Have you completed the Atlas, faced some of the hardest Bosses in the Endgame and don't know what to do now? Well, you're in luck, this is the article for you!
Every 3 months a new League releases. Those Leagues bring new content and new ways to play the game that often get implemented into the core game after. Over 10 years, these shaped Path of Exile's endgame into a complicated mess, so let's break down some of the activities you could specialize in and find one that fits your build!
Note: How worthwhile any of these activities are fluctuates HEAVILY over time and depends on many factors!
Maps
This is the default Endgame Activity that most people engage with in Path of Exile.
Maps are endgame zones with tons of monsters to kill and many different League Mechanics to conquer.
There are a plethora of different Mapping Strategies, fueled by the Atlas Passive Tree and the huge amount of customization the Map Device enables:
- Alch-and-Go is a style of Mapping where you complete Maps as fast as possible while leveraging Boss completions and repeating certain League Mechanics over and over.
- Map "Juicing" is where you invest heavily into the Maps to pump up the monster count, items dropped and overall rewards. This is usually done by abusing Delirium. Combine that with as many different League Mechanics as you can through Fragments and Scarabs to enter mob-slaying heaven!
- Tier 17 Maps offer a more challenging experience where you fight some of Wraeclast's strongest foes.
- Regular Tier 17 Maps are penultimate content where you farm Uber Boss keys. Each Tier 17 Map has its own theme, monsters and ends with a Unique boss like Catarina, or the Unbreakable.
- Valdo's Tier 17 Maps are challenges which reward you with a Unique Items. Read the modifiers carefully! Dying in a Voided Valdo's Map leads to the permanent loss of your character (even in Softcore).
- Anything in Between. Mapping is not static, there are dozens new Strategies that emerge every league!
Builds that excel at Mapping usually have high Movement Speed paired with great coverage (Area of Effect, high number of Projectiles).
If you want to know about the most interesting Mapping Strategies, visit our Currency Section!
Bossing
Means farming certain Bosses repeatedly, most often for specific, extremely rare and expensive Unique Items. There are more Bosses in the game than one can count, but let's talk about some of the more commonly farmed ones:
- Bosses: in Path of Exile's pinnacle encounters you face off against dangerous foes to obtain Unique rewards. Bosses require keys earned through completing other content, or through trading. Place these fragments within the map device to enter the Boss arena.
- Uber Bosses: There are currently 7 of them in the Game. These are significantly harder versions of older Path of Exile Bosses, each Uber boss is accessed via keys farmed in Tier 17 Maps.
- Invitations: There are currently 7 different Inviations in the game. Invitations are Maven Encounters where you fight multiple Endgame Bosses at once.
- Boss-Carries: This means killing Bosses for somebody else and getting paid for it. That could be to complete someone's Challenges or simply unlocking a Voidstone or Favoured Slot from a Boss they can't handle.
Builds that excel at Bossing usually have extremely high single target damage and if needed high defensive Stats.
There are a lot more Bosses to specialize in, which is why you should check out our Boss Guides here.
Heist
Heist is a League Mechanic that was added in 3.12 that asks you to recover (which is a fancy word for "steal") certain items in Dungeons called Contracts or Blueprints.
To help you out, you can hire Rogues that follow you into the Dungeons and help you get through certain obstacles. You can fully equip these Rogues with specialized gear.
Builds that excel at Heist usually have extremely high Movement Speed and decent Defenses. Damage usually takes a backseat as you don't need to kill many enemies in Heist Dungeons.
Labyrinth
Labyrinth ("Lab") is a Dungeon filled with traps that every build has to do 4 times in order to acquire its Ascendancy Points.
It can also be an Endgame Activity, since the Transfigured Gems and Gem modification rewards you receive at the end of Labyrinths are incredibly valuable. Lab-Farmers use Gift to the Goddess to get multiple chances at Gem rewards.
Builds that excel at Labyrinth have absurd amounts of Movement Speed or Attack Speed paired with Movement Skills. The rest is just a bonus.
Delve
In Delve, you explore the Azurite Mine, which is an infinitely generated Dungeon that gets progressively harder.
You access it by traveling to the Mine Encampment on your World Map. You first need Sulphite, which is a non-tradeable resource that depletes whenever you progress your Mine. Depending on your strategy, you then travel from one node to another, either going deeper (progressively harder) or sideways (same difficulty).
Delving is a niche activity that needs highly specialized builds and game knowledge to get the most out of.
Simulacrum
The Simulacrum is an endgame Encounter spawning 30 Waves. During these waves, you face hordes of monsters, slowing effects, and eventually 2 Bosses. At the end of each Wave you get rewards depending on how fast you completed it and how far you progressed. Going into the later Waves, this is some of the hardest content the game has to offer and therefore not suited for low-investment builds like Leaguestarters.
Builds that excel at farming Simulacrums are usually expensive Allrounder Characters with very high damage and survivability. Movement Speed is not important because you don't need to move much during the encounter.
If you want to know more about Delirium, check out our guide.
Uber Blight
Uber Blight takes the tower defense mechanics and implements it into Path of Exile's action based-gameplay.
Enemies spawn in lanes, which multiply over time, with nasty Bosses at the end. You need to build towers, change your strategy, and prepare your build to complete this difficult encounter. Once you survive the horde of monsters, you're rewarded with some of the highest item level gear in the game and a chance at the super rare Stranglegasp.
Builds that excel at Uber Blights are usually Minion Builds and other builds that cover a huge amount of ground to avoid being overwhelmed.
Crafting
Crafting is an absurdly rewarding Endgame Activity in Path of Exile, but also incredibly skill-intensive. The premise is simple: craft gear and sell it to other players. Not only do you need to know everything about a 10-year history of Crafting, you also need to understand the current Metagame. If you don't know what people are playing, you can't make gear for them.
If you are on top of your craft (got it?) you can make perfect Rare Items and let other people copy them with a Mirror of Kalandra, which is called a "Mirror Service".
Want to know more about the basics of Crafting? Check out our Guides here.
Playing the Economy
Are you an overzealous Economics student who's tired of actually playing the game? Well you're in luck, since Path of Exile has a big market to explore and exploit!
There are plenty of ways to make Currency without having to ever kill a monsters:
- Flipping-Currency: This means you buy up large amounts of Currencies and sell them for a slightly higher price. You are once again competing with Bots and your margins are slim, but it's an easy side-activity for crafters and everyone else standing in their hideout a lot.
- Bulk-Selling: There is a huge demand for buying big amounts of something at once (bulk). This is because the Trading System of Path of Exile is tedious and the difference of having to trade 20 players vs 1 is huge. Every bit of time you save can be converted into playing more and making more Currency. Smart Traders are aware of this and buy up small amounts of certain Crafting Materials or Mapping Fragments and then resell them in larger amounts. This way they can charge more, because whoever buys it saves a ton of time in the process.
There are a lot more niche things when it comes to playing the market, so keep an eye out!
If you want an entry into Trading, check out our article here.
Summary
There are a plethora of Endgame Activities in Path of Exile, here are some of them:
- Maps: The default way to play Path of Exile. Your goal is to kill monsters in a zone and a boss at the end.
- Bossing: Killing difficult endgame Bosses to earn extremely powerful Unique Items in return.
- Heist: Stealing rare artifacts with the help of your Rogue Companions.
- Labyrinth: A dungeon filled with traps that enables you to farm strong enchantments for your items.
- Delve: An infinitely generated endgame dungeon that gets progressively harder, with increasing rewards.
- Simulacrum: A 30-wave encounter with monsters and bosses to kill.
- Uber-Blight: A Tower Defense mini-game incorporated into Path of Exile.
- Crafting: Earns you Currency by leveraging your game-knowledge to craft items for other players.
- Playing the Market: If you can save players trading-time, they will pay extra!
Credits
Written by Palsteron
Reviewed by Raxxanterax.