Incursion Farming Guide

Introduction

Incursion is a farming strategy that is best used in combination with other strategies namely making an appearance in Delirium and Beyond strategies but is powerful enough that it can be run in any strategy or by itself. Most of the money you make from Incursion will be from selling Itemized temples with specific tier 3 rooms to other players. In this Incursion Farming guide you will learn how to maximize your loot, set the strategy up and optimize your play with essential tips and tricks.

Profitability

Incursions profitability is based on selling or running well itemized temples containing the following accessible rooms

• Apex of Ascension (Tier 3 Sacrificial Chamber)
• Wealth of The Vaal (Tier 3 Vault)
• Locus of Corruption (Tier 3 Corruption Chamber)
• Atlas of Worlds (Tier 3 Surveyor's Study)
• Doryani's Institute (Tier 3 Gemcutter's Workshop)
• Apex of Atzoatal (Final Boss Room)

Out of the rooms above sell any temple you create with the following rooms on them to other players prioritising pricing the temple around the most expensive connected rooms on it. If it has multiple high value rooms it may be worth even more. You can easily price temples using the Awakened PoE Trade Addon.

• Locus of Corruption (Tier 3 Corruption Chamber)
• Doryani's Institute (Tier 3 Gemcutter's Workshop)
• Apex of Ascension (Tier 3 Sacrificial Chamber)

Requirements

Incursion can be run in any tier of map with the same opportunity to build and sell the highest value rooms, it's also not hard for most builds and will only require a strong character when combined with mechanics such as Delirium or Beyond.

Incursion can be accessed through the use of Alva missions available on your map device, these are generated occasionally by slaying map bosses. This chance can be boosted by atlas passive points if desired. Alternatively the sextant modifier "map contains Alva" can be applied to a socketed Voidstone to achieve the same effect.

Incursion is a mechanic that is at its strongest when players begin crafting and corrupting end game gear. You should check the prices of temples containing Locus of Corruption and Doryani's Institute before committing to running it.

Gameplay

Incursion can be run on any map layout efficiently but is best on maps you can complete quickly or when it compliments another strategy you're running.

Here’s how to run Incursion maps:

1. Clear the map normally until you encounter Alva and her temporal Incursion.
2. Talk to Alva and check both room options for the high value room options mentioned above.
3. If there are no high value rooms you should upgrade the current room to the next tier by slaying the top architect.
4. After slaying the architect clear the rest of the incursion and socket Stones of passage that drop into doors.
5. If you finish early exit the incursion.
6. Repeat this for the remaining incursions on the map being sure not to miss any.

Atlas Passive Trees

Recommended Passives

Spend atlas passives on the mechanics and linked guides below. Add the allocated Incursion nodes to them cutting the non-essential points documented in the guides.

Eldritch Altars should always be run on all end game farming strategies so empowering your altar of choice (Eater of Worlds or Searing Exarch) is a necessity.

Alch and Go is a strategy that can be run from the very moment you enter the mapping end game and awards fantastic rewards for low time investment.

Delirium is a mechanic that works best when as many additional mechanics and monsters are added to the map as possible. Adding Incursion to this strategy will increase your earnings substantially.

Beyond is a highly profitable league mechanic to run and spawns additional beyond monsters within each of the incursions in your maps.

Enduring Focus is a passive you must allocate if you are rolling your own sextants, sacrifice non-core passives and modify the provided trees to fit it.

Set-Up

Map Choice

When farming Incursion, small maps that can be completed quickly are always preferred to maximize the temples you are building. Any layout map can be used, but the ones below are particularly well suited for Incursion.

• City Square/Mesa are considered the fastest and most linear maps in Path of Exile. They are  almost identical every time you run them, making them the top picks for speed mapping strategies. Being so small and fast to run means they don't have the best natural mob counts, making them difficult to sustain effectively without investment.

• Toxic Sewer is one of the best map layouts in Path of Exile, boasting a strong natural monster count for easy map sustain. It is one of the only linear indoor maps, making it a great choice for builds without a lot of AoE that still want to clear extremely fast.

• Ashen Wood  is a small open layout map with a good natural mob count and a very easy boss. It also drops The Scout Divination Card which adds additional profit to your farming sessions.

• Canyon is similar to Ashen Wood. It is a small open layout map with almost no terrain to obstruct your movement or league mechanics. This makes it easy to run and a great candidate for synergising with other leagues.

Materials

Rolling Maps

Rolling your maps correctly is essential for increasing your profits and sustaining the best map layouts.

When running Incursion in the early game, roll your maps using the following method:

1. Clean Your Maps - Ensure all of your maps are identified and then use an Orb of Scouring on all non-rare maps to make them all normal or rare.

1. Alchemy Orbs - Use Orbs of Alchemy on every non-rare map. Check their modifiers to ensure you can run them. Re-roll maps your character can not run using Orb of Scouring and Orb of Alchemy again.

When rolling tier 11+ maps roll your maps using the following method:

1. Clean Your Maps - Ensure all of your maps are identified and then use an Orb of Scouring on them. Make sure they are all normal rarity since achieving 20% quality on white maps requires significantly less with Cartographer's Chisels.

1. Chiseling - Use Cartographer's Chisels on all of your maps until each one is 20% quality.

1. Alchemy Orbs - Use Orbs of Alchemy on every 20% quality map and ensure you can run their modifiers. Re-roll maps your character can not run using Orb of Scouring and Orb of Alchemy again.

1. Vaal Orbs - Use Vaal Orbs on all of your appropriately rolled maps. Some maps may transform or receive new modifiers so ensure that you weed out any your build cannot run. On average, using Vaal Orbs on high tier maps is worth it.

Sextants

Incursion farming does not require any specific sextant modifiers, but if you do not have Alva missions available you can use the Awakened Sextant modifier that forces the mechanic into your maps.

When using Awakened Sextants you can also roll additional monster packs on all your available void stones to increase earnings and map sustain. Use Surveyor's Compass on valuable sextants you don't want to use so they can be sold.

Selling Your Temples

Here we will discuss the various temple rooms, why they are valuable and what kind of loot you can expect to get if you run them.

Doryani's Institute

Temples with the Doryani's Institute room can be used to "double corrupt" skill gems using the lapidary lens contained within. Double corrupting Gems is an incredibly valuable effect that is in high demand as players begin pushing their characters to the limit.

Due to how specific and valuable this room is it is almost always better to sell it to a player attempting to go for a perfectly corrupted skill gem, running them is not advised.

Apex of Atzoatal

The Apex of Atzoatal is a room present in every temple automatically that does not need to be upgraded but must be unlocked by placing Stones of Passage correctly to form a direct path to it. This room contains the final boss of the temple which has a chance to drop valuable vials that can be sold or used to earn profit when combined with the Apex of Ascension room. The vials that drop from the boss which should be sold or used are:

• Vial of Transcendence
• Vial of the Ritual
• Vial of the Ghost
• Vial of Summoning
• Vial of Sacrifice
• Vial of Fate
• Vial of Dominance
• Vial of Consequence
• Vial of Awakening

The Apex of Atzoatal is a room worth running if the temple contains another room of interest, however, by itself it is not worth the time investment and should be sold if possible.

Atlas of Worlds

The atlas of worlds is an incredibly lucrative room especially on high area level temples, it drops a large amount of maps, Cartographer's Chisels, Awakened Sextants and other assorted atlas related rewards.

If you create a temple containing the Atlas of Worlds and it does not have another room that is valuable to sell, you should run it yourself as quickly as possible.

Wealth of The Vaal

The Wealth of the Vaal room contains many currency chests that award a large quantity of drops, the room is rewarding early in a league or a character's progression, but loses some of its appeal compared to fully established farming strategies in the end game.

If you create a temple containing the Wealth of the Vaal and it does not have another room that is valuable to sell, you should run it yourself as quickly as possible if you deem the rewards worthwhile.

Apex of Ascension

The Apex of Ascension room can be used to transform incursion related uniques into vastly more powerful variants, this is done by placing a non-upgraded incursion item such as Tempered Flesh alongside the appropriate vial (in this case, the Vial of Transcendence) within the altar in the room. This creates the upgraded version Transcendent Flesh.

Transforming uniques in this way is a profitable endeavor but requires the user to purchase the base item and the vial, in addition to having access to the apex. You can undertake this task yourself when you build a temple containing this room or sell it to someone who is running Apexes themselves.

Locus of Corruption

Building temples containing the Locus of Corruption room is one of the most valuable parts of running incursion. This room contains an altar that allows the user to "double corrupt" any equipable item except flasks, if the corruption yields a desirable result this method can create some of the most powerful items in the game.

Temples with this room command the highest price, especially when players are looking to push their character's gear to higher levels after league start. Selling Locus Temples to other players is always the correct decision unless you are looking to gamble.

Optimizing

Speed Running Your Temple

Temples you create that do not contain the Locus of Corruption or Doryani's Institute but do contain some other high value rooms you're interested in should be run as fast as possible.

Most rooms in incursion temples contain no loot or inferior versions of league mechanics found in maps skip all but the following rooms and plot as fast a path as possible through your temple to maximise your rewards.

• Wealth of the Vaal (Currency)
• Apex of Ascension (Transform a Unique)
• Atlas of Worlds (Maps and Currency)
• Apex of Atzoatl (Vials)
• Museum of Artefacts (Currency and Items)

Orbs of Horizon

If you are struggling to sustain high tier maps with layouts for speed mapping and Incursion you can use Orbs of Horizons to transform maps you don't have a use for into good layouts.

Each tier of maps will transform into a specific set of map layouts which change each league. Use Orbs of Horizons on the following tiers of maps you don't have a use for to re-stock your map pool for Incursion.

Tier 16 - Toxic Sewer

Tier 15 - Dunes, Ashen Wood, Grotto

Tier 14 - Canyon, Underground Sea

Some of these maps are fantastic for Incursion while some are just mediocre, however using all of the recommended maps here will allow you to easily sustain a map pool early on in a league.

Summary

This guide explains:

• The low character and currency requirements of Incursion.
• The power of selling powerful temples to high end players after league start.
• How to run and make currency from the strategy.
• The essential atlas passives required for Incursion
• Fantastic accompanying strategies to pair with Incursion
• What temple rooms offer and whether to sell or run them

Credits

Written by Grimro.
Reviewed by Fyregrass.