Path of Exile 2: Understanding Local and Online Co-Op

Hi everyone,

I’ve spent some time (and money) figuring out how co-op works in Path of Exile 2, and I thought I’d share my findings. I had trouble finding some of this information, so hopefully, this helps anyone in the same boat!

Before diving into co-op, it’s important to understand how your account works—especially if you’ve already invested time into one or more characters.

Make sure you understand the limitaions of linked accounts. A linked account cannot be played on multiple devices at the same time. Only local co-op on the same screen will work. This is critical when deciding how to set up your co-op experience.

Types of Co-Op:

Local Screen Co-Op (Same Screen)
Requirements:
-- 1 Path of Exile account running on 1 device.
-- 2 controllers (no keyboard support, even on PC).
How It Works:
-- Both players share the same screen. No split-screen is available.
-- All characters belong to the same account.
Important Limitation:
-- Linking your accounts (e.g., Steam and PlayStation/Xbox), enables you to switch between devices to continue your progress. However, you cannot play on two devices simultaneously with linked accounts. If you try, you’ll get the error: "Someone is currently logged into this account." This tripped me up when I tried to do online co-op with two different accounts linked. I had thought I could use my PC/steam account, while my partner could use my playstation account.
-- sekhema trial is broken. If you manage to start the trial (took a few tries), you will notice that you share 1 honour bar between both characters. We were level 28 doing a level 22 run. We had around 500 honour to share...With the scaled up enemies, this made no sense. (recommend that you do this solo)

Online Co-Op (Separate Screens)
Requirements:
-- 2 Path of Exile accounts running on 2 different devices.
-- Accounts must not be linked to each other.
How It Works:
-- Each player uses their own screen.
-- No restrictions on controllers or keyboards.

Account Linking
To manage link accounts, follow these steps:

Login to Your Path of Exile Account:
-- Visit https://www.pathofexile.com/ and log in.
Access the Linking Page:
-- Click your profile name in the top-left corner, then select “Manage Account” on the right side. Alternatively, you can use this direct link: https://www.pathofexile.com/my-account/connections.
-- Add a Primary Email Address:
-- Once linked, your accounts will appear under the “Accounts” tab.

If your characters seem to disappear after linking accounts, don’t panic—they’re still there! You just need to switch accounts:

- On PlayStation, press R3/L3 on the character select screen to switch accounts.
- On PC, click the icon in the top-right corner while on the character select screen to change accounts.

Co-op specific change
Here is a few things I wasn't sure where else to add.
- Co-op is harder. Enemies have more health and take less dmg. So starting out with new characters can be a bit tough.
- The loot is MUCH better. Had multiple uniques dropped during act 1 alone.
- Higher level characters scale to the lower level. So your max level character might not be as strong as you think.

That about covers it. I've really enjoyed the game so fare. Especially running co-op. I can only imagine that this will improve with time.

Thanks for the info.

From what you wrote, it seems that Local Screen Co-Op is in some very early stage of development, while the classic one (even if it's a "LAN" party and you bring your own rig), needs a lot of work imo.
While the campaign is quite fun to play through with someone, the endgame seems more like it's trying to estrange co-op players rather than bringing them together.

Each one has a different map, without even being able to see a friend's map not even on t their map device ... death penalty in party is to severe and they should allow resurrection between players similar to what's currently possible to do is in the campaign..

But let' hope it will become more enjoyable as time goes by, because the online experience is currently kinda' ruined by people trying to get rich on player's backs, or whatever they do...

Other important info for local co-op I will add.

Mapping Issue and Workaround:

Local co-op's biggest limitation is that you cannot map together, unless you switch sides, but this is a major pain as this person is usually used to being the second player in the campaign.

So, you have to open a map solo, log out, and log back in, every map, or switch sides.

I've been doing this every map with my gf, now 350 hours in. You'd think we'd just switch sides, but we've been holding out for a fix, since it "should be" easy for GGG to fix.

The reason for this problem is that you cannot change party leader. It's stuck on the player with the name listed under the other player in character select.

Other Outstanding Issues:

- You cannot receive a trade while in local co-op. You have to initiate the trade. This causes a major strain, but when you buy something, you have to teleport to their hideout, hit trade before they do, or wait until their trade popup disappears and click trade until it works. It may take 20 seconds or so after their popup disappears.

- Only the party leader can pick up maps, which is stuck as mentioned. This means that if the non-party leader dies in a map you cannot pick up any maps that drop. If you invite someone else though, and set it to free-for-all, they oddly can pick them up. I've saved myself a lot of map drops this way thanks to a friend after a boss kill.

- If one of you dies in a map, the map will freeze 75% of the time within a few minutes, but you can press pause and log out when this happens, which is the easiest and most reliable way to prevent death.

- The second player cannot interact with the map device.

There are other issues with hosting public games while local co-op, and the second player cannot interact with some other systems related to the atlas.