Forbidden Rites, Path of Exile 2's next event league, opens September 4
Version 0.5.5 and its Forbidden Rites event league went live September 4 at 1 PM PDT (20:00 UTC), with full patch notes posted by Grinding Gear Games two days ahead of launch.
Forbidden Rites adds a Ritual encounter to every campaign area, paying levelling rewards instead of endgame drops, plus boss-cluster Ritual Effigies — twice per Act, once per Interlude — that chain into escalating boss waves paying Tribute for Unique items. It carries eight new challenges: GGG has confirmed the count and the cosmetic reward thresholds (2/4/6/8 challenges unlock a Locust Footprints effect, a Locust Swarm finisher, a Wildwood Guardian pet, and a Wildwood Affliction level-up effect) but not the individual challenge names or requirements.
The patch also delivers a major Trial of Chaos overhaul — runs can now be paused and resumed, every room drops a reward chest, rewards are Currency and Soul Cores only, and the Trialmaster no longer interrupts nearly every room with time-stop.
Runes of Aldur is not being replaced
The existing Runes of Aldur league keeps running. GGG states players can still complete its earlier progression and challenges, and Farrow/Dannig/Expedition content has moved into the core Atlas (available in Standard and Forbidden Rites too), though Aldur’s Saga stays exclusive to that league. Both leagues are live at once — nothing already banked in Runes of Aldur is lost.
The Duelist is a December thing, not a September one
The same broadcast that first revealed Forbidden Rites also covered the Duelist, which is easy to file under this patch by mistake. It arrives with the 1.0 full release on December 11, not with Forbidden Rites — see the full release announcement.
What changed on this site
Path of Exile 2 runs on seasons rather than resets, so its progression lives at
/games/path-of-exile-2/season/ instead of a daily or weekly
checklist. Forbidden Rites is tracked as a new season rather than an addition to Runes of
Aldur — it needs a fresh character and a fresh economy, so the site treats it the same way a
genuine league rollover has always been treated. The route has been rebuilt to keep the shared
four-act campaign and core Atlas endgame (verified previously) while dropping the Runes-of-Aldur-
specific content 0.5.5 doesn’t confirm carries over. The eight challenges stay a placeholder until
GGG names them, and the whole page is marked unverified pending an in-game pass.