How Path of Exile 2 leagues work

The short version

• A league is a fresh start: a new character at level 1, an empty stash and a new economy
• Standard is the permanent world that keeps characters from every past league
• Hardcore gives each character one life; a Hardcore character that dies moves to the softcore side
• Solo Self-Found means no trading and no grouping with other players
• When a league ends, its characters and items move to the matching permanent league
• Early access leagues lasted between 101 and 164 days, about 14 to 23 weeks

League or Standard: which one to play

Play the league if you want what most players are doing right now: the new mechanic, a market where everyone starts from zero, and race and ladder events. Play Standard if you want to keep building the characters you already have — Standard never resets, which is why its economy is older and slower.

Most players start every new league with a new character and come back to Standard rarely. That is also why search traffic, streams and build guides peak in the first days of a league and fade after a few weeks.

How long a PoE 2 league lasts

There is no fixed length. The early access leagues with a known end ran from 101 days (Rise of the Abyssal) to 164 days (Fate of the Vaal) — about 14 to 23 weeks. The two leagues running now, Runes of Aldur and the Forbidden Rites event, end with the 1.0 launch; the exact end date has not been given.

Leagues so far closed three to four days before the next launch: Dawn of the Hunt on August 26, 2025 for 0.3 on August 29, Rise of the Abyssal on December 8 for 0.4 on December 12, and Fate of the Vaal on May 25, 2026 for 0.5 on May 29. All launch dates are on the start dates page.

What happens when a league ends

Characters and items move to the permanent leagues: league characters to Standard, Hardcore league characters to Hardcore. The developer explains each migration in a post before it happens, such as what happened when the Dawn of the Hunt leagues ended in August 2025 and when the Rise of the Abyssal league ended on December 3, 2025.

League-only items keep working where they are, but the league economy is gone: prices in Standard follow a much larger and older pool of items.

Hardcore, Solo Self-Found and private leagues

Leagues came over from Path of Exile, the first game, where they have run since its 2013 release. Every temporary league comes in a normal (softcore) version, a Hardcore version and Solo Self-Found versions of both, as the 0.5.5 patch notes list them. In Hardcore a character has one life; when it dies it is not deleted but moves to the softcore version of the same league — a Hardcore Forbidden Rites character continues in Standard Forbidden Rites. Solo Self-Found removes trading and grouping: everything you use, you found yourself.

Private leagues have existed since patch 0.2.0h in May 2025. You set one up on the Path of Exile website, can create a private version of a new league before it starts, and pay for it with store points; friends can chip in. The developer's price page needs a login, so we do not quote a price.

Does PoE 2 reset at 1.0?

Not in the sense of deleting anything. The developer's early access FAQ from November 2024 says there will be no wipe: early access characters stay in their early access league and still exist after launch. What has not been announced is how 1.0 itself is organised — whether it opens new Standard and Hardcore leagues, whether early access characters can move into them, and which temporary league comes first. The answer is expected at the ExileCon reveal on November 6 (PST).

Partial resets do happen with big updates: with 0.5 the Atlas and its passive tree were reset for existing characters, who received a free passive refund. Nothing like that has been announced for 1.0 yet.

How to start a character in a new league

On the character screen, create a new character and pick the league from the list before you choose the class; the newest league is normally at the top. Your stash, currency and items do not follow — each league starts from nothing — but account-wide cosmetics, stash tabs you bought and other account unlocks work in every league.

If you just want to keep playing an old character, you do not need to do anything: when its league ends, it shows up in Standard or Hardcore.

How long each PoE 2 league ran

Start and end dates from the developer's launch and league-end posts. Leagues so far closed three to four days before the next launch.

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