What can you do as a free member?

Member benefits illustration

Create your free account today and unlock all our premium features and tools to enhance your gaming experience.

Member benefits illustration

Create your free account today and save articles to your watchlist and get notified when they're updated with new information.

Member benefits illustration

Create your free account today and save your favorite games for quick access later, synced across all your devices.

Member benefits illustration

By creating a Game8 account and logging in, you'll receive instant notifications when someone replies to your posts.

Comment rating feature illustration

By creating a Game8 account and logging in, you can make use of convenient features in the comments section, such as rating and sorting comments.

Premium archive feature illustration

By creating a Game8 account and logging in, you can access Premium articles that are exclusively available to members.

Site Interface

Guest
Free Member
Article Watchlist
Game Bookmarks
Cross-device Sync
Light/Dark Theme Toggle
User Profiles
Direct Feedback
Comment Rating

Game Tools

Guest
Free Member
Interactive Map Access
Interactive Map Pins
Interactive Map Comments
Interactive Map Pins Cross-Device
Check List
Event Choice Checker
Deck Builder Cross-Device
Message Board Notification
Message Board Cross-Device
Build Planner
Stat Calculator
Diagnostic Tool
Weapon/Armor Wishlist

Want more information?Learn more

Path of Exile 2 (PoE 2)

Can You Adjust Game Difficulty?

Add to Watchlist

☆ Fate of the Vaal ▶︎ The Last of the Druids
┗ New Uniques, Gems, and Items!
★ Druid Guides: Class Overview | Best Builds
☆ NEW: Disciple of Varashta Ascendancy!
★ Best Class | Best Builds | Leveling Builds
Trend: Tribal Medicine | Shark Fin | Azarian

Path of Exile 2 - Can You Adjust Game Difficulty

In Path of Exile 2, players cannot adjust the game difficulty upon starting a campaign. Check out our guide to learn more about the game's difficulty and the difficulty differences in the game!

List of Contents

Can You Adjust Game Difficulty?

Set Difficulty in Character Creation

Path of Exile 2 Difficulty 2

You can only set the difficulty of the game at the beginning, during character creation. There are 4 different difficulty Leagues you can choose from: Standard, Hardcore, Solo Self-Found, and Hardcore Self-Found.

Dying in Hardcore League Sends You to Standard League

You only get 1 life in Hardcore difficulty. Once you die, you are disqualified from Hardcore and are sent to Standard League, where you can die without consequence.
League Guide and List of All Leagues

League Migration Temporarily Unavailable

Path of Exile 2 - League Migration
Upon creating your character and starting Act 1, players can no longer switch game difficulty. The only time players can set their difficulty is during character creation.

As of Early Access, League Migration is not available, but this feature would commonly see players being able to change their difficulty, an example of which is migrating from Hardcore to Standard.

Finsihing All 3 Acts Starts Cruel Difficulty

Path of Exile 2 (PoE 2) Act 3 Map

Clearing the first three acts for the first time will advance you to Cruel difficulty, where you must redo the first three acts before reaching the Atlas. Enemies in Cruel difficulty have increased health and deal more damage. Rare mobs also spawn more frequently, increasing the rarity of item drops.

Walkthrough and List of Acts

Use Waystones in Atlas of Worlds

Atlas of Worlds
The Atlas of Worlds is an endgame system wherein you use Waystones to enter different maps. These Waystones can be modified using Orbs of Transmutation and Orbs of Augmentation to change and increase the difficulty of each map.
Atlas of Worlds Endgame Explained

Difficulty Differences

All Difficulty Settings

Standard The intended difficulty. Recommended for all types of players, new and old.
Hardcore You get only one life. If your character dies, you will be transferred from Hardcore League to Standard League.
Solo Self-Found Disables trading and other social game features, forcing players to play solo and rely on themselves.
Hardcore Self-Found The same as Solo Self-Found, except that your character only gets one life in Hardcore.

There are all four difficulty settings you can choose from when creating a new character. Standard is the recommended experience for most players, while Hardcore is there for players who want bigger stakes and a higher challenge.

Players can choose Self-Found Leagues if they wish to rely on no one but themselves for loot and combat.

Path of Exile 2 Related Guides

Path of Exile 2 Tips and Tricks

Beginner's Guide

Gameplay Mechanics

Character Creation Guide Currency Exchange Explained
How to Ascend Classes How to Block
How to Dodge How to Fast Travel
How to Get and Use Sacred Water How to Get Through the Red Walls
How to Refill Flasks How to Show the Overlay Map
How to Trade How to Unlock Pets
What is the Max Level? What Happens When You Die?
How to Parry How to Reset Instance
How to Bookmark Maps How to Find and Use the Rotten Satchel Charge
What are Maraketh Shrines? Asynchronous Trade Explained
How to Sprint Merchant Tab Explained
How to Unlock Each Shapeshift Form Gateway Guide

Game and Character Progression

Best Ways to Farm and Spend Gold Endgame Guide: What to Do After the Campaign?
Hardcore Guide Hideout Location and How to Unlock
How to Ascend Classes How to Farm Uniques
How to Increase Damage How to Increase Defense
How to Make a Good Build How to Power Level Alts
Leveling Guide: How to Get XP Fast List of Permanent Buffs from the Campaign
Missables and One-Time Events Guide Chaos Statue Location
How to Respec Ascendancy -

Gear and Crafting

Are There Vendor Recipes? Crafting Guide
How to Always Show Items on Ground How to Get Corrupted Items
How to Hide Your Helmet How to Identify Items and Equipment
How to Increase Inventory Size How to Use Corruption Altars
How to Use Reforging Benches Item Rarity Explained
Sell, Salvage, or Disenchant Equipment? Sockets Explained
Recombinator Guide Desecrated Modifiers and Abyss Crafting

Stats and Skills Guides

Best Defensive Stat How to Get and Use Persistent Buffs
How to Get Ascendancy Skill Points How to Get More Skill Slots
How to Increase Charm Slots How to Increase Support Gem Slots
How to Level Up Skills How to Respec Passives
How to Use Jewel Sockets Weapon Set Skill Points Explained
Weapon Specialization Guide: How to Swap Weapons -

FAQs and Other Guides

Can You Adjust Game Difficulty? Best PC Settings and Keyboard Bindings
Guild Features and How to Join How to Change Your Character's Name
How to Change Voice and Text Language How to Get Loot Filters on Console
How to Get More Character Slots How to Link Items in Chat
How to Revive Party Members How to Use and Customize Chat Box
List of All Chat Commands Is There Controller Support?
Multiplayer Guide: How to Play Coop Party Bonuses and Group Scaling Explained
Stash Tab Sale Schedule and Prices Should You Choose Mouse or WASD?
Do PoE 1 Supporter Packs work in PoE 2? -

Comment

Post (0 Comments)

Author

Path of Exile 2 (PoE 2) Walkthrough Team
This article was created by Game8's elite team of writers and gamers.
    Leave feedback(Login required)
    Tell Us More About You!

    Rankings

    Popular Articles
    Message Board
    • We could not find the message board you were looking for.

    Gaming News

    Ashes of Creation Launch Marred by 8-Hour Website Crash

    Ashes of Creation Launch Marred by 8-Hour Website Crash

    Popular Games

    Recommended Games

    All rights reserved

    © 2010 - 2024 Grinding Gear Games

    The copyrights of videos of games used in our content and other intellectual property rights belong to the provider of the game.
    The contents we provide on this site were created personally by members of the Game8 editorial department.
    We refuse the right to reuse or repost content taken without our permission such as data or images to other sites.

    Path of Exile 2 (PoE 2) Walkthrough & Guides Wiki

    Quick Access
    Guide Index

    The Last of the Druids Guides

    New Features and Endgame Content

    New Class and Ascendancies

    New Builds

    New Items and Uniques

    Recommended Guides

    Builds

    Leveling Builds

    Mercenary Endgame Builds

    Monk Endgame Builds

    Ranger Endgame Builds

    Sorceress Endgame Builds

    Warrior Endgame Builds

    Witch Endgame Builds

    Huntress Endgame Builds

    Classes

    Base Classes

    Ascendancy Classes

    Uniques

    Unique Weapons

    Unique Armors

    Unique Accessories

    Other Unique Items

    Tips and Tricks

    Gameplay Mechanics

    Game and Character Progression

    Gear and Crafting

    Stats and Skills Guides

    FAQs and Other Guides

    Bosses

    Act 1 Bosses

    Act 2 Bosses

    Act 3 Bosses

    Abyss Bosses

    Trial Bosses

    Pinnacle Bosses

    Atlas Bosses

    Interlude Bosses

    Walkthrough

    Quests

    All Main Quests

    All Side Quests

    All Hidden Priority Quests

    Other Quest Guides

    Points of Interest

    Gems

    Items

    Weapons

    Armors

    Accessories

    Passives

    Skills

    Ascencion Trials

    Glossary

    Atlas of Worlds

    Leagues

    Rise of the Abyssal League

    Characters

    Cosmetics

    Microtransactions

    News and Game Info

    Bugs and Errors

    Patch Notes