Path of Exile 2 Sets December 11 Launch With New Acts, Shadow Class and Siege League

Path of Exile 2’s move to free-to-play on December 11 brings more than the end of its campaign. Grinding Gear Games is also adding a stealth-based Shadow class and a league that turns army recruitment and castle sieges into a central endgame loop. The scale of those additions gives the 1.0 release a broader remit than simply completing the story.

At its ExileCon 2026 keynote in Auckland, GGG outlined the update for the action RPG, which has been in paid early access since December 2024. The game is available on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X|S. The official ExileCon announcement post lists the headline features.

A campaign that returns to Oriath

Acts 5 and 6 complete the campaign, adding 24 areas and 18 unique bosses. “Now in 1.0 the campaign is finally complete,” game director Jonathan Rogers said at the keynote, according to Output Lag’s report.

Act 5 sends players back to Oriath. A giant chain blocks the harbour, forcing an assault from the far side of the island and a push inland to bring it down. The revealed encounters include a massive Rat King in the sewers and priests corrupted by the Twilight Order. More than 20 named rare monsters will also have distinct skill sets.

The Shadow turns stealth into a combat loop

The new Shadow uses daggers and traps, with Stealth shaping how the class moves through a fight. An attack from hiding closes the distance with an ambush, while kills reset the Stealth cooldown. In practice, that could reward players who keep a chain of targets in reach.

Traps laid while hidden remain dormant until the Shadow leaves Stealth, then trigger in placement order. That opens up deliberate combinations, such as releasing poison gas before setting off a fire trap. The class also has a Darkness resource and launches with two Ascendancies, one of them the Assassin.

Another class addition comes through the Duelist’s Knight Ascendancy. It grants a Squire companion that can be equipped with the player’s gear and skill gems. War Banners strengthen both characters, while Mounted Charge sends a chariot into enemy ranks.

Conquerors of Wraeclast adds an army to the endgame

The 1.0 challenge league, Conquerors of Wraeclast, starts with rescuing captured mercenaries. Players can then spend gold to hire troops, arrange their positions before combat and join the battle themselves. The campaign includes 23 fights built around the system.

At the league’s core are strongholds built in Ezomyte, Maraketh or Karui styles. Each offers more than 20 buildings and upgrades, and players can assign as many as three commanders to clear Atlas maps for them. The shared Atlas will hold 100 strongholds contested by rival factions, with rarity bonuses and faction-wide perks at stake. New crafting materials will let players reroll selected modifiers, but doing so fractures those modifiers, according to Inven Global’s breakdown.

The wider endgame update includes 25 new maps, roughly 60 jewel sockets added to the passive tree within clusters, and more than 40 new unique items. Around 70 existing uniques are also being reworked. GGG says CPU performance is roughly three times better than in early access patch 0.1.0.

Ten classes arrive at launch

Path of Exile 2 will launch with 10 of its planned 12 classes. Rogers acknowledged the shortfall and said the remaining two would arrive later, without giving a date or identifying them. “We did promise you guys 12 classes and yes there are only 10. Now the other two will come, just not immediately.”

We did promise you guys 12 classes and yes there are only 10. Now the other two will come, just not immediately.

Jonathan Rogers, game director, Grinding Gear Games

Rogers also apologized that transferring Path of Exile 1 microtransactions to the sequel remains unfinished. Before the sequel’s launch, the original game is due to receive its free Covens of Umbra expansion on November 13 (PST). It includes a witch-themed league and an Atlas redesign in which Threads of Creation replace Scarabs. With patch notes for Acts 5 and 6 still unpublished, players have a few weeks left to speculate about the campaign’s new encounters and systems.