PoE 2 Leagues and Game Modes

Path of Exile 2 has several different modes and leagues to choose from, which can leave new players uncertain of where to even begin. Today’s guide will explain the concept of Leagues and Game Modes and help you to choose the correct one to ensure you have the most fun possible.

Players familiar with other ARPGs might know “Leagues” as “Seasons” or “Ladders”. In Path of Exile 2, there is a permanent league known as Standard, as well as temporary leagues known as Challenge Leagues that usually last for a period of 3 months.

Every 3-4 months, Path of Exile introduces a new temporary Challenge League in which all players start fresh with Level 1 characters and no pre-existing items or advantages. 

Challenge Leagues provide an opportunity for a fresh start for all players with a new economy that isn’t saturated from years of players acquiring items. People will often refer to Temporary Challenge Leagues as simply the “League”, its patch number (eg. 3.25), or by the name of the Challenge League itself (eg. “Settlers” when referring to Settlers of Kalguur)

Leagues always introduce a large amount of new content and patches that rebalance the game by buffing and nerfing items, classes, skills and enemies. These changes provide exciting opportunities for players to devise new builds, new strategies and with the introduction of new content, often referred to as the “League Mechanic”, brand new challenges to tackle to test your skill.

The majority of Path of Exile players choose to play Temporary Challenge Leagues because the fresh start and reset economy creates an irresistible buzz of excitement.

And don’t worry – once the League ends, you don’t lose all of your characters and items: instead, they will be transferred to Standard League which we discuss next.

Note: It is unlikely that Path of Exile 2’s Closed Beta will launch with a Challenge League, but there might still be somewhat frequent resets as major balance changes and patches are made.

Standard League is Path of Exile 2’s permanent league in which you will never be forced to restart your progress and you will always have access to all of your characters and items that you have acquired up to that point. If you are someone who doesn’t have a lot of time to play, or if you just don’t like the idea of having your progress reset, Standard will provide a safe haven for you.

One of the downsides of Standard is that you will not have access to the new League Mechanic and much of the new content introduced into the Challenge League. However, Standard is still subject to much of the same rebalancing of classes and items as Challenge Leagues, providing options for new builds even to Standard players.

That being said, sometimes certain items will be changed before the start of a new Temporary League, but existing versions of those items will not be changed for Standard – these items are referred to as “Legacy” variants of those items and can dodge nerfs, meaning you’ll sometimes be able to keep and use overpowered items in Standard.

If you’re a new player with limited time to play, Standard may be a good league for you, as you won’t feel any pressure to reach your goals before the league ends, because it never does! Once you’ve become better or have more time to play, I strongly encourage you to join in on Challenge Leagues as the excitement of a fresh league start is unmatched.

Path of Exile 2 offers a few different modes to provide an additional layer of challenge to players who want it.

Softcore (SC)

Softcore, also known as SC, is the default game mode that is highly recommended for new players. In SC, players that die can either choose to respawn in town, or be sent back to the last checkpoint they found. Softcore players can choose to play in a Temporary League, or Standard League.

In Path of Exile 2, as of the time of writing, there will be no experience (XP) penalty for dying during the campaign. However, dying in PoE 2 will reset the zone, respawning all monsters in it, and clearing the ground of loot that fell (I suspect that this last point may change at some point, as losing valuable items that you weren’t able to pick up before death is a fairly harsh penalty). Also, if you die during a boss fight, you will be sent back to the closest Checkpoint and will have to fight the boss again from full health; if you can’t get the boss from 100% to 0% life in one go, you won’t be able to progress.

An XP penalty for death will most likely exist in the endgame of Path of Exile 2, but we haven’t received confirmation on this. This section will be updated as soon as we know.

Hardcore (HC)

Characters that die in Hardcore will not be able to continue their journey in that league. Instead of being permanently deleted, they will be sent back to Standard Softcore League, but in the eyes of most players, this is equivalent to permanent death. This game mode is for extremely experienced, knowledgeable players with too much free time who don’t mind losing everything when they make a mistake.

Hardcore provides a great opportunity to build your characters differently and focus more heavily on defences. I always encourage more experienced Softcore players to try it out because it forces you to engage with the game on a deeper level and to pay attention to things you might have ignored before.

Hardcore players can choose to play in Temporary or Hardcore Standard Leagues.

Solo Self-Found vs Trade League

A further subdivision of leagues is whether or not they are ones in which players can freely party up and trade with others, or whether they opt-in to being entirely self-reliant with the Solo Self-Found game mode. 

Trade Leagues: Players in SC and HC Trade leagues can freely trade and party up with other players in the same league, regardless of the region they are in or platform they are playing on.  It is generally assumed that when referring to “SC” or “HC”, people are talking about the Softcore/Hardcore Trade League, but occasionally you will see this distinction made in the form of “SC Trade” or “HC Trade”.

Important: Players cannot trade or party up with other players who are playing in different leagues or game modes. It is also against GGG’s Terms of Service for players to do cross-league trading, such as offering to pay for an item in a Challenge League with Currency you have in Standard League. 

Solo Self-Found (SSF)

SSF characters will be unable to trade or party up with any other players. This provides a unique challenge in which you will be entirely self-reliant and unable to circumvent challenges by buying or partying up your way out of them.

SSF is recommended for more experienced players who are able to work with what the game gives them, and make changes to their build on the fly depending on the items they find. The great part of this game mode is that it slows down your progress, making each upgrade far more meaningful. Uniques that might seem worthless in Trade league might be far more useful to a player who isn’t able to freely trade for the exact items they want for their build.

If you are a new player following a build guide, SSF isn’t recommended as you won’t have easy access to specific Unique items that those guides may recommend. However, SSF players can migrate freely from an SSF to the Trade league of the same type at any point (For example: an SSF Standard player can only migrate to Standard Trade, not to the Challenge Trade League) 

Characters can choose to play Softcore SSF, or Hardcore SSF if they are looking for a real challenge.

This glossary explains some jargon that you may encounter

SC Trade

The current Softcore Temporary Challenge League. Characters in this game mode can freely trade and party up with other players in the same league, and will be sent to their parent league (Standard), once the league ends.

HC Trade

The current Hardcore Temporary Challenge League. Characters in this game mode can freely trade and party up with other players in the same league, and will be sent to Standard League upon death, or Hardcore Standard League if they survive until the end of the league.

SSF

Softcore players in the current Challenge League who choose to play Solo Self-Found will often refer to themselves as playing SSF. It is assumed that most players play in trade leagues, so any SSF players in Standard would make that distinction with something like “Standard SSF."

HCSSF

Hardcore Solo Self-Found - this is the ultimate challenge in Path of Exile in which players will earn massive respect from their fellow Exiles if they can successfully overcome all of the challenges the game has to offer. You’re on your own, and if you die, it’s game over. 

STD

Occasionally people will use this unfortunate abbreviation to describe Standard league.

Temp League

another way that people refer to the current Temporary Challenge League.

Which League or Game Mode you choose is up to you, but if you’re a new player who has made it this far, I highly recommend starting with SC Trade League or Standard League!