Grinding Gear Games has announced that Path of Exile 2 version 1.0 will launch on December 11, 2026. At that time, the game will exit paid Early Access and become free-to-play on both Steam and the official launcher.
Version 1.0 will add Chapters 5 and 6 to the existing content, concluding the current main storyline, with a total of 24 new areas and 18 major bosses. In Chapter 5, players will return to Oriath to stop the Twilight Cult and the Beasts.
The returning Duelist and Shadow classes will also debut with the full release. The Duelist excels with swords, while the Shadow uses daggers, traps, and stealth mechanics, allowing players to observe enemy fields of view and gain advantages by attacking from outside their vision. The Shadow can also arrange traps in different sequences to combine freeze, shock, poison, and fire effects, with the first Ascendancy options including Assassin and Saboteur.
Season 1.0, "Conquerors of Wraeclast," will introduce strategic elements to the action RPG gameplay. Players can recruit armies, build strongholds and castles, stockpile supplies, and participate in raids, castle defenses, and large-scale sieges. In the endgame, they can also compete for fortresses controlled by other factions on the map.
This update will also add 40 new unique items and rework many existing ones. The passive skill tree, skills, and support gems will be adjusted, a death summary screen will be added, the endgame Atlas tree will be streamlined, and game performance will be improved.