POE2 0.5: What the FAQ Means for Your Account
Return of the Ancients is a large patch, and Grinding Gear Games answered the predictable questions in a single forum FAQ. That post is authoritative, but it is written in announcement style: short paragraphs, little room for context, and no guidance on how to choose between options.
This guide keeps the same facts, then adds what most players actually need: an order of decisions, plain-language consequences, and a few practical notes so you are not surprised on patch day. For the verbatim wording, use the link at the bottom.
How to read this page
The sections follow the same sequence most people use when they plan a league start: pick league or Standard, understand what resets, then sort stash and account purchases. Dates and yes-or-no answers are grouped where they matter, not in the order they appeared on the forum.
League or Standard: what actually splits
What GGG confirmed
Runes of Aldur is the new challenge league with a fresh trade economy and league-only mechanics, bosses, and rewards. Your existing characters stay playable in Standard Early Access. GGG recommends playing the new league for the full 0.5 experience.
Balance and mechanics will change for everyone. If you stay on an old character in Standard, you may need to respec or adjust skills because interactions will not behave exactly as they did before the patch.
How to think about it
Treat league vs Standard as two different products for a few weeks: same client, same patch, but different progression rules and different economies. If you care about new bosses, league mechanics, or a clean economy, the league is the main event. If you mainly want to experiment with reworked skills on a rich character without restarting the campaign, Standard is still there, just not where the new league content lives.
Launch time and pre-download
What GGG confirmed
Return of the Ancients goes live on May 29, 2026 at 1:00 PM PDT on standalone PC, Steam, Epic, Xbox Series X|S, and PlayStation 5. A standalone PC torrent for pre-download is planned for the day before launch; consoles can also pre-download ahead of time.
How to think about it
Lock the time in your own zone once (PDT is easy to misread from EU or Asia). Pre-download only saves queue stress; it does not change when the realm opens, so plan sleep and work around the real launch window, not the download finishing early.
Patch notes before launch
What GGG confirmed
Full patch notes are scheduled for May 21, 2026 (PDT), about a week before launch.
How to think about it
That gap exists so you can adjust a starter build before you commit currency. Anything you theorycraft before May 21 is still useful for goals and tree direction, but treat numbers as provisional until the notes ship.
New character or old character
What GGG confirmed
To play in Runes of Aldur you start a new character from the beginning of the campaign. You select the league when you create the character. If you do not want a new character, you can keep playing existing characters in Standard Early Access, but you will not be in the challenge league instance.
How to think about it
This is the same mental model as Path of Exile 1: league characters live in a separate progression bubble. The only twist worth repeating is that Standard is not a quiet corner with untouched balance; it still receives the patch, so your old build is not guaranteed to work unchanged.
Atlas, Fortresses, and endgame progress
What GGG confirmed
The Atlas and its passive tree are heavily reworked. In Standard Early Access, existing Atlas progress and the Atlas passive tree reset, and you begin the new endgame storylines from scratch.
How to think about it
Do not plan around “keeping your old Atlas completion.” Even players who never touch the league will redo endgame progression under the new layout. Budget time after the campaign for learning new objectives, not for rushing old routes that no longer exist.
After you are mapping again, see the POE2 Atlas Tree Guide (0.5) for how to choose passives and Masters of the Atlas by playstyle (currency, bossing, or one mechanic)—not a UI walkthrough.
Stash tabs, items, and the Fragment tab
What GGG confirmed
Stash tabs you purchased remain available on your account in the new league, but the new league stash starts empty. Items from other leagues remain in Standard inside remove-only tabs. The Fragment tab appears in the Path of Exile 2 shop when 0.5 launches; if you already bought one in Path of Exile 1, it carries over to Path of Exile 2 like other tab types.
How to think about it
Purchases follow your account, currency and gear do not hop leagues. Before launch, skim Standard remove-only tabs and decide what is worth pulling into a mule or selling, so you are not doing housekeeping in the first hour of a league start.
League-only content and challenges
What GGG confirmed
Runes of Aldur includes mechanics, content, rewards, and bosses that are not in the core game during the league. After the league ends, GGG will decide what, if anything, moves to core. Path of Exile 2 also gets its first league-style challenge track: eight challenges unlock pieces of a Knight of Aldur armour set that is exclusive to the league.
How to think about it
If you chase challenges, treat them like a side quest with a deadline. If you ignore challenges, you still get the league mechanics; you are only skipping the cosmetic ladder. Either way, assume league-exclusive bosses may vanish or change when the league closes, so experience them during the league if you care.
Fate of the Vaal and Temple of Atziri
What GGG confirmed
Temple of Atziri and its associated mechanics become part of the core game in 0.5, in both Standard and the league.
How to think about it
This is a structural change, not a league perk. It affects long-term mapping and bossing plans for everyone, not only people who rushed the league mechanic on day one.
Price, post-launch work, and official build guides
What GGG confirmed
The update is free for existing Path of Exile 2 owners. After launch, GGG expects to focus on fixes, endgame tuning for the league, and broader balance polish on the road to 1.0. There will not be official “GGG-approved” build guides; players are expected to write their own.
How to think about it
Plan for a hot few weeks of patches. If you publish or follow a build, leave room for small nerfs or bug fixes. The lack of official builds is normal for GGG: community tools and streamers fill that gap, but nothing replaces reading patch notes yourself.
Before you log in: a short checklist
- Decide league or Standard for your first character, knowing Atlas resets in Standard too.
- Note launch time in your local zone and whether you will pre-download.
- Treat May 21 patch notes as the real start of hard build planning.
- Clean Standard remove-only clutter so stash anxiety does not leak into day one.
- If you want league challenges or cosmetics, skim the eight-step reward path before you pick a slow starter.
For day-one logistics beyond the FAQ, our patch-day checklist walks through prep in more detail.
Official wording
Facts in this article match the May 10, 2026 FAQ thread from Grinding Gear Games. When you need exact phrasing (for example for a guild announcement), cite the source directly: Path of Exile 2: Return of the Ancients FAQ.
We will refresh this page if GGG posts corrections or new dates.
