Path of Exile 2 leaves Early Access on December 11, 2026 (PST) and becomes a free-to-play game, according to Grinding Gear Games’ own Steam announcement from November 6. The 1.0 release adds Acts 5 and 6, two new classes (the Shadow and the Duelist), a new Challenge League called Conquerors of Wraeclast, and a long list of reworks. What GGG has not published yet is the exact launch hour and what happens to existing characters, and this guide marks both clearly.
Table of Contents
Quick answer
- Release date: December 11, 2026 (PST). No start hour has been announced.
- Price: free to play once it leaves Early Access. Until then you need an Early Access key; the Steam page lists the Early Access Supporter Pack it recommends for new players at $29.99.
- New classes: the Shadow (daggers, traps, Stealth) and the Duelist (swords, Stances), each with two Ascendancy classes at launch.
- New campaign content: Acts 5 and 6, which completes a six-act campaign, with 24 new areas and 18 new unique bosses.
- New league: Conquerors of Wraeclast, an army and castle-conquest endgame.
- Wipe: not addressed in the announcement. See “Will there be a wipe?” below.
A map view from the Path of Exile 2 Steam page. Image: Grinding Gear Games
Path of Exile 2 1.0 release date and time
GGG’s Steam announcement, “Path of Exile 2 Full Release on December 11 PST”, went up on November 6 at 23:00 UTC, on the day of the ExileCon 2026 reveal broadcast. The Steam store page also lists “Leaving Early Access: Dec 11, 2026”, and GGG’s answer on that page reads “Path of Exile 2 is leaving Early Access on December 11 2026 PST”.
The date is given in Pacific Standard Time and no hour is attached. Because PST is UTC-8, any moment on December 11 in Pacific time falls between 08:00 UTC on December 11 and 08:00 UTC on December 12. Players east of the Pacific, and in Asia-Pacific in particular, may see the date land on December 12 locally. For reference, the previous league, Forbidden Rites, started at 1 PM PDT on its launch day, according to GGG’s FAQ for it. That is precedent, not an announcement, and nothing says 1.0 will follow it.
| Item | What GGG says | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Release date | December 11, 2026 (PST) | Steam announcement, Nov 6 |
| Launch hour | Not announced | – |
| Price at 1.0 | Free to play | Steam announcement and store page |
| Early Access status | Ends December 11, 2026 PST | Steam store page |
| Wipe policy | Not stated | – |
Is Path of Exile 2 free to play at 1.0?
Yes. GGG’s Steam announcement closes with “Play Path of Exile 2 for free on December 11 PST!” and the store page says that once the game is out of Early Access it will be free to play. Until then you need an Early Access key. On the Steam store page, the pack Steam recommends for new players, the Early Access Supporter Pack was listed at $29.99 when we checked at 17:40 UTC today. The page lists seven items in all, so higher tiers cost more.
On October 22, GGG said the current Early Access Supporter Packs would be leaving the store “in a few weeks” and replaced by a new set of five packs. Those packs include microtransactions usable in both Path of Exile games, Early Access keys and store points, and GGG suggested a payment plan (arranged by email) for anyone who wants to reserve one. If you only want to play at launch, there is nothing to buy first: the free version arrives on December 11.
What does Path of Exile 2 1.0 add?
The list below comes from GGG’s announcement. Where it says “over” or “more than”, those are GGG’s numbers, not ours.
Acts 5 and 6, plus the endgame campaign
The full release completes the campaign with Acts 5 and 6, which add 24 distinct new areas, 18 new unique bosses and “over 20 new Champion Rare encounters”, each with its own mechanics.
Shadow class
The Shadow fights with daggers and a new weapon type, Traps. Its signature mechanic is Stealth: monsters cannot see you until you get close, and dagger skills gain extra bonuses while you are hidden. Traps are prepared in stealth and then trigger automatically as you strike, exploding in the order they were thrown. At launch the Shadow has two Ascendancy classes, the Assassin and the Infiltrator.
Early Access screenshot from the Steam store page. Image: Grinding Gear Games
Duelist class
The Duelist is a sword class built around Stances. Ready Stance empowers sword skills, and it can be upgraded into Sand or Blood Stances for stronger combinations. The 1.0 release brings two Ascendancy classes for the Duelist, the Knight and the Master-at-Arms. GGG confirmed in its Forbidden Rites FAQ that the Duelist was not in the 0.5.5 patch and arrives with 1.0, so it is not playable on the current build.
Conquerors of Wraeclast Challenge League
The new league puts you alongside Varek and his mercenaries in a war against an army. According to GGG’s description:
- You rescue allies, locate enemy fortifications, recruit troops and deploy them in battle.
- There are over 70 new points of interest where you can recruit troops or take on missions.
- Conquering castles opens treasury rooms with a new crafting material used to reforge gear.
- In the endgame you build a stronghold and choose between three factions, each with its own fortress and troops.
- A new real-time system lets commanders handle Atlas progression for you.
- Players in the same faction across the league cooperate to capture castles from other factions.
- The league has its own endgame storyline about the Blood Lord and the Sanguar bloodline.
Items, skills, passive tree and reworks
| Area | What changes at 1.0 (per GGG) |
|---|---|
| Unique items | Over 40 new Uniques; more than 70 existing Uniques revamped with new modifiers, skills and visuals |
| Skills | New skills for classes that lacked them, such as the Warrior and the Witch |
| Support Gems | “Massively rebalanced” to be more useful |
| Passive tree | Hundreds of new stats; every Jewel Socket moved into the clusters |
| Mercenary | The way reloading works has been changed |
| Infernalist | New demonic minion that can cast any spell it is given, up to three Infernal Hounds, new Covenant skills |
| Blood Mage | New skills and curses, plus a rework of the Corrupted Blood mechanic |
| Acolyte of Chayula | A companion that can use any Quarterstaff skill; can sacrifice life to move their soul into a clone |
GGG calls its list of class and Ascendancy reworks “just a few examples”, so expect more detail in the 1.0 patch notes.
Combat in a mushroom cave, from the Steam store page. Image: Grinding Gear Games
Will there be a wipe at Path of Exile 2 1.0?
GGG’s announcement does not address character wipes, and we did not find a statement on it in the posts we read. What GGG has said in its September Forbidden Rites FAQ:
- Forbidden Rites “will run until the 1.0 full release and will end alongside Runes of Aldur”.
- Runes of Aldur is also staying until 1.0, so unfinished challenges there can still be completed until then.
- Runes of Aldur content has been added to the core game, so it is playable in Standard.
That tells you both current leagues end at 1.0. It does not say whether Early Access characters in Standard carry over unchanged, or how the new league starts. Treat any wipe claim you read elsewhere as unconfirmed until it appears in GGG’s 1.0 patch notes on the official forum. The latest Early Access notes listed there at 17:39 UTC today were 0.5.5f.
PC requirements and Steam Deck
These are the system requirements shown on the Steam store page at 17:40 UTC on November 8. GGG may update them for 1.0, so check the page again closer to launch. A GPU with at least 3 GB of VRAM is required.
| Spec | Minimum | Recommended |
|---|---|---|
| OS | Windows 10 | Windows 10 |
| Processor | Intel Core i7-7700 or AMD Ryzen 5 2500X | Intel Core i5-10500 or AMD Ryzen 5 3700X |
| Memory | 8 GB RAM | 16 GB RAM |
| Graphics | GeForce GTX 960 (3 GB), Intel Arc A380 or Radeon RX 470 | GeForce RTX 2060, Intel Arc A770 or Radeon RX 5600 XT |
| DirectX | Version 12 | Version 12 |
| Storage | 100 GB available | – |
GGG announced on September 24 that Path of Exile 2 is Steam Deck Verified. If you plan to play there, our Steam Deck Black Friday 2026 price check shows what Valve was charging as of November 8.
On other platforms, GGG’s registration FAQ lists Steam, Epic, PlayStation and Xbox as eligible platforms for redeeming rewards, and says the account must be linked to the platform at pathofexile.com/my-account/connections. The posts we read do not give a console launch lineup or timing, so check GGG’s channels for that.
How to get the Full Release Registration rewards
GGG is giving cosmetic microtransactions to everyone who registers at pathofexile2.com/register, whether they are a new or existing player. As of GGG’s October 19 post the community had reached two milestones, meaning registered players receive two cosmetic effects, and every registration milestone unlocks another one. The FAQ says:
- Registering gets you at least one microtransaction. If all four milestones are unlocked, everyone receives five.
- You must confirm your email by clicking the button in the confirmation email.
- Codes are emailed after the full launch on December 11, then redeemed on the website on a Path of Exile account. One code per account.
- Registration closes on December 11. Buying Early Access does not grant the rewards automatically.
- Unsubscribing before codes are sent means you will not get the reward code.
What GGG has not said yet
- The exact launch hour for December 11.
- Whether Standard and Early Access characters are wiped or kept.
- When the Conquerors of Wraeclast league starts relative to the 1.0 patch.
- The final 1.0 patch notes, including any balance changes beyond the highlights above.
We will update this guide when GGG posts them. If you follow other big releases this month, our December 2026 release calendar lists the rest, and if you want another action RPG fix in the meantime, we covered the Diablo 4 Season 16 PTR.
FAQ
Is the Duelist playable before December 11?
No. GGG said in its Forbidden Rites FAQ that the Duelist would not be in 0.5.5 and would be released on December 11 with 1.0.
Do I need to buy Early Access before launch?
No. GGG says the game becomes free to play on December 11. Early Access Supporter Packs are optional purchases that include Early Access keys and cosmetics.
Is Path of Exile 2 1.0 a new game or an update?
It is the same game leaving Early Access. GGG describes it as Path of Exile 2 “entering Full Release”, with Acts 5 and 6, two classes, reworks and a new league.
Where do I find the patch notes when they are posted?
GGG posts patch notes in the Early Access Patch Notes section of its official forum and announces them on its Steam news page, as it did for the 0.5.5 notes.
Sources: Grinding Gear Games’ Steam announcements, Path of Exile 2 Full Release on December 11 PST (Nov 6), Forbidden Rites FAQ, Full Release Registration FAQ, Registration update (Oct 19), Steam Deck Verified and the Early Access Supporter Packs notice (Oct 22); the Steam store page for Path of Exile 2 (price, requirements and Early Access status, checked 17:40 UTC Nov 8); the official Path of Exile forum. The Steam news page was read at 17:39 UTC on November 8.
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Featured image: Grinding Gear Games
