The Atlas of Worlds serves as the endgame mapping system in Path of Exile. Players unlock the Atlas of Worlds after obtaining their own Map Device by completing tasks for Commander Kirac during the Epilogue of the Campaign. The Atlas is composed of interconnected maps that players can advance through, reaching the highest tiers. In this article, we will discuss everything you must know about this Path of Exile Atlas endgame content. Let’s get started then.
Character Preparation
In Path of Exile Atlas, there are various map tiers one has to go through to complete the endgame content. Now, since this is an endgame system, your character must be at the top of his power or skills. Before moving further, it is important to upgrade your character and items, craft important materials, buy weapons and upgrades, etc. Initial tiers are easy as compared to later tiers, but use this to your advantage and take time to collect required items. Make sure you don’t waste too much time here as the difficulty will increase exponentially not linearly.
Preparing your character mostly depends on the chosen Path of Exile Atlas build as well. So, follow your build tactics and move further into various tiers.
Rolling/Crafting Maps
Maps are special items that can be used as portals. Each location accessible through these portals will pit you against a variety of monsters and slaying them will help you obtain loot. Maps are divided into tiers indicated by different colors.
- Tier 1 – 5 – White Colored Maps
- Tier 6 – 10 – Yellow Colored Maps
- Tier 11 – 16 – Red Colored Maps
Maps can be crafted much like any other item in the game. Use
Cartographer’s Chisel, Vaal Orb, Orb of Alchemy and Orb of Transmutation to craft these maps. Through this way maps would be of harder difficulty, but you will get the opportunity to obtain more rewards. Here is in detail explanation of what we mean:
- Increased Enemy Packsize: This is the most powerful modifier you can have on maps. It increases the number of enemies in maps, resulting in more loot, more experience, and more “on kill” effects from your items and flasks.
- Increased Rarity of Items Found: This modifier is not very useful in the early game, so it’s not worth investing in at this stage.
- Increased Quantity of Items Found: This is a multiplier that determines how many items enemies drop. Note that the quantity bonus from items does not affect map drops.
- Detrimental Map Modifiers: These modifiers make your map more challenging. The impact of these mods depends entirely on your build. For example, “Enemies have a 50% Chance to Avoid Poison, Impale, and Bleed” might be irrelevant for many builds but can be extremely problematic for builds that depend on these builds.
These pros and cons will change both in number and difficulty depending upon which map tier you are at. You begin with White Tier maps and finish at Red Tier maps.
White Maps
You begin your journey in these maps. These are lower tier maps but require careful attention as well. These maps do not have additional modifiers or provide any other extra items. That will result in lower drops from maps. In White maps players can use a combination of Orb of Augmentation, Orb of Alteration and Orb of Transmutation. Completing white maps will get you through the first 5 tiers (Tier 1 to 5).
Yellow Maps
Yellow Maps begin with Tier 6 and end with Tier 10. When you get access to these maps, it is advised to use the Orb of Alchemy. This will make the map challenging and give higher rewards. If you don’t do this, you won’t get the PoE Atlas Map Completion Bonus. If you still find it difficult to complete these tiers use the Orb of Scouring. Make sure to preserve the Vaal Orb and Cartographer’s Chisel as they will be required for later tiers. When you are done with the Yellow Maps, you can get started with the Red Maps.
Red Maps
Red Maps covers the Tiers 11 to 16 and with tier 16, the Atlas endgame content ends. These maps have the highest level of difficulty which increases exponentially from the Yellow Maps. These map tiers have low enemy drops. Use Cartographer’s Chisel whenever you get the chance to increase the map quality by 20%. After that use the Orb of Alchemy and Orb of Scouring and reroll the map as per your requirements.
After this use Corrupt on your map as it will allow you to get the Bonus for Completing Map. To corrupt your map use the Vaal Orb.
Path of Exile Atlas Goals
When completing PoE Atlas, players should know what to prioritize and focus on. The very first thing is the PoE Atlas Map Completion Bonus. It can be only obtained by slaying the boss of the Map tier that you haven’t completed before. But for that one of the following must be applicable:
- White maps should be magic.
- Yellow maps should be rare.
- Red maps should be rare and corrupted.
Map completion bonus also gives you Passive Points as reward. Passive points are crucial as they will give you a permanent bonus for each reward of Atlas.
There are few other things that you should lookout for:
- When you reach Yellow Maps, several questlines are unlocked and can be accessed through minimap. The overarching questlines are – The Eater of Worlds, The Searing Exarch, and The Maven.
- Voidstones are crucial and can be obtained by defeating specific boss characters.
- Unlock Favored Slots as it will allow you to customize map drops from opponents.
Conclusion
Path of Exile Atlas Maps is an important endgame mapping system. Each map allows you to get map drops and rewards. Prepare your character accordingly and start with White map’s tier 1. Progress by slaying various monsters and reach the highest tier 16 of the Red Map. When you are on the yellow map tiers you can unlock Passive points and as you move further you can get Favored slots and voidstones as well. Don’t forget to purchase Path of Exile currency for a smoother journey exploring Atlas endgame acitivity.
