Path of Exile 2: the Forbidden Rites event league opens on September 4 at 10 p.m. CEST — and the patch notes land only hours before

Grinding Gear Games held its livestream on Thursday, August 27, 2026 and published the announcement for Path of Exile 2's 0.5.5 update straight after. It will roll out on Friday, September 4 at 10 p.m. CEST — not 3 AM, as the French version of the announcement mistakenly states. We'll come back to that below.

It brings a event league called Forbidden Rites, eight new challenges, exclusive rewards, and what GGG describes as a "major rework of the Trial of Chaos."

What GGG announced, word for word

"During the GGG livestream earlier today, we revealed our upcoming 0.5.5 update for Path of Exile 2, launching on September 4 at 3 AM CEST! This patch introduces the new event league, Forbidden Rites, featuring 8 new challenges and exclusive rewards, as well as a major rework of the Trial of Chaos and much more. We will publish the patch notes next week, shortly before release."

0. The time announced in French is wrong

Let's start here, because it's the only line in the announcement that could make you miss the launch. We compared the four versions GGG published on Steam:

Three out of four versions agree: 1 PM PDT equals 10 p.m. CEST, and the German version, which states the time directly in Central European time, confirms it. So it's the French translation that got it wrong — it shows a time off by nineteen hours. Don't set your alarm for 3 AM.

The rest of the announcement, however, is consistent across languages. Three takeaways, in order of practical importance.

1. You won't know what to prepare until the last minute

This is the line that matters most for serious players: the patch notes won't be out until "shortly before release." An event league is usually played on a fresh character over just a few days; without notes, there's no way to pick a build in advance with full knowledge of the changes. So expect a tense end to next week, and leave yourself some reading time between the notes' publication and the launch on September 4 at 10 PM.

2. Eight challenges, not one more

The number given is eight. For an event league, that's a short format — think a checklist of objectives rather than a season meant to last. The rewards are described as exclusive, a term GGG reserves for items that won't later return to the store.

3. The Trial of Chaos is changing, and that's the real overhaul

The major rework of the Trial of Chaos is the only element of 0.5.5 that affects the base game rather than the event. The Trial of Chaos is one of the game's two ascendancy trials: any change to it directly affects how a character spends its ascendancy points. GGG has, at this stage, given no written details — only the word "rework."

The Duelist, meanwhile, isn't arriving on September 4

The confusion is easy to make, because the announcement mixes the two topics together. Yet it is explicit:

"The Duelist joins the fight with the official 1.0 launch of Path of Exile 2 on December 11. Learn more about this long-awaited class and weapon type in the video below, which also showcases everything coming in the upcoming 0.5.5 update."

So: the in-depth showcase video for the Duelist is available now, but the class itself is not. It launches with 1.0, on December 11. The same video serves as the showcase for 0.5.5: right now it's the only detailed source on the update's content, pending the written patch notes.

A translation detail, to spare you fruitless searches: the French title of the announcement reads "In-Depth Showcase of the Duellis", while the body text correctly reads "Duelist". It is indeed the same class.

Today's must-not-miss event: the Curse of the Allflame Mystery Box

A deadline is running in parallel, and it falls tonight. GGG has activated Twitch Drops around its livestream:

Two classic pitfalls, both flagged by GGG:

• The Path of Exile account must be linked to the Twitch account before watching. Linking is done from the Twitch settings page on the official website, under the "Other Connections" section. A properly linked page displays "Your Path of Exile account is currently linked to your Twitch account."
• The box must be claimed from the Twitch inventory before the promotional period ends. Accumulating the 30 minutes is not enough: an unclaimed Drop is lost.

What else remains open

Two other timers are running around 1.0:

• sign-up on the official website, which can earn up to five microtransactions depending on the milestones reached by the community, distributed by email after December 11;
• ExileCon 2026, on November 7 and 8 in Auckland, whose final qualification phase took place right after the August 27 livestream.

Key takeaways

• 0.5.5 on September 4 at 10 p.m. CEST — not 3 AM, contrary to what the French announcement states —, with the Forbidden Rites event league, a name kept in English by GGG across all its versions.
• 8 challenges and exclusive rewards; major overhaul of the Trial of Chaos.
• Patch notes only "shortly before" September 4: don't build your starting plan on assumptions.
• The Duelist arrives on December 11, not September 4.
• Curse of the Allflame Mystery Box: 30 minutes of watch time, to be claimed before 9:30 PM tonight.