Path of Exile 2 Hunt League: Release Date, New Character and other

Path of Exile 2, a game that captured the hearts of countless players from the very first days of its early access release. Fans of the Diablo series, along with numerous other fantasy and RPG enthusiasts, warmly welcomed the new game from Grinding Gear Games. Now, very soon, the game is set to receive its first major update featuring a new season! This is fantastic news for fans of the game and anyone eager to try something truly worthwhile. In this blog, we'll share everything we know about the upcoming season and what awaits us in it.

PoE 2 Hunt League Release Date

The first major update is set to release on April 4 and will feature an event titled "Dawn of the Hunt". In honor of this inaugural event, a new class—The Huntress—will also be introduced, along with 20 new skills tailored specifically for her. But that's not all: we'll see five new Ascendancy classes, extensive updates to the character system—including unique items and support gems—significant improvements to high-level mechanics, fresh endgame content, and much more.

Hunt League Details

The update is truly massive, offering even greater freedom to experiment and break the game's mechanics. In this section, we'll discuss the key changes awaiting us in the upcoming update.

New Class: The Huntress

Of course, the first thing worth discussing in this update is the new class—The Huntress, which already looks intriguing based on previews and descriptions. The character will have two Ascendancy paths: Ritualist and Amazon, along with 20 unique new skills. It's known that the class will be highly mobile and hybrid, capable of engaging effectively in both melee and ranged combat, making her extremely versatile. Moreover, her shield also serves as her weapon, providing even more build diversity. And, as a bonus, she can also be played as a summoner-mage. I don't know about you, but my fingers are already itching to try her out in-game.

New Ascendancy Classes

With the arrival of the "The Hunt Begins" season, developers decided to further expand the already vast gameplay possibilities by introducing new Ascendancy classes for existing characters. These include new paths for the Warrior—Kitava's Smith, the Mercenary—Tactician, and the Witch—Lich.

Warrior - Kitava's Smith: Masters capable of crafting weapons with their own hands, seemingly forged from pure fury. Whatever this entails exactly, it certainly sounds intriguing.

Mercenary - Tactician: Specializes in supporting allies but isn't afraid to dive straight into the heat of battle. We can probably expect new mechanics and skills here—perhaps support abilities, auras, or totems?

Witch - Lich: Using a gem as a phylactery, she sacrificed part of her own soul in exchange for power. Now, this genuinely sounds fresh, and I'm eager to see how it's implemented in-game.

Skills

We’ve already seen the impressive number of new skills coming in the update—but that’s not all. The developers have added two more abilities: the Ghost Summon skill gem and the ability to ride your very own mountable Roa!

Ghost Summon is essentially necromancy—but instead of raising the body, you summon the soul of a monster. You’ll be able to capture the soul of nearly any monster in the game and then summon it to fight by your side when needed. Of course, summoning costs spirit, and while spirits respawn automatically when defeated, the stronger the monster, the more spirit it will require.

Roa Mount Summon works like calling a familiar that acts as your mount, providing maximum movement speed. Even cooler—you don’t lose momentum when attacking with a bow or spear while riding. Now the real question is: how soon are we getting Roa skins?

Over 100 New Items and Support Gems

It seems like Grinding Gear Games really wants newcomers to explode from information overload. Just kidding… kind of. Jokes aside, the sheer amount of new content is genuinely exciting—though it might be a bit overwhelming for new players.

We’re getting over 100 new items, perfectly suited for the seasonal event as well as for endgame progression. So whatever you do, don’t skip the event! And on top of that, there are 100+ new support gems that can take your build to a whole new level.

In my article PoE 2 Builds List: Leveling and Endgame Build I broke down all the classes in detail. These builds are still viable and incredibly strong, so make sure to bookmark it and try a new class for yourself!

New Events

Azmeri Wisps

A brand-new event introduces the appearance of the Spirit of Azmeri manifesting in Wraeclast. When you approach one of these glowing wisps, it begins to flee—not just randomly, but by weaving through monsters, imbuing them with its power and making them significantly stronger. These wisps are also drawn to rare monsters, greatly empowering them as well.

Defeating these empowered enemies will grant you far more valuable rewards. There are a total of twelve different types of wisps, each with its own unique mechanics and rewards.

Wandering Exiles

We’re also getting something incredibly cool. During your adventures, you’ll occasionally encounter new beings known as Wandering Exiles. These exiles are eerily similar to you—and they make no effort to hide their hostility. They’ll challenge you to a duel to the death.

What makes them truly fascinating is their ability to dodge, roll, and even predict the direction of your skills and attacks! They’ll also use skills and items just like real players do—not only are they equipped with powerful gear, but they also know how to make the most of the unique items they carry.

It’s absolutely wild. Dark Souls fans are already clapping, and I can already see myself smashing my keyboard in frustration when I miss every single spell.

Unique Strongboxes

We’ll also be seeing four new Strongboxes, in addition to upgrades for existing ones.

The first is called Ogamat’s Legacy. It appears as a corpse lying in front of a stone covered in rune carvings. When you touch the stone, it triggers forbidden Zomitic magic, resurrecting a rare monster. The box has a special property that determines how many times the monster can be brought back to life. After each defeat, it resurrects with an additional modifier. With every revival, the fight becomes more difficult—but so does the value of the reward.

The second is Torments of Ixchel. This chest is infused with the arcane energy of ancient Vaal technology. The “Torments of Ixchel” Strongbox contains a powerful artifact guarded by the forces of Chaos itself. Defeating the monsters will grant you a unique item with a special Corruption effect.

As for the other two Strongboxes—you’ll have to discover them yourself while exploring the Atlas.

Cleansing the Corruption

This is a new high-level mechanic. The core idea is that Corruption continues to spread across Wraeclast, taking over more and more zones. And, as always, it’s up to us to cleanse them.

At the heart of each corrupted zone lies a Corruption Nexus—the dwelling place of three new bosses, each formed entirely from the corruption itself.

The mechanic is fairly straightforward: defeat the boss, and you cleanse the zone. Cleansed maps will contain additional new monsters, a unique boss, and their own set of properties and rewards.

A Massive Update and Incredible Emotions

This huge and exciting update truly shows how much the developers are working to attract new players while also delighting the existing community. The team at Grinding Gear Games has done an outstanding job—not only in creating brand-new content but also in making existing mechanics more engaging and better balanced.

Personally, I think this update is incredibly exciting, and the amount of content it offers will easily take a few months to fully explore. The addition of even more support gems is a massive boost—thanks to them, builds will become even deadlier and more creative. Well then, we're all eagerly waiting for April 4 and the launch of the new Hunt League season. Enjoy the game, everyone!