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Choose the current challenge league if you want a fresh start, its seasonal mechanic and a separate economy. Choose a permanent Standard mode if you want to keep progressing an established character without moving it when a challenge league ends. Then decide whether you want Hardcore’s death risk and whether you want to trade or play in a party. There is no universally best league; the right choice depends on those preferences.
This guide is about the original Path of Exile, not Path of Exile 2. Check the current official announcement and the game’s character-creation screen for the active challenge league, its end date and the modes available before you start.
Start with the choice between a fresh start and continuity
Challenge leagues begin as fresh starts with self-contained economies. They also feature a league-specific mechanic and challenges. That makes the current challenge league the natural choice if you want to experience its seasonal content alongside other players starting anew. Grinding Gear Games describes the fresh-start model in its league overview.
The Standard family is the permanent option for players who would rather keep building an established character. Standard variants are permanent leagues, while challenge-league progress eventually moves to a parent permanent league. The PoE Wiki’s league overview describes the league types and variants.
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- Story rich: in the world of golarion, explore the stolen lands, a region that has been contested territory for centuries: hundreds of kingdoms have risen and fallen in these lands.
- Conquer: Conquer new regions as claim them as your own, carving your kingdom from the wilderness.
- characters customisation: create heroes (or villains) and customise your character choosing from more than 1000 different abilities, skills, and feats.
- focus on companions: meet with iconic characters from the Pathfinder setting itself in your journey. You'll need to decide who to trust and who to Observe, as each companion has a plan, alignment and goals that may differ from yours
- kingdom building: expand your kingdom, opening up new territories and allowing you to build new towns and community.Play your way: Choose your way to fight in real-time with pause or switch to turn-based mode to have better control over the fight placement
| Choice | Best fit | Trade-off |
|---|---|---|
| Current challenge league | A fresh economy, seasonal mechanic and league challenges | Temporary: characters and stash transfer to a parent permanent league when the challenge league ends. |
| Permanent Standard family | Ongoing progression with an established character | Not the fresh challenge-league economy or that league’s exclusive challenge context. Check the client for which core mechanics are available. |
Choose your death-risk setting
Softcore
Choose Softcore if you want to experiment and progress without the defining Hardcore consequence of losing a character from its Hardcore league on death. The precise rules and labels for the mode are shown in the game client.
Hardcore
Choose Hardcore if you want death to carry a major consequence. In recent official challenge-league examples, a character that dies in Hardcore moves to the corresponding Standard challenge league, ending its Hardcore run. Grinding Gear Games documented that behavior for Keepers of the Flame and Mirage. Check the current league’s announcement for its specific rules.
Rank #2
- Officially Licensed Artwork from POE2
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- Smooth, Easy-Glide surface
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Decide whether you want trade and party play
Trade-enabled
Pick a trade-enabled mode if you want access to the player market or the option to play in a party. Your progression and access to items can involve other players.
Solo Self-Found
Pick Solo Self-Found (SSF) if you want to progress using resources you find yourself. SSF restricts trading and party play; it is a substantive gameplay constraint, not simply a preference label. Official league notes show that variants such as Hardcore and SSF may be offered together, for example in the Mirage announcement. Confirm the available combinations in the character-creation screen.
Rank #3
Use this quick decision path
- Want the new seasonal mechanic and a fresh economy? Choose the current challenge league. If continuity matters more, choose a permanent Standard variant.
- Want death to end the character’s Hardcore run? Choose Hardcore; otherwise, choose Softcore.
- Want trading or parties? Choose a trade-enabled variant. Want to rely on your own finds and play without trading or parties? Choose SSF.
- Check the exact variant before confirming. The client’s character-creation screen shows the modes currently available; the current official announcement is the place to verify league-specific rules and timing.
What happens when a challenge league ends?
Grinding Gear Games’ league-ending guide says challenge characters and stash move to their parent permanent league when the challenge league ends. The guide describes league duration as usually three to four months, but the end date is announced separately; check the current announcement rather than treating that usual duration as a schedule.
For context, the PoE Wiki lists Mirage (3.28) as running from March 6 to July 20, 2026. Those dates are a secondary-source historical listing, not evidence that Mirage was active on October 8, 2026. The official Mirage notes describe it as a challenge league with Standard, Hardcore and SSF variants, and explain that dead Hardcore Mirage characters moved to Standard Mirage. Its mechanic involved freeing Djinn from the Afarud in Mirages and choosing among three Wishes to modify each Mirage; the official 3.28.0 Mirage notes and 3.28.0c patch notes cover that league. Neither establishes which challenge league was active on October 8, 2026, so verify the live announcement rather than assuming Mirage is current.
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