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

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).
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.
Join every rift and zone event you see. Sealing rifts and fighting invasions gives good XP and loot, and public groups form automatically.
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.
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.
Wardrobe unlocks are account-wide. Every armor or costume piece you pick up is saved as a costume for all your characters.
Level cap is 70 (Starfall Prophecy). After that, Planar Attunement keeps giving you power.
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.