PoE2 0.5.5 Forbidden Rites: All Challenge Rewards, Trial of Chaos Rework and What's New

Path of Exile 2 patch 0.5.5 launches the Forbidden Rites event league with 8 challenges, four exclusive cosmetic rewards and a permanent hideout totem, alongside a full Trial of Chaos rework and Expedition moving to every league. Grinding Gear Games has confirmed the challenge rewards are only obtainable during the event and will not return.

Here is everything worth knowing from the 0.5.5 patch notes, starting with the rewards most players will be chasing.

What are the Forbidden Rites challenge rewards in PoE2 0.5.5?

The Forbidden Rites event league ships with 8 challenges, and four exclusive cosmetics unlock at fixed milestones:

• 2 challenges: Locust Footprints

• 4 challenges: Locust Swarm Rare Finisher Effect

• 6 challenges: Wildwood Guardian Pet

• 8 challenges: Wildwood Affliction Level Up Effect

On top of the cosmetics, every completed challenge from the very first grants pieces of the Forbidden Rites Totem hideout decoration. The finished Totem Pole permanently displays how many of the event's challenges you completed, a lasting trophy for anyone who plays the league.

The patch notes state these rewards are only obtainable in this league. There is no second chance and no store rerun, which matters in a patch that otherwise contains no balance changes or nerfs. If you were planning to wait for the 1.0 release, the reward set is the one thing you would permanently miss.

How does the Forbidden Rites event league work?

Forbidden Rites starts a fresh economy, with Ritual encounters spread through the entire campaign. Unlike their endgame counterparts, campaign Rituals drop leveling focused loot such as crafting currency and equipment, so progress toward the challenges happens naturally while playing the story.

The event's signature mechanic is its boss Ritual clusters. Twice in each Act and once in each Interlude, Ritual Effigies appear directly on top of an area's boss fight. Each boss you defeat is carried forward into the next Ritual in the cluster, building an increasingly dangerous series of boss waves, and completing a series lets you spend your tribute on Unique items.

The league launches with Standard, Hardcore and Solo Self Found variations. Hardcore deaths continue in the Standard event league, and private league versions are available.

Trial of Chaos rework: the biggest change in patch 0.5.5

The Trial of Chaos overhaul is the largest single change in the 0.5.5 patch notes. The headline improvements:

• Leave and resume: runs can now be left at any point and resumed later from the same room, ending one of the mode's oldest frustrations.

• A reward chest after every room: dying no longer wipes an entire run's loot.

• Continue without a new Inscribed Ultimatum: completing a 10 Trial run now offers the option to continue immediately, up to twice, with modifiers and reward quality carried forward and an optional double or nothing currency wager.

• A calmer Trialmaster: he now only stops time at the very start of a run instead of in nearly every room, and the Uxmal, the Beastlord arena has been fully redesigned.

The patch also adds 17 new Soul Cores from Jiquani and Atziri and buffs a long list of existing ones, several of which now carry a Limit of 1 alongside much stronger values.

Expedition goes core in Path of Exile 2

Runes of Aldur's mechanic moves to core with 0.5.5. Farrow, Dannig and Expedition content now appear in the Atlas in every league, including Standard, and Expeditions can be found from Act 4 onwards. New Expedition Tablets stack bonuses on maps, from additional Kalguuran Expeditions and Verisium Remnants to increased Expedition density, and the Verisium Anvil is now unlocked through The Runeseeker quest in Act 4.

Ritual and Wildwood changes

Party members can now earn their own Ritual Tribute with their own reward selection, a long requested fix for group play. Sacred Blooms arrive as a new Ritual reward, adding the Viridian Wildwood to clusters of maps: collect Wisps inside, and monsters in the surrounding map become more powerful and more rewarding when you leave.

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