, ranging from artificial intelligence and software security to industrial design and professional tournament gaming. In 2024, GGG released Path of Exile 2 into Early Access while remaining committed to the ongoing expansion and new content releases for the critically acclaimed Path of Exile.