Path of Exile 2 Reveals New Shadow Class, and New Acts
With Path of Exile 2 finally reaching its Full Release and leaving Early Access after two years, Grinding Gear Games still has plenty to show off ahead of the game’s official launch. The developer has revealed the new…
With Path of Exile 2 finally reaching its Full Release and leaving Early Access after two years, Grinding Gear Games still has plenty to show off ahead of the game’s official launch. The developer has revealed the new Shadow class, a Knight Ascendancy for the Duelist, and the upcoming Conquerors of Wraeclast league. On top of that, the remaining two campaign acts are finally being added, bringing the game’s main story to a conclusion.
And if you’re reading this and going “Damn, that’s a lot of new content”, I’m right there with you. I was happy with the game leaving Early Access, but GGG is going well beyond that. As you’ll see.
New Shadow Class and Knight Ascendancy
One of the biggest additions to Path of Exile 2 is the Shadow, a new class focused on stealth, daggers, and traps. Players can sneak up on enemies, attack, and disappear before they can respond. Kills reset the stealth cooldown, while eight different trap types and shadow clones called Shades provide even more ways to take down enemies. The Shadow also comes with two Ascendancies, Assassin and Infiltrator.
The Duelist is also getting the Knight Ascendancy, which allows players to recruit a Squire companion, deploy War Banners for combat bonuses, and even charge into enemies using a chariot. Another Duelist Ascendancy, Master of Arms, is planned for a later update.
Acts 5 and 6 Complete the Campaign
AdvertisementAfter two years in Early Access, Path of Exile 2 is finally getting its complete campaign. Acts 5 and 6 will arrive with version 1.0, taking players back to Oriath, where they’ll explore ruined districts, face new bosses, and confront the Twilight Order and the Beast.
Conquerors of Wraeclast Brings Castle Sieges
The new Conquerors of Wraeclast league introduces faction warfare, castle sieges, and territorial conquest. Players can build armies, attack enemy strongholds using siege weapons and war elephants, and compete for control of 100 castles scattered across the Atlas.
The league also adds a new Reforging crafting system, recruitable commanders who can lead Atlas missions, and a storyline involving rival Maraketh clans attempting to resurrect an ancient vampire lord named Severa.
More Items and Endgame Improvements
Grinding Gear Games is also overhauling several existing systems, including the Passive Skill Tree, Ascendancies, and endgame progression. The update adds over 200 new base item types, more than 40 new Unique Items, and over 70 reworked Uniques.
AdvertisementThe Atlas Passive Tree is also being reworked with 70 nodes, while classes such as the Mercenary, Infernalist, Blood Mage, and Acolyte of Chayula are receiving adjustments.
With version 1.0, Path of Exile 2 will feature ten playable classes, 26 Ascendancies, over 320 skills, and more than 150 endgame maps. That’s a lot of content, especially for anyone returning after taking a break from Early Access.
Steam Deck Verification and Performance Improvements
There’s also some good news for PC gamers, especially those who enjoy playing on handheld gaming PCs. Grinding Gear Games says the 1.0 update will deliver up to a 25% improvement in CPU performance, alongside reduced memory usage and smoother frame pacing.
Path of Exile 2 is now Steam Deck Verified, which is great news for Valve’s handheld, with is still as popular as ever. More importantly, the broader performance optimizations should also benefit other handheld gaming PCs, including the ASUS ROG Ally, Lenovo Legion Go, and MSI Claw devices. While that doesn’t guarantee identical performance improvements across every device, any reduction in CPU overhead and memory usage is welcome, especially on hardware with limited power budgets.
The full release will also introduce Mac support, including M2-series Macs and newer, along with supported M1 Pro systems.
I’ve been playing Path of Exile 2 since it first entered Early Access, but I stopped about a year ago due to all the changes and decided to wait for the full release. Now that December 11 is getting closer, I’m looking forward to jumping back in. With everything that’s changed since I last played, I’m expecting it to feel like a completely different game. Which it will be.
AdvertisementPath of Exile 2 will officially launch on December 11, 2026, as a free-to-play title, with quite a bit of new content and several improvements to the existing game, for PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Mac and PC.
Grinding Gear Games action-rpg Path of Exile 2 Shadow Class Conquerors of Wraeclast