Atlas Maps are areas that you must clear in order to progress the endgame in Path of Exile 2 (PoE 2). Read on to learn how to access maps, a guide on mapping, a list of maps in the Atlas, and an explanation on the map icons in this guide!

How to Access Maps

Use Waystones in the Map Device

Waystones are a one-time consumable item used to enter different maps. They determine the levels of enemies and monsters within each map based on their individual tiers. Interact with the Ziggurat's Map Device and click on an available map, then insert a waystone into the slots to modify the map depending on the waystone's modifiers.

Monster levels start at level 65, then they are increased depending on the waystone's tier. If the waystone is tier 5, then the monster levels become level 70.

Waystones can be Modified to Increase Difficulty and Reward

These Waystones can also be modified using different items like Orbs of Transmutation and Orbs of Augmentation. These modifiers can help increase the rewards received from maps or their difficulty.

Waystone tiers can be increased by slotting three of the same waystone tiers on a reforging bench to get a single waystone with an increased tier.

Mapping Guide

Atlas Map Progression Tips
Ensure You're Well Prepared Upgrade Waystones to At Least Magic-Tier Make Sure to Defeat Everything in a Map You Can Re-Enter the Map Five More Times Go Toward Precursor Towers Find and Unlock Hideouts Find and Clear Maps with Bosses

Ensure You're Well Prepared

Atlas maps are endgame content, meaning that enemies there are unforgiving at the very least. Make sure that you follow a build guide to maximize the damage you deal and your survivability. This helps minimize the chances of you dying and help clear maps quickly and efficiently.

List of All Builds

Upgrade Waystones to At Least Magic-Tier

As much as possible, upgrade your waystones to at least Magic-tier (Blue) for them to have modifiers that will affect the maps you've used them on. It's much better to run a map with modifiers than maps without one.

Item Rarity Explained

Never Sell Waystones

You can use your lower-tier waystones as a method to farm more waystones. Add modifiers to them and hope to get a mod that increases waystone drops. You can also reforge waystones to a higher tier, which is important for completing The Cataclysm's Wake quest when it's requiring you to clear higher-tier maps.

Make Sure to Defeat Everything in a Map

The objective of maps in the Atlas is to eliminate all rare monsters. Find and defeat them to successfully clear the map you're on. However, make sure to clear all of the mobs on the map, leaving none alive. This is to maximize the XP you gain and increases your chances of obtaining items and waystones dropped by enemies.

It's important to always aim to replace the waystone you used for a map with a new one, which you'll likely obtain from enemy drops. Keep in mind that dying will consume the waystone used, requiring you to use another one or a set of Waystones to retry the map.

Skull Icons Show After Some Time

Skull icons represent the rare enemies you need to defeat in order to clear the map. Though, these icons will only show up after some time.

Event Maps Still Includes the Main Objective

Even if the map you're on has an event like Delirium or Ritual, you'll still need to defeat the rare enemies indicated by the golden skull icons on the map to clear it.

You Can Re-Enter the Map Five More Times

Activating the map via the Map Device spawns six portals, which you can use to enter the map. However, the portal you enter through disappears.

You can re-enter the same map up to five more times, so use this opportunity to sell items you found in the map or store them in your stash and refill your flask charges if needed.

Go Toward Precursor Towers

If you're unsure about where to go next, follow the path toward Precursor Towers (or Lost Towers). Light these towers by inserting Precursor Tablets to reveal a portion of the map within the tower's radius.

Precursor Tablets also adds modifiers that affect the maps within a tower's radius. These modifiers are useful for increasing rewards or making maps a bit easier to clear.

Find and Unlock Hideouts

Clear out the enemies and claim a hideout to call your own. Hideouts provide a personal space where you can redecorate and add NPCs, tools, and stashes, allowing you to access and interact with them all in one area for convenience.

Hideout Location and How to Unlock

Find and Clear Maps with Bosses

Eventually, you'll come across maps with bosses represented with an icon. Bosses give out tons of rewards, including waystones, after defeating them. Prepare yourself for these fights, as dying will remove the boss event from the map.

List of Bosses

Atlas Maps

List of Atlas Maps

Attention	This section is still a work in progress! Come back for more updates on the list of Atlas Maps!

Map	Details
Backwash (Forest Biome)	Description: Backwash is filled with tall, overgrown trees and large roots winding through the forest. Boss: Yaota, The Loathsome
Riverside (Water Biome)	Description: Riverside has damp, rocky terrain with narrow paths beside the riverbed. Boss: N/A
Burial Bog (Swamp Biome)	Description: A muddy bug filled with weeds, surrounded by mausoleums and ruined sacrophagus. Boss: N/A
Rustbowl (Desert Biome)	Description: Rustbowl is a desert filled with red sands and rock formations that look like stalagmites. Boss: Gozen, Rebellious Rustlord
Savannah (Grass Biome)	Description: Savannah is a dryland with patches of grass and a few trees. Boss: N/A
Steppe (Grass Biome)	Description: Steppe is a grassy terrain with no fully grown trees in sight, only those that look like a few years old. Boss: N/A
Bloodbowl (Desert Biome)	Description: Bloodbowl is a desert filled with red sands and a few cactuses. Skeletons and weapons lying around suggest of a fierce battle that once took place here. Boss: N/A
Forge (Volcano Biome)	Description: The Forge have volcanic rock formations as paths while surrouned by magma and volcanic stalagmites. Boss: Vastweld, The Colossal Guardian
Vaal Factory (Vaal Ruins Biome)	Description: The Vaal Factory is an abandoned underground workshop to produce Vaal artifacts. Boss: N/A
Seepage (Sewer Biome)	Description: Seepage is an underground ruin, filled with hints suggesting of a human community living in this nasty place. Boss: The Rotten Druid
Augury (Underground Ruins Biome)	Description: Augury is an abandoned ruin overrun by vegetation. Boss: N/A
Crypt (Tomb Biome)	Description: The Crypt is an underground room with narrow, candle-lit hallways with stone coffins on the side. Boss: Candlemass, the Living Rite
Bloodwood (Forest Biome)	Description: Bloodwood is a thick forest with huge blood clots near vegetation. Boss: N/A
Oasis (Desert Biome)	Description: The Oasis now houses a war-torn civilization, full of debris, weapons, and ruins as far as the eye can see. Boss: N/A

Atlas Map Icons Guide

Attention	This section is still a work in progress! Come back for more updates on the Atlas Icons!

Map Icons
Map Nodes	The Ziggurat Refuge	Iron Citadel
Stone Citadel	Copper Citadel	Precursor Tower
The Realmgate	The Burning Monolith	Map Boss
Irradiated	Breach	Ritual
Delirium	Expedition	Corruption
Hideout	Unique Map	Wandering Trader

Map Nodes

Icon	Explanation
Map Node	These are currently inactive maps, represented without any lights or colors. You must proceed with the adjacent accessible map nodes to make these accessible too.
Map Node (Accessible)	These are maps that can be entered by placing inserting waystones to them. Clearing these maps will unlock the adjacent map nodes.
Map Node (Complete)	These represents a cleared map. Completed map nodes can no longer be accessed. Adjacent map nodes become accessible.
Map Node (Failed)	Map nodes turn red to represent failed attempts at mapping. However, this seems to be obsolete, as failed map attempts are still accessible until it is cleared.
Map Node (Corrupted)	These are map nodes with a corruption event.

These represent the maps or areas you'll be accessing in the Atlas. There are different map nodes you can find, and the table above explains what each represent.

Ziggurat Refuge

The main hub of the Atlas. You can also find Doryani here to identify items for free, respec both skill and atlas passives, as well as buying waystones. You can also access your stash and guild stash here.

Precursor Towers

Towers are found in the Atlas that, upon completion, can be inserted with Precursor Tablets to amplify the surrounding maps. These Precursor Tablets can be dropped by mobs you kill.

The Realmgate

Realmgates grant access to other realms depending on the items you insert via the Map Device. This is also one of the methods to face a Pinnacle Boss. The Pinnacle Boss depends on whichever item you used to access the gate.

Realmgate Explained

The Burning Monolith

The Burning Monolith requires players to collect three keys from three different enemy factions found on different citadels. These keys are then used to gain entry into a large fortress containing mazes and enemies that players must conquer.

The Burning Monolith Explained

Map Bosses

Maps that has the icon like in the image above contain difficult bosses which players can fight for high-quality loot. Sometimes, a boss map may have other events that affects the map, making it harder.

Breach

The Breach involves players opening breaches that connect their world to the otherworld to fight monsters that spawn from it. The more enemies players defeat, the higher better the loot they receive.

Breach Endgame Mechanic

Ritual

Rituals involves killing and sacrificing enemies within ritual sites built by the King of the Mist to gain tribute. Players can use tributes to purchase different favors or items from these ritual sites, such as Omens.

Ritual Endgame Mechanic

Delirium

The Delirium has players stepping into a mirror to fight monsters in a nightmare filled with a mist. The longer players stay in this mist, the more difficult the enemies become and the better the rewards will be.

Delirium Endgame Mechanic

Expedition

Expedition events will task players with helping Kalguuran settlers find Verisium artifacts by using explosives on marked dig sites. However, to get these artifacts, players must also defeat ancestral corpses reanimated by the corruption.

Expedition Explained

Hideouts

Hideouts are maps that contain enemies that players can claim as their own, which they can decorate and customize. Players must defeat all enemies within the map to successfully claim it.

Unique Areas

Unique Areas may include mobs that gives a crazy amount of experience when killed, or it may contain NPCs that give you free items. Always be on the lookout for these unique areas.

Path of Exile 2 Related Guides

Atlas of Worlds Endgame Explained

Atlas Guides

Mapping Guide and List of Atlas Maps	Atlas Skill Tree Guide
Expedition Explained	Breach Endgame Mechanic
Ritual Endgame Mechanic	Delirium Endgame Mechanic
The Burning Monolith Explained	Realmgate Explained