GGG Live today split the roadmap in two. Patch 0.5.5 lands September 4 at 1 PM PDT with a Ritual-based event league called Forbidden Rites. The Duelist and swords stay on the December 11 1.0 clock — same date we covered when GGG announced it. Patch notes come next week. This is a stream recap, not those notes.
September 4: Forbidden Rites
- Fresh-economy event, not a wipe. Forbidden Rites sits beside Runes of Aldur. Existing characters stay. Mark called it an event based on the Ritual league, not a full league in the usual sense.
- Campaign Rituals in every area. Tribute shops here sell leveling gear and crafting currency, not Unique-only. Boss clusters (twice per act, once per interlude) carry bosses forward and spend tribute on Uniques. The example they showed: Clearfell Hag → Mud Burrow Devourer → Grellwood Brambleghast → Grim Tangle Rotten Druid.
- Party play: every member earns their own tribute and shop. Party members cannot reroll and see fewer options.
- Endgame extra: spend tribute on a Sacred Bloom, apply a Wildwood entrance to an Atlas map, grab Primal / Vivid / Wild wisps (plus rare Sacred), then those wisps juice — and harden — the map. Ritual tablets increase wisps found.
- Trial of Chaos overhaul: leave and resume between rooms; more kill-all rooms; less running; milder mods at low tier that also grant rarity; Wager modifiers; continue to room 30; all three Trialmaster fragments in one run.
- Fortress shortcut: after the main quest, a harder Arbiter of Divinity key auto-completes remaining fortress sections. Abyssal ravines appear on the Atlas; the last map is a guaranteed Abyss boss.
- Runes of Aldur stays. The event does not put that league in every area. Expedition becomes core from Act 4, with Expedition tablets in maps. Keep playing RoA if you want.
- Eight challenges, four cosmetics (Locust footprints and finisher, Wildwood pet and level-up effect).
- No big balance dump in 0.5.5. GGG said the 1.0 work ate the time. Skill, tree, and unique balance that was slated here moves to 1.0.
December 11: Duelist kit (not this patch)
Jonathan walked the class in the Grand Arena showcase. Treat Thrax and that arena as demo content, not a 0.5.5 fight.
- Swords are the new weapon. One-hand, two-hand, and dual-wield are meant to play differently. Dual-wield is how you parry; a shield bash from Ready Stance can parry without waiting for an attack.
- Ready Stance: hold after some skills; a basic slash becomes a wide AoE.
- Sand Stance via Sand Scour (on stun); default attack throws a sand disk. Blood Stance via parry into Bloodied Blade; default attack is a blood wave / bleed.
- Named skills from the demo: Perforate, Intimidate, Rending Dash, Hemorrhage, Cyclone, Earthrend, Charged Slash, Blade Plunge, Blade Conduit, World Cutter, Rain of Steel. Cyclone counts as a storm and can pick up blood, sand, ice, fire, and lightning ground.
- Mark showed two unascended example builds (Bringer of Blades, Scourge Walker) plus new swords including Oro's Sacrifice. Ascendancies are art-only until ExileCon (November 7–8, Auckland). Do not map PoE 1 Gladiator/Slayer trees onto this; Jonathan said the Blood/Sand theme is the same and the mechanics are not.
On PoE Source
- PoE 2 1.0 date post — December 11, free-to-play, Duelist reveal
- Runes of Aldur — still the live challenge league beside this event
- Fortress & Arbiter
- PoE 2 Ascendancies — current roster; Duelist trees wait for ExileCon
- PoE 2 campaign
We'll write a Forbidden Rites lesson once the notes are out and the event is playable — not from a trailer. Huntress Ritualist is a different thing: an Ascendancy, not this event.
Sources: Path of Exile 2: 0.5.5 Event League & Duelist Deep Dive — Steam (GGG, official) · GGG Live — Duelist deep dive & Forbidden Rites · twitch.tv/pathofexile