Path of Exile 2’s 1.0 league, Conquerors of Wraeclast, ends in a war that every player in the league shares, game director Jonathan Rogers showed at the ExileCon 2026 keynote. Outside the starting area of the Atlas sit 100 castles on a single shared map, and the factions fight for control of them. “This is different from any other kind of league mechanic we’ve done before,” Rogers said.
The faction you pick decides your stronghold type and puts you on a team with every other player who chose it. To siege a castle you first capture the land around it, then bring a large army and expect heavy losses. Holding one gives you a significant item rarity bonus and your whole faction a small one. It also opens the castle’s Hunting Grounds, maps with bonus modifiers for the entire faction. Because the map is shared, those random modifiers are shared too, so some castles are worth more than others. Lose a castle and the bonuses go; retake it and the Hunting Grounds reset for another run. Taking more castles gets harder the more your faction already holds, so smaller factions stay worth joining.
Commanders do the mapping for you. Athela, introduced as a High Justicar, takes troops from your castle and a queue of waystones, then clears maps in real time, handing over the loot minus the gold she keeps. Commanders can also explore towers or run Breach and Delirium tablets, and endgame players can field up to three.
Still unanswered
- How many factions there are and what each stronghold type offers was not detailed.
