[3.3] Gilded Cage's Comprehensive Guide to Maps
 3.3 changes Major changes: - The "Elder Ring" strategy is now dead. While the Elder and his Guardians are on the Atlas, after completing 20 maps without defeating them, every subsequent map has a ~20% chance for the Elder and his Guardians to leave the Atlas. - Shaper Memory Fragments 11-15 can now be obtained from any Elder/Guardians in red tier maps (rather than from specific tiers as was previously the case). Minor changes: - Vaal side areas are now more rewarding, with the final chest giving more Sacrifice fragments/Vaal gems as well as several corrupted items. - You can't get Shaper Memory Fragments if you are not the map owner. - Can no longer use the Templar Laboratory device and map device to keep (near) permanent Elder influence on a single map. - Layout/Density improvement to a number of maps including Pit of the Chimera, Malformation, Lair and Crystal Ore. - The Perandus Manor is now back on the Atlas and can be obtained from The Mayor divination card or as a very rare drop from the Temple Stash in the Ivory Temple map. Note Check out the new spreadsheet! All map by map analysis has now been consolidated into this spreadsheet. It contains detailed information on all maps as of patch 3.1. Preface Lyralei’s original guide which helped me learn about maps when I first started playing over four years ago is horribly out-dated. This guide aims to help both beginners learn how the end-game map system works in Path of Exile as well as help those looking for a reference on which map bosses and mod combinations are dangerous. I am by no means a master of maps but rather someone who has put a lot of time and research to provide something that I think would be useful for the community. Please feel free to point out any errors and provide suggestions to how I can improve this guide. I will try to maintain it best I can :) ______________________________________________________________ Contents Preface Map Basics
Starting Mapping Rolling Maps The Atlas Zana, the Shaper and the Elder
Other Map Information
Affixes Guide Map by Map Analysis Advanced Topics
References and Additional Resources ______________________________________________________________ Map Basics What are maps? Maps act as Path of Exile's end-game content. They serve as items which can be placed into a map device (and then consumed) to generate an instance. The map instance contains monsters and a unique boss at the end of each map. Maps have varying difficulty ranging from tier 1 maps (level 68 mobs) to tier 16 maps (level 83 mobs). Maps are very similar to other items in Path of Exile in that they have varying rarities and mods or affixes. A map can be normal/magic/rare/unique. Magic maps have one or two affixes (A prefix and a suffix) and rare maps can have up to 6 affixes under normal circumstances (up to 3 prefixes and 3 suffixes). A map affix acts to make the map instance more difficult while giving increased item rarity, item quantity and pack size (number of mobs) of the zone. For example, the ‘Anarchic’ prefix mod means the area contains 2 additional Rogue Exiles while giving the player 10% increased item quantity (IIQ) and 6% increased item rarity (IIR) and 4% increased pack size. Maps can be crafted similar to other items in Path of Exile. For example, using an Orb of Transmutation will transform a normal map into a magic map or using an Orb of Alchemy will transform a normal map into a rare map. Maps can also have quality. Similar to other items, quality is a maximum of 20%. Each 1% of quality increases the IIQ and IIR of the map by 1%. The Cartographer’s Chisel currency item can be used to increase the quality of maps. It gives 5% quality to normal maps, 2% to magic maps and 1% to rare maps. Details on how to craft maps are given later. How do I find maps? Tier 1 maps start dropping from monsters in Act 8 onwards (in the main story only tier 1 maps drop). When running maps, maps of any tier equal to or below the tier of the map you are running may drop. Magic and rare monsters in the map have a chance of dropping a map one tier above and map bosses in rare cases can drop a map two tiers above (only if you have unlocked a map two tiers above on your Atlas though). Within a map the chance to find other maps is based on the Increased Item Quantity of the map. Increased Item Quantity on gear (such as Ventor’s Gamble or Bisco’s Collar) does not affect the drop rate of maps. How do I use maps? Maps can be activated by being placed into the map device in the Templar Laboratory found in the Epilogue area accessible after beating Act 10 Kitava. You cannot enter maps until you have killed Act 10 Kitava. Players can also get a map device in their own personal hideout by completing one of Zana master cartographer’s missions. Zana is located in the Templar Laboratory where she will give you a complementary map and a mission to kill a map boss (once each league). After completion Zana can be invited to your hideout and will give you a map device. This map device is extremely useful as in your hideout you have much quicker access to vendors and a stash. More on Zana missions below. What is the purpose of mapping? The purpose of mapping is to progress up through the map tiers where bosses become more difficult but the items become more lucrative. Also as your character levels past level 76, zones in Act 10 give diminishing experience. High level maps are the only way to gain reasonable experience. Therefore, it is important to run maps that are appropriate to your character’s level. This experience penalty chart (credit fragmentations) shows how much experience diminishes. For example, at level 78 tier 1 maps give 91% of experience while at level 84 tier 1 maps give only 19% of experience. ______________________________________________________ Starting Mapping What should I have done before I start mapping? You will find a few maps naturally while playing through Acts 8-10. You must have completed the final story boss, Act 10 Kitava to start mapping. Kitava is much harder than most early map bosses so feel confident to jump straight into maps. However before doing so check two things. Firstly, that you have completed all story passive skill point quests. This can be done easily with the /passives chat command. Secondly, your elemental resistances are capped at 75% (or near enough so). Which map should I start with? I recommend not doing the Graveyard or Dungeon maps initially as the bosses are both very powerful. The best map for beginners is probably Beach as it has a relatively easy boss and is open and linear (see individual map analysis spreadsheet). Running your first map? Once you have crafted the map you want to run(see below) go to the map device in the Templar Laboratory or your Hideout and put in the map. After activating the device, you will notice six portals appear. This represents how many times you can exit and re-enter the map. After using all six portals the map cannot be entered again. After entering the map you can start killing monsters. The unique boss at the end of each map provides Atlas completion, plus the bonus if you meet the requirements. A useful tip for knowing whether you have adequately cleared the map is using the tab key, the number of monsters remaining will show in the top right corner (if less than 50). If less than 50 monsters remain and I’ve killed the boss I usually consider that a completed map. Hopefully after clearing your first map you have found some more maps. Be aware that sometimes you will have a bad streak of maps where no other maps drop. This is expected as other times a single map instance will drop lots of maps. The aim of mapping is to find maps of higher level tiers. What maps should I be running? Generally, I recommend running any maps that can potentially drop new maps in your Atlas. Always aim to get the map completion bonus when running a map for the first time. Completing the Atlas as much as possible is definitely the best way to go for the majority of players. More experienced players may want to look at different strategies you can use to optimize your Atlas for gaining currency or experience (listed later). Some people argue you should always run your highest tier map, other people say you should build a strong base on each tier before progressing to the next tier. In my opinion there is no right or wrong answer. My strategy is usually to run any maps that does not give me diminishing experience. (experience penalty chart). For example, at level 80 I will run tier 4-5 and above maps and at level 84 I will tier 8-9 and above maps. Eventually after level 87 or so it is hard to avoid some form of diminishing experience. How to roll maps? I find 90% of maps drop as white (no rarity) so you should always spend *some* currency improving the returns of the map by making it either magic or rare. One of the biggest questions every new player has is how much currency should I spend on rolling good mods on maps? The rough answer is the amount of currency spent should be proportional to how much the map is worth. I’ll be a bit more specific; if you can buy a Tier 8 Infested Valley map for 2 Cartographer’s Chisels from poe.trade then it is not worth using 4 chisels on the map when you could buy an entire other Infested Valley map for less currency. With the Altas of worlds changes it is now harder to sustain a pool of maps early on, but much easier to sustain a pool of high tier maps later on. Therefore, it is usually good practice to use more currency when rolling maps early on then using less currency of each map when you have a strong pool of maps. Purchasing maps from other players (using poe.trade) is also a very good idea to get maps you do not yet have in your Atlas. Early on in a league people will swap maps with each other using trade chat channel and global chat channel 820 (/global 820 and /trade 820. This is usually the fastest way to gather maps for your Atlas. My rules for crafting white maps: Mapping can be a controversial philosophy. Take what I say with a grain of salt. What may work well for me, a predominantly solo, hardcore player may not for you. The following is a good starting point but as you get more experienced you may find your crafting habits change.
______________________________________________________________ The Atlas With the 2.4 expansion GGG introduced the Atlas as a new way of progressing through the map system. The Atlas is a visualization of all maps, helping you understand which maps drop in each area. To open the Atlas simply press g on your keyboard. Your Atlas is shared between all characters in your league. The connections on the Atlas display which maps can be drop when running a particular map. When you complete a map (kill the unique bosses) it can then be dropped in other maps not connected via the Atlas. Each map also comes with a bonus objective – completing the bonus objective awards you with a 1% cumulative chance for map drops to be upgraded by one tier. Note, the completion bonus still obeys drop level restrictions, so white mobs cannot drop maps of a higher tier and bosses can't drop a map three tiers above. Note you can still engage in the map system without ever opening the Atlas, however it is inadvisable due to the potential benefits that manipulating your Atlas can provide. For more details on the Atlas see here. Zana, The Shaper and the Elder Zana, Master Cartographer is the final Forsaken Master that resides in the Templar Laboratory and appears within maps. She is the protagonist in the Atlas questline. When you find her within a map, she will open up six portals (or one if you’re unlucky) to another map instance with a similar monster level as the map you are currently running. She will give you a mission that once completed will gift master experience with her. Zana, like other Forsaken Masters gives daily missions that are in essence free maps. Zana also sells an array of maps (the tier of maps depends on the level of Zana). These maps are not restricted by Atlas completion. Because of this buying maps from Zana is usually extremely useful in filling out your Atlas early on, especially in Solo-Self Found (SSF) where you cannot buy maps from other players. It is important to level up Zana as each time you do so you get 1% extra IIQ from every map you run using the map device in your hideout. In patch 3.1 War for the Atlas random maps on your Atlas could gain Shaper Influence (S-I) or Elder Influence (E-I). With the war between the Shaper and Elder offering a questline to the map system.  On the Atlas, maps with star clouds have S-I and maps encompassed by the grey blob have E-I. Elder influence will only start appearing after you have ran your first S-I map that is Tier 6 or higher. Note, Unique maps cannot have S-I/E-I. Effects of Shaper Influence - In a S-I map you may encounter extra mobs, have frost balls follow you which form Vortex ground on contact or have the boss enhanced by the Shaper with Cold based abilities. Sometimes Agents of the Void will spawn after killing the map boss. Rare Shaper items also have a chance of dropping. Effects of Elder Influence - In an E-I map there are usually bonus mobs. These can be several Null Portals which continually spawn mobs until the portal is defeated or tentacle, octopus mobs that fire projectiles. In some maps tentacles may appear from the ground slamming your character. Rare Elder items also have a chance of dropping. Spreading Elder Influence - Completing a S-I map that is adjacent on the Atlas to an E-I map will change that map to become Elder influenced. Conversely completing an E-I map will remove the E-I and may replace it with either S-I or no influence. When you have approximately 19-20 E-I maps the Elder and his four Guardians will occupy five E-I maps (effectively random which ones are occupied. Note E-I/S-I can change randomly on your Atlas when running maps with no influence. The Elder and his Guardians - You must defeat the four Guardians before you can face the Elder. A Guardian occupied map replaces the normal boss. Once you defeat the occupying Guardian the E-I will disappear from that map. Once all four Guardians are defeated you can take on the Elder. Once the Elder is defeated all E-I is removed from the Atlas (there should now be much more S-I on the Atlas). Running S-I maps will cause the E-I to eventually return. Note that maps occupied by the Guardians/Elder are permanently influenced until the boss is killed. This can be problematic if you cannot kill the Guardians or extremely beneficial (see permanent E-I in advanced topics below). The Atlas questline and Shaper Memory Fragments The first S-I map you run will start the Atlas questline. At each step along the way you will be awarded with bonus reputation with Zana. A brief guide to completing the questline is as followed: - Complete maps with S-I, in these maps the Shaper will appear at the boss. Keep running S-I maps on higher tiers until the Elder appears (only on T6 or higher maps with S-I). The first Shaper Memory Fragment will drop from the boss. After this E-I can spawn on your Atlas. - Obtain Shaper Memory Fragments. Fragments 2-10 can be obtained by running E-I maps from T7 - T15. Maps that drop Memory Fragments are highlighted by a blue circle in your Atlas. Note however that you can obtain a lower Memory Fragment by running a higher tier E-I map. For example, to obtain Memory Fragment II you can acquire it not only from E-I tier 7 maps, but any E-I map higher than tier 7. - Fragments 11-15 are obtained by killing the Elder and his Guardians in red tier maps. - After obtaining all 15 Memory Fragments Zana will award you the Elder Orb which lets you upgrade any normal map on the Atlas to Tier 16. - Kill the Shaper - At this point you can now spread Elder/Shaper influence to the T16 Guardian maps and also the Shaper. Spread E-I to all of the Shaper's Guardians. This will put the Uber Elder on the Shaper's Realm. Kill the four Elder Guardians then you can face the Uber Elder -Kill the Uber Elder ______________________________________________________________ Other Map Information Shaping maps
Spoiler
Shaper Memory Fragments can be exchanged with Zana for Shaper’s Orb of a specific tier. You can apply a Shaper’s Orb to a map of the specified tier in your Atlas. Shaped versions of maps mean that all future maps of that name drop 5 tiers higher. For example, if you shape a tier 1 Beach map you can now find tier 6 Shaped Beach maps. Note unshaped tier 1 Beach maps will no longer drop. Shaped maps are identical to normal maps, only with higher monster levels.
You can un-shape a map with an Unshaping Orb, obtained by trading 20 Cartographer's Chisels and 5 Regret Orbs to a vendor. Talk to Zana to reclaim the Shaper's Orb (note this also works with the Elder Orb). Trading up maps
Spoiler
Trading three of the same maps to any vendor will give you a single map of the next tier up. For example, trading three tier 1 Beach maps will yield one tier 2 Desert map. This vendor recipe is very useful to obtain new maps on the Atlas. For details about what each map upgrades to see the map spreadsheet.
Unidentified maps
Spoiler
Magic and rare maps will drop unidentified similar to other items. An unidentified map can be placed in a map device. When running the map you will get an additional 30% IIQ bonus (does not work with unique maps though); however you will not be able to view the mods on the map. You will however be able to see the IIQ, IIR and pack size of the map (this can help you infer which mods may be present). You can usually tell some of the mods present automatically. For example, curses will appear in the upper left corner, chilled ground will appear on the ground, you can check your elemental resistances for –max resists and your life regeneration for half/no regen. Especially in hardcore I advise not running unidentified maps with certain builds as certain mods such as elemental reflect could instantly kill you. However, if you do, proceed very carefully.
Corrupting maps
Spoiler
Maps like any other item in Path of Exile can be corrupted using a Vaal Orb. Corruption can have no effect or it can transform into a new map of the same tier, a tier one below or a tier one up. It can also reroll the affixes on the map or unidentify the item keeping the affixes the same. Corrupted rare maps can have up to 8 affixes as opposed to the normal 6. Bosses in all corrupted maps can also drop Vaal fragments or Vaal skill gems. Corrupting high tier maps is required to get the Atlas completion bonus. It is also the only way of getting the tier 16 Vaal Temple map.
Vaal Fragments
Spoiler
You can add up to three different Vaal fragments (found in corrupted areas throughout Wraeclast) along with the map to increase the IIQ of the map by 5% per Sacrifice fragment and 10% per Mortal fragment. You can also add a single Vaal Fragment to the device to generate a random corrupted area. The level of the corrupted area depends on which Vaal fragment (Note: the lowest is level 66 for Sacrifice at Dawn). Adding all four of the Sacrifice Vaal Fragments to the device will open up the Apex of Sacrifice where Atziri resides.
Caution: Sacrifice at Midnight and Mortal Fragments are valuable and probably should not be used to improve the quantity of maps or be run as single instances. Divine Vessels and the Pantheon
Spoiler
Divine Vessels are rare currency items that can be found in maps. They allow you to capture the souls of certain map bosses to upgrade your Pantheon abilities. For example, capturing the Spider Lair boss, Thraxia, will grant you 10% chance to avoid Projectile damage while your have a ‘Soul of Lunaris’ pantheon ability active. To capture the boss’ soul place a Divine Vessel in the map device with the map. This grants the boss slight increases to damage, speed, life and AoE. After completing the map, the map device will contain the vessel with the captured soul (non-tradable). Take the vessel to Sin in town to unlock the pantheon bonus. A tip for gaining a Pantheon power without completing the map on the Atlas is to roll double boss and then only kill one of them. The Divine Vessel will be filled and the map will remain uncompleted. Cartographer’s Sextants
Spoiler
Sextants are relatively rare currency items that drop only in maps. They can be applied to maps in the Atlas to add an extra mod to that map and all maps in a small radius. These mods can make maps easier, harder or even provide extra valuable rewards. A sextant mod has three uses, after which it will disappear from your Atlas.
Sextants drop as either Apprentice, Journeyman or Master. Apprentice sextants can only be used on low tier maps (tier 1-5), Journeyman can be used on mid-tier maps (tier 1-10) and Master can be used on high-tier maps (tier 1-16). The maximum number of sextants you can apply to your Atlas can be increased through completing the Zana questline or completing all low tier, mid tier or high tier maps. Cartographer’s Strongboxes
Spoiler
Coming across one of these in a high-level map is every mappers dream. They are extremely rare strongboxes that drop exclusively maps. If found inside a high-level map it is usually wise to spend significant currency trying to roll good affixes such as increased item quantity and increased chest level. Cartographer’s Strongboxes cannot spawn in tier 13 maps upwards.
______________________________________________________________ Last edited by GildedCage#1452 on Jun 4, 2018, 1:33:30 AM Last bumped on Mar 11, 2019, 7:12:08 AM
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Affixes Guide The affixes guide has been moved to the new spreadsheet. ______________________________________________________________ Map by Map Analysis Is longer here. Has been moved to the new spreadsheet. The spreadsheet can contain much more detailed information on each map and is generally easier to maintain, check it out. Last edited by GildedCage#1452 on Jan 15, 2018, 4:48:21 PM
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Advanced Topics Atlas Strategies
Spoiler
Note: With 3.3 Elder Rings are dead. With Sextant blocking also killed in 3.2 the Atlas strategies are likely to be far less complicated than before. The league is still young so I will update this section more later on when more information comes out. The favoured strategy is probably just to pick a few maps you like at each tier (e.g Shaped Burial Chambers and Shaped Underground Seas) and flip-flop between Elder and Shaper influence as long as possible. I did quite like the sound of this strategy courtesy of thi3n. How to plan out your Atlas depends on your preferred playstyle and goals. You may want to experience all the content, maximize experience gain or make as much currency as possible. If you want to chase the Elder/Shaper around maps seeking valuable Shaper/Elder items then complete every map on the Atlas. If you get permanent Elder influence on a map (see below) then you might craft your Atlas around that map. A common strategy for currency and experience is to run only Shaped maps at higher tiers. Shaped maps have great layouts and have the advantage that they can be influenced by cheaper White and Yellow Sextants. Which maps to Shape?
Spoiler
This is mainly personal preference. My recommendations:
What map you shape will depend on your build/playstyle. Zana mods
Spoiler
Zana can add one extra effect to a map with a small cost via the map device. Every time you level Zana up you will get access to a new Zana modifier. These modifiers tend to change each league and are based off previous league mechanics. For example, adding 'Ambush' to a map gives three additional strongboxes. It also gives a chance for league-specific unique items to appear in a map. Some of these are extremely valuable like Headhunter in 'Nemesis' maps. List of Zana Mods, effects and prices. Due to the cost of adding a Zana mod to a map I wouldn't recommend using them on any maps below tier 11. Tips for Solo Self Found
Spoiler
______________________________________________________________ References and Resources References Thanks to Lyralei for his original guide. I have tried to keep the format of my guide similar. Thanks to youtubers such as Ziggy D, Zizaran, Cute_Dog, Engineering Eternity and Huizui who do Path of Exile guides on Youtube. Their videos have been very useful when writing this guide to get second opinions and pick up useful tips and tricks. Shout out also to Karvarousku for some awesome information on the more complex topics. Thanks to the people that maintain the PoE Wiki and PoE DB where most of the technical details in this guide are sourced from. Finally, thanks to GGG for producing this amazing game :) Further Resources Here I will include links to further resources that can help people with mapping. Will add a lot more stuff here soon.
______________________________________________________________ Change-log and possible future additions 3.3 changes:
3.1 update additions:
Future additions:
Last edited by GildedCage#1452 on Jun 4, 2018, 2:02:12 AM
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reserved
Last edited by GildedCage#1452 on Jan 11, 2018, 4:10:44 PM
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This is really well done! Awesome job!
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Really nice resource here! Thanks for the time and effort you put into it but I'd like to make a small suggestion. Under the "unidentified maps" section it would be nice if you included that unique maps do not receive the unid'd bonus.
" Source Just a lowly standard player. May RNGesus be with you. Last edited by Shovelcut#3450 on Dec 8, 2015, 3:55:49 PM
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Thanks for this resource, it's really detailed and well-written.
I would suggest adding a note on when to start using Zana mods (e.g. Onslaught or Ambush). |
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" Haha, completely forgot about Zana mods. I'll make sure to add an extra section on them at a later date. |
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" While you're here, when would you suggest starting to use them? I usually add Onslaught for high tier (12+) maps for the quant, but I haven't had enough high tier maps fall in my lap to get an idea of if that's worth it or not. |
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" To be honest I haven't played around with Zana mods too much. I tend to neglect them in hardcore for whatever reason and tend to only use them in softcore when I want to play a fun map (eg double beyond). I'll have a look into what other people suggest. I wouldnt say I'm the best person for end game map crafting so I would love get some other opinions. |
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