Path of Exile 2’s Early Access is heading into the home stretch as Grinding Gear Games has announced that Path of Exile 2: Return of the Ancients will launch on May 29, the final major content update before the game exits Early Access and hits version 1.0. The studio is targeting a 2026 1.0 launch following its next ExileCon, where all panels and reveals will be streamed online. Until then, Return of the Ancients is the closing act of Early Access, and it’s a big one.
Two new Ascendancy classes headline the update. The Huntress gets the Spirit Walker, an Azmerian-spirit specialist who can channel Stag, Owl, and Bear wisps for different abilities, focus on a single spirit for depth, or unite all three to unlock the Sacred Wisps. She can also tame beast bosses like Mighty Silverfist and the Chimeral Beast as loyal companions, which sounds like a good way to make late-game encounters considerably more fun. The Monk’s Martial Artist ascendancy leans into illusion and spiritual energy, manifesting spectral bells, fortifying with stone, and ultimately unlocking the Way of the Stonefist to turn gloves into devastating weapons.
The endgame is getting a major overhaul through The Fortress, the first of several new endgame storylines arriving with Return of the Ancients. After Wraeclast falls into ruin and is consumed by the Beast’s corruption, players are guided by Vaal thaumaturge Doryani to seek out the makers of the Third Edict. The Atlas itself has been transformed into a fully explorable endgame world with fixed objectives in every direction, and the Atlas passive tree has been redesigned so every node can be unlocked by completing maps. A new system called Masters of the Atlas adds Ascendancy-style endgame progression, letting players align with different masters who offer asymmetric bonuses that can be swapped between maps. Every endgame boss, including the returning Arbiter of Ash, is now reachable via a dedicated questline, finally removing the reliance on random key drops.
The new Runes of Aldur league introduces Ezomyte Runesmithing, a crafting system where players inscribe symbols onto Ezomyte Remnants to forge items, with the catch that activating a Remnant reanimates nearby undead empowered by whichever runes you used. Stronger crafting combinations mean more dangerous encounters. The system eventually unlocks Verisium-powered Runic Ward, a secondary life pool that fuels a new class-agnostic skill system, plus more than 100 new crafting runes. All four leagues introduced during Early Access (Delirium, Breach, Ritual, and Expedition) also get new storylines, dedicated crafting systems, and expanded mechanics with fixed locations on the Atlas.
Quality-of-life improvements round out the update with navigational landmarks throughout the campaign, a live-search Atlas map, an in-game Build Guide system that supports community-published .build files, and an instant trade market price check via Shift-Alt click. Return of the Ancients also marks the debut of Challenges in Path of Exile 2, with eight challenges that grant pieces of the Knight of Aldur armor set. The expansion launches May 29 on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store. Path of Exile 2 took me by surprise when it hit Early Access, with nearly 100 hours clocked in those first few weeks. I returned for The Third Edict last August for dozens more, and I’ll be diving back in for what’s effectively the closing chapter of Early Access.
