Turn your fists into the heaviest matter in Wraeclast with today's Build Showcase episode. This Luminary Facebreaker build by Alohaa features the new Scion Ascendancy and relies on a specific Mercenary for its core interaction. Check it out!



Thanks to Alohaa for putting this build together. For more information, refer to their video guide here.

See you next time!

We’ve launched the Fan Art Competition a while back, which is inspired by the latest expansions in Path of Exile 1 and Path of Exile 2. Since then, the community has shared plenty of incredible artwork, and we’ve gathered some of the latest highlights to showcase in today’s news post!

If you'd like to submit an entry, you can do so by posting in this thread. Submissions close on Wednesday, 2nd September at 10PM PDT!

BolwarFordragon#3889

N00T_N00T#4917

lazyzzz333#7626

Gandonius#5884

pal1y#1039

Kretones#2917

Last week, we announced Forbidden Rites, an event league in Path of Exile 2 launching alongside the 0.5.5 patch on September 4th PDT. In this news post, we’ve answered some of the most common questions from our community about the event.

Is Duelist in 0.5.5?

No, Duelist will be released on December 11th when Path of Exile 2 1.0 fully launches.

Is this a new league?

Yes. As all new leagues, Forbidden Rites comes with a fresh economy and a whole set of new challenges with exclusive rewards.

What time does Forbidden Rites begin?

Forbidden Rites begins at 1PM PDT on September 4th, which is Sep 05, 2026 4:00 AM (GMT+8) in your local time. The realm will go down before we begin deploying the patch. We’ll post the exact maintenance time later this week. Once the realm is back up, you will be able to join Forbidden Rites.

How do I join?

Just select Forbidden Rites on the character selection screen, and create a new character there.

Is this a one-month-long event?

No. Forbidden Rites will run until the 1.0 full release and will end alongside Runes of Aldur.

Will Private Leagues be available in Forbidden Rites?

Yes. You will be able to create a Private League for this event starting tomorrow (Aug 31 PDT). Just note that Private Leagues won’t be playable until Forbidden Rites launches on September 4 PDT.

I still have unfinished challenges in the Runes of Aldur League. Will I be able to finish them?

Yes. The current Runes of Aldur League is not going anywhere and will be running until the 1.0 full release, so you can still play in that league if you wish and finish any remaining challenges there.

Are the Trial of Chaos changes and the rest of the improvements available only in Forbidden Rites?

No. These changes affect the whole game regardless of the league, meaning you can check them out on your existing character in the Runes of Aldur or Standard Leagues.

In addition, since Runes of Aldur is being added to the core game, once the patch is out, you will be able to access this content in Standard.

When will you release patch notes?

Later this week. We’ll make an announcement so you won’t miss them.

Are there any item filter changes coming?

Yes. We’ll post the item filter information in a couple of days.

See you at the launch this Friday!

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.

Play the Forbidden Rites Event on September 4

During GGG Live earlier today, we revealed our next 0.5.5 update for Path of Exile 2, releasing September 4 at 1 PM PDT! This patch introduces the new event league, Forbidden Rites, featuring 8 new challenges and exclusive rewards, as well as a major Trial of Chaos overhaul and more. We’ll post the patch notes next week, closer to the release.

Duelist Deep Dive

The Duelist is joining the fight in the Path of Exile 2 1.0 Full Release on December 11. Take a closer look at the long-awaited class and weapon type in the video below, which also showcases everything coming in the Forbidden Rites Event next week.

Tune in to GGG Live on August 27 to find out more about the upcoming Path of Exile 2 0.5.5 update, or watch the final ExileCon Qualifier afterward and earn the Curse of the Allflame Mystery Box through Twitch Drops!

• GGG Live begins at 12:30 PM August 27 PDT (Aug 28, 2026 3:30 AM (GMT+8) in your local time)
• The fourth and final Path of Exile 2 ExileCon Qualifier starts right after the livestream, at 2 PM PDT August 27 (Aug 28, 2026 5:00 AM (GMT+8) in your local time)

How to Participate

Simply link your Path of Exile account to Twitch (see below) and tune into GGG Live at www.twitch.tv/pathofexile, or any channel in the Path of Exile 2 Directory for 30 minutes. Drops will be enabled from August 27 12:30 PM PDT until August 28 12:30 PM PDT, or Aug 28, 2026 3:30 AM (GMT+8) until Aug 29, 2026 3:30 AM (GMT+8) in your local time.

You will get the Curse of the Allflame Mystery Box after 30 minutes of accumulated watch time on any channel with drops enabled streaming Path of Exile 2 during the event. This means that the drop is guaranteed for everyone who has watched any Path of Exile 2 stream for this amount of time. This promotion is available for all accounts. If you already own all of the microtransactions from the Curse of the Allflame Mystery Box, you will receive 2 Warlord Mystery Boxes instead.

If you’re planning to stream Path of Exile 2 during our livestream and want to enable Twitch Drops for your viewers, you can do it via your Twitch Creator Dashboard here.

Linking your Path of Exile Account to Twitch

Visit your Twitch Settings page while logged in. If your account isn't connected, click the "Connect" button for Twitch under "Other Connections". Complete the process on Twitch and you will be redirected back to your Twitch Settings page. If your account is already connected, this page should say "Your Path of Exile account is currently linked to your Twitch account."

After you've accumulated enough watch time to earn your Curse of the Allflame Mystery Box, you must redeem it from your Twitch Inventory before the promotional period ends.

See you soon!

Sign up at http://pathofexile2.com/register to stay up to date as we head toward Path of Exile 2’s full release and earn exclusive rewards. The more players who register, the more cosmetics everyone can unlock! Check out the FAQ below.

How do I receive my reward?

After Path of Exile 2 fully launches on December 11, we will start emailing microtransaction codes to everyone who successfully registered at pathofexile2.com/register. Once you’ve received your code, redeem it on the website to claim the in-game microtransaction.

How do I register?

Just enter your email address at pathofexile2.com/register and confirm your subscription through the email you receive from us.

Do I need to create a Path of Exile account to receive my reward?

If you don’t already have a Path of Exile account, then yes, you’ll need one to redeem your reward code once you receive it.

Is this promotion only for new players who don’t have Path of Exile accounts?

No. All new and existing players on all available platforms will be able to receive rewards.

If you already have an existing Path of Exile account - great! Just enter your email on the page here, confirm your registration, and wait for the code to redeem!

Do I need to register using the email linked to my Path of Exile account?

No, you can use any email address you have access to. It doesn’t have to be linked to your Path of Exile account.

How many microtransactions will I receive?

At least one! The rest of the microtransactions will be unlocked based on registration milestones, meaning that if the community unlocks all four, everyone will receive five microtransactions in total.

Are the microtransactions exclusive to this promotion?

Yes, you will only be able to receive these microtransactions by participating in this promotion. They will not be available in the store.

Which account can I use the code on?

Any Path of Exile account you have access to. Please note that the code can only be redeemed once, meaning you will not be able to use the same code on multiple accounts.

Can I use several codes on my account?

No. You can redeem only one code per account.

Can I send my code to a friend?

Yes, if you wish. The code can be activated on any valid Path of Exile account.

Is this promotion for PC players only?

No, players on all eligible platforms, including Steam, Epic, PlayStation, and Xbox, are able to redeem the rewards. Please make sure your Path of Exile account is linked to your respective platform at https://www.pathofexile.com/my-account/connections.

When will you start distributing the codes?

Once Path of Exile 2 fully launches on December 11. We will make an announcement on our social channels, so be sure to follow us so you don’t miss any notifications!

Who do I contact if I didn’t receive the rewards?

We’ll make an announcement once the code distribution is complete, so please wait until then. If you’re still unable to find the email containing your code, please check our customer support page.

What kind of updates will I receive if I register? Will you be spamming me every day?

We’ll send several emails with updates about ExileCon and its announcements, as well as important information about the full 1.0 release. No spam!

Will you share my email address with any third-party marketing companies?

Your email address will be shared with Brevo, our third-party data processor, and used only for Path of Exile-related updates. The full list of outside companies we are working with can be found here.

Will I be able to unsubscribe from these emails? Will I still receive the reward?

You can unsubscribe at any time. However, if you unsubscribe before we begin distributing the rewards, we will not be able to send you the reward code.

For more information, check out the registration page at www.pathofexile2.com/register.