Path of Exile 2’s 0.5.5 Forbidden Rites Event Will Arrive on September 4 Before the Duelist’s 1.0 Debut

Path of Exile 2 will receive version 0.5.5 on Friday, September 4 at 1:00 p.m. PDT, bringing its first event league, Forbidden Rites. An official Forbidden Rites FAQ confirms that the event will run until Path of Exile 2‘s 1.0 full release, ending alongside Runes of Aldur rather than following a separate short-term schedule. The launch time is 4:00 p.m. EDT, 9:00 p.m. BST, and 10:00 p.m. CEST.

Forbidden Rites will use its own economy, challenges, and exclusive rewards, so players will need to start fresh by selecting the event on the character-selection screen and creating a new character. The current Runes of Aldur league will remain available for existing characters and progress until 1.0.

Grinding Gear Games laid out the broader plans in its Steam announcement. The studio has not yet shared the exact maintenance schedule for September 4, but plans to provide those details later this week. Private Leagues will be available for creation on August 31 PDT; characters made in them will remain unplayable until Forbidden Rites officially begins.

The full 0.5.5 patch notes are still to come, and Grinding Gear Games also plans to share information about item-filter changes in the next couple of days. The developer’s presentation previews Forbidden Rites, the 0.5.5 changes, and the Duelist’s associated weapon type:

Forbidden Rites turns Ritual into a boss gauntlet

The new event league will build around the Ritual mechanic, where players summon waves of enemies around a central effigy. A Ritual will appear in every campaign zone, and group rewards will receive a useful adjustment: each member of a party will get an opportunity to purchase items from the Favour shop, although only the host will be able to reroll it.

Ritual becomes more dangerous in special parts of the campaign. Two empowered Ritual clusters will appear during each act, along with one cluster in each of the three interludes that currently lead from Act Four toward the endgame. These encounters will be marked on the world map and guaranteed to appear in an area’s boss arena.

Boss stacking already exists in the endgame version of Ritual, but Forbidden Rites will bring that kind of encounter into the campaign earlier. Every defeated boss will join the remaining Ritual encounters in its cluster. By the final round, players may face three or four bosses at once, with powerful unique items waiting at the end.

Sacred Bloom brings the Wildwood to the Atlas

Endgame Ritual rewards will offer a chance for the Favour shop to sell a Sacred Bloom, which can be applied to any other map on the Atlas. Doing so will create a Viridian Wildwood in that area.

The dark zone will remain available for only a limited time and will contain Azmerian Wisps. Releasing those Wisps across the region will empower any monsters they touch, increasing both the danger of the encounter and the rewards it offers. The mechanic draws from the Affliction league in the original Path of Exile.

Trial of Chaos gets a faster route to Ascendancies

Update 0.5.5 will also give the Trial of Chaos a broad redesign. The trial is one of the two ways to earn Ascendancies, Path of Exile 2‘s take on character subclasses. Its current modifiers can cut defenses by 40% or trap characters with bloody tendrils while enemies close in, making early attempts especially punishing.

The new modifiers will begin at a lower intensity and provide a small boost to loot quality in exchange for the added danger. More round objectives will focus on defeating monsters rather than escorting targets or collecting items. Runs will spend less time between rooms, doors will open faster, new rounds will begin sooner, elevators will move faster, and the time-stop effect will occur only once.

Players will also be able to leave a run midway and return to it later. The Uxmal boss arena will receive a redesign, while a new wager modifier type will offer high-risk, high-reward choices.

Endgame players will be able to push through all 30 rooms in a single attempt. Completing that run will provide large rewards and immediate access to the Trialmaster fight.

These Trial of Chaos changes, along with the other 0.5.5 improvements, will apply across the game rather than only in Forbidden Rites. Existing Runes of Aldur and Standard League characters will be able to use them once the patch goes live.

Fortress and Abyss changes add more Atlas routes

The Fortress introduced in version 0.5 will receive a shortcut for players reaching the Atlas. After completing its opening questline, players will find a key that lets them challenge an upgraded Arbiter of Divinity. Defeating that boss will unlock the rest of the Fortress immediately.

Abyss will gain ravines that can appear on the Atlas map. Maps running along these routes will gradually increase the rewards as players push back the Abyssal legions and fight the monsters inside, with the final ravine guaranteeing a boss encounter.

Runes of Aldur becomes part of the core game

The Runes of Aldur content from the 0.5 league will no longer appear in every zone, but it will remain in the game as part of the core experience. Expeditions using the mechanic will begin from Act Four in both standard and seasonal leagues, and the content will be accessible in Standard once version 0.5.5 is live.

Endgame players will also receive Expedition Tablets, which can spread Runes of Aldur content across other parts of the Atlas. Players with unfinished Runes of Aldur challenges can continue working through them with their existing characters and progress until the 1.0 release.

Major balance changes are planned for version 1.0

Version 0.5.5 will not include the sweeping balance changes Grinding Gear Games had originally planned. Those changes are scheduled for Path of Exile 2‘s full 1.0 release on December 11, so existing builds and mapping strategies should remain largely intact until then.

Forbidden Rites will add 8 challenges

Forbidden Rites will include 8 challenges, with four cosmetic rewards and a hideout statue that grows more impressive as players complete the set. Alongside those rewards, the event’s campaign and endgame content will give players plenty to pursue while they wait for version 1.0.

The Duelist is planned for the December 11 full release

The Duelist will not debut with the September event update. Grinding Gear Games has scheduled the class for Path of Exile 2‘s 1.0 full release on December 11, alongside its associated weapon type. The presentation offers a closer look at both parts of the long-awaited addition.

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Path of Exile 2

Developed by Grinding Gear Games

Path of Exile 2 is a next generation Action RPG created by Grinding Gear Games. Set years after the original Path of Exile, you will return to the dark world of Wraeclast and seek to end the corruption that is spreading. Path of Exile 2 is a free-to-play online multiplayer game with co-op for up to six players.

• Genre Role-playing (RPG), Hack and slash/Beat 'em up, Adventure
• Platforms Xbox Series X|S, PC (Microsoft Windows), PlayStation 5, Mac
• Perspective Bird view / Isometric
• Modes Single player, Multiplayer, Co-operative, Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO)
• Release December 6, 2024
• Publisher Grinding Gear Games, Kakao Games
• Age Rating

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