POE2 1.0 Pre-Launch Guide: At ExileCon, Separate What’s Confirmed from What’s Still Speculation

ExileCon 2026’s 1.0 reveal is imminent. A flood of information is about to arrive, but before that, separating known facts from community expectations will do more to help you plan your first week after the December 11 launch than chasing any single “leak.”

What 1.0 Will Definitely Bring: The Campaign Closes Out, and the Sword Enters

The 1.0 date is locked in: December 11, 2026, launching simultaneously on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S, going free-to-play, and accompanied by an unrevealed Perandus-themed league.

At the content level, the two most certain items are these. Act 5 and Act 6 will complete the main campaign, and the Interlude that served as a temporary bridge during Early Access will be removed; the monsters from the Interlude will not simply vanish, but will appear as map bosses in the endgame. The other is the Duelist and swords. The Duelist is the only new base class officially written into the “confirmed list” for 1.0, built around swords and shields, arriving with two Ascendancy branches.

One easily overlooked but critical detail: the only new weapon category at 1.0 launch is swords. Axes, daggers, flails, and the corresponding Marauder, Shadow, and Templar are not on the official 1.0 release list. If your launch build plan depends on daggers or trap-style skills, you need to adjust your expectations in advance.

Shadow’s “Surprise”: Strong Signals, But Don’t Treat It as a Contract

The biggest variable in the community right now is Shadow. In late October, GGG released a 31-second teaser, “Become the Darkness,” showing a dagger flying toward a coin—and the dagger is Shadow’s signature weapon. If Shadow really does arrive alongside the Duelist, this would be the first time since the start of Early Access that two base classes have been released at once.

But the full picture needs to be stated: this signal has not been converted into official confirmation. As of October 29, poe2wiki’s 1.0 entry still explicitly excludes Shadow from the official release list, and Notebookcheck’s wording is likewise “technically still speculative.” Shadow is the variable most likely to be used as the “one more thing” at tonight’s ExileCon, but it should not appear in your December 11 launch build list. Duelist + swords is confirmed; Shadow + daggers is the “adjust if it happens” tier.

The third Ascendancy (Tota) is similar. poe2wiki’s 1.0 page lists it as not included, with the third Ascendancy left for a later version. If your launch plan depends on a third Ascendancy route for a particular class, there is currently no reliable basis for including it in 1.0 expectations.

The Post-0.5 Economic Terrain: The POE2 Currency “Hard-Currency List” Has Already Changed

If you only stare at new classes and new chapters, it is easy to overlook a factor with a more direct impact on the launch experience: the 0.5 league’s changes to the POE2 Currency system have already changed the underlying economic logic on the eve of 1.0.

0.5.0 introduced an entire set of new crafting currencies and defensive mechanics. Verisium appeared as a new currency tied to the rune-forging system; 13 alloy currencies entered the drop pool; and Runic Ward, as a defensive layer independent of life, became a new dimension of equipment crafting. Early pricing for these new materials was very high: in the early-to-mid stages of the 0.5 league, Rune Father’s alloy was once listed at 28 Divine, Celestial alloy at 8 Divine, and Transcendent alloy at 2.5 Divine. At the same time, the depreciation rate of basic currencies is also worth noting: early in the 0.5 league, the Divine-to-Exalted ratio was around 65 Ex, and by early September it had climbed to about 180 Ex.

These data point to a pragmatic conclusion: the POE2 Currency environment at 1.0 launch will not be the same as the economic model before 0.5. The high early prices of Verisium and alloys show that the market’s pricing of “new crafting materials” goes through a period of sharp volatility; and the rapid climb of the Divine/Exalted ratio means that if you are holding less-liquid materials in the first week of launch, their real purchasing power may shrink before you even spend them.

At the build level specifically, taking an endgame-oriented Invoker or a similar Ward-threshold build as an example, the gap between the budget version and the full version often lies not in execution but in the order of POE2 Currency investment: solve weapons and defensive thresholds first (including how Runic Ward is stacked), then stack crit and elemental scaling. Doing it in the reverse order produces a completely different mapping efficiency on the same budget. This is not a “pay-to-skip” issue, but a resource-allocation priority issue. Self-farming is of course the cleanest path, but when you want to avoid luck in the launch window and quickly assemble a usable core framework, third-party platforms enter the discussion.

A Framework for Evaluating Third-Party Currency Platforms: MMOEXP as a Verifiable Reference Point

If you decide to consider third-party channels, the evaluation criterion should not be “who has the lowest price,” but which information can be independently verified and which risks can be identified in advance. Under this framework, MMOEXP can serve as a reference starting point with public data available for cross-checking, but its boundaries also need to be stated clearly.

Verifiable dimension one: delivery mechanism and account security. MMOEXP’s POE2 transactions use in-game trade delivery, requiring character name and server information, and do not involve account login. bestgameboost’s independent review summarizes MMOEXP’s delivery method as “method varies by game – in-game trade, auction house, or account-assisted delivery on some console economies,” and notes that POE2 is one of its core Currency categories. Not involving account passwords is a baseline-level security feature, and it is the first item you should confirm when comparing any third-party platform.

Verifiable dimension two: review base, and the two-sidedness of reviews themselves. On Trustpilot, MMOEXP’s rating is 4.8/5, with more than 33,000 total reviews, and bestgameboost records a growth rate of about 1,400 new reviews per month. In August 2026, bestgameboost gave an overall score of 8.4/10, with a delivery-speed score of 5/5, but explicitly listed “delivery time fluctuation” as its main weakness: most orders are completed within minutes, while high-demand items or delivery under specific console economies may stretch to several days.

Verifiable dimension three: continuity of category positioning. MMOEXP explicitly lists Path of Exile 2 as one of its core Currency categories, alongside FC, MLB, and Diablo 4, rather than as a temporary landing page. For players who simply want to understand the current third-party pricing range and delivery process for POE2 Currency before deciding whether to use a third party, this category-based presentation is more efficient than searching for an entry point on a general site.

The reasonable use is this: treat Buy POE2 Currency at the MMOEXP online store as a reference starting point, use its public review data, delivery description, and category continuity to build your “minimum information set for third-party platforms,” and then use that information set to compare any other option. If you ultimately choose to self-farm entirely, this process is still valuable—it at least lets you know where the POE2 Currency in your stash sits in terms of third-party pricing, so you can more rationally judge what is worth keeping and what is suitable to convert into value during the launch window.

Preparation Priorities for the Final Five Weeks Before 1.0

Before the ExileCon announcement lands, you can focus your energy on three things with relatively high certainty.

First, do not put Shadow in your launch build list. Duelist + swords is confirmed; Shadow + daggers is a “possible surprise.” poe2wiki’s official 1.0 entry still excludes Shadow, and if you bet your entire launch plan on Shadow and GGG does not deliver tonight, your first week will become very passive. The Duelist’s two known Ascendancies—Master-at-Arms (multi-weapon-set specialization) and Vanguard (glory and banner mechanics)—at least provide a confirmed option you can study in advance.

Second, re-examine your post-0.5 Currency habits. In the 0.5 league, the Divine/Exalted ratio climbed from about 65 Ex to about 180 Ex, showing that the drift in relative value among basic currencies over the course of a league is much larger than in the early days of Early Access. The addition of Verisium and alloys, and Runic Ward’s repricing of defensive bases, both mean that the POE2 Currency “hard-currency list” is very likely to go through another reshuffle in the early days of 1.0. If you have not seriously adjusted your Atlas tree and farming strategy since 0.5, you may find in the first few days of launch that the liquidity of the materials in your stash is far lower than expected.

Third, treat third-party platforms as information tools, not as the default option. MMOEXP’s Trustpilot rating and bestgameboost’s independent review provide a checkable reference system, but delivery time fluctuation is a variable you must weigh yourself before use. If you choose to self-farm, the above information helps you understand more clearly where your output sits in the market; if you choose a third party, look at the delivery mechanism and review base first, then the price—that is the more prudent order than doing it the other way around.

The ExileCon 1.0 reveal will provide more answers in a few hours. Whether Shadow really enters through the side door, whether divination cards return in some form, and whether the third Ascendancy is explicitly excluded from 1.0—official word will come soon. Until then, plan the confirmed things well and leave the uncertain things in the backup column. That is the most pragmatic way to prepare at this stage.