PoE 2 Endgame Guide: Return of the Ancients

Ben Author

Created - 12.06.2026 Updated - 12.06.2026

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Path of Exile 2: Return of the Ancients has completely overhauled the endgame experience. After all, this is the penultimate patch before PoE 2’s official release later this year.

Patch 0.5.0 has added tons of new content to the game, including the Atlas Rework, the new Precursor Fortress, Masters of the Atlas, and overhauls to existing endgame pieces of content, such as Delirium, Ritual, and Breach. This guide provides you with the information that you need to plot your course, as well as some useful tips to help you get the most out of PoE 2 Return of the Ancients.

PoE 2 Atlas Rework Explained

After completing the campaign, you will see that the Atlas has been changed in more ways than one. First of all, you can now zoom out even further when using the mouse scroll wheel. This lets you see more maps on the screen than ever before.

But more importantly, endgame content can now be found in designated areas on the Atlas. Here are the points of interest you should know:

• Breach: South
• Delirium: Southwest
• Ritual: West
• Abyss: East
• Vaal Temple: Northeast
• Expedition: Southeast

So, if you just want to complete Breach Maps, you can simply head towards the southern portion of the Atlas.

In addition, most of the endgame content now has its own unique storylines, with the exception of Abyss and the Vaal Temple. Here is a table showing you the names of the storylines, the important NPCs you have to interact with, as well as the central hub for these endgame pieces of content:

Each storyline culminates in a new pinnacle boss fight in Path of Exile 2: Return of the Ancients. After completing the quests, you can fight the non-quest version of the pinnacle bosses; only this time, they are far more challenging than before, but with the promise of better rewards.

To make things a bit more interesting, GGG has added 30 new endgame maps in Patch 0.5.0. This means new layouts and new bosses for you to defeat.

PoE 2 Precursor Fortress Explained

When you’ve finished the campaign, you will be presented with the newly revamped Atlas. Going to a nearby Precursor Tower and completing it will result in a short cutscene, where the Precursor Fortress emerges.

The Precursor Fortress covers a relatively large area on the Atlas, with connecting map nodes and special points of interest inside. Let’s explore each one in the next sections of this guide.

The Ancient Gateway

Before you can enter the premises of the Precursor Fortress, you must first interact with the Ancient Gateway. This serves as the main entrance to the fortress. Completing this will let you access the inner areas.

The Burning Monolith

The Burning Monolith, where The Arbiter of Ash resides, has now been moved inside the Precursor Fortress. You no longer need the three “crisis fragments” to enter this place. Instead, you need a different set of keys, with the first one already inserted into the pedestal on your first visit.

The other two can be found in the Eastern Enigma Chamber and the Western Enigma Chamber in the surrounding areas of the fortress. Once you have the keys, go back to The Burning Monolith and use those keys to enter.

Matriarch and Patriarch Halls

Once you’ve cleared The Burning Monolith, you will have access to the inner chambers of the Fortress. In the eastern and western portions of the inner chambers are the Matriarch and Patriarch Halls. Clearing these will give you the keys to enter The Origin Tower.

The Matriarch and Patriarch Halls can also be found in other areas of the Atlas (outside of the Precursor Fortress). Completing these will also grant a bunch of Atlas passive points.

The Origin Tower

After you have cleared the Patriarch Halls and the Matriarch Halls within the fortress, you can now access The Origin Tower, where the new pinnacle boss, The Arbiter of Divinity, will be waiting.

The Arbiter of Divinity is a very difficult encounter, so you must have your character geared enough before attempting this challenging fight. When you defeat him, you can interact with these things called “Ancient Mechanics” that will give you a bunch of Atlas passive skill points.

Click on the Ancient Mechanism, and you’ll be shown the Atlas again. You have to click on “Activate Tower Relay” to receive the Atlas passive points.

There are over 350+ nodes on the main atlas passive tree. You can unlock these points by completing the Fortress and each map node available within. The good news is that you don’t actually have to clear all map nodes; you simply defeat The Arbiter of Divinity several times to accomplish a full tree. If that is not feasible, then search for the Matriarch/Patriarch Halls on the Atlas until you have completed the entire tree.

PoE 2 Masters of the Atlas

If there are ascendancy classes in PoE 2 that have special nodes that make them stand out, why not have the same thing for the Atlas? GGG has acknowledged this, which is why the company has added the new Masters of the Atlas, namely Doryani, Hilda, and Jado.

The Masters of the Atlas can alter various things that can improve your endgame mapping experience. Each master has 12 different passive nodes on offer, but you can only allocate four of them at a time.

For example, Jado has the “Untold Histories” node, which increases your chance to find lineage support gems in PoE 2 by 35%. This is huge, considering that there are 24 new lineage support gems in Path of Exile 2: Return of the Ancients.

Here is a table that briefly explains how to unlock each Master of the Atlas, as well as tips on when to use them:

PoE 2 Return of the Ancients—Reworked Endgame Mechanics

Certain endgame mechanics received massive reworks in Path of Exile 2: Return of the Ancients. They are:

Breach Rework

The Breach has been completely overhauled in PoE 2 0.5.0, with some mechanics being borrowed from the original game.

For one, there is now a clear meter at the bottom of the screen that tells you exactly when the Breach closes inside maps. No more second-guessing how much time is left before that occurs!

Additionally, there are three new bosses that you can encounter simply by progressing through the Breach storyline. These are It That Was Esh, It That Was Tul, and Vruun, Marshal of Xesht. The first two can be encountered on the Sky Fortresses, while the latter is present when stabilizing the regular Breaches in maps.

You can refer to our PoE 2 Breach Rework guide for more information.

Delirium Rework

Just like Breach, breaking a Delirium Mirror in maps now has a clear progress bar at the bottom. This bar shows you how deep you are in the fog, as well as the amount of time you have left before it dissipates.

The bar also indicates a number of colored shards. Reaching these thresholds will cause colored mirrored shards to appear. You can break them by walking through, and doing so activates new encounters.

Now, when completing Delirium Mirrors in maps, you have a chance to spawn a Grand Mirror, which will create a duplicate of the map boss in the affected map (forcing you to defeat two bosses). Once you’re successful in eliminating the bosses, you will unlock a new Delirium mechanic called “The Trial of Madness.”

The Trial of Madness will have the fog spread to nearby maps on the Atlas, each having increasing levels of Delirium. When you finish a series of maps and have reached 100% Delirious, the next map becomes a Simulacrum.

Killing map bosses in Delirious maps also have a chance to drop a new type of PoE 2 currency called “Potent Liquid Emotions.” These potent emotions can either add new powerful mods to jewels or be used to instill a unique set of passive skills not found on the passive tree.

Ritual Rework

The major change in the Ritual mechanic is that the Ritual Altars now only offer unique items or omens. This is in stark contrast to the previous expansion, where you could spend your tributes acquiring rare items (mostly consisting of an uninteresting bunch of mods).

On top of that, you no longer have to scour the entire map searching for the Ritual Altars. When you complete one altar, locusts will now appear to steer you to the next Ritual Altar, thus saving you a lot of time.

Expedition Rework

Expedition is fully integrated in the PoE 2 Runes of Aldur League. As such, the entire Expedition mechanic is fully disabled in the Standard League.

Aside from that, certain things that have something to do with the Expedition mechanic, such as the Recombinator, the “Forgotten by Time” precursor tablet, and certain Expedition currencies, have been temporarily disabled in Patch 0.5.0.

Vaal Temple Going Core

Fate of the Vaal has moved into the core game, with Atziri’s Temple now integrated into your Atlas progression. However, there are some interesting changes to the said endgame content, such as:

• There is now a dedicated atlas passive tree for this mechanic. Some nodes alter the temple rooms, while others make certain types of monsters spawn inside the temple.
• It’s no longer possible to prevent a room from being deleted. This is to dissuade players from doing the “snake strategy,” where temple rooms are laid out in a snake-like pattern to avoid having rooms erased.
• Currency items for the Vaal Temple can now stack up to 5,000 times when stored in the Currency Stash Tab.

Recommended Endgame Progression Path

Finish the Campaign

Completing the campaign not only gives you access to the Atlas but also provides you with some decent gear to get you started in the endgame.

Unlock Key Atlas Points Through Fortress Progression

When you have unlocked the Atlas, search for a Precursor Tower and head towards it. This is to force the Precursor Fortress to emerge, allowing you to unlock your Atlas passive skill points.

You don’t need to accomplish each map node inside the fortress to get those points. All you have to do is make a beeline toward the different points of interest mentioned earlier.

That said, here are some tips on which atlas passive skills to unlock first:

• Valuable Paths: Increases the rarity of waystones found.
• Atop the World: Increases the quantity of waystones dropped by map bosses.
• Pathkeepers: Increases the quantity of waystones dropped by map bosses by 15%.
• Divined Blessing (Seeking Shrines): Increases the likelihood of Seeking Shrines to spawn in maps. Seeking Shrines increases the rarity of items found by 100%.
• Nemesis Rising: Allows you to alter certain aspects of rare monsters inside maps.
• Risk and Reward: 2% Increased rarity of items dropped by monsters per explicit modifier on the map.

Follow One Endgame Questline at a Time

While it is quite tempting to try all of the new reworked endgame mechanics in Path of Exile 2: Return of the Ancients, it is best that you only focus on one thing at a time.

RPGStash recommends that you do either Expedition or Abyss in your early mapping journey. The reason is that Expedition does not have a dedicated tree, so you’re getting the best items right off the bat from this mechanic.

On the other hand, Abyss lets you farm your early currency, especially when you focus on the Ulaman faction from the “Balance of Power” node. Besides that, you can have an increased chance to find lineage support gems via the “Vile Treasures” node. The reason why the said node is useful is that Patch 0.5.0 has introduced 24 new lineage supports, which you can sell to other players for a huge profit.

Choose the Right Atlas Master

The Masters of the Atlas can help you get more out of the waystones you are running. In the early game, go for Doryani as he gives you an additional revive, which is useful when running six-mod waysstones.

In the mid-game, Hilda becomes even more useful. She not only has the ability to increase the rare monster density in maps, but she can also influence map and pinnacle bosses to drop more valuable loot.

Jado is pretty much your go-to in the endgame, particularly when you are farming for PoE 2 lineage support gems. His “Untold Histories” node increases the chance for lineage supports to drop by 35% (and a 50% chance for pinnacle bosses to drop an additional one).

Farm Bosses Repeatedly

Once your build is capable of defeating the pinnacle bosses, it is highly recommended to finish the “Infinite Farm” versions of the new pinnacle bosses. This is for you to have a chance to get some of the new coveted PoE 2 unique items, such as the Forgotten Warden, Sylvan’s Effigy, and Twisted Empyrean, among others.

FAQ

How Do I Unlock the Fortress in PoE 2 0.5.0?

Search for a Precursor Tower near your starting point on the Atlas. After completing it, the Precursor Fortress will emerge.

How Do You Get Atlas Passive Points in PoE 2 0.5.0?

You can get Atlas passive points when you finish maps inside the Fortress. However, the more efficient way of unlocking more points is to defeat The Arbiter of Divinity several times and interact with the Ancient Mechanisms that pop up after the fight.

What are the Masters of the Atlas in PoE 2?

They are essentially the ascendancy classes for your Atlas in Path of Exile 2: Return of the Ancients. They provide you with nodes that grant passive benefits when mapping.

What is the Best Endgame Mechanic to Farm First?

Expedition. This requires no atlas skill points to get the full experience. Plus, it coincides with the main league mechanic for PoE 2 Runes of Aldur.

What are the New Pinnacle Bosses in PoE 2: Return of the Ancients?

• Ritual: The Bodach
• Expedition: The Aberration
• Delirium: The Raven Trickster (Tangmazu)

Although not considered pinnacle bosses, the Breach mechanic has new bosses that you can defeat in Patch 0.5.0, including:

• It That Was Tul
• It That Was Esh
• Vruun, Marshal of Xesht