Path of Exile ExileCon Announcements - Path of Exile 2, New Expansion and Challenge League

With Diablo IV on the way, the team over at Grinding Gear Games pretty much had to reveal something big at their inaugural ExileCon event. That something, previously known as the 4.0.0 update for Path of Exile, ended up being Path of Exile 2.

Launching into beta sometime in late 2020, the sequel will offer a brand new 7-act campaign that will be playable side by side with the original one. It will also introduce an overhauled skill system, 19 new Ascendancy classes, numerous engine improvements, and more, while retaining all existing Path of Exile expansion content.

And while we wait for the new game, we'll be getting a number of additional expansions. The first of those, going live December 13, 2019, will be known as Conquerors of the Atlas, and will be accompanied by the Metamorph challenge league. The expansion will add new end-game bosses and overhaul the game's bow skills, while the challenge league will introduce a new boss-crafting mechanic.

And those of you who are into mobile gaming should be pleased to learn that Grinding Gear Games is also working on Path of Exile Mobile, that's pretty much exactly what you would expect it to be - Path of Exile for mobile devices.

With this overview out of the way, let's check out some promotional videos. Let's start with the official trailer for Path of Exile 2:

Then check out some developer-narrated gameplay:

And here's the official trailer for the Conquerors of the Atlas expansion:

And a preview of Path of Exile Mobile:

And here's what you can expect from Path of Exile 2:

One Game, Two Campaigns

Path of Exile 2 is a new seven-act storyline that is available alongside the original Path of Exile 1 campaign. Both the old and new storyline lead to the same shared Atlas endgame. Path of Exile 2 retains all expansion content that has been created over the last six years and introduces a new skill system, ascendancy classes, engine improvements and more.

20 Years Have Passed

Since the death of Kitava, society has been slowly rebuilding. Ambitious men rise to fill the void and their thirst for power is once again corrupting Wraeclast.

19 New Ascendancy Classes

Path of Exile 2's characters are a new set of Exiles who fall into the same class archetypes as those in the original game. As such, they can pick from a set of 19 new Ascendancy Classes that differ from the old ones that are still available in the Path of Exile 1 campaign.

New Skill Gem System

Path of Exile 2 introduces the next generation of Path of Exile's iconic skill system. Support Gems are now socketed directly into Skill Gems, removing many of the frustrations present in the old system while maintaining all the previous depth. It's now possible to six-link every skill your character uses.

All-new Equipment

The entire progression of armour and weapons has been redone from start to finish, alongside entirely new character models and animations. All of your old microtransactions are still compatible.

And Much More

Over the next year, we'll announce a lot more information about the improvements in Path of Exile 2, such as changes to the Passive Skill Tree and other core game systems.

Over the years there have been many changes that we would have loved to make to Path of Exile but couldn't, because they would break existing characters. Path of Exile 2 is an opportunity to make all of these changes in one large update.

In The Meantime...

We don't have a release date for Path of Exile 2 yet, but we're unlikely to start a Beta until at least very late 2020. In the meantime, we are continuing to release Path of Exile expansions on our regular three-month cycle. This content will be available in both the Path of Exile 1 and Path of Exile 2 campaigns.