Grinding Gear Games is giving us another reason to jump back into Wraeclast with the announcement of the Return of the Ancestors event. It's a three-week limited-time challenge league that brings back the popular auto-battler trial mechanics from the past and mashes them up with the Phrecian Ascendancies and the current Mirage League. If you missed the tactical gameplay of building a team of Karui warriors or just want an excuse to stack powerful tattoos on your passive tree again, this event is looking like a perfect mid-league sprint.
Event Schedule and Modes
The event is scheduled to run for exactly three weeks, making it a short but intense run. It will be accessible across all major platforms—both PC and Consoles—and covers almost every playstyle mode you could want, including Standard, Hardcore, Solo Self-Funded (SSF), and Ruthless.

• Start Date: June 25, 2026, at 3:00 PM PDT
  
• End Date: July 16, 2026, at 3:00 PM PDT
  

One of the best pieces of news for anyone worried about losing their progress is that this event is not voided. Once the three weeks are up on July 16, every single character you leveled, along with all the gear and items you accumulated, will migrate smoothly back to the parent Mirage leagues. You get to keep everything you farm, which makes participating a no-brainer if you're actively playing the current league cycle.
Tournament Match Rewards
The core gameplay loop centers around fighting in the Karui Afterlife. When you enter the arena, you will be participating in tournament matches that offer two distinct types of rewards to keep both your temporary tournament run and your permanent character progression moving forward:

• Favor: This is a temporary, tournament-only currency. You'll use it strictly within the arena mechanics to recruit new warriors, position your squad, and upgrade your team to take on tougher opponents as the tournament progresses.
  
• "Real" Rewards: This is what you actually take home outside of the arena. Succeeding in matches drops standard PoE currency, valuable unique items, and the highly anticipated passive-tree tattoos.
  

Returning Tattoos and Legacy Uniques
To make the trial mechanics work seamlessly, several legacy items and systems are being injected back into the global drop pool specifically for this three-week duration. You can expect to see dozens of legacy items return, highlighted by a few fan favorites:

• Silver Coins: These will drop across Wraeclast just like they used to, serving as your literal ticket to grant entry into the tournament arena.
  
• Legacy Tattoos: A wide selection of Loyalty, Honoured, and Ancestral Tattoos are back. This includes powerful options like the Loyalty Tattoo of Kaom and the Honoured Tattoo of the Makanga, allowing you to heavily customize and optimize your passive skill tree attributes.
  
• Returning Uniques: Highly synergistic unique items like Honoured Alliance and Warrior's Tale are returning to the loot table to let players rebuild classic tattoo-centric builds.
  

Brand New Drops: Forbidden Tattoos
Aside from the returning nostalgia, GGG is adding something completely fresh to the reward tables to spice up the meta. They are introducing a brand new set of powerful, class-specific Forbidden Tattoos. While we don't have the exact stat breakdowns for all of them just yet, they are clearly designed around the core identities of each class line. The new additions include:

• Forbidden Tattoo of the Ranger
  
• Forbidden Tattoo of the Duelist
  
• Forbidden Tattoo of the Marauder
  
• Forbidden Tattoo of the Templar
  
• Forbidden Tattoo of the Witch
  
• Forbidden Tattoo of the Shadow
  
• Forbidden Tattoo of the Scion
  

With the combination of returning auto-battler mechanics, full character migration back to the Mirage league, and powerful new class-specific tattoos to chase, the Return of the Ancestors event looks like a solid, rewarding three-week event. Get your build plans ready for June 25!