If you are searching for the Path of Exile 2 1.0 release date, you probably want three answers: when it launches, whether it is really free, and what changes when early access ends.
Grinding Gear Games (GGG) announced the date at gamescom Opening Night Live in August, then followed up on its official forum with the free to play switch, the new Duelist class and a registration campaign with milestone rewards.
This guide sticks to what GGG's forum posts, the Steam store page and coverage of the August reveal confirmed as of November 3, 2026. Anything GGG has not announced yet, like the exact launch hour, is marked as not announced rather than guessed.
You will also find the PC requirements as Steam listed them on November 3, how the reward codes work across Steam, Epic, PlayStation and Xbox, and how to keep your first 1.0 boss kills as video. Game details and real player clips live on the Path of Exile 2 page.
The short answer: December 11 (PST), free to play from day one
Path of Exile 2 reaches 1.0 on Friday, December 11, 2026, Pacific time, ending the early access period that began on December 6, 2024. In its forum announcement right after the gamescom reveal, GGG said the game launches that day as a fully free to play action RPG.
Right now you need a supporter pack to get into early access; from December 11 anyone can download it and start for free.
What you can buy is cosmetics and additional stash tabs, and the Steam store page notes that purchases are shared between Path of Exile and Path of Exile 2, so what you bought for the first game carries over. The store page also repeats GGG's promise that the game will never be pay to win.
GGG has not announced a launch hour as of November 3. For planning, December 11 Pacific time runs from 3am ET on December 11 to 3am ET on December 12, or 8am on December 11 to 8am on December 12 in the UK (GMT).
The headline addition is the Duelist, which coverage of the August reveal quotes GGG describing as the game's first sword-wielding class and a master of both sword and shield, built for aggressive melee. Swords arrive as a new weapon type alongside him.
The campaign, which reached Act 4 during early access, gets its remaining two acts and a finished story; the Steam page describes the complete campaign as six acts with 100 bosses. GGG has also billed its ExileCon 2026 broadcast as the Path of Exile 2 1.0 full reveal.
The stream is scheduled to go live with a pre-show at 12:30pm PST on November 6 (3:30pm ET, 8:30pm in the UK), and the keynote with the main announcements starts at 1pm PST (4pm ET, 9pm UK) and runs about two hours.
This guide was written on November 3, before that broadcast, so check GGG's posts afterward for what gets announced.
Path of Exile 2 1.0 at a glance (as of November 3, 2026)
| Topic | What changes at 1.0 | Good to know |
|---|---|---|
| Release date | Friday, December 11, 2026 (PST) | Launch hour not announced; December 11 PST runs 3am ET Dec 11 to 3am ET Dec 12 |
| Business model | Fully free to play | Paid items are cosmetics and extra stash tabs, shared with Path of Exile |
| Platforms | PC (Steam, Epic Games Store, standalone client), PS5, Xbox Series X|S | Early access began December 6, 2024 |
| New class | Duelist, the first sword-wielding class, sword and shield | Swords added as a new weapon type the same day |
| Campaign | Final two acts added, story complete | Early access reached Act 4; Steam lists six acts and 100 bosses |
| Registration | Sign up by email until December 11, up to five rewards | Two unlocked as of GGG's October update; codes emailed after launch |
| Reveal stream | Upcoming ExileCon 2026, billed as the 1.0 full reveal | Keynote November 6 at 1pm PST (4pm ET), pre-show from 12:30pm PST |
| PC specs | Steam lists GTX 960 (3GB) class and 8GB RAM minimum, RTX 2060 class and 16GB recommended | 100GB of storage, SSD recommended |
Your pre-launch checklist
- Registered on the official site and clicked the confirmation link (existing players too).
- Staying subscribed to GGG's emails until the reward codes arrive.
- Linked Steam, Epic, PlayStation or Xbox to your Path of Exile website account.
- Freed up 100GB for the install, ideally on an SSD.
- Confirmed you are on Windows 10 or later with a GPU that has at least 3GB of VRAM.
- Ready to convert the launch hour to your time zone once GGG announces it.
Five things to do before 1.0 launches
- 1Register on the official site and confirm the emailEnter your email on the registration page at pathofexile2.com, then click the confirmation button in the email GGG sends you; until you do, you are not counted. GGG says existing players need to sign up too. Registration is open until December 11, and you must stay subscribed until codes go out, because unsubscribing first means no code.
- 2Link your platform account before the codes arriveRewards come as codes emailed after the 1.0 launch, which you redeem on the Path of Exile website. Each account can redeem only one code, and a code can be activated on any valid Path of Exile account, so you can also give one to a friend. Steam, Epic, PlayStation and Xbox players are all eligible; if you play on one of those, link your platform to your website account first.
- 3Check your PC against the Steam requirementsAs listed on Steam on November 3, the minimum is Windows 10, an Intel Core i7-7700 or AMD Ryzen 5 2500X, 8GB RAM and a GPU with at least 3GB of VRAM (GeForce GTX 960 3GB, Arc A380 or Radeon RX 470). Recommended is a Core i5-10500 or Ryzen 5 3700X, 16GB RAM and an RTX 2060, Arc A770 or RX 5600 XT. You need 100GB of storage, and an SSD is recommended. If you are not sure what is inside your machine, see how to check your PC specs on Windows 11.
- 4Convert the launch hour once GGG posts itGGG's forum posts give times in Pacific time, such as 1pm PST on November 6 for the ExileCon keynote. US daylight saving time ended on November 1, so from now through launch day Pacific time is eight hours behind UTC: add three hours for Eastern time or eight hours for UK time. Put the launch hour in your calendar as soon as it is announced.
- 5Free up space for day one recordingsIf you want your first Duelist run or your first kill of a new act boss on video, leave room on your recording drive on top of the 100GB install. Multi-hour sessions make big files; see how much space one hour of game recording takes for numbers by quality.
Keep your day one boss kills and long mapping sessions with DOR
DOR is a free game recorder for Windows PC. When you launch Path of Exile 2, DOR detects it and records your whole session from launch to exit, and every recording lands in My Clips in the app.
When you are done, pick the moments worth keeping, like your first act boss as a Duelist or a big drop in the middle of a map, and trim them out of the full recording. Trims can be 16:9, 9:16 or 1:1, and how to trim game clips covers picking moments out of a recording that runs for hours.
To stitch several boss fights into one video, open DOR Studio to merge clips, add text, background music and effect templates such as shake zoom, then export an mp4 or share a dor.gg link that plays right in a phone browser. The order of steps is in how to merge game clips.
On the free plan you can record at 720p or 1080p and at 30 or 60fps, with 1080p at 30fps as the default. On supported NVIDIA cards such as the RTX series, DOR records with NVENC hardware encoding.
One thing to know for long sessions: full play recordings share a 5GB allowance by default, and only when it fills up are the oldest recordings cleared, while recent recordings and the ones you have liked stay. Like a boss fight right after you record it.
For settings that keep long recordings smooth, see recording long gameplay without stutter. Game audio and your mic are captured together on one track.
