Echoes of the Atlas: Atlas Passive Trees (2024)

Atlas Passive Trees

The Echoes of the Atlas expansion features entirely new ways to customize your atlas to your particular playstyle and wants.

GGG has added completely new passive trees to each of the regions on your Atlas, which you can unlock by following the new Maven storyline and beating her challenges throughout your Atlas progression.

These trees were condensed and changed with the 3.16 atlas rework, which will be the new norm going forward.

We will be covering the following topics on this page:

• Each individual Atlas Passive Tree and rating their passives.
• In-depth rundown on how to make the most out of the passive trees.
• Wherever applicable, we will also give softcore economy-related advice on how to best setup your Atlas passive tree to make raw currency gains.

Legend:

• Overpowered in every possible metric
• Must-Have, 99/100 times
• Great, regardless of build
• Acceptable, for all builds
• Meh, unless going for specific builds
• Bad, unless going for specific builds

In each of the sections that follows, we will look at the passives for a quadrant of the Atlas, ranking them by our current preferred order, and then breaking down why we feel each one is good or bad.

Haewark Hamlet

Recommended Order (Haewark Hamlet)

If the league features a cheap “Essence” Zana-mod on the Map Device:

1. Controlled Corruption
2. Amplified

Followed by the rest of the list below.

Generalist Mapper:

1. The Grove’s Call
2. Sacred Lands
3. Paid in Blood
4. Heart of the Grove
5. Seance – Use with Sextants!

Raw Currency/Master Focus:

1. The Grove’s Call
2. Sacred Lands
3. Test of Loyalty
4. Bribery
5. Heart of the Grove

Passive Breakdown (Haewark Hamlet)

• The Grove’s Call
  Areas have +10% chance to contain The Sacred Grove.

Absolutely fantastic 2-point wonder. Having an increased chance to access Harvest is a must-have for everyone in the game, regardless of SSF/HC/SC playstyles. Harvest crafting represents the easiest and most powerful way to enhance your items and power up your builds. If you aren’t interested in crafting, they can also be easily sold, by simply saving crafts in the Horticrafting Station. Despite the general opinion that Harvest isn’t as powerful as it used to be, it’s still unbelievably worthwhile to get often. 3.16 also makes the acquisition of good crafts a lot easier, as alchemy and chaos-style crafts were combined. This means you’ll be able to “chaos-spam” a lot more items than before, resulting in a big net-total increase to the worth of each Harvest you find.

• Heart of the Grove
  Harvest Bosses in Areas always drop a Sacred Blossom.
  Harvests in Areas have 10% chance for the unchosen Crop to not wilt.

Really good if you’re investing into Harvests in this area. The Sacred Blossom is generally worth a couple exalts in every league, so having a guaranteed way to acquire it, if the lucky Boss shows up, is very good. 10% chance to extra harvests is also nothing to sneeze at. Generally a great option, if you opt into Harvest.

• Bumper Crop
  The Sacred Grove in Areas contains an additional Harvest.

Generally kind of meh, compared to most other nodes in the area. It’s decent, but I personally wouldn’t choose this unless I’m comitting to hardcore farming Harvest specifically.

• Controlled Corruption or Controlled Corruption.
  Corrupting Imprisoned Monsters in Areas cannot release them.
  Areas contain an additional Essence.

Essences are unbelievably worthwhile, as they represent guaranteed high-tier rolls. Especially with the rise of defenses in the 3.16 patch, even more Essences than before have become meta. As a result, getting additional essences and being able to simply corrupt them whenever one feels like it, is super worthwhile. This is only a great node when Zana offers a cheap Essence mod for your Map Device however, as there are no Essence Scarabs or any other reliable way to FORCE Essences on your map. Taking this for 1 Essence per map is simply not worth it. If you take this node, make sure to run all your maps with that Essence Zana-Mod!

• Amplified or Amplified
  Essences found in Areas are a tier higher.

_Similar to the previous node, this one is only really worthwhile of Zana provides the Essence mod. However, in Leagues where she does, this node is insanely powerful, as it is applied when the map is created. This means that using Remnants of Corruption can increase the Essences by an additional tier. It provides a very reliable way to get high-tier Essences en-masse.
Super worthwhile and one of my personal favorite farming strategies throughout a league._

• Test of Loyalty
  Immortal Syndicate Members Executed in Areas have 100% chance to gain an additional Rank.

SUPER good node. The amount of currency you get from the Syndicate is directly proportional to the Rank of the members. As such, this essentially becomes a 100% increased currency gained node, as you get to T3 a lot more members a lot more quickly, vastly increasing your “clear” speed for each Syndicate run.

• Intelligence Gathering
  Completing Maps grants 10 Intelligence for a random Immortal Syndicate Safehouse.

Pretty bad option, as it can also be wasted on located Safehouses. It’s usually extremely easy to quickly locate Safehouses once your board is properly set up, so getting an extra 10 Intelligence per map (if it’s not wasted on a located one) is not really a great option.

• Bribery if Test of Loyalty is chosen as well
  Immortal Syndicate Members in Areas are 200% more likely to offer Bargains for Items. Immortal Syndicate Members in Areas drop 200% more Items when Bargained with for Items.

With the 3.14 changes to Veiled items, this might be a strong option for crafters. Worth to keep an eye on, to see how it progresses! 3.16 also made Veiled item crafts easier to acquire. This node is pretty great as it also applies to Currency Items they drop when bargained with.

• Escaped Experiment
  Areas have 50% chance to contain a rogue Metamorph.

Unbelievably dangerous, but also very rewarding. Absolutely not recommended for Hardcore characters. If your character is strong, this is fairly decent overall. The downsides are that you can’t really control what the Metamorph spawns with for it’s organs. You can’t really know if it will be a great loot explosion or drop absolutely nothing. Big hit-or-miss here.

• High Yield
  Metamorph Bosses which drop an Itemised Sample drop an additional one.
  You can assemble an additional Metamorph in Areas after the first is Dead.
  Metamorph Vat Meters in Areas require 50% less Power to fill.

Unfortunately this is still only rated at green, as GGG still hasn’t fixed the issue of maps often times only dropping 1 Organ of a particular type, thus making the 2nd part of the node entirely useless as you can’t assemble a Metamorph without a full-set. If this issue is ever addressed, this becomes a lightblue option instead.

• Finest Samples
  Metamorphs in Areas deal 15% more Damage.
  Metamorphs in Areas have 150% more Life.
  50% chance for Rewards from Metamorphs in Areas to be Doubled.

This is a great node for the Metamorph side of things. If you can guarantee Metamorphs on the maps in this area (Zana-Mod/Scarabs/Sextants) and you’re confident your build can handle the buffed Metamorphs, I highly recommend this one. With the mandatory “Escaped Experiment”, this essentially guarantees double loot from a Metamorph every map or so. Also has the chance for some absolutely bonkers-level loot explosions, with higher-tier scarabs and sextant setups!

• Sacred Lands
  +10% chance for Areas to contain Ritual Altars.

Flat 10% extra chance for Ritual to exist? Pretty awesome! Ritual has proven in the past few leagues, that it’s one of the best league mechanics when it comes to acquiring raw currency. As such, having a large additional chance to get it every map is awesome. Absolute must-have, as it’s only 2-points!

• Paid in Blood or Paid in Blood with sextants/hard focus
  Allows you to reroll Favours in Areas 2 additional times, while also granting 100% increased chance of Ritual Altars with Special Rewards.

If you’re intending for a hard-farm on Rituals, this is a must-have. If you aren’t, then it’s still fairly decent but not exactly the best you can get.

Glennach Cairns

Recommended Order (Glennach Cairns)

With “Legion” Zana-Mod:

1. Face to Face
2. (color:lightblue}High Value Target

Then follow the list below.

Generalist Mapper:

1. Scent of Blood
2. Per Diemon
3. Torn Veil
4. Underground Kingdom
5. Lightless Legion

Currency Focus:

1. Scent of Blood
2. Per Diemon
3. Resource Reallocation
4. Contested Development
5. Last option is free, depending on your playstyle and likes.

Passive Breakdown (Glennach Cairns)

• Scent of Blood
  Slaying Enemies close together in Areas has a 3% chance to attract monsters from Beyond.

Free Beyond on every map? Don’t mind if we do! Caution is advised, this WILL increase the difficulty of the maps. Not recommended for HC or Level 100 pushers.

• Torn Veil
  Powerful Beyond Demons require 1 fewer Portals to summon in Areas. Beyond Portals in Areas have 50% increased Merging Radius.

Fairly decent, especially with the free Beyond on every map thanks to the prerequisite Scent of Blood. Not anything crazy, however.

• Per Diemon
  Rare Beyond Demons in Areas have 25% chance to drop an additional Basic Currency Item.

Incredibly powerful for any player. “Basic Currency” refers to ALL currency items that are not league-specific (such as Splinters, etc.). Any modifiers that essentially guarantee additional currency drops is always a must-have for all Path of Exile players.

• Face to Face
  Legion Encounters in Areas are 100% more likely to include a General. Legion Encounters with a General in Areas have both Generals.

Fairly decent node altogether, as it will increase your per-map currency gains. Always a solid choice, but not the best thing on the tree.

• High Value Targets
  Legions in Areas contain 3 additional Sergeants. Legion Sergeants in Areas have a 25% chance to hold a reward.

REALLY GOOD. Having a guarantee of 3 additional Sergeants per Legion is a huge increase in overall gain. Turns into a solid Purple Tier Option when combined with the other Legion-related nodes on the tree and you intend on hard-running Gilded Legion Scarab‘s in this region.

• Protracted Battle
  Legion Encounters in Area have 50% increased Duration.
  Legion Monsters in Areas take 50% increased Damage while in Stasis.

Very “meh” node, unless you can’t reliably clear Legions. This becomes fairly decent if you hard-run Legions here with Gilded Legion Scarab, as it will guarantee that you won’t miss out on any of the rewards you invested into.

• Resource Reallocation
  Killing non-resident Architects in Areas has 50% chance to add an additional Upgrade Tier to the surviving Architect’s Room.

Actually really good, but suffers slightly: No guarantee/increased chance for Alva in the Tree. Heavily relies on player-input (master missions) to be worthwhile.

• Contested Development
  Killing resident Architects in Areas adds their Upgrade Tier to the surviving Architect’s Room.

SUPER GOOD. This will allow you to quickly get T3 rooms in your Temple, with ease. Absolutely amazing if you intend on running tons of Alva’s in the area. Same downsides as Resource Reallocation, however.

• Time Dilation
  Incursions in Areas have 33% chance for all Monsters to be at least Magic.
  Time gained from kills is Doubled for Incursions in Areas.

Decent by itself, but nothing to write home about. If properly setup with the Beyond mods and potential Delirium Orbs, this can easily become top-tier, as the MASSIVE amount of magic monsters gives a huge amount of EXP and league-mechanic credit.

• Total Anarchy
  Areas have a 10% chance to contain 20 additional Rogue Exiles.

Never considered this good and still don’t think it’s worth to take. There might be some weird use-cases where this becomes useful, but in my opinion, it isn’t a great choice. It proccs to rarely and has little to no impact when it does procc.

• Rogue Trader
  Wild Rogue Exiles in Areas have 50% chance to have additional Rewards.
  Rogue Exiles have 100% more Maximum Life.

Only reason why the previous node might be taken. This one has the chance to be fairly decent if you get lucky on the reward rolls. Generally don’t recommend it, however.

• Underground Kingdom
  Areas have 1% chance to contain an Abyss per 2% increased Pack Size.
  Abysses in Areas have 100% increased chance to lead to an Abyssal Depths.
  Abyssal Depths in Areas have 100% increased chance to contain a Lich.

It’s fairly okay, but nothing great. Stygian Vises are still considered some of the best belt-bases in the game, but they’re so readily available nowadays that specifically farming them with Abyss has become nearly worthless.

• Lightless Legion
  Abyssal Depths in Areas have +3 to Monsters Level, 100% more magic and rare Monsters and 50% increased Pack Size.

If you consider farming Abyss however, you have to pick this one up. It will make your efforts a lot more worthwhile, as iLvL86+ Stygian Vises are the crafting-bases of choice. It’ll also let you collect some decent-ish experience points in the Depths, tho that’s more of a side-benefit.

• Abyssal Army
  Abyss Monsters in Areas grant 50% increased Experience.
  Abysses in Area spawn 100% increased Monsters.

Fairly bad, but can have it’s uses if you like to use Abyss to “juice” your maps. Gets slightly better if Zana offers the “Abyss” mod on your map-device, as it can really sky-rocket your Monster Quantity and Map Sustain early in a league.

Valdo’s Rest

Recommended Order (Valdo’s Rest)

Assuming that Zana offers the “Ambush” mod on your Map Device:

1. Twice Tempted
2. Tamper-Proof

These two are INSANELY good early-on in a league. But make sure to only fully commit to them if Zana has a cheap Ambush option on-offer, or you can acquire copious amounts of Ambush scarabs early on.
After that, or if the above mentioned mod is not available, follow the list below:

General Mapper:

1. Guarded Hoards
2. Ominous Arrival
3. Diplomatic Escort
4. Spores in the Wind
5. Last option is free, depending on your playstyle and likes.

Heavy Sextant/Watchstone Investment:

1. Ominous Arrival
2. Diplomatic Escort
3. Spores in the Wind
4. Epidemiology with Zana-Mod
5. Last option is free, depending on your playstyle and likes.

Passive Breakdown (Valdo’s Rest)

• Spores in the Wind
  Maps found in Areas have 5% chance to have an “Area contains and addtional Blight Encounter” Enchantment Modifier.

Blight is a highly profitable league mechanic, especially with the Uber-Endgame added in 3.16, so the 5% for ANY map to drop with extra Blight stuff on it, is hugely valuable. Only way this would be better is if the map dropped would be Blighted itself, but can’t really ask for everything in one node!

• Immune Response
  Blight Encounters in Areas spawn 100% more non-Unique Monsters. Blight Monsters in Areas spawn 150% faster.

Pretty meh node, especially with the amazing choices in the rest of the tree. Only really worthwhile if you hard-farm your blighted maps and blight-enchanted maps in this area. Even then, you’d probably be better off with something else entirely.

• Epidemiology with Zana-Mod OR Epidemiology without
  Blight Chests in Areas have 100% more chance to contain Blighted Maps.
  Lanes of Blight Encounters in Areas have 35% chance for an additional Reward Chest.

_Fantastic follow-up to Spores in the Wind and makes that node extra juicy, if you run a lot of maps in this area. Blighted Maps will be at an all-time premium in 3.16 and will likely retain a large portion of that value in later seasons as well, due to the Uber-Endgame additions featured with 3.16.
As a result, having a doubled chance to receive Blighted Maps per chest is extremely worthwhile._

• Guarded Hoards
  Voltaxic Sulphite Veins and Chests in Areas have 10% chance to contain double Sulphite.
  Sulphite Veins and Chests in Areas are guarded by Sulphite-hoarding Monsters.

This node used to be 2 distinct nodes, but they have now been combined in 3.16. It’s an absolute must-have for anyone running maps in this area. Delve has received a fairly massive rework in the 3.16 update, which makes Sulphite more valuable than it’s ever been before, so getting tons of extra free Sulphite to delve with, is top-tier.

• Packed with Energy
  +1% to all maximum Elemental Resistances, 35% increased damage and 15% increased movement speed for each Voltaxic Sulphite Vein or Chest found in Areas.

_Unless your entire playstyle revolves around delving, and thus leading to you simply speed-running maps for the Sulphite gains, this node is nearly entirely useless. It only does things if there’s already a Niko-mission on the map, while giving absolutely no meta-progression or currency whatsoever.
Do NOT take, unless you know what you’re doing._

• Sulphite Infusion
  White/Yellow/Red Tier maps grant 200/350/500 additional Voltaxic Sulphite on Completion respectively.

Pretty decent node, but really lacks impact past the first 100-150 depths in Delve, as even the 500 Sulphite per map is absolutely not enough to sustain any Delving whatsoever. Good for early league, but should be switched out past the first week or so.

• Twice Tempted with Ambush Zana-Mod OR Twice Tempted without.
  Areas contain an additional Stronbox. Strongboxes opened in Areas have 10% chance to be openable again.

One of the best passives in the entire Atlas, if coupled with the corresponding Zana-Mod and follow-up node. Ridiculously worthwhile early on in a league and keeps it’s worth for a long time in a league. If you don’t know if you’ll invest into any particular league-mechanic for this area, simply take this node and the follow-up to it and you’ll be golden!

• Tamper-Proof with Ambush Zana-Mod OR Tamper-Proof without.
  Strongboxes in Areas are Corrupted and at least Rare quality.

As mentioned on the previous node, these two together are an absolute power-house, if coupled with the Zana “Ambush” mod. Even without it, they’re great nodes to invest in, as free Strongboxes are never bad. They grant extra Monster Density/Quantity for your maps and can spawn as Diviners or Map Boxes, which can be highly valuable in higher-tier maps.

• Ominous Arrival
  Areas contain an extra Harbinger.

Pretty meh, but it’s free loot and map sustain, so it’s not bad. If you heavily invest into Sextants and Watchstones, you can squeeze this one out to be a bit more valuable. I’d not consider it a top-tier option however, as it doesn’t provide enough by itself.

• Diplomatic Escort
  Harbingers in Areas have 30% chance to be replaced by a powerful Harbinger boss.

Not as amazing as in 3.13, but still a solid choice, all things considered. More loot = More better.

• Persecutory Delusion
  Delirium Encounters in Areas are 100% more likely to spawn Unique Bosses.
  Delirium Bosses in Areas drop 100% increased Simulacrum Splinters and have 100% increased chance to drop Unique Cluster Jewels.

By itself fairly mediocre at best. If you run a ton of Delirium Orb’ed maps, it’s of course a lot better. Generally I’d advise avoiding this one tho, as it really doesn’t add much overall.

• The Singular Eternity
  Delirium Fog in Areas dissipates 25% slower and lasts 10 additional seconds before dissipating.

Pretty bad, unless you require the additional time to clear maps. Generally a terrible option for the amount of investment required, however. Only take if absolutely necessary and you don’t want any other nodes on the tree.

• Greater Forces
  Delirium in Areas increases 50% faster with distance from the mirror.

The best of the Delirium nodes in this area. The faster the Delirium rises, the more rewards you can earn. Only choose if your character can handle high-level Delirium, however, as the difficulty will spike a lot earlier than you’re used to!

Lira Arthain

Recommended Order (Lira Arthain)

Assuming that Zana offers the “Breach” mod on your Map Device:

1. Gatekeepers
2. Flash Breach

These two are INSANELY good early-on in a league. But make sure to only fully commit to them if Zana has a cheap Breach option on-offer, or you can acquire copious amounts of Breach scarabs early on.
After that, or if the above mentioned mod is not available, follow the list below:

Generalist Mapper:

1. Secret Stash
2. Inside Job
3. Distinguished Demolitionist
4. Buried Knowledge
5. Last option is free, depending on your playstyle and likes.

Currency Focus:

1. Gatekeepers
2. Flash Breach
3. Secret Stash
4. Inside Job
5. Within Their Grasp

Passive Breakdown (Lira Arthain)

• Tresspassers
  Areas contain additional Invasion bosses.

Pretty terrible. Doesn’t really do anything for anyone. Avoid.

• Exotic Goods
  Invasion Bosses in Areas drop 1 additional “valuable” item.

Sometimes it can drop a 6L or similar, but considering the amount of investment and drop rate, highly recommend staying away from it.

• Gatekeepers
  Breaches in Areas have 100% increased chance to contain a Boss.
  Breach Bosses in Areas drop double Breach Splinters and have a 5% chance to drop a Breachstone.

Nothing to write home about, but also nothing insanely amazing. If you run a lot of Breaches, it adds quite a lot of unexpected value and some nice “oh snap!” moments when you get the lucky Breachstone drop.

• Flash Breach
  Breaches in Areas have 30% increased Area of Effect and Monster density. Breaches in Areas open and close 50% faster.

Having received a massive nerf in 3.16 (removal of 10 guaranteed rares), it still represents a fairly decent node for Breach farmers. The opening speed is a large speed increase for overall map completion.

• Within Their Grasp
  Breach Bosses Defeated in Areas have 5% chance to drop a Breachstone.
  Breachstones dropped by Bosses in Areas have a 9%/3%/1% to be Charged/Enriched/Pure respectively.

Not fantastic by any means, as the overall chance to receive good Breachstones here is fairly low. For a Pure Breachstone of ANY kind, the odds are 1/100 kills. To get a particularly useful one, such as Uul-Netol or Chayula, the chances go down further. Great for Breach farmers, not recommended for anyone else.

• Big Game
  Red Beasts in Areas have 15% chance to appear in Pairs.
  Yellow Beasts in Areas have 15% chance to be replaced with Red Beasts.

If you intend on running tons of Einhar, probably worth taking, but only because the follow-up nodes are fantastic. This node in itself is VERY mediocre. Generally avoid it if possible.

• Natural Selection
  Beasts in Areas are more likely to be less common varieties.

100% must-have for any Beast farmers. There is NOTHING else in the game that influences the rarity of the Beasts provided by Einhar. If you couple this node with some Gilded Bestiary Scarab, you will easily be able to SWIM in amazing Beasts/Crafts.

• Great Migration
  Areas with Einhar Missions have 10% chance to contain additional packs of Beasts instead of other Monsters.

Rarely proccs, but when it does, this one absolutely SLAPS. Coupled with the other Einhar nodes in the area, it can really fill your Menagerie in no-time.

• Secret Stash
  Areas have 10% additional chance to contain a Smuggler’s Cache.

Getting more Smuggler’s Caches is ALWAYS an upside. Even if you dislike Heist, you can easily sell good contracts for dozens of chaos each!

• Inside Job
  Blueprints that drop in Areas have 10% chance to be fully Revealed. Smuggler’s Caches in Areas have 100% increased chance to drop Blueprints.

Blueprints being fully Revealed is unbelievably strong. It is equivalent to getting 40-50c worth of coins dropped. Absolute must-have in this Region for anyone running maps of any kind.

• Distinguished Demolitionist
  35% increased Explosive Radius in Areas and 20% increased number of Explosives in Areas.

With no way to guarantee more spawns in this Area and not featuring any Master Missions, this’ll be a tough sale. Not a fantastic node but if you are heavy into Expedition, you have to take it to get the follow-up nodes, so there’s no real way around it.

• Buried Knowledge
  50% increased Quantity of Expedition Logbooks dropped by Runic Monsters in Areas.
  Areas contain 25% increased number of Runic Monster Markers.

This one’s the one you wanna go for if you’re heavily farming Expedition, as Logbooks are really what you’re after. Getting more Runic Monster Markers is also an exponentional increase to your chances to get Logbooks, as Remnants can vastly increased the Quantity of their drops.

• Acnient Writings
  Remnants in Areas have 40% chance to have additional Suffix Modifier. Expeditions in Areas have +2 Remnants.

Decent and should be taken if you’re heavily farming Expedition, but outside of that, I don’t see it being that worthwhile.

Uncharted Realms

Mapping Builds/League Start – Recommended Order (Uncharted Realms)

1. Adept Tracker
2. Remnants of the Past
3. Enduring Influence
4. Secrets of the Stones
5. Last 2 options are free, depending on the build. For bossers, you want Thaumaturgical Awakening, for everyone else you’ll want Neural Pathways

Bossing-specific Builds – Recommended Order (Uncharted Realms)

1. Adept Tracker
2. Thaumaturgical Awakening
3. Atlas Awakened
4. Remnants of the Past
5. Guardian’s Aid
6. Gaze into the Abyss

Passive Breakdown (Uncharted Realms)

• Adept Tracker
  25% chance on completing a Map influenced by a Conqueror of the Atlas to gain double progress towards locating their Citadel

Absolutely top-tier for early-league, as this will drastically accelerate your watchstone progression speed. Continues to stay fairly relevant for Boss farmers and Mappers alike. With the 3.16 changes it’s not AS important anymore, but still really good.

• Atlas Awakened
  +1 to Awakening Level

Very solid choice. This is roughly equivalent to 13-14% more Atlas Awakening bonus. Very good all-rounder, but not as drastically game-changing as other nodes.

• Thaumaturgical Awakening
  Sirus, Awakener of Worlds has 50% increased chance to drop an Awakened Support Gem

Insane for any Sirus-farmer or general bossing build and becomes a Purple Tier Node instead. Awakened Support Gems are worth a ton, so this will add a metric ton of profit to each of your runs. Must-have for bossers, others will probably ignore it, however.

• Close Allies
  Gain 1 additional Atlas Mission from each Master each day. Areas have +7% chance to grant an Atlas Mission on Completion

Solid choice all-around. Especially good if you’re farming Jun or Alva missions. Great 1-point wonder to take if you got nothing else to invest into, can’t go wrong with free stuff, after all!

• Enduring Influence
  Sextant Modifiers have 1 additional use

As everyone should be using Sextants on their Red-Tier maps at all times, this is an absolutely HUGE value node, that should be taken fairly early on, to save on some sextant costs. This stays top-tier throughout the league.

• Remnants of the Past
  Unique Bosses have 3% chance to drop a Shaper Guardian Map (Tier 14+). Unique Bosses have 3% chance to drop an Elder Guardian Map (Tier 14+)

Stupidly profitable AND it stacks with the Awakening Bonus too! Must-have for pretty much all builds, as the additional profit is just too good to pass up.

• Gaze into the Abyss
  The Elder has +10% chance to drop a Watcher’s Eye. The Shaper drops 3 additional Shaper Items

Fairly mediocre all around for most builds. The iLvL 86+ Shaper items are fairly popular in Ultimatum League and the +10% watcher’s eye dropchance is about a 33% more multiplier, making this a Purple Tier Node for all Bossing-focused characters, instead.

• Guardian’s Aid
  Shaper and Elder Guardians are healed and joined by an ally on first reaching 33% Life. Allies have a chance to drop their Unique Items and Fragments

Another one of those “if you’re strong enough, it’s god-tier, if not, stay away.” nodes. If you’re strong enough to handle 2 guardians, this is a must-have. If you’re struggling with 1 already, don’t touch it!

• Neural Pathways
  )

Solid free profit. It comes out to roughly 2-3 extra chaos worth of value per map, overall. Not bad at all, but definitely one of the last points you should consider.

• Vivid Memories
  100% increased effect of Additional Modifiers on Unique Synthesis Maps. Monsters in Synthesis Maps have 1% chance to drop Synthesised Items

Unless you’re going for a full-on Synthesis farming build, this is a straight up bad node. Even Synthesis farmers might benefit more from other nodes, alltogether….

• Synthetic Source
  Unique Bosses of Synthesis Maps drop a well-rolled Fractured Item. Synthesised Unique Items dropped in Areas have 3 Synthesised Implicit Modifiers

Better than the previous option, but still definitely not a must-have. For Synthesis farmers, this can be a huge lottery ticket, as the dropped items can be anywhere from vendor-trash to mirror-tier.

• Secrets of the Stones
  25% increased Effect of Watchstone Modifiers

Freakishly overpowered. Once you’ve acquired a couple of craftable Watchstones, this becomes a must-have for EVERYONE except Bossing-specific characters. Absolutely broken node.

• Master of the Atlas
  Areas have 5% chance to grant an additional Zana Mission on Completion.

Nerfed in 3.14, so not really that powerful anymore. Probably better to just opt into Close Allies instead.

• Paths not Taken
  Zana Missions in Areas have double the Base number of Map options. Zana Missions in Areas have additional Maps that can appear in the Map options

Nerfed in 3.14 as well as less Synthesis Map options appear overall. This will still provide a 100% increase in chances, but it’s a gamble nontheless.

• Echoes of War
  Zana Missions in Areas have up to 30 additional packs of Shaper and Elder monsters

Actually fantastic. If you plan to run any amount of Zana Missions, this is kind of a must-have. Great for farming Harvests in combination with Paths not Taken.

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