Path of Exile 2: PoE 2 League Start Guide

Steam Community guide by DrummerBoy.

Campaign Tips

Don’t forget to check vendors for gear upgrades every time you level up.

League Start Build

Start with any build you like, but strong league starters offer a significant economic advantage. I keep up-to-date leveling guides in my Discord server (linked on my Steam profile).

Third-Party Tools

I recommend using FilterBlade’s Semi-Strict loot filter until you reach T15 maps, then the Very-Strict filter after. Custom loot filters are required in this game to highlight valuable items and hide worthless ones. A price checker is handy to quickly price-check items that drop. I recommend Exiled Exchange 2, but there are others as well.

Permanent Stat Bonuses

These are important power boosts you’ll need in the endgame, especially the spirit and ascendancy points.
Warning: The mana regeneration (act 3) and elemental resistances (act 4) choices are permanent.
The important permanent stat bonuses to get are:

1. Act 1 — Freythorn: Kill the King of the Mists: +30 spirit
2. Act 2 — Trial of the Sekhemas (~level 22): 2 ascendancy points
3. Act 2 — Titan Grotto: Increased charm charges gained
4. Act 3 — Venom Crypts quest: Increased mana regeneration / stun threshold
5. Act 3 — Azac Bog: Kill Ignaduk: +30 spirit
6. Act 3 — Trial of Chaos (~level 38): 2 ascendancy points
7. Act 4 — Eye of Hinekora: Increased elemental resistances
8. Act 4 — Whakapanu Island shark fin quest: 30% increased armor, evasion, and energy shield
9. Act 4 — Abandoned Prison: Increased life / mana flask recovery
10. Interlude 2 — Quima: Increased global defenses / movement speed

Act Four Island & Interlude Order

This is my preferred route to grab all the big power boosts as early as possible. Note that Matiki’s location changes each league.
Act Four Islands:

1. Kedge Bay — 2 passive points
2. Whakapanu Island — Rescue Matiki which unlocks the Eye of Hinekora, market unlock, level 4 support gem, a pearlescent amulet, and the shark fin quest item for Kaimana in Ngakanu
3. Eye of Hinekora — +5% maximum mana, +5% elemental resistance, 2 passive points
4. Abandoned Prison — +30% mana flask recovery
5. Shrike Isle — Story progression
6. Isle of Kin — Story progression
7. Plunder's Point — Optional loot
8. Arastas — Story progression
9. Ngakanu — Finish act
   Interlude order:
10. Interlude 2: Khari Crossing — 2 passive points, +5% maximum life
11. Interlude 3 — 40 spirit, 2 passive points
12. Finish Interlude 2 — +15% increased global defenses
13. Interlude 1 — 2 passive points, and another 2 for finishing the campaign

Early Mapping

The first thing you should do after completing the campaign is to reveal the Fortress so you can complete your Atlas Tree.
Filling out your atlas passive tree dramatically increases your drops. Other league mechanics aren't very lucrative without being juiced by the main tree first. All of my Maxroll planners have the Atlas passive tree filled out in order, so use that for reference.

Completing Your Atlas Tree

• Path to the nearby Precursor Tower on the left side of your Atlas
• Clearing it will reveal the Fortress
• Completing a map inside the Fortress will grant you an Atlas Passive Point
• Don't complete maps randomly, make a beeline for the quest objectives, like the Eastern and Western Gateways and Enigma Chambers to unlock the Arbiter of Divinity pinnacle boss fight
• Upon defeating Arbiter of Divinity pinnacle boss, you can select a section of the Fortress to have all maps inside it completed, granting you all of that area's passive points
• The Fortress is ringed by Precursor Towers that lead over the walls; you don't have to path around the Fortress
• Search the Atlas for additional Matriarch and Patriarch halls to fight the Arbiter of Divinity again; they're marked with a distinct orange beam
• Defeat the Arbiter of Divinity 2 times to fully complete your Atlas Tree
  My Martial Artist Mobalytics guide has the Atlas Tree filled out, so reference that to see which nodes I choose. My Maxroll planner shows the order I filled mine out in. Steam doesn't let you put links in guides, so you'll have to click on my Steam profile, then click the discord link. I have the guides linked there.
  Alternatively, go to the Maxroll website, click on PoE 2, click on community builds, and my planner should be the first one that shows up. My Mobalytics guide is linked there too.

Reaching T15 Waystones

As you progress through the Fortress, your goal should be to climb to Tier-15 waystones, which drop significantly better loot than low-tier waystones.

• Powerful map bosses drop waystones one tier higher
• Fuse 3 waystones at the reforging bench into a higher tier one
• Doryani sells waystones one tier below the highest you’ve cleared. Buy them and fuse them up if you start to run out.In order to drop enough waystones to keep fusing them higher, you’ll need to upgrade your waystones.

Upgrading Waystones

The more modifiers a waystone has, the higher chance waystones and currency will drop in the map.

• Always add two mods to waystones with an orb of augmentation and transmutation
• Use orbs of alchemy if you’re low on waystones
• Always upgrade T15 waystones to have 4 mods with an orb of alchemy

Experience Farming

Once you reach T15 waystones focus on leveling up.
Goals:

1. Level 80: Equip the best crafting bases
2. Level 90: Use the highest level skill gems
3. Make currency once you reach level 90
   Best XP mechanics:
4. Irradiated
5. Abyss
6. Breach
7. Delirium
8. Corrupted map nodes
   Use precursor tablets with the mods:
9. Increased experience gain
10. Increased monster effectiveness
11. Chance to contain four additional Abysses
12. 2 additional rare monsters are spawned from Abysses in map
    As you find league mechanics in your maps, precursor tablets for those mechanics will drop. Early on I recommend using one Irradiated precursor tablet and one abyss precursor tablet in every map. Be aware that experience you gain is heavily penalized if the level of the monsters you kill is more than 6 levels above or below your character level.

Ascending

1. Third trial: Level 60-74 Djinn Barya (5th and 6th points)
2. Final trial: Level 75+ Inscribed ultimatum (7th and 8th points)
   Attempt the third ascendancy trial once T1 maps feel easy. Once T15 maps feel easy, complete the Trial of Chaos three times to earn a cowardly fate, deadly fate, and victorious fate. Use them to defeat the Trialmaster to earn your final two ascendancy points. Getting all 8 ascendancy points is a big power boost for most builds.

Atlas Masters

The first Atlas Master I recommend getting is Jado. Use Jado when farming Expedition or Pinnacle Bosses. Complete the Sealed Vault deadly map boss next to the Fortress to unlock Jado's Spycraft. He will mark a new deadly map boss on your Atlas. Complete three more of these maps to obtain the rest of Jado's points.
The best Jado nodes are:

1. Unexpected Missions
2. Unforeseen Threats
3. Partial Translations
4. Keen Appraisal
   Swap Keen Appraisal for Eastern Knowledge when doing Expedition, or Untold Histories when fighting Pinnacle Bosses.
   The second Atlas Master I recommend getting is Doryani. Path to corrupted nexuses and complete them to cleanse the area and unlock Doryani's Science. Cleanse three more Corrupted Nexuses to obtain the rest of Doryani's points.
   The best Doryani nodes are:
5. Evolutionary Pressure
6. Improved Calibration
7. Disengaged Safeties
8. Volatile Connection
   The third Atlas Master I recommend getting is Hilda. Path to Hilda's Campsite near the Ziggurat Refuge on your atlas, then path to the map she marks containing a great beast to unlock Hilda's Hunting. She will mark a new Great Beast on your Atlas. Complete three more of these maps to obtain the rest of Hilda's points.
   The best Hilda nodes are:
9. Breeding Season
10. Dangerous Game
11. Ancient Inscriptions
12. Claimed Territories

League Mechanic Trees

Earn points by completing maps near that league mechanic's hub on the Atlas. Defeating each league mechanic's pinnacle boss grants you 6 points each time.
Focus first on:

1. Expedition
2. Abyss
3. Delirium
4. Breach
5. Ritual
6. Incursion

Farming Currency

Once you reach level 90, the best way to improve your character is to farm currency in order to purchase or craft better gear. Exalted orbs and chaos orbs are staple currencies, but they start to deflate soon after the league starts. Once you earn enough, I recommend converting them into divine orbs, which typically hold their value better.

Juicing Waystones

• Use 2 Exalted Orbs to create 6-mod Waystones, prioritizing:
• Increased monster rarity
• Increased item rarity
• Increased monster effectiveness
• Start corrupting your waystones once you have several dozen8-mod and T16 maps are very lucrative. If you can afford it, use can omens of chaotic quantity and effectiveness to improve waystones whose rarity and rare monster rolls add up to less than 90%. Use your best waystones on cleansed map nodes.

Precursor Tablets

Early setup:

1. 1 Irradiated tablet
2. 1 Abyss tablet
3. 1 Overseer tablet
   Overseer tablets are used so the Overseer's Domain atlas keystone passive guarantees your maps have a Rogue Exile. Rogue Exiles that have been influenced by the Abyss can drop Hearts of the Well, which can sell for a lot.
   Good modifiers to include:
4. Map has increased number of rare monsters
5. Increased monster rarity
6. Increased rarity of items found in map
7. Increased monster effectiveness
   Good abyss tablet modifiers:
8. Abyssal monsters have increased effectiveness for each closed pit
9. Map has chance to contain four additional Abysses
10. 2 additional rare monsters spawned from Abysses in map
    Avoid: Increased gold found
    When you increase the drop rate of one thing (like gold), it reduces the drop rate of everything else, like currency.
    Fuse poorly rolled tablets into new ones at the reforging bench.

Cleansed Maps

Cleansed maps contain cleansed monsters that only drop currency. Save your best tablets for Cleansed map nodes. Cleansed maps can also have extra modifiers on them.
Best modifiers:

1. Reduced experience gain & increased rarity of items found
2. +1 to monster level
3. Area has obelisks of cleansing
4. Area has mounting greed
   Avoid (net negative):

• Reduced quantity of items found and increased rarity of items found
• Increased gold found in area

Late Game Abyss Farm

Once your build is strong enough, this is one of the most difficult and lucrative farming strategies.

• Run Vaal City maps where you can use four abyss tablets at once
• Use Delirium tablets while pathing towards Stone Citadels to spawn a Grand Mirror
• Use a Grand Mirror to make the Vaal City maps 200% delirious
• Use omens of chaotic effectiveness, quantity, and rarity on 5-mod T15 waystones, then use an exalted orb to add a sixth mod. Run these waystones on good layouts like Sun Temple
• On some of your waystones, use omens of chaotic effectiveness and quantity, then corrupt your T15 waystones to have 8-mods. Run these on bad layouts like Necropolis, Mineshaft, and Channel so that Jado's Spycraft's Unexpected Missions changes them to a random layout
  Tablet setup:
• 3 Abyss tablets with "Increased chance for Abyssal monsters in map to have Abyssal modifiers" and "Map has increased number of rare monsters"
• 1 Abyss tablet with “Abyssal monsters have increased effectiveness for each closed pit” and “Map has a chance to contain four additional Abysses”Replace the last abyss tablet with the unique Unforeseen Consequences Abyss Tablet if you can afford it.
  Other good tablet modifiers are:
• Map has 2 additional random modifiers
• Increased monster rarity
• Increased rarity of items found in map
• Increased pack size in map
  Rare abyssal monsters with the Amanamu’s void lichborn modifier can drop extremely valuable omens if you play around their mechanic right. Here’s how to handle them:
• They spawn a swirling black void on the ground that prevents you from damaging them unless you and the rare are either both inside or both outside of the void.
• Kite them out of the void before killing them to ensure they drop rarer omens

Grand Expedition Farming Guide

Grand Expedition is one of the highest-profit farming strategies in Path of Exile 2, but success depends far more on planning than execution.
Core Principle: Create the strongest possible final Verisium Remnant by chaining powerful transfer runes into it. If a decision doesn't make your final Remnant stronger, it's usually the wrong one.

Unlocking Grand Expedition

Complete the Grand Expedition questline after finishing the campaign.
Quest progression:

1. Travel south from the Atlas starting area to the Ruins of Kingsmarch.
2. Progress through the Expedition questline.
3. Defeat Medved.
4. Defeat Vorana.
5. Defeat Uhtred.
6. Defeat Olroth.
7. Defeat the Aberration inside the Verisium Crater.
   After completing the questline, you'll gain permanent access to the Grand Expedition archipelago.

Preparing Grand Expeditions

Grand Expeditions require significant investment. Make sure your character is capable of clearing heavily juiced T15 maps before investing a lot of currency.

Atlas Tree

Prioritize nodes that increase:

• Additional Verisium Remnants
• Power Rune chance
• Additional Runic Modifiers
• Expedition rewards
• Monster Effectiveness

Atlas Master

Use Jado.
Recommended passives:

• Unexpected Missions
• Eastern Knowledge
• Unforeseen Threats
• Partial TranslationsEastern Knowledge is one of the strongest Atlas Master nodes because with how many Verisium Remnants Grand Expeditions have, even a 10% chance to roll twice and keep the better result is impactful.

Waystones

Run your best maps.
Recommended:

• Corrupted T15 Waystones with 8 modifiers
• High item rarity
• High monster rarity
• High monster effectivenessGrand Expedition scales exceptionally well with map investment. Don't be afraid to use your best Waystones.

Irradiated Tablets

Only Irradiated Tablets affect Grand Expedition maps.
Prioritize:

• Map has +2 random modifiers
• Increased monster effectiveness
• Increased monster rarity
• Increased rarity of items found
• Additional rare monstersIf you can only afford one premium tablet modifier, prioritize +2 Random Map Modifiers. It provides a large increase to item quantity and rarity.

Choosing Ocean Regions

Use Logbooks to reveal new Ocean Regions. Each region contains several Island Rumors, which determine the types of Grand Expeditions, boss encounters, and unique maps that can appear.
Before revealing a new region:

• Prioritize regions with at least four regular Grand Expedition rumors. Boss and unique map rumors replace Grand Expeditions.
• Only use Aldur's Saga on Ocean Regions with strong Island Rumors. A mediocre region isn't worth spending one of the most valuable Expedition consumables.
• Not every rumor is worth the same investment.Tip: Before committing to a region, move an item in your inventory or toggle different Sagas to reveal additional Island Rumors. This lets you check for hidden rumors before investing your Logbook and Aldur's Saga.

High Priority Island Rumors

These rumors generally provide the best layouts or reward mechanics for high-investment farming.
Fallen Stars (Moor)

• One massive Verisium Remnant with additional rune sockets.
• Best target for Aldur's Saga.Sulphite! (Scorched Cay)
• Open layout.
• Strong buffing Remnants.Cold as Ice (Frigid Bluffs)
• Strong buffing Remnants.Nothing to Drink (Stagnant Basin)
• Open layout.
• Oil Derrick Remnants increase bomb explosion radius.Endless Cliffs (Craggy Peninsula)
• Open layout.
• Kin Totems increase item rarity.

Lower Priority Rumors

Some rumors are worth running but are generally weaker for currency farming.

• It's Dry at Least
• Wild Roaming Free
• Something FishyThese maps either have awkward layouts, weaker Remnant mechanics, or both.

Aldur's Saga (Removed in the Forbidden Rites League)

Aldur's Saga adds powerful modifiers to every Grand Expedition in the Ocean Region revealed by your Logbook, dramatically increasing both the rewards and difficulty of those maps.
The strongest Saga modifiers improve every Verisium Remnant in the Expedition, especially those that guarantee a minimum of 5, 6, or 7 rune sockets.
These are especially valuable because Liquid Verisium rerolls cannot reduce the guaranteed minimum rune count, allowing you to reroll aggressively for better transfer runes and rewards.
Other valuable modifiers include:

• Additional high-rune Remnants.
• Lucky Verisium Remnants.
• Additional Verisium Remnants.I recommend saving Aldur's Saga until your build can comfortably clear fully juiced Expeditions. Because Aldur's Saga is expensive, don't use it on mediocre Ocean Regions. Wait until you've revealed a region worth investing in.

Transferable Runes

When a Verisium Remnant contains a highlighted transfer rune, that modifier carries forward to every later Remnant in the chain.
Most players focus on guaranteed rewards. The best Expedition farmers focus on transfer runes because the monsters spawned by the final Remnant generate most of the profit.
Prioritize these transfer runes:
S-Tier

• Opulent
• Power
• Death
• Bond
• OathA-Tier
• Time
• RebirthThink of every earlier Remnant as an investment in your final one.
  Tip: Transfer runes do not stack. If you've already collected a transfer rune, reroll duplicate copies in search of a different high-value rune.

Planning Your Bomb Chain

This is where the majority of Grand Expedition profit is won or lost. Never place your first bomb immediately.
Instead:

• Walk the entire map first.
• Find the highest-rune Verisium Remnant.
• Identify valuable transferable runes.
• Decide which Remnants are worth rerolling.

Rerolling Remnants

Liquid Verisium rerolls an individual Verisium Remnant. Use it to improve your bomb chain, not simply to chase better guaranteed rewards.
Prioritize:

• Keeping valuable transfer runes.
• Rerolling weak or duplicate transfer runes.
• Improving high-rune Remnants that have poor rewards or weak transfer runes.On maps where all Remnants have a minimum number of rune sockets (such as Aldur's Saga maps with "All Remnants have at least 5/6/7 rune slots"), reroll aggressively. You'll never lose the guaranteed minimum rune count, making these maps much more forgiving.

Finalize Your Route

• Plan your bomb chain, making sure you have enough bombs to reach every important Remnant.
• Every extra bomb spent reaching a mediocre Remnant is one less bomb available to improve your final encounter.Your goal isn't to complete every Verisium Remnant. It's to create the strongest possible final encounter, even if that means leaving several mediocre Remnants untouched.

Bomb Placement

Once you've planned your route, begin placing explosives.
Build your bomb chain in this order:

• Chain valuable transfer runes into your final Remnant.
• Pick up powerful monster buff nodes if they improve your final encounter. These increase both monster difficulty and potential rewards, so only take combinations your build can comfortably handle.
• Hit Runic Monster markers whenever possible. Remnant modifiers only affect the monsters they spawn, making these one of the biggest sources of additional loot.
• End on your highest-rune Verisium Remnant.
• Skip low-value Remnants if they cost too many bombs.Don't think of the earlier Remnants as rewards. Think of them as investments that make your final explosion significantly more profitable.

Running the Encounter

Fully juiced Grand Expeditions are among the hardest content in Path of Exile 2.
Expect:

• Extremely dangerous rare monsters.
• Large numbers of Runic Monsters.
• Many stacked monster modifiers.
• Dangerous area effects.General tips:
• Keep moving.
• Kill monsters before starting the next explosion whenever possible.
• Loot between explosions if it's safe.Expect the final few Remna