Path of Exile 2 will reach its full 1.0 release on December 11, developer Grinding Gear Games has announced, ending a two-year early access run with a complete campaign, two new classes and a new league. (Gamebonk's release tracker currently lists the date as December 12.)
The date is a relief for anyone who watched the schedule wobble. According to Rock Paper Shotgun, the studio pushed 1.0 back to an unspecified date about a year ago, saying only that it hoped to avoid 2027, and then did much the same roughly six months later. The game is landing this year after all.
The campaign wraps up and two classes join
Acts five and six finish the story of hunting the Beast across the world, including a return to Oriath, according to PC Gamer. The campaign also gains bespoke rare monsters with their own looks, abilities and mods.
The new classes each bring a fresh weapon type:
- The Shadow uses daggers and a stealth mechanic that keeps monsters from spotting you until you get close. Trap skills are set while hidden and go off as you attack, detonating in the order they were placed. PC Gamer also lists shadow clones that fight alongside you, plus returning skills like blade vortex and fire trap.
- The Duelist introduces swords and a stance system, with stances such as blood and sand and ready stance. Swords can be two-handed, dual wielded or paired with a shield, and familiar skills like cyclone and hemorrhage return.
A castle-building league and a slimmer atlas
The 1.0 league, Conquerors of Wraeclast, has players recruiting armies and building up a castle, with more than 70 points of interest in the campaign for gathering soldiers, PC Gamer reports. Rock Paper Shotgun notes you'll team up with Varek and his mercenaries. Commanders can run maps on your behalf, similar to Kingsmarch in the first game. After the campaign and pinnacle bosses, players join one of three factions (Karui, Ezomyte or Marraketh) and fight other players for castles across the atlas, which grant fast travel, extra item rarity and nearby hunting grounds.
The endgame adds more than 25 new maps featuring the new campaign bosses, plus a new pinnacle boss. The atlas skill tree has been cut from over 300 nodes to about 70, and PC Gamer says a focused player should hold around 50 of them by the time they face the Arbiter of Divinity.
Support gems have been reworked too: the various elemental penetration gems merge into one, and chain support no longer reduces damage on the first hit. Jewel sockets on the passive tree now sit inside skill clusters rather than on outer travel nodes. Over 70 uniques have been overhauled and about 40 more added, alongside new base types, including armour that grants immunity to curses.
