0.5.5 Forbidden Rites League Mechanic

Path of Exile 2 0.5.5 features a new event: Forbidden Rites. This is a slight rework to the existing Ritual Mechanic that will introduce exciting new challenges to both the campaign and the endgame. The event begins on 04 September 2026 at 1pm PDT

Forbidden Rites Event

In PoE 2 0.5.5, players will find Ritual encounters in every zone of the campaign. One major change is that during the campaign, Rituals won't only grant Unique items and Omens like they usually do and will instead grant Currency and items.

What makes the Forbidden Rites Event exciting is that Rituals will spawn in boss arenas, and Rituals will chain from area to area, adding additional bosses to each subsequent Ritual encounter.

This means that during the campaign, you'll have the opportunity to fight multiple bosses simultaneously in a single Ritual encounter. After completing a chain, you will be able to select a guaranteed Unique item

Ritual Endgame

What about Ritual in Endgame? Along with the changes to the campaign, the Forbidden Rites features some changes to Ritual in the endgame, including Sacred Blooms

The Viridian Wildwood

Sacred Blooms allow players to access the Viridian Wildwood in Maps. This mechanic is very similar to the mechanic seen in Path of Exile's Affliction mechanic.

Within the Viridian Wildwood, players will be thrust into a dark forest and will need to collect as many Wisps as possible before they are forced to leave. Once the Wildwood encounter is completed, the Wisps will be released to the monsters of the Map, empowering them and granting them additional rewards

• Primal Wisps: Upgrade Normal monsters to Magic monsters
• Vivid Wisps: Add additional modifiers to Rare monsters
• Wild Wisps: Add increased Rarity of items found to all monsters
• Sacred Wisps: Unknown

All three types of Wisps can be collected and combined to increase difficulty and reward in Maps, and Ritual Tablets can be rolled to add additional Wisps found in Wildwood areas

If you'd like to learn more about the PoE 2 0.5.5 Forbidden Rites Event, check out our full content summary here:

• Forbidden Rites Event Content Summary

If you're looking for a build to play for the event, check out our list of league starters here:

• PoE 2 0.5.5 League Starter Build List