Grinding Gear Games has officially launched the Path of Exile 2: Return of the Ancients league. Start — May 27, 2026, and as usual the first 24 hours of a PoE2 league are “everything’s on fire” mode: Steam peak CCU already crossed 600K, and GGG simultaneously published item-filter information for the new league, kicked off a new Twitch Drops cycle and a Discord Quest with exclusive rewards.
It’s the first major league of 2026 after the underwhelming Burning Plains (January) and the deliberately “classic” Anvil’s Edge (March). Return of the Ancients is being pitched as a “return to roots” — a nod to Ancient Spirits from PoE1, with the mechanic reworked.
What’s new in the league
- Ancient Spirits — the headline mechanic. Ancients are back, possessing monsters and bosses. After killing such a target the player gets a temporary buff, but it also activates the next ancient in the zone — a chain mechanic.
- New skills: 14 new active gems and 6 support gems, mostly aimed at hybrid builds (phys + elemental).
- New uniques: 22 items, all oriented around the new mechanic.
- Ancient Pantheon bosses — endgame content of the league, accessed via a special quartz currency.
- Atlas tree changes — two new notable clusters for Ancient Spirit farming.
The item filter — why it matters
Alongside the league, GGG published a reference item filter for Return of the Ancients (official forum post). It’s a short but very valuable update: new currencies, new IDs for uniques, new “ancient” categories.
For community filter users (NeverSink, ZiggyD, FilterBlade) — updates are already out. Don’t run last league’s filter on day one: you’ll silently lose ancient currency because its IDs weren’t in the previous league’s filters.
Twitch Drops and Discord Quest
GGG launched two parallel events:
- Twitch Drops — watch 3 hours of any PoE2 stream with the tag and you get an Ancient-themed cosmetic (purely cosmetic, not game-changing). Drops are active for 2 weeks from release.
- Discord Quest — joining the official PoE2 Discord grants a unique character decorator (Voidborn aura). Available until June 10.
This is GGG’s standard launch playbook for major leagues — a streamer showcase plus a Discord community boost. The same recipe on Burning Plains gave a +40% lift to average CCU.
What it means for PoE2 software users
PoE2 has no open-world PvP, so the main use cases for software are currency botting, map-clearing automation and trade-snipe scripts. What changes at league start:
- Old-league bots don’t work. Pathing logic for Burning Plains and Anvil’s Edge doesn’t account for Ancient Spirits — bots will dump into a death loop a third of the way through a map. Stable “fresh” builds will appear 5–7 days after launch.
- GGG tightened trade-sniper detection. On Anvil’s Edge GGG banned trade-snipers in waves every 2 weeks; now they’ve reportedly moved to “semi-live” detection — bans drop the same day the snipe is logged.
- SSF (Solo Self Found) is the safest mode. GGG historically barely bans SSF players, because there are no trade operations to track as RMT.
- HWID swap is mandatory. League = new character slot = new save data. If you’re planning a farm, swap before your first login, or an older HWID ban will resurface 2–3 weeks into the league.
Relationship with PoE1
Path of Exile 1 is meanwhile sliding into maintenance mode through the rest of 2026. GGG has officially confirmed PoE1 leagues will continue (next one — July 2026), but 80% of dev capacity is on PoE2. For active PoE1 farmers, that means: leagues will get shorter and simpler, which reduces RMT revenue but preserves stability for botting operations.
What to watch next
- June 3 — patch 1.0.6.x, expected balance changes to the new pantheon.
- June 15 — the league’s first race event (4-hour SSF), traditionally where GGG surfaces meta abuses.
- July — mid-league update with extra content (new Ancient Vault maps).
If you’re planning serious league farming — wait 5–7 days while community devs catch up bots to the new mechanic. Launching “day one” is a lottery with high ban probability.
Dominate Path of Exile 2 with our software
Verified cheats and software — updates within 12–48 hours after major patches, with guarantees and 24/7 support.
