If you are new to Path of Exile, then this guide will help you understand the beginning of the Endgame in Path of Exile.
A lot of the basics are often skipped or assumed to be common knowledge, which can make the endgame feel confusing for newer players.
In this guide, I’ll break down the start of the Atlas and the early endgame systems as simply as possible, focusing on the things new players usually struggle to understand.
This guide will keep being updated further and further in the endgame.
Guide
Reaching the Endgame and unlocking the Map Device
Once you finish Act 10 by defeating Kitava, the campaign will end and you will be sent to a new area called Karui Shores.
From here, head north into the town hub where you will find Commander Kirac. Speak with him and he will give you a Tier 1 Map.
Right next to Kirac you will see the Map Device, which is used to open maps — the core activity of Path of Exile’s endgame.
Understanding the Endgame Atlas
Once you click on the Map Device, the Endgame Atlas will open.
The Atlas is the main progression system of Path of Exile’s endgame. This is where you will run maps, unlock Atlas Passive Points, farm league mechanics, juice your maps, and eventually fight powerful Pinnacle and Uber bosses.
At the start, however, your Atlas will be mostly empty. You will have 0 Atlas Passive Points and no maps completed yet.
There are 138 total Atlas Passive Points that can be earned, though the first 100 points come directly from completing simple maps on the Atlas itself.
Starting Maps and Atlas Progression
To begin your journey, you will need to run one of the four starting maps located in the center of the Atlas:
Top Left: Shrine
Top Right: Castle Ruins
Bottom Left: Volcano
Bottom Right: Promenade
It does not matter which one you choose. Eventually you will need to progress through all sides of the Atlas, unlocking new maps by completing the ones connected to them.
Map Completion Requirements and Atlas Points
As you move deeper into the Atlas, the Tier of maps increases. This indicates what the minimum Tier Map you can run is.
You will also notice that each map has a different name and layout. These simply represent the environment you will be fighting in. For example:
Dunes is a wide open desert map
Haunted Mansion is a narrow indoor layout with many walls and corridors
To complete a map and earn an Atlas Passive Point, you must meet the bonus objective requirement listed on the map. These requirements depend on the tier of the map you are running.
Tier 1–5 (White Maps) Kill the boss in a Magic version of the map. This means the Waystone must have at least 1 modifier.
Tier 6–10 (Yellow Maps) Kill the boss in a Rare version of the map. This means the Waystone must have at least 3 modifiers.
Tier 11–16 (Red Maps) Kill the boss in a Corrupted Rare version of the map. This means the Waystone must have at least 3 modifiers and be corrupted.
Unique Maps and how to locate them
In addition to regular maps, you will also encounter Unique Maps, such as Untainted Paradise, Mao Kun, Acton’s Nightmare, and many others.
These maps drop as Unique Waystones from various types of content, including regular maps. Each Unique Map features a special layout, unique mechanics, or unusual rewards, making them different from normal maps.
In order to run a Unique Map, you must first find its location on the Atlas and path to it.
You can quickly locate it by right-clicking the Unique Map in your inventory, which will automatically move the Atlas view to that map’s location. Even if you have not yet unlocked a path to it, this will still show you where it is located on the Atlas.
Completing a Unique Map for the first time will reward you with an Atlas Passive Point. You can earn up to 10 Atlas Passive Points from completing Unique Maps.
Map Sustain and Kirac’s Map Shop
When you successfully complete a map, it will gain a golden ring around it on the Atlas, indicating that the map has been completed.
To progress through the Atlas, you will need a steady supply of maps. One way to obtain additional maps is by purchasing them from Commander Kirac, who sells a rotating selection of maps.
If his inventory does not contain any maps you need, you can reroll his shop for 10,000 Gold, which refreshes the available maps.
Another reliable way to sustain your maps is by investing Atlas Passive Points into “Map Drop Chance” nodes on the Atlas Passive Tree. These nodes increase the likelihood of maps dropping while you run your maps.
Endgame Progression Bosses: Exarch, Eater, and Maven
Once you reach Tier 6–7 maps, you will begin encountering the three progression systems tied to Path of Exile’s early endgame bosses: The Searing Exarch, The Eater of Worlds, and The Maven.
When you first encounter these mechanics, you will receive a questline that requires you to run maps influenced by one of these bosses.
For newer players, it is generally recommended to progress in the following order:
Searing Exarch(Red / Fire button) – usually the easiest to start with
Eater of Worlds(Green button)
Maven(Blue button) – typically the most difficult early on
To progress the Searing Exarch or Eater of Worlds questlines, you simply need to run maps of the required tiers and kill monsters that are influenced by that boss.
The Maven works slightly differently. Instead of influencing monsters, she witnesses your map bosses. To progress her questline, you must defeat bosses while the Maven is witnessing the map.
Altars and Invitations (Exarch & Eater progression)
While progressing with the Searing Exarch or the Eater of Worlds, you will eventually trigger a red or green explosion after killing enough influenced monsters in a map, depending on which influence you selected. This explosion will spawn an Altar.
Altars present you with two choices, and you must pick one. Each option comes with both a positive and a negative effect. For example, you might gain increased rewards in the map while also receiving a debuff or making the monsters stronger.
These effects can apply either to the current map or to future maps that have the same influence active.
After defeating enough Exarch or Eater influenced monsters, usually around Tier 10–12 maps, you will receive an Invitation item that allows you to fight a mini-boss encounter.
When you right-click the Invitation, it will automatically place the encounter on the specific map where it must be completed. You will need to path to that map, if you haven't discovered and connected to it yet. Once you finish this encounter and continue progressing the questline, you will eventually receive new Invitations that allow you to fight the actual Searing Exarch and Eater of Worlds bosses.
Maven Witnessing and Invitations
To progress the Maven questline, you simply need to click the blue button on the Atlas to have the Maven witness your map bosses.
Once active, you will receive a quest that requires you to complete a certain number of maps while the Maven is witnessing them. Each time you defeat a boss in a witnessed map, it will count toward this progression.
After completing the required number of witnessed maps, speak with Commander Kirac, who will direct you to an encounter where you must fight the bosses that the Maven previously witnessed. Completing these encounters will advance the Maven’s questline further.
You will repeat this process multiple times as the required number of bosses increases.
Eventually, you will earn an Invitation that allows you to challenge the Maven herself. To obtain this invitation, you must complete a specific set of witnessed maps, which is shown in the description of the blue button in the center of the Atlas.
Keep in mind that the Maven is extremely difficult, especially early in your endgame progression. For this reason, many players prefer to postpone this fight until their character becomes stronger.
Voidstones and Atlas Quadrants
The main reason we care about defeating these bosses is because they reward an important item called Voidstones.
Once you reach the Tier 16 maps at the edges of the 4 quadrants, four new Papers will unlock around the Atlas. Each Paper contains new maps and encounters tied to specific endgame bosses.
Each of these bosses rewards a Voidstone, which can be placed into its corresponding slot on the Atlas.
Your first priority should usually be progressing toward the bottom-left quadrant, where you will place the Voidstone obtained from defeating The Searing Exarch and The Eater of Worlds.
The remaining quadrants correspond to the other endgame boss encounters:
Bottom Right – Maven Voidstone After completing the Maven’s questline and defeating her, you will receive a Voidstone that can be placed in this slot.
Top Left – Eagon Voidstone Eagon will give you a series of quests tied to special maps called Memories. As you progress through these encounters, you will eventually receive Invitations to fight bosses such as Moment of Loneliness, Moment of Trauma, and Moment of Reverence, all located within this paper.
Top Right – Elder & Shaper Voidstone To access these bosses, you must complete the unique maps located in this paper and progress through the encounters that lead to The Elder and The Shaper. Special Maps with the Elder or Shaper influence are also needed here as they spawn different Fragments that need to be collected and combined to unlock the fight with either boss. Fragments of the Phoenix, Minotaur, Chimera and Hydra are needed for the Shaper. And Fragments of Enslavement, Eradiction, Constriction and Purification are needed for the Elder.
When a Voidstone is placed into its corresponding slot, it upgrades all maps within that quadrant to Tier 16. In addition, the Voidstone provides the bonuses listed in its description and enables the chance for maps to become Nightmare Maps, which function similarly to Tier 17 maps and are also required for obtaining additional Atlas Passive Points. They are typically found in either corner of the Atlas.
Map Juicing and Scarabs
There are multiple ways to juice your maps in Path of Exile. Increasing a map’s tier and adding more modifiers will already make it more rewarding, but the most common and accessible way to juice maps is by using Scarabs.
Scarabs are items that drop while running maps and other content. When used, they add or enhance specific mechanics within your map. You can choose to focus on a single mechanic or combine multiple mechanics to diversify your rewards.
To use Scarabs, place them in the slots underneath your map in the Map Device before activating the map.
At the start, you will have 3 Scarab slots available. By progressing through endgame content — specifically by completing the Maven questline and finishing a Nightmare Map — you will unlock the remaining slots, bringing the total to 5 Scarab slots.
Another important way to enhance your maps is by applying boss influence, either from the Eater of Worlds or the Searing Exarch. These influences add additional monsters and Altars, which provide increased rewards at the cost of making the map more dangerous. For newer players, it is usually recommended to start with Searing Exarch influence, as it tends to be slightly easier.
Your Atlas Passive Tree will also play a major role in how you juice your maps, as it determines which mechanics appear more frequently and which rewards are enhanced.
There are also special items that further enhance maps. For example:
Delirium Orbs add the Delirium mechanic to your map and determine the type of rewards that will drop.
Maven's Chisels increase a map’s quality, which improves the amount of items that can drop.
Normal maps range up to Tier 16, but some Tier 16 maps can appear as empowered versions, which have a glowing icon and are considered as Tier 16.5. These maps are slightly more difficult because they come with an additional implicit modifier.
