Atlas of Worlds

This page is about the game mechanic. For the expansion, see Atlas of Worlds (expansion).

File:Atlas of Worlds redrawn.jpg

The fully explored Atlas

The Atlas of Worlds is Path of Exile's end-game map system. The Atlas is a series of linked maps that players can progress through after completing a quest for Zana, Master Cartographer.

Overview

The Atlas of Worlds is a visualisation of the dream worlds that are opened by activating maps, how these worlds are linked and the way they progress towards the centre. The Atlas is separated in four quadrants which can be entered through a tier 1 map, one in each corner of the Atlas. These tier 1 maps start dropping in Act 8. When the player progresses through the maps, their tiers - and difficulty - will increase.

The Atlas also displays areas influenced by the Shaper. Shaper-influenced areas are more difficult and can contain unique enemies, but have a chance to drop a Shaper item, which can contain affixes not found in any other items. After clearing the a Tier 6+ Shaper-influenced map, Elder-influenced areas will begin to spawn. These areas can drop Elder items, which have their own unique affixes. When the Elder's influence is large enough, it spawns the Elder Guardians and the Elder in maps within the area.

Completion

All maps, both base maps and unique maps, are located on the Atlas of Worlds. Map drops are not completely random; instead a specific tier is chosen first and the map type is chosen from pool of maps completed for that tier or connected to the map the player is currently playing.

Each completed map base type also gives a 1% chance to upgrade the tier of a map, with values over 100% giving a chance to increase the tier a second time. The maximum map tier however can not bypass drop restrictions, even if it would have been upgraded.

For example, a rare monster in a tier 6 map with 125% completion bonus:

• a rare monster can drop +1 maps, as such it can drop tier 1 to 7 maps
• it will only drop maps that are adjacent or already unlocked on the atlas
• a tier 5 drop would be upgraded to tier 6, with a 25% chance to be upgraded to tier 7
• a tier 6 drop would be upgraded to tier 7, but can't be upgraded any further
• a tier 7 is already the highest possible drop, and can't be upgraded any further

Untainted ParadiseUntainted Paradise
Tropical Island MapMap Level: 70
Map Tier: 3(300-400)% increased Experience gain
Area has increased monster variety
Area is inhabited by wild Animals
Monsters drop no ItemsFor this beauty,
beauty without strength,
chokes out life.Activate a Map to begin Kirac's Mission., The Perandus ManorThe Perandus Manor
Chateau MapMap Level: 72
Map Tier: 5
Guild Character: ™
Item Quantity: +(60-100)%
Item Rarity: +(200-300)%(100-150)% increased Experience gain
(200-300)% increased number of Rare Monsters
(30-40)% more Monster Life
(16-24)% increased Monster Damage
Area contains Cadiro PerandusForget kings and emperors;
He who holds the coin holds all the power.Travel to this Map by using it in a personal Map Device. Maps can only be used once., and The Beachhead do not count towards Atlas completion.

Currency

• Shaper's Orbs are awarded for completing an Elder-influenced map that contains a Memory Fragment. They can be used to upgrade a map into a "Shaped" map to drop which are 5 tiers higher than their regular counterpart
• Cartographer's Sextants allow applying a special modifier to map, which applies its stats in a radius to other nearby maps. Those stats can be stacked, but a mod is used up after 3 uses
• Unshaping Orbs can be used to unshape a map.
• Cartographer's Seals "uncomplete" a map.

Shaping maps

Main page: Shaper's Orb

Obtaining Shaper's Orbs

Players acquire Shaper's Orbs by collecting Memory Fragments and giving them to Zana. Memory Fragments are found by killing the bosses of Elder-influenced maps circled in purple on the Atlas. To acquire the final five Memory Fragments, you must defeat the four Elder Guardians with the Elder occupying a red-tier map, then defeat the Elder.

Memory Fragment	Found in map tier	Shaper's Orb	Notes
I (1)	6	Tier 1
II (2)	7	Tier 2
III (3)	8	Tier 3
IV (4)	9	Tier 4
V (5)	10	Tier 5
VI (6)	11	Tier 6
VII (7)	12	Tier 7
VIII (8)	13	Tier 8, #1
X (10)	14	Tier 9, #1
XIII (13)	15	Tier 10, #1
IX (9)	red Elder	Tier 8, #2	Occupied by the Enslaver. Map opened/owned by you.
XI (11)	red Elder	Tier 9, #2	Occupied by the Eradicator. Map opened/owned by you.
XII (12)	red Elder	Tier 9, #3	Occupied by the Constrictor. Map opened/owned by you.
XIV (14)	red Elder	Tier 10, #2	Occupied by the Purifier. Map opened/owned by you.
XV (15)	red	Tier 10, #3	Occupied by the Elder. Map opened/owned by you. The Shaper must be kept alive.

• The more common memory fragment is always given first, e.g. completing a T13 map with an Elder Guardian before completing a T13 Elder-influenced map will drop fragment 8 (VIII) instead of the Guardian specific fragment.
• Memory fragments are collected in the Book of Memories at The Templar Laboratory (Epilogue). The page numbers correspond to the fragment numbers in the table above.
• Please note that the quest tracker simply displays the amount of memory fragments you've found so far, it does not tell you the (roman) memory fragment number you will find next. The fragments are numbered based on the Shaper's Orb they result in, which does not correspond to the order you find the fragments in. In particular, if you've only collected the ten fragments from Elder-influence, you have collected fragments number 1-8, 10 and 13, and the quest tracker will show 10/15.

Spending Shaper's Orbs

Shaper's Orbs are used to upgrade lower tier maps whose layout or bosses a player may find accessible but whose drops and experience gains wouldn't otherwise be attractive. A Shaper's Orb grants +5 to the tier of those maps, i.e. increases the difficulty. Subsequently that increases the experience gained from slain monsters and item level of their drops. Note that Shaper's Orbs don't add Increased Item Rarity or Increased Item Quantity to that map. Unique maps can't be shaped.

Shaping a map can be undone using an Unshaping OrbUnshaping OrbStack Size: 10Downgrades a map on the AtlasRight click this item then left click a shaped map on the atlas to downgrade it. You can then earn the Shaper's Orb again to reshape another map afterwards. which is obtained by vendoring 20 Cartographer's ChiselsCartographer's ChiselStack Size: 20Improves the quality of a mapRight click this item then left click a map to apply it. Has greater effect on lower-rarity maps. The maximum quality is 20%. and 5 Orbs of RegretOrb of RegretStack Size: 40Grants a passive skill refund pointRight click on this item to use it.. Once unshaped, players can talk to Zana to re-obtain the Shaper's Orb.

End of league transfer

When the current league ends the progress on the Atlas of Worlds is transferred to the relevant parent league. The parent league is generally Standard or Hardcore.

The merge has the following rules:

• Maps or bonus objectives completed transferred to the parent league
• Cartographer's Sextant mods:
  • They will be moved to the parent league; if the map already has a mod, the parent league mods will be kept
  • Legacy modifiers continue to exist and work as long they have not been overridden
• Shaped maps will carry over if the equivalent level Shaper's Orb hasn't been used on parent league; if you already shaped a map of the tier the parent league takes preference
• Shaper's Orbs:
  • If a specific level has already been used in the parent league, it will be removed from the character's inventory
  • If you have the same in both parent league and temporary league, both Shaper's Orbs will be removed when you use either

Legacy Maps

Pre-3.1

If you complete a map that was created before the War for the Atlas expansion, it will complete a chain of maps from the start pointing on the Atlas up until the tier of map you completed. Shaped and Elder items do not drop on these maps. Elder Guardians also cannot spawn from them.

Pre-Atlas

Non-unique pre-Atlas maps from prior to Version 2.5.0 do not count towards Atlas completion, even for maps where the map type and tier are identical to the current version. Older versions of unique maps will count towards Atlas completion, including the bonus objective, but the Shaper's Orb does not drop in old versions (affecting , , and ).

External links

• Online interactive Atlas map

Version history

Version	Changes
2.4.0	Introduced to the game.