Campaign Layout Guide: Act 3

Although somewhat randomised, many of the zone layouts throughout the Path of Exile 2 campaign are fairly readable which can help making get through them more quickly. This is a basic PoE 2 campaign layout guide to help you have some sense of direction in each of these areas.

The images in this guide were created by looking for consistent patterns in each area to create a generalised method for running each zone. The images you see won't perfectly match what you have in game, and your zone orientation and locations of points of interest may be different, but these images do serve as a good guideline. Try to understand the pattern they demonstrate rather than blindly following them and expecting your in-game maps to look identical.
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If you'd like to get much more detailed insights into the various layouts of the campaign, please join in on the Campaign Codex Discord where hundreds of Exiles are already working to solve the campaign more thoroughly! The Discord server can be found here: discord.gg/Jdd8589DBy

This guide covers layouts in Act 3.
For the layout guide for Act 1, click here: Campaign Layout Guide: Act 1
For the layout guide for Act 2, click here: Campaign Layout Guide: Act 2

Thanks

Big thank you to the Campaign Codex, especially to Guitaraholic for his huge amount of data collection, collation as well as the Campaign Codex Discord server which players can join to share their layouts and insights.

Seeds and Generation

From our analysis of a fairly small sample size of zones (around 30-40 per area), it has become clear that layout seeds exist in PoE 2. This becomes most obvious when comparing Softcore and Hardcore layouts, however this likely only partially explains these different layout seeds.

The good news:

In almost all circumstances, a different seed just means that a layout will be rotated, entrances and exits will be swapped, or a point of interest will be mirrored to an opposite side of the area. From our investigation almost all layout patterns are maintained between seeds save for these variations, which means that the logic of how to run the zone is similar, but rotated

Orientation & Legend

It's sometimes hard to describe exactly in which direction to move, so we have opted for using North, East, South and West which correlates to the Top, Right, Bottom and Left-hand side of your screen.

Occasionally there will be tips like "hug the right-hand wall" from the entrance. In this case, if your character enters a zone facing West with a wall behind them, their right hand would lead the character in a Northerly direction

I have also added a confidence level to convey how sure we are of the consistency of the pattern that we have established.

Confidence: High

Sandswept Marsh is a fairly linear area that can be thought of as a large rectangle with multiple points of interest along the way. In order to find the entrance to the Ziggurat Encampment, head in the opposite direction from the entrance

There is another very important point of interest in this area: The Azak Campfire. In this area, you'll find a chest guarded by two Rare enemies that has a guaranteed Lesser Jeweller's Orb in it. Especially on league start, this is a major damage or utility upgrade, so don't forget it.

Points of Interest

• Ziggurat Encampment: found on the opposite side of the area from the entrance
• Azak Campfire: found to the left or right of the Ziggurat Encampment entrance. Chest drops a Lesser Jeweller's Orb. You'll know you've found this area when you see a Checkpoint beside several huts covered in large, green leaves.
• Foul Ritual: Rootdredge, a large Unique miniboss can be slain for a Level 9 Uncut Skill Gem. This is usually found in the middle of the first third of the area
• Hanging Tree: there is a large tree with a hanging corpse that can be clicked to obtain a Magic Ring.

Route:

1. From the start of the area, establish the orientation of the map by paying attention to the direction in which you leave the small area with the Waypoint, Zarka and The Hooded One
2. Continue in the direction you exit the starting area until you hit the opposite far wall and then run along it until you find the Ziggurat Encampment entrance. Grab the Checkpoint but don't go in yet
3. From the Ziggurat Encampment entrance, continue running along the wall it spawns on, checking both sides until you find the Azak Campfire. Defeat the Rare enemies here and collect the Lesser Jeweller's Orb from the chest they're guarding.

Confidence: Medium

Jungle Ruins is a large area with several points of interest. Even though this area is extremely large, it can be navigated more quickly than expected with some guidance.

Points of Interest

• Entrance to Infested Barrens: this can be found on the opposite wall from where you enter the zone
• The Venom Crypts and Waypoint: This is an area inside which you will find a quest item that grants your character a Permanent Buff. It seems to be able to spawn in one of 9 locations, fairly evenly spaced apart
• Mighty Silverfist: This unique Boss should be slain to acquire the Book of Specialisation that he drops, which will grant your character +2 Weapon Set Skill Points. His arena most often spawns in the top third of the area, but occasionally also spawns in the middle

Optional:

• Jungle Grave: Summon Servi to complete this quest to receive a Rare Rawhide or Linen Belt
• Troubled Camp: Gwendolyn Albright can be found and traded with in this area. Check her for upgrades if you find her

Route:

1. Instead of running straight into the middle of the zone, follow one of the walls from the entrance and make your way to the opposite side of the area, hoping to stumble upon the Venom Crypts or Might Silverfist along the way
2. Once arriving at the opposite end of the area, run along the topside wall until you find the Checkpoint leading you into Infested Barrens. If you found the Venom Crypts and Mighty Silverfist on your way here, continue to the Infested Barrens, otherwise:
3. Run slightly away from the wall and scan back and forth for the other important points of interest. If you don't find them in this top third of the area and find yourself blocked off, it's worth taking the Checkpoint at the start of the area to check from there. If you are still unlucky enough to have not found what you're looking for, keep scanning and hoping
4. After finding the Waypoint beside the Venom Crypts, instead of going in immediately, take the Checkpoint to the Infested Barrens entrance, go in, get the Waypoint there and take it back to Jungle Valley and enter the Venom Crypts if you've taken care of Silverfist, otherwise search for him, slay him and take his Checkpoint back to the Venom Crypts.

Unfortunately we haven't been able to establish any useful pattern for Venom Crypts to help navigate it more quickly, which is why it isn't the next entry in this guide.

Confidence: Medium

Infested Barrens is another large, somewhat rectangular area with multiple points of interest that we need to tag before moving on to the next zone. Each important Checkpoint can be found along the outside edge of the area, so it makes sense to run along the side walls instead of entering the middle of the area

Points of Interest

• Chimeral Wetlands: Found on the outside edge of the area with no major environment clues beside it
• Azak Bog: Found at the end of a long bridge, preceded by a Checkpoint
• The Matlan Waterways: Found beside the Waypoint, Summon Alva and a Checkpoint

Route

1. Run the outside edge and tag each of the Checkpoints before entering any of the areas. Make sure to also collect the Waypoints for later
2. Take the Checkpoint to the Azak Bog and complete the area before taking the Waypoint back to the Infested Barrens
3. Take the Checkpoint back to the Chimeral Wetlands and continue on

If you feel you are too slow and are worried about the Infested Barrens instance closing before you can finish the Azak Bog, instead travel to the Chimeral Wetlands, tag the Waypoint and then take it back to Infested Barrens and continue the route stated above

Confidence: Medium

Azak Bog is one of the most disliked areas because of its size and narrow pathways. Luckily, there seems to be a fairly easy way to locate the boss, which grants you +30 to Maximum Spirit as a permanent buff in Normal and +40 in Cruel.

Ignagduk, the Bog Witch seems to spawn in the top right quadrant of this area. If you imagine this area as a square broken up into four, equally sized blocks, she will spawn in the top right one.

Confidence: Medium

In the Chimeral Wetlands you'll need to find Xyclucean's arena to defeat it and continue on to Jinquani's Machinarium. You can also gain access to The Temple of Chaos in this area.

Although the position of these two points of interest change, their orientation appears to be static in that they always face the same direction

Main Points of Interest

• Jinquani's Machinarium Entrance/Xyclucean Arena: Always faces to the left/West. In Softcore leagues, it seemed that hugging the left wall from the entrance made it easiest to find this, but running the same zone in SSF, the opposite was true, despite this arena having the same orientation
• The Temple of Chaos: seemingly always found at the top of the area in a directly North-facing direction

Route

1. Hug the outside wall of the area and follow it until you find whichever point of interest you're looking for
2. If you find the Xyclucean Arena first, you can always enter Jinquani's Machinarium and tag the Waypoint and then take it back to this area to find The Temple of Chaos

Confidence: Medium

Jinquani's Machinarium has two sections in which you'll need to locate Small Soul Cores to open sets of doors to proceed.

First Section

This small first section has a central room with Alva and two side areas. In one of the side areas to the left or right, you'll find the first Small Soul Core that opens the door beside Alva. There currently aren't any clues to know which side this Core spawns on, but your loot filter may be able to help alert you to the presence of one when you enter its vacinity

Second Section

The second section of this area has a large central corridor and several side rooms in which you can locate additional Soul Cores to open other doors in the area.

Points of Interest

• Entrance to Jinquani's Sanctum: pay attention to the direction in which you entered the area. If you draw a straight line from the start of the second section, you'll find the final passage that leads you to Jinquani's Sanctum
• Blackjaw, the Remnant: this optional boss can be slain for a permanent boost of +10% to Fire Resistance in Normal and Cruel difficulties. This boss seemingly spawns on the far left or right of the area

Confidence: High

Jinquani's Sanctum has a very set layout with two areas that are almost perfectly mirrored. In each section, you'll need to locate a Generator and a Medium Soul Core to power each one. Activating each of these will power the boss of the area and grant you a Large Soul Core which you'll need to unlock The Matlan Waterways

In each of the large sections, you'll find a Generator toward the back end of the area. The Medium Soul Cores will spawn randomly throughout the Sanctum, so keep your eyes and ears peeled for them.

After activating the first Generator, run to the second and keep a look out for another Medium Soul Core along the way. If you don't find one, here's a speedrunner pro tip:

Instead of scouring the rest of the area for the final Soul Core, tag the Checkpoint by the Generator and press Esc and then Respawn at Checkpoint. The Soul Core has a chance of spawning very close to the Generator and will appear on your minimap as a green exclamation mark ( ! ).

Just a note: in this area and the previous area, if you Respawn at Checkpoint with a Soul Core in your inventory, it will be removed, so you cannot use this trick to teleport to a Checkpoint after finding a Soul Core.

After defeating Zicoatl, return to the Infested Barrens with the Large Soul Core to open the way to The Matlan Waterways.

Confidence: High

There isn't much to say about The Matlan Waterways due to the nature of the area. You'll be unable to proceed until you pull the correct Lever that lowers the water to the next platform. Try to have a decent amount of Fire Resistance at the very least for this area and take your time to avoid too many unnecessary deaths.

Confidence: High

The Drowned City has a very set layout that can be learned with minimal effort. It's possible that in future seeds, the layout will be shuffled to make this area more unpredictable, but currently it is run similarly in all leagues and modes.

It's very much worth learning the route in this area because it is identical to the Utzaal area you need to run later -- that's because it's the same place, but in a different time period.

Route

1. Tag the Waypoint and continue in a Northeast direction (or to your character's left from the entrance)
2. Continue until you hit a wall and turn right until you see that e the area opens up again to your character's left. You'll find a Checkpoint and an opening where you will be ambushed by monsters
3. Continue past the ambush, turn right before turning left and in a Northerly direction to find the Apex of Filth past the Checkpoint

It's tricky to describe exactly how to run this area, but with a small amount of practice, it will become very simple to understand. Study the diagram above and test it and it will make sense.

Point of Interest

In this area, you'll also find The Molten Vault which can be completed to unlock the Reforging Bench. You can find this area by turning left instead of right after the ambush section.

Confidence: High

Apex of Filth is a massive area, but fortunately it has a fairly set layout that is easy to learn and understand. If you run the zone in a spiral, you'll find the boss very reliably, but knowing when and where to turn is the tricky part that might take a small amount of practice

Route

1. From the entrance, tag the Waypoint and pick a direction. The area will open up to either the left or right, with one end being a dead-end wall.
2. Once you've found the correct path, continue in that direction until the area opens up and you see long, narrow causeways next to water with small bridges connecting the two sides
3. Continue along this straight pathway until you can't anymore and turn to the direction in which you came in originally. Continue down before being forced back in the opposite direction from the straight section
4. Keep going until you find the Checkpoint and the entrance to the boss room

Again, describing exactly how to run this zone is tricky, but by practicing it just a couple of times with the above diagram in mind, you'll gain a feel for it and understand it better. There are several Checkpoints along the way that can help guide your way and act as hints to let you know you're going in the right direction

Confidence: High

Temple of Kopec has a triangle layout with the entrance to the next floor in one of the three corners.

First Floor

Unfortunately, there currently isn't a way to know in which of the corners the entrance will spawn, at least on the first floor. Check each of the corners and proceed up once you find the door

Second Floor

On the second floor, occasionally you will find an impassable rift separating two sections of the triangle. If you find this, the entrance to the boss arena is in the same direction that you cross it. If you don't encounter this rift, check the last two corners to find the way up to the boss room.

Confidence: High

Utzaal has the same layout as The Drowned City because it is the same place, but in the past. Spend 10 minutes running this area with the diagram open and it will make complete sense.

In this area you'll need to defeat Viper Napuatzi who spawns where the ambush occurred in The Drowned City. You'll notice that the path leading up to her arena has a set of distinctive, flat stone blocks.

After defeating her, turn to the right and then the left. Just past the Checkpoint, you'll find the way up to Aggorat.

Confidence: High

As with many areas in Act 3, Aggorat has a fairly set and distinctive layout that can be learned with minimal effort.

Route

1. From the entrance head up and try to find the large platform, full of Vaal worshipping Atziri. You'll hear the distinctive "Atziri, Atziri" sound as you approach. This "worship platform" is a long flat area with narrow pathways running alongside it.
2. Run onto the worship platform, and continue in the same direction until you find an arch with an opening with a Checkpoint on the other side
3. From the Checkpoint, the area will open up either to the left or right, with the incorrect direction being a dead end. Go that way then make an immediate turn up in the direction you've been going since the entrance
4. Continue going until you find a flat path with a Checkpoint on it that will lead you to a long staircase to The Black Chambers

As always, it's hard to perfectly describe this area and you'll need to spend a small amount of time learning it to understand the diagram above slightly better.

Point of Interest

In this area, you can use the Sacrificial Dagger to stab the Sacrificial Heart for +2 Weapon Set Skill Points. In current iterations of this area, this seems to spawn in the same place, to the right of the entrance to The Black Chambers

Confidence: High

The Black Chambers has a fairly set layout and can be simplified by thinking of it as three major sections separated by bridges, with Doryani's arena on the opposite side from the entrance

From the entrance, head either left or right and then up until you find the first bridge. Continue in that direction, weaving in and out of rooms until you find a Checkpoint next to the second major bridge. From there, you'll be crossing more bridges that form as your approach them - try to stay in the middle of the area, keeping the entrance in mind as a guide for the centre line of the zone. Continue up until you find a Checkpoint that leads you to Doryani

Thank you to everyone from the Campaign Codex who contributed to this massive project, especially Guitaraholic who helped provide many screenshots that we used as reference. As Acts 4, 5 and 6 are added to the game, we'll continue this project to further map out the campaign and better understand the seed system.

If you're interested in learning more, join the Campaign Codex Discord: discord.gg/Jdd8589DBy