# Path of Exile 2 Content Update 0.5.0 — Path of Exile 2: Return of the Ancients - Product: Path of Exile 2 (https://whatsnew.fyi/product/path-of-exile-2) - Vendor: Grinding Gear Games - Date: 2026-05-22 - Original notes: https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/2694490/view/676247378514149898 - Permalink: https://whatsnew.fyi/product/path-of-exile-2/releases/2026-05-22-content-update-0.5.0-path-of-exile-2-return-of-th What's New is an index, not a publisher: every entry below links to the vendor's own release notes, which are the authoritative source. Entries are labelled where they are hand-curated sample data, pre-releases, or drawn from a secondary source such as a developer blog. Reuse: the summaries, labels and curation here are © What's New. Quote freely with attribution and a link back; wholesale republication of the corpus is not permitted — terms: https://whatsnew.fyi/terms. The vendors' own release notes remain their publishers'. --- - **added** — Added Runes of Aldur league with a fresh economy and Remnant mechanic that allows crafting items using Runic Recipes - **added** — Added Runic Ward defence that activates at 1 life and regenerates independently - **added** — Added Verisium Runeforging crafting system to add Runic Ward to armours using verisium currency - **added** — Added 13 new Alloy currency items that add crafted modifiers by replacing existing modifiers - **added** — Added ability to upgrade base type of unique armours below level 55 through Unique Verisium Runeforging - **added** — Added 13 Ancient Runes with powerful bonuses specific to weapon types - **added** — Added 13 Mythical early game runes providing significant boosts for level 15+ characters - **added** — Added 3 Fluxes to transform resistances on items from one element to another - **added** — Added 15 Meta crafting runes - **added** — Added 60+ runes that can be created by destroying a unique item - **added** — Added 15+ Runic Ward Runes - **added** — Added 21 Kalguuran Skills including Animus Exchange, Frostflame Nova, Triskelion Cascade and others - **added** — Added 8 Kalguuran Supports including Concussive Runes, Healing Runes and Runic Infusion - **added** — Added new endgame story with Farrow exploring the Ocean and challenging fallen Kalguurans - **added** — Added The Ruins of Kingsmarch hub area for The Runes of Aldur league - **added** — Added many new underground areas and islands discoverable during expeditions - **added** — Added Runes of Aldur challenge league with 8 challenges offering Knight of Aldur Armour Set pieces as exclusive rewards - **changed** — Expedition Remnants have been changed into Remnants from The Runes of Aldur league - **changed** — Logbook mechanic changed to Ocean Exploring mechanic that unveils sections of ocean with islands to explore - **changed** — All characters from Early Access launch granted a free passive tree refund due to changes ##### Content Update 0.5.0 — Path of Exile 2: Return of the Ancients The Return of the Ancients expansion contains a new league, an overhaul to Path of Exile 2's Endgame, with six new Endgame storylines and 2 new Ascendancy classes as well as a huge amount of other content. For more information about this expansion, check out [pathofexile2.com/ancients](pathofexile2.com/ancients) ##### The Runes of Aldur League - Start fresh in a new economy with the Runes of Aldur league. - In each area in the Runes of Aldur League you will find a Remnant which allows you to craft an item of your choosing by using Runic Recipes engraved into the slots on the Remnant. - Depending on the Runeshapes used, you will then face an encounter with tough enemies that you will need to defeat to claim your item - Each additional runeshape used to craft the item will increase the number of waves of enemies, adding additional runic modifiers to the enemies with each wave. - Remnants start with any number of slots between 2 and 10 with higher numbers being much rarer, but allowing you to craft much rarer items. - Monsters raised by Remnants can drop Verisium metal, a new currency. - Added new NPC Farrow with 4 new quests in the campaign allowing you to unlock various new crafting features. - New Crafting System: Verisium Runeforging - After unlocking Verisum Runeforging in Act 1 this system allows you to add Runic Ward to your armours by spending verisium. Armours lower than level 55 gain Runic Ward with no downside. Armours above this level trade some of their regular base defences for Runic Ward. - Added new defence: Runic Ward. This defence kicks in once you reach 1 life allowing you to continue to survive while your Runic Ward takes damage. Runic Ward regenerates independently of your life. - Added 13 new Alloy currency items, which can be unlocked through Remnant encounters after completing Farrow's quest in Act 2. These items add various new crafted modifiers to items by replacing an existing modifier, similar to Perfect Essences. - After unlocking Unique Verisium Runeforging in Act 3 you can upgrade the base type of unique armours that drop at levels lower than 55. These upgrades generally increase base defences allowing low level unique armours to become more competitive in the endgame. Unique Armours above level 55 can still be Runeforged to modify their defences to include runic ward at the cost of reducing their other defenses similar to the base types. - Unique Verisium Runeforging has additional properties when used on Kalguuran Uniques. - Added 13 Ancient Runes which can be unlocked to be crafted by Remnant encounters after completing Farrow's quest in Act 4. These runes have powerful bonuses specific to each weapon type. - Added 13 Mythical early game runes that can be crafted from Remnant encounters to provide significant boosts to level 15+ characters. - Added 3 Fluxes which can be crafted from Remnants to transform the resistances on your items from one element to another. - Added 15 Meta crafting runes that can be crafted from remnants. - Added 60+ runes that can be created by destroying a unique to make a rune that gains some of its properties. - Added 15+ Runic Ward Runes that can be crafted from Remnants, adding or modifying properties related to Runic Ward. - Added 21 Kalguuran Skills that can be crafted from Remnants: Animus Exchange, Animus Splinters, Bitter Dead, Conductive Runes, Detonate Living, Eternal March, Explosive Transmutation, Fragments of the Past, Frostflame Nova, Grim Pillars, Hollow Shell, Leylines, Powered by Verisium, Refutation, Remnants of Kalguur, Repulsion, Runic Reprieve, Skyfall, Triskelion Cascade, Verisium Manifestations, and Voltaic Barrier. - Added 8 Kalguuran Supports that can be crafted from remnants: Concussive Runes, Fist of Kalguur, Healing Runes, Kalguuran Conviction, Runeforged Blades, Runic Extraction, Runic Infusion and Scouring Flame. - Expedition Remnants have been change _[Truncated at 4000 characters — full notes: https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/2694490/view/676247378514149898]_