Grinding Gear Games used ExileCon 2026 to show what Path of Exile 2 brings out of early access on 11 December (PST). Version 1.0 adds two classes, the Shadow and the Duelist, finishes the campaign with Acts 5 and 6, and launches a Conquerors of Wraeclast league built around faction warfare between players. The game goes free to play on the same day.
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The Shadow and the Duelist: stealth and stances
The video loads from YouTube (Google) when you press play. Privacy policyThe Shadow fights with daggers, traps and shades, and brings a Stealth mechanic with him. While stealthed, monsters only notice you once you are close, and dagger skills used from the shadows get extra bonuses. Traps are the second new weapon type: you lay them while hidden, they fire automatically as you strike and go off in the order you threw them. On paper this is the combo class, the one for people who like to set things up before the first hit lands.
The Duelist is a swordsman built on Stances. Ready Stance empowers sword skills in different ways, and it upgrades into Sand Stance or Blood Stance. Each new class launches with two Ascendancies: Assassin and Infiltrator for the Shadow, Knight and Master-at-Arms for the Duelist.
Acts 5 and 6: 24 areas and 18 bosses
The campaign is finally whole. Early access opened in December 2024 with three acts, Act 4 and the Interludes came later, and now the last two arrive with 24 new areas, 18 unique bosses and over 20 Champion Rares (rare monsters with their own look and mechanics, close to mini bosses).
The video loads from YouTube (Google) when you press play. Privacy policyThe trailer is titled "A Return to Oriath", so Act 5 takes you back to the city from the first game. Act 6 is barely shown at all, and honestly I prefer it that way after two years of waiting for an ending.
Conquerors of Wraeclast: an army, castles and three factions
The new league is the strangest part of the reveal, in a good way. You join Varek and his mercenaries, recruit fighters, scout enemy fortifications, deploy troops and take castles. There are over 70 new points of interest to recruit from and run missions at, and castle treasuries hold a new crafting material that reforges gear.
- in the endgame you build a stronghold and pick one of three factions, each with its own fortress style and troops;
- Atlas progression can be delegated to your own commanders through a new real-time system;
- everyone in a faction fights together across the league to capture castles from the other factions;
- a new endgame storyline follows the Blood Lord and the Sanguar bloodline.
Build players get plenty too. Over 40 new Unique Items, more than 70 existing ones reworked, new skills for the Warrior and the Witch, a big Support Gem rebalance, and a passive tree with hundreds of new stats where every Jewel Socket now sits inside a cluster. Ascendancies were touched as well: the Infernalist can run up to three Infernal Hounds plus a demon minion that casts any spell you give it, and the Mercenary's reloading works differently now.
Path of Exile 2 is on PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. If you dropped it somewhere in Act 2 or 3 during early access, December is the time I'd come back: the full campaign is there for the first time and it costs nothing to get in.
Sources
Steam: Path of Exile 2 Full Release on December 11 PST (Grinding Gear Games, 6 November 2026; classes, acts, league, items, reworks).
pathofexile2.com/fullrelease (official 1.0 page).
Videos from the official Path of Exile YouTube channel: The Shadow Trailer and A Return to Oriath, Act 5 and 6 Trailer.
Screenshots: Path of Exile 2 on Steam; cover: official 1.0 reveal art.
