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When creating your character inPath of Exile 2; you’ll get to choose their name, class, and League. The league you choose to play in will determine some of the gameplay mechanics you do or do not have access to, and when the game is fully released, leagues will be greatly expanded on.
During the early access stage, there are two leagues players can choose between, Standard and Hardcore. As one may suspect the hardcore league will be much more of a challenge, but thereare some mechanicsthat keep it from being too brutal even for new players. Here are the differences between Leagues and also how to change leagues later on if you want.
What Is Hardcore Mode In Path of Exile 2
Hardcore mode offers the following mechanics:
While there are later plans to expand the benefits to Hardcore League, at the time of writing its only real focus is trying to go as long as possible without dying, which willrequire a strong build. Should your character in Hardcore League die,they will immediately transfer over to Standard Leagueand you can continue to play as them as much as you’d like. Depending on your preferences, a benefit to Hardcore League is you will see less players in town, letting you immerse more into the world as is without other players.
You can also choose to play with Solo Self Found enabled, offering the additional challenging mechanics to your game:
Hardcore characters can select the respawn at checkpoint option in the menu without it counting as a death.
How To Switch Leagues In Path of Exile 2
Your League is initially decided when you make your character, butHardcore characters can become standard characters without any issues. Dying in Hardcore League will have your character naturally respawn and transfer over to Standard League, and it will seem all like a regular respawn without any notifications.
Aside from Hardcore characters becoming Standard on death,there’s no way to transfer back to Hardcore or transfer a Standard character to Hardcore. Hardcore League can only be entered when you create a character. At the moment there are no real benefits to Hardcore mode,like supporter packs, though there are also no penalties for starting in Hardcore mode just to see how far you can make it.
