What's covered
Your character's level, from wherever it is now up to 100, the game's cap. The climb runs through the campaign, which ends at around level 60 to 65, then Atlas mapping after it. Everything that drops on the way stays on your character, including the orbs the Forbidden Rites campaign Rituals pay out.
Where the grind slows
Levelling follows the game's own experience curve: quick through the campaign, slower once you're mapping. In maps a death costs 10% of the level's experience, and in the 90s, where each level is longest, one bad map can undo hours of progress.
Why order it
Forbidden Rites runs until Path of Exile 2 leaves early access on 11 December, and the league's richest farms, Ritual maps with two tablets, sit at the end of the climb. Ascension Trials can be added from level 22, each worth two Ascendancy Points, up to all eight.