PoE 2 Best Atlas Tree & Mapping Strats (Dawn of the Hunt 0.2.0)

With the launch of Path of Exile 2: Dawn of the Hunt just around the corner, you may be looking for the best ways to generate currency quickly in the early days of the new league. Having a structured approach to mapping and the Atlas tree will make a substantial difference in your wealth accumulation, especially with the economy reset that comes with the new league. Below, we'll break down the best strategies for farming currency efficiently in the Dawn of the Hunt league.

PoE 2 0.2.0 Best Atlas Tree & Mapping Strategies

1. Campaign Speedrun: Your Gateway to Endgame Farming

Before you can start farming maps or using the Atlas passive tree, you must finish the campaign. This is non-negotiable, especially if you want to participate in group mapping or sell map services.

Tips for Speed-Leveling:

• Pick a fast-clearing build: Prioritize movement speed and strong AoE. Popular early builds include Warrior Slam Totems and Ranger Traps.

• Equip leveling uniques: Gear like Thrillsteel Helmet (for Onslaught) or Wanderlust Boots helps with speed.

• Avoid backtracking: Complete quests only when required to progress.

• Target Level 65+ by the time you finish Act 10.

Why This Matters:

• You won’t have access to Atlas passives or mapping mechanics until the campaign is complete.

• You also can’t join other players’ maps or Atlas content unless you’ve finished the story.

2. How to Progress the Atlas and Earn Skill Points Fast

After the campaign, your priority is progressing through the Atlas and accumulating up to 40 Atlas passive points. These points come from two main sources:

• Complete Corrupted Nexuses

Each corrupted Nexus completed with a map that has at least four modifiers gives you 2 Atlas points. You must keep progressing through higher-tier corrupted Nexuses to reach the full 30 points from this method. Be careful: failing a corrupted Nexus map gives you no points. You can spot corrupted zones via fog of war - look for towers covered in red vines. These indicate there’s a corrupted Nexus nearby.

Pro Tip: Use Visions of Paradise tablets on nearby towers overlapping a corrupted Nexus. This allows you to run the same Nexus twice, doubling your rewards to 4 points from one location.

• Complete Unique Maps

Completing a unique map for the first time gives 2 additional points, this gives you the remaining 10 points toward your 40-point total.

3. Increasing Map Tiers & Early Mapping Progression

Once the campaign is done, the other new focus is progressing through the map tiers and map sustain. 

If you want to reach Tier 16+ maps:

Focus on maps with boss icons, as only bosses can drop maps of a higher tier than the one you're running. Use Precursor Tablets that increase monster level to push maps beyond Tier 15. Doriani sells maps one tier below your highest completed. These can be reforged (3-to-1) to higher tiers using the Reforge Bench.

Key Goals:

• Unlock all map tiers and complete objectives to gain Atlas passive points.

• Prioritize maps that are 2–3 levels above your character for better XP and loot.

• Use low-tier maps to complete quick objectives, then move on.

• Don’t fully clear every map — focus on boss kills and objectives.

Suggested Nodes for Sustain:

• Constant Crossroads: +20% chance for additional waystones.

• Fortunate Path: +100% increased rarity of waystones.

• High Road: 20% chance for waystones to be a tier higher.

These nodes help ensure you maintain a steady supply of maps and currency as you climb the Atlas.

4. Recommended Atlas Tree Setup for Fastest Progress (0-40 Points)

A well-structured Atlas tree boosts map drops, tablet rewards, and rare monster density. Here’s a suggested path for your first 40 points:

✔️Starter Atlas Tree (0–20 Points):

This tree is focused on tablet farming, map sustain, and rare monster density for loot.

• Precursor Influence ➤ +30% Precursor Tablet drop rate (Essential for early currency and map effects)

• Remnants of Power ➤ Boosts the effectiveness of tablets

• Tablet FX (All 3 nodes if possible) ➤ Increases quantity, rarity, and general tablet bonuses

• Constant Crossroads ➤ +20% chance for waystone drops (Improves map sustain and progression)

• Rising Danger ➤ +15% more rare monsters. Since most loot comes from rares, this is a very efficient node.

✔️Mid-Game Atlas Tree (20–40 Points):

After tablet and sustain priorities, shift toward map quality, explicit modifiers, and boss farming.

• Enigmatic Intensification ➤ Adds explicit modifiers for each tower affecting the zone — more towers = better rewards.

• Grueling Journey  ➤ +2% increased effect per modifier on a map (powerful scaling for juiced maps)

• Unstable Energies (if your build can handle it) ➤ Adds randomness and danger to maps, but with great rewards

• Essence Nodes (optional testing) ➤ Good if you want extra crafting materials (Not a priority unless you’re specializing in crafting)

• Boss-Related Nodes: Spoils of War (Rarity), Fit for a King (Boss loot), Radiant Waystones (More waystones per boss map)

❌ Avoid early:

• Magic monster pack nodes

• Duplicated rare monsters

• Ecological Shift

• Shrine and Strongbox nodes (until better geared)

5. Best Atlas Tree Builds & Map Setups for Currency Farming

Once your Atlas tree is set, focus on farming strategies that offer consistent or high-value returns. To maximize profits, focus on specific Atlas tree mechanics. These provide consistent PoE 2 currency generation:

✔️Lost Tower & Tablet Juice Atlas Tree Strategy

This strategy is designed to maximize the quantity and quality of Precursor Tablets, fully unlock and utilize Lost Towers for triple-tablet setups, stack influenced modifiers from towers for juiced maps, and create an efficient loop of map sustain, loot, and progression.

Lost Towers

• Insert Tier 13+ maps with 6 modifiers to unlock all three Precursor Tablet slots.

• Higher-tier maps increase the juice (buffs) of influenced zones.

• After completing a Lost Tower, nearby maps can become Irradiated, Cleansed, or both.

Cleansed Maps

• After clearing a corrupted Nexus, adjacent corrupted maps become Cleansed.

• These maps can drop Fracturing Orbs – used to permanently lock a modifier on gear.

• Example: Lock high life or flat physical damage and reroll the rest for insane items.

✔️Asmary Wisps & Rogue Exiles Atlas Tree Plan

The best tree setup in Patch 0.2.0 focuses on Asmary Wisps and Rogue Exiles. With 40 points to use, this combination offers consistent returns and synergy between content bonuses and loot quality.

Atlas Setup for Asmary Wisps Farm:

1. Item Rarity & Quantity Nodes: Unlock the wisp mechanics.

2. Increased Wisp Chance: Boost frequency of spirit encounters.

3. Primal Spirit Selector (Blue Wisps): These provide better currency drops.

4. Illumination: Spirits have larger area of effect and faster possession.

5. Shining Trial: Monsters drop more rare items and release additional spirits.

6. Merging Worlds: Monsters can be possessed by multiple spirits for better loot.

7. Ecological Shift (Keystone): -20% monster pack size, +40% chance for added content - a fair PoE2 Currency exchange trade.

Atlas Setup for Rogue Exiles Farm:

1. War Travelers: Focus on unique armor drops. This increases your chances of finding Cloak of the Coming Calamity, a highly coveted chestpiece.

2. Additional Rogue Exile Nodes: More exiles = more chances at rare items.

3. Waystone & Tablet Modifiers: Boost the effectiveness of map bonuses.

4. Grueling Journey: Adds more power to each explicit modifier in a map.

✔️Best Breach & Expedition Atlas Strategy For Currency Farming

This atlas strategy focuses on maximizing currency drops in Path of Exile 2: Dawn of the Hunt by leveraging specific map effects and mechanics. By prioritizing rare monster encounters and utilizing Breach and Expedition tablets, players can enhance loot quality and quantity. The strategy emphasizes careful atlas configuration, optimal tablet usage, and strategic map selection to ensure consistent currency gains.

Steps to Set Up the Strategy:

1. Configure Your Atlas: Choose nodes that enhance map effects, focusing on unstable energies and rare monster increases. Include shrine nodes for additional benefits.

2. Select Your Tablets: Equip a Breach Tablet and an Expedition Tablet to boost respective mechanics. Use a third tablet for general item quantity, ideally a precursor tablet.

3. Establish Three-Tower Overlaps: Ensure your maps allow for three overlapping towers to maximize loot efficiency. Avoid setups with only two towers unless the specific map is exceptionally good.

4. Focus on Rare Monsters: Activate the Paranoia passive to increase rare monster spawns, which yield the best loot. Roll your maps for increased rarity and quantity modifiers to enhance drops.

5. Execute Your Runs: Target rare monsters during your runs and complete Expeditions efficiently. Track your loot drops to adjust your strategy as needed for optimal currency farming.

✔️Best Rogue Exiles Atlas Setup Strategy

Rogue Exiles are special rare monsters that can randomly spawn in maps, each wearing gear that may include Unique items, which they have a chance to drop when defeated. Their appearance rate is influenced by both Atlas Passive Tree nodes and Tavukai Tablets (tower modifiers), which can significantly boost the increased chance to encounter them. However, the mechanic suffers from a very low base spawn rate, meaning even high percentage increases often result in few exiles appearing. Additionally, Exiles typically drop only one item, and the quality of those items varies greatly depending on what they’re wearing—modified further by Atlas passives that control whether they wear jewelry, armor, or weapons. While the concept is exciting, the mechanic currently lacks consistency and profitability compared to other league mechanics.

Best Atlas Setup for Farming Rogue Exiles:

To maximize your chances of encountering and profiting from Rogue Exiles, here's the optimal Atlas passive allocation:

Essential Nodes

1. Rogue Exile Chance Small Nodes (5 total) - Each node grants +20% chance to contain a Rogue Exile (total +100%).

2. Outlaws of the Wilds (Notable) - Grants +50% increased chance to contain Rogue Exiles.

3. Wealthy Targets (Notable) - Rogue Exiles cannot have Unique armor equipped, Rogue Exiles have 100% increased chance to wear Unique jewelry (This biases drops toward jewelry, though results are mixed.)

4. Dexterity Bias Cluster -  Rogue Exiles have 100% increased chance to wear items requiring Dexterity (This increases odds of bows, quivers, and certain jewelry.)

Nodes to Avoid

• Cataclysmic Survivor - Grants 50% chance for Rogue Exile items to be corrupted with max sockets. While potentially interesting, it offers little value unless you're targeting corruption outcomes.

• Weapon/Armor Bias Alternatives - If you're targeting specific item types like weapons, you could swap the Dexterity cluster for Strength or Intelligence bias, but jewelry remains the most potentially valuable.

✔️Best Endgame Atlas Tree Build Strategy (Delirium, Expedition, Ritual)

This endgame Atlas Tree strategy focuses on maximizing raw currency drops, especially Divine Orbs, by emphasizing mechanics that scale well with rare monsters, map modifiers, and shrine effects. The strategy is built around Precursor Influence, Shrines, high-effect modifiers, and rare monster duplication, which synergize to create highly profitable map runs. It avoids trap nodes like Ecological Shift and Corrupted Infusion, which reduce monster density or add too much RNG. This strategy is ideal for players with 40/40 Atlas Points or close to it and is flexible enough to support mechanics like Delirium, Expedition, or Ritual.

Step-by-Step Atlas Tree Setup:

Below is a breakdown of the recommended passive choices and their purpose.

1. Precursor Influence & Tablets Cluster (Top Section)

• Key Nodes:

• Precursor Influence – Increases tablet drops.

• Remnants of Power – 20% chance to double tablet effects.

• Enigmatic Intensification – Improves explicit modifiers from Precursor Towers.

• Tablet Effect Small Passives – Buffs quantity/rarity from tablets.

• Tablets are vital for map juicing. This cluster gives consistent value and scales your maps significantly with loot-enhancing modifiers.

2. Unstable Energies & Modifier Scaling (Right-Top Section)

• Key Nodes:

• Unstable Energies – +25% effect to prefix/suffix modifiers on Waystones.

• Wasteland Modifiers & Rarity Nodes – Increases the impact of modifiers.

• These nodes boost pack size, rarity, and quantity—core drivers of currency generation. Just ensure your build can handle tougher maps.

3. Fortunate Path (Bottom-Right Section)

• Key Node:

• Fortunate Path – Waystones drop as rares more often.

• Saves currency by reducing the need to regal or exalt Waystones. Sometimes drops them with 4–6 mods, leading to higher map value.

4. Rising Danger Cluster (Left-Bottom Section)

• Key Nodes:

• Rising Danger – +50% rare monsters.

• Rare Monster Quantity Node (5% per point) – Stackable with Rising Danger.

• Twin Threats – Duplicates a rare monster in maps.

• Rare monsters are currently the main loot source. More rares = more loot, especially raw currency like Chaos and Divines.

5. Shrine Cluster (Far Left Section)

• Key Nodes:

• Places of Worship – 100% increased chance to contain shrines.

• Prayer of Guidance – 100% increased chance shrines are Seeking Shrines.

• Mystic Divination – 25% chance for shrines to have an additional effect.

• Shrines (especially Seeking and Speed) increase movement speed and item rarity, improving map clear speed and drops.

6. Optional: Strongboxes (If Desired)

• Key Nodes:

• Hidden Hoards, Researcher of Strongboxes – More loot from boxes.

• Still under testing but could be a solid source of loot with low investment. Treat this as an optional branch.

✔️Strongbox Farming & Gold Usage

One of the major updates in 0.2.0 is the Treasure Stronghold Boxes. These gold-based chests offer some of the best loot in the game—if you know how to handle them.

How They Work:

Found randomly in maps, but requires gold to open: 2000 gold for Tier 1, 20000 gold for Tier 2, 200000 gold for Tier 3, 2000000 gold for Tier 4.

What They Can Drop:

Twilight Radiant Keys (worth 5–10 Exalts), Perfect Jeweler’s Orbs (2+ Divines), Divine Orbs, Greater Jewelers, and more

Strongbox Tips:

The first two tiers offer the best risk/reward value. If you’re low on gold, consider buying boxes from players and splitting loot. Box openings are often sold or shared in Discord communities such as TFT.

✔️Unique Maps: Castaway & Untainted Paradise

Special map nodes like Castaway and Untaunted Paradise are the cornerstones of high-yield farming.

Castaway Map:

Generates 200,000–500,000 gold per run, can be sold for 5-15 Exalted Orbs per participation slot. Selling access often yields better returns than running the map solo.

Untainted Paradise:

Best for leveling fast, sold for 5 Exalts or more per entry, and ideal for players trying to catch up or push to level 90 quickly.

These maps can be found on the Atlas or purchased from other players. A seller’s market and a buyer’s market both exist — you can profit from either side.

4. Other Effective Farming Strategies and Mechanics To Try

The following efficient farming mechanisms before Patch 0.2.0 can still be tried in Dawn of the Hunt league:

• Trial of Chaos Farming

This farming strategy provides high-value Soul Cores, such as Soul Core of Aszkapa, which can be worth multiple divines. This way has guaranteed profitability with Ultimatum Fragments and other valuable drops. It is a efficient runs that take only 12-15 minutes, netting multiple divines per hour.

• Ritual Farming
  

Ritual mechanics focus on farming Audience with the King and high-value omen drops. It requires proper Atlas tree investment to maximize ritual rewards. The best done once you have high rarity and quantity bonuses.

• Citadel Fragment Farming

Go to running Copper Citadels for multi-divine fragment drops, and using high waystone drop chance mods to increase fragment yields. The citadel farm strategy can provide consistent and high-value returns.

• Expedition Farming

The expedition farm strategy requires some investment but can yield high-value currency and logbooks. The way is dependent on luck, but one good drop can make a run highly profitable.

• Delirium Mapping

This method can provide good returns with Mirror of Delirium spawns. Not as reliable for consistent income.

• Essence Farming

Not as profitable due to low drop rates and limited demand. Only useful if combined with other mapping strategies.

• Gamble Farming (Vaal Orbs, Chance Orbs, etc.)

High risk, high reward. Can be a waste of currency without proper knowledge.

• Crafting and Flipping Items

At the early game of the new league, league, identifying valuable bases and crafting them into high-demand items. You are required to have market knowledge and patience, but it can be extremely profitable.

• Party Play Mapping

Running maps with a group can increase efficiency at any time.  Best suited for players who enjoy group play and want to scale profits.

• Selling Boss Carries

Early in the league, players will pay well for Trial of Sekchas and ascendancy carries. Not sustainable long-term but good early profit.

• Mapping Without a Plan

Running random maps without targeting specific mechanics. Leads to inconsistent currency gains.

• Trial of Sekchas Farming

Very hit-or-miss, requires significant time investment. Relies too much on RNG.

5. Currency Management – The Key to Wealth in PoE 2 Dawn of the Hunt

To maintain and grow your wealth, follow these essential currency management tips:

• Convert Currency Regularly: Avoid hoarding low-value orbs like Veil Orbs or Orbs of Alchemy. Convert them into Exalted Orbs and Divines early in the league. Keep track of market trends - divines often increase in value as the league progresses.

• Sell Items Quickly: Don't overprice items—sell them at competitive rates to keep your currency flowing. Holding onto non-meta gear for too long results in lost value.

• Flip Items and Currencies: Buying undervalued items and reselling them for a profit can be extremely lucrative. Keep an eye on high-demand items like Perfect Jeweler’s Orbs and Soul Cores.