The Forbidden Rites Event — Rituals Across the Campaign and the Viridian Wildwood
Forbidden Rites is the event league that launched alongside 0.5.5. Its premise is that the King in the Mists and his cultists have spread their influence across Wraeclast, and the practical result is that every area of the campaign can host a Ritual encounter.
The biggest departure from previous leagues is that Ritual stops being endgame content. Endgame Rituals are closer to a shop where you buy Uniques and Omens; campaign Rituals hand out levelling material — currency to craft your gear, and the gear itself. The Tribute, Defer, and reroll rules for endgame Ritual are covered separately in Ritual Tribute and Choosing Rewards.
How long it runs
It started on 4 September 2026 and is stated to run until the 1.0 release. The currently announced 1.0 date is 11 December 2026, making this roughly a three-month event.
The exact end time, and what happens to characters and items when it ends, are not confirmed. Which league characters migrate to at the close needs rechecking when official word arrives.
Joining
Pick Forbidden Rites as the league when you create a character. It’s a fresh economy started from scratch, so nothing carries over from your existing characters.
- Three variations exist — Standard, Hardcore, and Solo Self-Found — with identical core mechanics and items.
- Private league versions can be created.
- Dying in Hardcore Forbidden Rites doesn’t delete the character; it moves to Standard Forbidden Rites, because the Hardcore variation is parented to the Standard one.
- Characters from the Early Access launch and the Runes of Aldur League remain, and Runes of Aldur continues to run. If you’d rather finish your endgame or challenge rewards there, you can.
Campaign Rituals — where you meet them
Every campaign area can host a Ritual encounter. The shape is familiar — interact with the effigies, the area locks down, enemies pour in — but the reward pool is levelling material.
On top of that there are boss Ritual clusters, and these are the centrepiece of the event.
- Twice within each Act and once within each Interlude, clusters of Ritual Effigies appear on the World Map.
- In these areas the effigies aren’t placed randomly as usual — they sit on top of that area’s boss fight. You take on the area boss and the Ritual at the same time.
- Defeat a boss Ritual and that boss is carried forward into the next Ritual in the cluster. As you follow the cluster, previously defeated bosses accumulate into an increasingly dangerous series of boss waves.
- Complete the series and you can spend the Tribute you’ve banked on Unique Items.
The campaign’s shape (Acts 1–4 → three Interludes → epilogue) is laid out in Leveling & Campaign Progress. Since clusters appear twice per Act and once per Interlude, checking the World Map for them is worth more than rushing the Acts.
Whether the cluster areas are fixed or randomised within each Act is not confirmed — read the World Map markers and judge from there.
The Viridian Wildwood and Sacred Blooms
Sacred Blooms can appear as a Ritual reward. Using one adds the Viridian Wildwood to a cluster of Maps on your Atlas.
- Inside, you follow and collect trails of Wisps.
- On leaving, monsters in the Map area are affected by the Wisps you collected — stronger, but more rewarding.
- Using more than one Ritual Tablet increases the quantity of Azmeri Wisps you collect inside the Viridian Wildwood.
- Sacred Blooms drop only in Forbidden Rites.
Meanwhile the Viridian Wildwood Unique Map was disabled in 0.5.5, and existing copies on your Atlas are rerolled into another Unique Map where possible. The route into the Wildwood moved from a Unique Map to Sacred Blooms.
Challenges and rewards
The league has its own challenge set. Completing 2, 4, 6, and 8 challenges earns:
| Completed | Reward |
|---|---|
| 2 | Locust Footprints |
| 4 | Locust Swarm Rare Finisher Effect |
| 6 | Wildwood Guardian Pet |
| 8 | Wildwood Affliction Level-up Effect |
These rewards are obtainable only in this league.
Separately, from the first challenge onward you receive pieces of the Forbidden Rites Totem hideout decoration, which permanently displays how many challenges you completed during the league.
The specific content of the eight challenges is not confirmed — check the in-game challenge panel.
What else changed alongside it
0.5.5 changed more than the event, and some of it shows up immediately in Forbidden Rites.
- Expedition became core content. Expedition Tablets drop in Forbidden Rites, and Expeditions can be found in game from Act 4 onwards. The Verisium Anvil unlocks via the Act 4 quest The Runeseeker. See Expedition Crafting.
- The Trial of Chaos was reworked — you can leave and resume from the same room, and each room ends with a reward chest. See Trial of Chaos.
- Party members now gain Ritual Tribute. They get their own limited reward selection, which cannot be rerolled. In party play, every player in the area must hear Aoife’s introduction before the Ritual can start.