Path of Exile 2 will leave early access on December 11 with two new classes, not one. Grinding Gear Games revealed the Shadow, a dagger and trap fighter built around stealth, at its ExileCon keynote on November 6. Since August, the Duelist had been the only new class confirmed for launch.
The surprise answers the question hanging over the launch: how much of an unfinished game version 1.0 would actually finish. According to Grinding Gear's full release announcement on Steam, the answer is a lot. It includes the last two acts of the campaign, a challenge league built around a faction war, over 40 new unique items and reworks to several classes.
The game still goes free to play on December 11 (PST), just over two years after its December 6, 2024 early access debut. For anyone who has waited out the paid early access period, that date now carries a lot more than a price change.
What the Shadow class brings to Path of Exile 2
The Shadow introduces Stealth, a mechanic new to Path of Exile 2. While you are hidden, monsters cannot see you until you get within a short distance of them, and staying in the shadows also empowers your dagger skills with extra bonuses.
Traps arrive with it as a second new weapon type. You prepare them while unseen, then they trigger automatically as you strike, exploding in the order you threw them. That turns an ambush into a planned combo rather than a single opening hit.
The Shadow starts with two Ascendancy classes, the Assassin and the Infiltrator. The Duelist, the sword specialist first shown in August, also gets two at launch: the Knight and the Master-at-Arms. His signature mechanic is Stances, with a Ready Stance that powers up sword skills and can be upgraded into Sand or Blood Stances.
Acts 5 and 6 finish the Path of Exile 2 campaign
Early access has left the story unfinished at Act 4. Version 1.0 completes the six-act story with 24 new areas, 18 new unique bosses and more than 20 new Champion Rare encounters, each with its own mechanics.
Builds change as well. Grinding Gear says the passive skill tree gains hundreds of new stats. Every jewel socket now sits inside a cluster, so you pick the clusters your build needs instead of chasing every socket. Support gems have been rebalanced, and classes that lacked skills, such as the Warrior and the Witch, get new ones.
How the Conquerors of Wraeclast league turns the endgame into a war
The launch league, Conquerors of Wraeclast, puts you alongside Varek and his mercenaries to stop an ancient Blood Lord from waking. You recruit warriors across more than 70 new points of interest, take castles and raid their treasury rooms for a new crafting material that reforges gear.
In the endgame, you build a stronghold and join one of three factions, each with its own fortress style and troops. A new real-time system lets your commanders handle Atlas progression for you, and everyone in a faction can team up to capture castles from rival player factions.
Loot gets a refresh too. The full release adds over 40 new unique items and revamps more than 70 existing ones with better modifiers, skills and visuals.
Which Path of Exile 2 classes are getting reworked for 1.0
Players who already have a favourite build should check the rework list before December 11. The Mercenary's reloading works differently, and the Infernalist gains a demonic minion that can cast any spell you give it, plus up to three Infernal Hounds and new Covenant skills.
The Blood Mage gets new skills and curses around a reworked Corrupted Blood mechanic. The Acolyte of Chayula can now summon a companion that uses any Quarterstaff skill, and can sacrifice its own life to move its soul into a clone.
On handhelds, the game has carried Steam Deck Verified status since September 24, ahead of a launch that brings all of these changes at once.
What happens before Path of Exile 2 launches on December 11
The Shadow is the headline of a December already crowded with big PC releases. Grinding Gear is running a registration page that unlocks rewards on the road to launch, although full patch notes have not been published yet.
One gap stands out. The Steam store page describes twelve classes with three Ascendancies each, yet both new classes arrive with two. So the Shadow and the Duelist answer the launch question, while leaving each one an Ascendancy short of the full set Grinding Gear has promised.
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