---
title: "RIFT: Complete Guide for New and Returning Ascended"
game: "RIFT"
game_url: "https://qna.gg/games/rift"
author: "Qloud"
author_url: "https://qna.gg/players/Qloud"
topics: ["Builds"]
summary: "Callings and the soul system, a fast leveling route to 70, what free-to-play actually limits, the endgame, and which events are running in autumn 2026. Researched September 2026 — current as of the September 2026 live…"
url: "https://qna.gg/g/rift-complete-guide-for-new-and-returning-ascended-c2f61ed2"
published: "2026-09-27T17:50:45.334Z"
updated: "2026-09-27T17:50:45.334Z"
source: "QnA.GG"
---

# RIFT: Complete Guide for New and Returning Ascended

Callings and the soul system, a fast leveling route to 70, what free-to-play actually limits, the endgame, and which events are running in autumn 2026.

*Researched September 2026 — current as of the September 2026 live service (gamigo), level cap 70 from Starfall Prophecy, with the Legion of Corpses Battle Pass rerun and RIFT Hunter Season 1 running. Live games change; check the linked sources if something differs.*

## Quick Start

1. **Pick a calling, then build it from souls.** Your calling (Warrior, Cleric, Rogue, Mage or Primalist) sets your armor and soul pool. Your actual "class" is a combination of souls, and you can save several role setups and switch between them out of combat (more role slots can be unlocked).
2. **Use a premade build while leveling.** The game offers preset soul combinations that are perfectly fine for 1 to 70. Hand-crafted builds matter at the cap.
3. **Join every rift and zone event you see.** Sealing rifts and fighting invasions gives good XP and loot, and public groups form automatically.
4. **Queue for Instant Adventures.** These roaming group activities teleport you around a zone to do objectives, and they're one of the fastest ways to level.
5. **Know the free-to-play limits.** Free accounts can't sell on the Auction House and are capped at 2,500 platinum. **Per the official FAQ, both limits are removed by a credit purchase or by acquiring REX.**
6. **Wardrobe unlocks are account-wide.** Every armor or costume piece you pick up is saved as a costume for all your characters.
7. **Level cap is 70** (Starfall Prophecy). After that, Planar Attunement keeps giving you power.
8. **Event currency (Chaos Motes) buys mounts and pets** from the event vendors. Do event dailies on your alts for extra.

## Factions and Races

| Faction | Philosophy | Races | Starting area |
|---|---|---|---|
| Guardians | Faithful of the Vigil and its gods | Mathosian, High Elf, Dwarf | Silverwood |
| Defiants | Science and technology | Eth, Bahmi, Kelari | Freemarch |

Race choice is mostly cosmetic plus a small racial ability, so pick on looks. Faction decides your capital city (Guardians have **Sanctum**, Defiants have **Meridian**) and your side in PvP. **Tempest Bay** is the shared hub from Storm Legion onward.

## Callings and the Soul System

Each calling has a pool of souls. A build uses **three souls** from your calling, and you spend points in each tree. Deeper points in a soul unlock stronger abilities and its top-end passives. Examples of the souls in each calling:

| Calling | Armor | Sample souls (role) |
|---|---|---|
| Warrior | Plate | Champion, Paladin, Reaver, Riftblade, Void Knight, Warlord, Beastmaster, Paragon, **Tempest** (ranged DPS), **Liberator** (healer) |
| Cleric | Chain | Purifier, Warden, Sentinel (heals), Justicar, Inquisitor, Shaman, Druid, Cabalist, **Defiler** (support/healer), **Oracle** (support) |
| Rogue | Leather | Assassin, Bladedancer, Marksman, Nightblade, Ranger, Riftstalker, Saboteur, Bard, **Tactician** (support), **Physician** (healer) |
| Mage | Cloth | Elementalist, Warlock, Pyromancer, Stormcaller, Necromancer, Dominator, Chloromancer, Archon, **Harbinger** (melee DPS), **Arbiter** (tank) |
| Primalist | Leather | Fifth calling, added later with a smaller pool of six primal souls (four of them arrived with the Celestial Storm expansion in 2017) |

Bold souls were added with the expansions: Tempest, Harbinger, Tactician and Defiler in Storm Legion; Liberator, Arbiter, Physician and Oracle in Nightmare Tide. Each non-Primalist calling starts with eight souls, and the two extras are purchasable. Because every calling can fill several roles, **one character can tank, heal, DPS and support** by switching roles. That's RIFT's big advantage over most MMOs.

### Build tips

- **Leveling:** pick a DPS preset that has a pet or self-healing (for example Mage Necromancer or Warlock builds, or Cleric Inquisitor/Justicar builds). It makes questing safer.
- **Save a healer or tank role anyway.** Queue times for dungeons drop a lot when you queue as a support role.
- **Check a current build source before raiding.** Balance shifts between patches, and the RIFT community keeps up-to-date endgame builds.

## Leveling Route (1 to 70)

| Levels | Content | Where |
|---|---|---|
| 1 to 50 | Original Telara zones: questing, rifts, Instant Adventures, early dungeons | Start in Silverwood or Freemarch, then zones like Gloamwood, Stonefield, Scarwood Reach, Shimmersand, Stillmoor and more |
| 50 to 60 | Storm Legion | The expansion that tripled Telara's land mass; hub city Tempest Bay |
| 60 to 65 | Nightmare Tide | The Plane of Water zones; Minions arrive here |
| 65 to 70 | Starfall Prophecy (plus Celestial Storm) | Five Celestial zones from Starfall, one more from Celestial Storm, planar fragments and Legendary Powers |

### Fastest leveling in practice

- **Instant Adventures** plus zone events are the most reliable XP.
- **Dungeon finder** runs (LFG tool) give big chunks of XP and gear. Queue while you quest.
- **Warfronts** (PvP battlegrounds) also give XP if you prefer PvP.
- **Mentoring** lets you scale down to help friends in lower zones and still earn rewards.
- **Carnage and rift quests** are a nice bonus but not worth chasing on their own.

## Rifts, Invasions and Zone Events

RIFT's signature system: **rifts** tear open around the world (Fire, Water, Earth, Air, Life, Death planes). You join a rift group, clear stages of objectives, then seal it for rewards. **Invasions** send planar forces marching on quest hubs, and **zone events** turn a whole zone into a group objective with a boss at the end.

- Joining is automatic when you're in range. Accept the public group prompt.
- Higher contribution means better rewards, but everyone gets something.
- Seasonal and event versions use the same systems. For example, *Mechs on Parade* in early September 2026 had Mech-themed zone events and dailies.

## Endgame at 70

- **Planar Attunement:** alternate advancement that keeps giving you power after the cap, plus planar fragments from Starfall Prophecy.
- **Expert dungeons and Chronicles:** 5-player experts, plus smaller-scale Chronicles that are soloable or duoable.
- **Raids and Slivers:** content for **2, 5, 10 and 20 players**. Slivers are smaller raid instances.
- **Minions:** a background card-collection system that sends minions on adventures for loot and materials. Set it up and check it every session.
- **Dimensions:** RIFT's player housing (added in Storm Legion). Very deep decorating, and dimension items drop everywhere.
- **Crafting and survival skills:** gathering and crafting professions for consumables and gear upgrades.
- **Warfronts and world PvP** for PvP players.

## Current Events (autumn 2026)

| Event | Dates | Rewards |
|---|---|---|
| Battle Pass: Legion of Corpses (Season 5 rerun) | 11 Aug to 2 Nov 2026 (83 days) | 30 levels from daily and weekly quests (4 random dailies, +2 for Patrons; 3 weeklies). **Voidless Tegulisk** at 28, **Corpse Lord** mount at 30, titles "Graveborn" and "Of The Second Death". Quests can be rerolled |
| RIFT Hunter: The Great Hunt (Season 1) | 22 Sep to 6 Oct 2026 (maintenance to maintenance) | Close as many XP-granting rifts as you can. 1st: 4,000 Credits and the title "the Master of the Elements", 2nd: 2,500 and "the Scholar of the Elements", 3rd: 1,500 and "the Initiate of the Elements", 4th to 10th: 500 Credits |
| Arclight Ascendancy | Ended 25 Sep 2026 | Daily quests Arclight Time Trials and Recharge and Refit for Chaos Motes |
| Mechs on Parade, Budgie Madness, Razorback Roundup, Shiny Shenanigans | Recurring short events (August to September 2026) | Chaos Motes, mounts, pets, cosmetics |

Event quest givers are usually in **Sanctum** (`/setwaypoint 7380 3077`), **Meridian** (`/setwaypoint 6124 5231`) and **Tempest Bay** (`/setwaypoint 12944 11579`).

## Currencies and What to Buy

- **Platinum/gold/silver:** in-game money. Capped at 2,500 platinum on untouched free accounts.
- **Credits:** premium currency for the RIFT Store.
- **REX:** bought with real money, then tradeable in-game for platinum or redeemable for Credits and Loyalty. Other players sell REX on the Auction House for in-game money, which gives free players a route to lift the AH and platinum limits without spending real money (check the current REX price against your 2,500 platinum cap first).
- **Loyalty:** long-term account progress with perks.
- **Chaos Motes:** event currency for CTA and event vendors.
- **Patron:** subscription-style pass with a range of bonuses (more event dailies, XP, convenience).

**F2P priorities:** buy a REX with platinum as soon as you can afford it (the FAQ lists REX as one way to lift the AH and platinum limits). After that, spend Credits on account-wide conveniences (bag slots, role slots) before cosmetics.

## Common Mistakes to Avoid

- **Hand-building a leveling spec from scratch.** Presets are tuned and save time. Customize at the cap.
- **Ignoring rifts and Instant Adventures.** Solo questing alone is the slowest way to level.
- **Staying locked in DPS only.** Healer and tank roles get instant dungeon queues and double your usefulness.
- **Missing the REX trick.** Many free players never realize one REX lifts the AH and platinum restrictions.
- **Forgetting Minions.** Free materials every session.
- **Skipping event dailies on alts.** Chaos Motes are per character, and events like Mechs on Parade give dozens per day.

## Advanced Tips

- **Macros matter.** RIFT supports extensive ability macros, and most endgame builds use them to condense rotations. Borrow proven macros from community build sites and adjust them.
- **Role swapping between pulls** (out of combat) lets a DPS switch to off-heals or tanking mid-dungeon.
- **Instant Adventure plus a Patron XP bonus** is the fastest leveling combination for alts.
- **RIFT Hunter scoring** is about volume. Pick zones with lots of low-level rifts and chain them with a group.
- **Wardrobe collecting:** loot everything once. Unlocks are account-wide, so alts effectively farm cosmetics for your main.
- **Shard transfers** exist if your faction population is thin. Check the in-game transfer options and any cost before moving.

## FAQ

**Is RIFT still running in 2026?**
Yes. gamigo runs it with regular events, battle pass reruns and patches (for example the 4 August 2026 mail fixes). There are no new expansions. The last were Starfall Prophecy (November 2016, level cap 70) and Celestial Storm (July 2017, a Celestial zone and new Primalist souls). gamigo took over from Trion Worlds in October 2018.

**Is RIFT really free to play?**
The whole leveling experience and endgame are playable free. The main restrictions (no AH selling, 2,500 platinum cap) disappear with any credit purchase or one in-game-bought REX.

**What's the level cap?**
70, from the Starfall Prophecy expansion.

**Which calling is best for a new player?**
Mage and Cleric have strong pet or self-sustain leveling builds. Warrior is sturdy and simple. All five can fill several roles.

**Can I change my build later?**
Yes, any time out of combat. Save multiple roles and switch freely.

**What does Patron give me?**
Convenience and progression bonuses, including extra Battle Pass daily quests (+2 per day during Legion of Corpses). It's optional.

## Sources

- [RIFT official site](https://www.riftgame.com/)
- [RIFT FAQ](https://riftgame.com/game/faq/)
- [RIFT Returning Players guide](https://riftgame.com/game/returning-players/)
- [RIFT on Steam](https://store.steampowered.com/app/39120/)
- [Mechs on Parade announcement (event waypoints, 65 Chaos Motes/day)](https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/39120)
- [RIFT news on Steam (Battle Pass, RIFT Hunter, events)](https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/39120)
- [Rift (video game) on Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rift_(video_game))