Runes of Aldur League Mechanic Overview

In the upcoming Path of Exile 2 0.5 expansion, a new league mechanic will be introduced: Runes of Aldur. The entire scope of the new league mechanic hasn't been entirely revealed, but much of what players can expect was shown in the Return of the Ancients announcement video

Runes of Aldur League

In the Runes of Aldur League, players will encounter Farrow, an character on a quest to uncover ancient Runesmithing techniques. In each area, players will find ancient Ezomyte Remnants which give them a choice between a series of Runes and Currency items. Once a selection has been made, enemies empowered by these Runes will spawn and players will have to defeat them to collect their reward.

As players progress through the campaign, these Ezomyte Remnants will contain a greater number of Runes which can be combined to create different items. For example, combining a Tempest and Lightning Rune will create an Orb of Augmentation. But be warned: the more Runes that are used, the more waves of monsters will spawn, and these enemies will be empowered with increased damage and difficulty making for some tough fights

Further into the campaign, players can make even larger combinations that result in more than just basic Currency items, such as specific Runes which can be added into Augment Sockets to improve gear. In Runes of Aldur league, over 150 new Runes have been added, allowing players to fully tailor their Augment Sockets to their build's needs

Runic Ward

As players progress, they will discover new Runic Magic of Kalguuran origin which allows Runic Ward to be crafted onto Armour items by using Verisium, a new resource that drops from Ezomyte Remnants. Runic Ward is a new Resource that will protect players from death once their Life total has been depleted, but it can also be used for other more interesting purposes

Verisium can also be used on Unique items, either to simply grant them Ward, or to alter them in interesting ways with new modifiers

Runic Skills

Runic Ward can be used for more than just an additional Life buffer: dozens of new Runic Skills have been added to PoE 2 0.5 which require Ward to be used. These Skills also have no Colour, no Attribute requirements and can be used with all Weapon types.

There are over 40 over these new Kalguuran Skills, Buffs, as well as some Supports that can be used in combination with regular Skills for special effects

Unique Weapon Runecrafting

Within the jungles of Act 3, players will find the Mystic Refuge which unlocks the ability to reforge Unique Kalguuran Weapons, upgrading them to more powerful versions of their regular form

New Socketable Runes

Over 150 new Runes of Aldur can be crafted and used in PoE 2 0.5, some with special and incredibly powerful effects

Some Socketable Runes even affect the way that items are crafted. For example, once the Uhtred's Sidereus Rune is socketed into an item, new Chronomancy modifiers that usually wouldn't be able to appear on items can now roll.

Runic Alloys

Runic Alloys are a new type of Crafting Currency that can be used to remove a random modifier from an item to add a guaranteed one that can only be obtained through Runic Alloys

Evolution of Runes of Aldur

Once players reach Act 4, Farrow joins forces with the Expedition team and players will now engage with familiar, but different, forms of Expedition. Players will now find ancient graveyards which can be unearthed by placing chains of explosives to bring forth packs of monsters affected by Ezomyte Remnants. Each pack of monsters unearthed will be affected by all Runes in the chain of explosives, making the encounter more difficult, but more rewarding, depending on how many Remnants players choose to unearth with explosives

Runes of Aldur Endgame

Once players reach the endgame, a new questline will be unlocked where players will have to assist Rog in finding and saving his wife Gwennen. This set of quests will take players through a series of islands to the South, providing new challenges in the form of special Expeditions, Grand Expeditions (Logbooks) and even several new Bosses and Pinnacle Bosses

Each of these islands have special encounters that affect Expeditions in interesting ways: some might have all enemies trapped in Essences, others might have massive bosses hidden behind walls of rock.

And of course, new Pinnacle Bosses means new Unique Items!

The Runeseeker Campaign Questline

While in the Campaign, you'll need to assist Farrow with several quests that help to unlock various functions of the Runes of Aldur mechanic. These can be easy to miss, but this will help to ensure that you find them all. Also make sure to turn on Quest Tracking in your Options to see where to head next!

Act 1: The Verisium Anvil

The Runeseeker is a quest in Act 1 that unlocks Runeforging. You can find Farrow in Clearfell and assist him in completing the first Runic Remnant. This will then trigger a new set of Quests that encourage the player to seek out Runestones in other areas of Act 1 which are required to unlock the next major point of interest

Grim Tangle/Tree of Souls into the Lost Catacombs

While in the Grim Tangle, players can seek out an Inscribed door that can be opened after activating enough Runic Remnants in various areas of Act 1. After entering The Lost Catacombs area behind this inscribed door, completing the area will unlock the Verisium Anvil in the Clearfell Encampment and all other Town hubs and hideouts thereafter.

Act 2

Similar to Act 1, in this area you'll need to seek out and activate more Runic Remnants and follow along with Farrow's Quest. By continuing along this Quest chain, you'll eventually be able to access the Titan Runic Vault in Valley of the Titans to unlock further improvements to Runecrafting

Act 3

And again, the play here is to seek out Runic Remnants until a Quest is activated to seek out the Mystic Refuge Runic Vault, which can be found in Infested Barrens. Locating this area can be tricky, but follow along with the Quest Tracker to ensure that you've completed enough encounters to unlock this area.

Act 4 - The Map Pieces

Act 4's Questline is slightly different in that you'll now need to seek out multiple Torn Map Pieces to assemble a Map that will allow players to enter Plunder's Point. These four Map Pieces can be found in

• Journey's End - Wrecked Boat
• Whakapanu Island - Petrified Pirate
• Isle of Kin - Smuggler's Stash
• Shrike Island - The Corpse Nest

After heading to Plunder's Point, players will be introduced to Grand Expeditions (similar to Logbooks in PoE 1) and complete the final part of the Runeseeker Questline.

There are several Verisium Anvil Crafting Recipes that can be found in the Endgame section of Expedition/Runes of Aldur which can all be found by locating underground areas in Grand Expeditions

Runeforging for...

• Unique Jewellery
• Unique Armours
• Unique Weapons

The chance to locate these currently seems random, but there may be some determinism behind which underground areas of which Grand Expedition locations provide which Verisium Anvil Crafting Recipes

In summary, the new Path of Exile 2 Runes of Aldur league will take players from Clearfell where they will encounter ancient Ezomyte Remnants, into the midgame where they will fight through evolved Expeditions and into the endgame where they will discover a new quest that further deepens the mechanic with Grand Expeditions and Pinnacle Bosses. The Runes of Aldur league contains over 30 new monster types, 150 Runes, Runic Alloys, Runeforging, several new Unique items, Bosses and Pinnacle Bosses, as well as dozens new Kalguuran Skills, Supports, Buffs and Runic Ward. It's a ton to take in!

Keep a look out for our updated guides once Path of Exile 2 0.5 Runes of Aldur / Return of the Ancients starts on 29 May 2026!

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