Quick answer: The Forbidden Rites event league (patch 0.5.5) goes live Friday, September 4, 2026 at 1:00 PM PDT (20:00 UTC) on a fresh, separate economy — every player starts from zero currency. It runs in parallel to the current Runes of Aldur league right up to the 1.0 full release on December 11, 2026. It is not a forced wipe: you can keep playing your current character or jump into the fresh start. Below is exactly what to farm, what to buy, and what to do in the first 72 hours to snowball your currency before prices settle.
Grinding Gear Games is squeezing one more reset out of Early Access before 1.0, and a fresh economy is the single best window all year to build wealth from nothing — if you know where to point your maps on day one. This guide covers the start time, whether you should restart, the 0.5.5 changes that actually move your currency-per-hour, and a day-by-day farming plan, all fact-checked against the official 0.5.5 reveal and live PoE2 currency prices.
PoE2 - Divine & Exalted Orbs
Skip the grind — get Divine & Exalted Orbs
When does the Forbidden Rites event start?
The event unlocks simultaneously on all platforms. Set a timer — the first hours of a fresh economy are where the most currency is made per hour, because supply is near zero and demand is at its peak.
| Region | Local start time (Sept 4, 2026) |
|---|---|
| PDT (US West) | 1:00 PM |
| EDT (US East) | 4:00 PM |
| UTC | 8:00 PM (20:00) |
| BST (UK) | 9:00 PM |
| CEST (EU) | 10:00 PM |
| AEST (Sydney, Sept 5) | 6:00 AM |
Forbidden Rites is the final event league before 1.0. GGG confirmed the full free-to-play launch — with the Duelist class, swords, and the rest of the campaign — still lands on December 11, 2026 (PST). That gives the event roughly a 14-week runway, long enough to be worth a serious league-start push rather than a weekend flyby.
Is Forbidden Rites a full reset or a parallel mini-league?
This is the single most-asked question on r/PathOfExile2 this week, and the answer trips up new players: it is a separate, parallel economy — not a wipe of your existing characters.
- Your current Runes of Aldur characters and currency are not deleted. You can keep pushing them until 1.0.
- Forbidden Rites is an optional fresh start with its own independent economy — everyone begins at zero currency, so trade prices reset to league-start values.
- Any cosmetic rewards you earn from the event's 8 new challenges are account-bound — they stay with you forever, usable in Standard, Hardcore, SSF, and every future league.
- When 1.0 arrives in December, event characters roll into the permanent leagues the same way league characters normally migrate to Standard.
Should you jump in? If you plan to keep playing through to 1.0, most of the playerbase is migrating to the fresh economy — and that matters for one practical reason: trade liquidity. As one veteran put it on the day-4 discussion thread, the biggest downside of staying on the old league is that "people will only buy certain items… it's hard for new people to break into the trade game late in a league." A fresh economy means a full, active market again — better for both selling drops and buying upgrades.
If you are brand-new and still learning, there's no harm in finishing your current campaign first; the fresh economy won't punish you until you're deep enough to trade seriously.
What's new in 0.5.5 that changes how you farm?
Forbidden Rites is built around the Ritual mechanic, and 0.5.5 pushes several systems into the core game — which reshapes your day-one currency routes:
- Ritual goes campaign-wide. Ritual encounters are now seeded through the entire campaign, not just endgame, so you can start banking Tribute and rewards from Act 1. (Full mechanics in our PoE2 Ritual types guide.)
- Per-player Tribute in parties. GGG's reveal spelled it out: "Defeated monsters generate Tribute, where party members can now individually earn their own and spend it on rewards of their choice — so no one has to miss out." Group farming is no longer a loot-split compromise.
- Abyssal Ravines — a new Atlas structure where you push back the Abyssal Legion across a chain of maps for escalating rewards and a guaranteed boss. This is a strong, repeatable currency route — see our dedicated Abyssal Ravines farming guide.
- Trial of Chaos overhaul — Trials now extend to Room 30 with scaling difficulty, plus new Wager Modifiers that let you gamble reward tiers. Deeper runs, bigger payouts. Details in the Trial of Chaos rework guide.
- Viridian Wildwood returns as a timed sub-area, opened by using a Sacred Bloom (earned from Rituals) on an endgame map — a self-directed farming detour with its own Wisp rewards on top of the base map.
- Core Expedition joins the permanent Atlas rotation, giving you another reliable currency faucet from day one.
The through-line: 0.5.5 adds three new repeatable currency routes (Abyssal Ravines, deeper Trials, Wildwood) on top of campaign-wide Ritual. That's more ways to convert map time into orbs than any Early Access patch so far — reward it by planning your Atlas around them.
PoE2 - Items
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What should you farm first? A 72-hour currency plan
The goal on a fresh economy is simple: convert time into liquid, tradable currency faster than prices inflate. Here's the priority order.
Hours 0–8 — rush maps, don't over-optimize. Level through the campaign efficiently and bank every Ritual you pass. Don't stop to craft gear you'll replace in an hour. Your first real money comes from being in maps while everyone else is still leveling.
Hours 8–24 — sell the early spikes. In the first day, three things are worth absurd amounts because supply is near zero:
| Early-league sell | Why it spikes |
|---|---|
| Rare bases with good implicits/tiers | Nobody has crafting currency yet; a clean base sells fast |
| Uncut Skill/Support Gems | Everyone is gearing new characters — constant demand |
| Bulk basic currency (Alchemy, Chaos, Exalts) | Buyers pay premiums to skip the early grind |
Day 2–3 — commit to a repeatable route. Pick one of the new 0.5.5 faucets and farm it hard: Abyssal Ravines for scaling boss rewards, Trial of Chaos (push toward Room 30 with Wager Modifiers), or a Ritual + Expedition map loop. Consistency beats chasing the "best" strategy on Reddit.
Three hard numbers to anchor expectations: a fresh league starts every player at 0 currency; the event's 8 challenges gate the account-bound cosmetics; and Divine value swings the most in the first 7–10 days as the economy finds its floor (more on that next).
How will currency prices behave on the reset?
On a fresh economy, the Exalted Orb is the base currency and Divine Orbs are scarce, so early on a Divine costs far fewer Exalts than late in a league — then the ratio climbs steadily as Divines get consumed and hoarded.
For reference, deep into the current Runes of Aldur (0.5.x) league on August 30, 2026, one Divine trades for roughly 391 Exalted Orbs — a rate that has crept up all league from the low-hundreds at launch. Expect Forbidden Rites to reset to a low early ratio and rise on the same curve. Practical takeaways:
- Hold Divines you find early — they appreciate as the league ages.
- Spend Exalts freely early — they're most plentiful and cheapest at the start.
- Price-check before every trade. Ratios drift daily; use a live tracker like our PoE2 currency price-check tool or poe.ninja rather than a stale number.
If you'd rather skip the grind and go straight to endgame gearing on the fresh economy, buying a stack of currency at league start is the fastest shortcut — Divines and Exalts are cheapest in real terms in week one.
Get league-start ready on timesaver.gg — instant delivery, best rate:
- PoE2 Divine Orbs — the endgame crafting currency, cheapest in week one
- PoE2 Exalted Orbs — fuel early crafting and bulk buys
- PoE2 Currency (all orbs) — divine · chaos · exalted · more, in stock
- PoE2 Leveling & Boss Carries — hit maps day one, skip the campaign grind
FAQ
When exactly does Forbidden Rites (0.5.5) go live? Friday, September 4, 2026 at 1:00 PM PDT / 20:00 UTC, simultaneously on all platforms. It's the last event league before the 1.0 full release on December 11, 2026 (PST).
Do I have to restart my character for the event? No. Forbidden Rites is a separate, parallel league with its own fresh economy. Your current Runes of Aldur characters and currency stay exactly as they are. Starting fresh is optional — but most of the playerbase is migrating, which makes trading much easier in the new economy.
Will I lose my cosmetics or progress if I join the event? No. Cosmetic rewards from the event's 8 challenges are account-bound and permanent — you keep them in Standard and every future league. Event characters migrate to the permanent leagues when 1.0 launches in December, the same way league characters normally roll into Standard.
What's the fastest way to make currency at league start? Rush into maps rather than over-crafting early, sell the first-day spikes (clean rare bases, uncut gems, bulk basic currency), then commit to one repeatable 0.5.5 route — Abyssal Ravines, deep Trial of Chaos runs, or a Ritual + Expedition loop. Being in maps early, while supply is near zero, is where the money is.
Should I buy Divine Orbs now or wait? Divines are cheapest in Exalt terms in the first week of a fresh economy and appreciate as the league ages, so week one is the value window if you plan to buy. Always price-check a live tracker first, because the Divine-to-Exalt ratio drifts every day.
Is Ritual worth doing in the campaign now? Yes — 0.5.5 seeds Ritual through the entire campaign, so you can bank Tribute and rewards from Act 1 onward. In parties, every player now earns and spends their own Tribute, so group farming no longer splits the loot.
