Grinding Gear Games has confirmed that the next major milestone for Path of Exile 2, the Return of the Ancients expansion, will be officially unveiled during a live stream on May 7 at 1 PM PDT. This announcement comes as the dark fantasy ARPG approaches its eighteenth month in early access, a period defined by steady iterations and a growing player base. The upcoming broadcast, hosted on Twitch, is expected to provide the first comprehensive look at the 0.5 update, which the developers have explicitly stated will focus on a significant revamp of the game’s endgame systems.
While specific narrative and mechanical details remain under wraps, the studio released a brief 30-second teaser to prime the community for the reveal. This update follows the “The Last of the Druids” patch from late 2025, which fulfilled a long-standing player request by introducing the Druid class. After a relatively quiet start to 2026, Return of the Ancients appears positioned as a foundational shift for the title, potentially moving it closer to its highly anticipated 1.0 full release.
The timing of this content drop highlights an ongoing and deliberate scheduling rivalry between Path of Exile 2 and Diablo 4. With Blizzard’s Lord of Hatred DLC scheduled for release on April 28, Grinding Gear Games is positioning its expansion launch for May 29, just weeks later. This pattern of overlapping release windows has become a staple of the genre’s landscape, as both titles vie for the attention of a dedicated audience that often fluctuates between the more accessible design of Diablo and the complex, hardcore systems found in Path of Exile 2.
Beyond the endgame overhaul, players are looking to see if this expansion will mirror the scope of previous updates like “The Third Edict,” which introduced Act 4 and fundamental movement changes such as sprinting. For a game that has maintained an 88 top critic average during its early access phase, the stakes for the May 7 preview are high. Fans and critics alike will be watching closely to see if Return of the Ancients can maintain the momentum necessary to lead the genre through the remainder of the year.
