Updated for Patch 3.23
Maps are the core element of the endgame, and as with all other items, there are Unique variants. Maps are run to gain loot and experience, so their tier, item Rarity, and Quantity are the most important aspects to have in mind. Quality and Quantity are improved alongside the number and type of modifiers. Unique maps have these numbers restricted if not fixed. Moreover, the passives from Atlas Skill Tree will not apply, and you cannot upgrade them with Scarabs, making them not as good as Rare Maps in almost any case.
Unique Maps are often run when looking for a specific reward or atlas progression. In almost all Unique maps one can, for example, drop the Monochrome Div Card which is quite good. Cortex and Replica Cortex can be a source of Bottled Faith, and Poorjoy's Asylum with its replica version are a great source of experience. The list we've put together should prompt you to explore the reason to run these maps if there even is one, and provide some tips on how to complete or survive it.
Maps | |
Maelström of Chaos - A circular map with Marveil inside of it that you will do once for the Atlas completion. There's no rare loot or anything else noteworthy in here. | |
Area has patches of Chilled Ground |
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Olmec's Sanctum - A map with four totems in its corners. Slay them to confront the one in the center next. There are no good reasons to do this map more than once. | |
(40-50)% more Monster Life |
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Hallowed Ground - It contains one main and four minor bosses in its corners - they have to be slain first, the main boss in the center is immune to damage otherwise. It grants a lot of experience which may make it worth running if your character's level is also low. It's not hard to kill. | |
Unique Boss drops 3 additional Maps |
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The Vinktar Square - You can craft it by combining four different Agnerod Staves at a vendor. This map too contains minor bosses in its corners with the main one residing in the center. It's not a difficult fight if your Lightning Resistance is capped. It's the only place where you can loot Vessel of Vinktar Flasks. | |
20% more Monster Life |
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The Coward's Trial - There are a lot of enemies there packed in a small space so it's efficient to run be it for the experience, high-level items, or the level-100 Unique item that drops from the final boss at the bottom. The area level grows as you descend, so it's one of the very few places with area levels of 85 and 86 if the original map is of tier 16. It's a rare and desirable map because of that. | |
Contains waves of Monsters |
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Pillars of Arun - The map requires the player to have a Movement Skill to progress, but it's also good to have some sort of a passive Life/ES Recovery mechanism (such as Regeneration or Life/ES gained on Hit/Block) to not get killed by monsters firing projectiles at you from within the large pillars with proximity shields, but that's not mandatory if your character is fast. The boss of this map is the only enemy that drops Gorgon's Gaze - a mediocre Helmet. | |
(60-100)% increased Experience gain |
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Replica Pillars of Arun - It has more monsters that deal more damage when compared to the original. It's a low-tier map so it's only useful to a low-level character to gain slightly more experience. We don't recommend running it. | |
(60-100)% increased Experience gain |
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The Beachhead - It contains Harbingers from which you can loot Currency Fragments - Ancient, Annulment, and Fracturing Shards are the most valuable ones. If lucky one can also obtain Mirror Shard, but we wouldn't run these maps with that idea in mind. The final Harbinger also drops item fragments that you can assemble into The Enmity Divine, The Fracturing Spinner, The Unshattered Will, The Tempest's Binding, The Rippling Thoughts, and The Flow Untethered. It's a great map to run for currency and experience, but having a juiced rare map is still better, especially during a league that encourages mapping. | |
Area contains 6 additional Harbingers |
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Infused Beachhead - A tier-16 Beachhead with more powerful monsters. The loot is better too - the Harbinger Scrolls are used to upgrade the above-mentioned items, and the possibility to drop The Endless Darkness Div Card is also a major upside. It's an expensive map that drops in Tier-15 Beachheads. | |
100% more Monster Life |
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Doryani's Machinarium - A rare item that drops only from the red Delve boss (making it very expensive). It's where you can acquire Doryani's Delusion Boots. You can fully customize them by selecting their base defense type, type of added damage, and type of Purity Aura. To complete the map you will need to push a payload and defeat the Apex Assembly boss. | |
(20-50)% increased Experience gain |
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The Twilight Temple - Find all 6 rooms with a square pressure plate in the middle; step on it to defeat the minor boss accompanied by a wave of enemies. If that's done, at the far end of the map, you're presented with a choice to fight either the sun or moon-themed boss and have a 100% chance to drop Vix Lunaris or Invictus Solaris Shields, depending on your choice. The Magna Ecliptis that you can create from combining both of these Shields at a vendor is quite good, and we recommend running this map two times if you want it. | |
Area has increased monster variety |
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The Putrid Cloister - It contains vexatious ranged enemies that fire rapid barrages of projectiles, accompanied by monsters with proximity shields. Be sure that you can close the gap quickly, have good Life/ES recovery or high Armour, or are hexproof in order to stand a better chance against these enemies. The boss drops a lot of Divination Cards. It's a great map to run, as some of them can be valuable. | |
Players are Cursed with Vulnerability |
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Death and Taxes - Reach the end of the map to spawn the boss, and lead it to the portal you've passed by. Defeat him, and repeat 3 more times. The boss grants a lot of Experience, but it takes too long to defeat it, so leveling conventionally is still better. | |
Unique Boss deals (30-35)% increased Damage |
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Acton's Nightmare - Find the pair of bosses and kill them both within 10 seconds after the first one dies. It shouldn't be hard, they're not particularly tanky. The burning Ground can be an obstacle if you rely only on ES Recharge as your Life Pool Recovery tool. There is little to no reason to run this map more than once. | |
Area has patches of Burning Ground |
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Hall of Grandmasters - Stay clear of that place. Exceedingly perilous, offers scant rewards. | |
Contains the Immortalised Grandmasters |
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Mao Kun - Find Fairgraves - he's usually on the opposite side of the entrance near a large rock, marked with the X on the map. You will then need to find and open 8 Booty Chests, they will appear when you're close to them. The final chest contains a killable boss that drops lots of currency. It's not a very profitable map as the chests are often hard to find. | |
(60-100)% increased Experience gain |
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Whakawairua Tuahu - The boss of this map can be hard to kill as it constantly teleports with Smoke Mine, conjures a Frost Wall, has a proximity shield, and cannot be Frozen in place. Try using some sort of large-radius DoT Skill or stay still and wait for an opportunity to kill it. The Map also increases Item Rarity and Quantity per Light Radius, but there's no sensible way to capitalize on that - it's not a good map to run. | |
Area contains many Totems |
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Altered Distant Memory - The boss of this map can drop the Magnum Opus Div Card, various Unique Herald-improving Rings, Mask of the Tribunal, Perepiteia Shield, or Storm's Gift. | |
25% increased Pack size |
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Augmented Distant Memory - The boss of this map can drop the Magnum Opus Div Card, various Unique Herald-improving Rings, Mask of the Tribunal, Perepiteia Shield, or Storm's Gift. | |
25% increased Pack size |
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Rewritten Distant Memory - The boss of this map can drop the Magnum Opus Div Card, various Unique Herald-improving Rings, Mask of the Tribunal, Perepiteia Shield, or Storm's Gift. | |
25% increased Pack size |
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Twisted Distant Memory - The boss of this map can drop the Magnum Opus Div Card, various Unique Herald-improving Rings, Mask of the Tribunal, Perepiteia Shield, or Storm's Gift. | |
25% increased Pack size |
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Cortex - One of the best Synthesised Maps - it contains Venarius that can drop Offering to the Serpent, Nebulis, Bottled Faith, or Garb of the Ephemeral. If you have the Memento Mori Atlas Keystone allocated, the area is much more challenging, but the boss can drop Rational Doctrine, Forgotten Reliquary Key, and some of the best triple-Synthesised base items in the game. | |
25% increased Pack size |
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Replica Cortex - It's better than the original Cortex - its monsters grant much more Experience and drop higher-level items. If you've allocated Memento Mori, the difference is negligible - it fixes the area level to 85. | |
25% increased Pack size |
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Poorjoy's Asylum - It's commonly run for its bonus Experience, as it's quite a large map with a lot of monsters, be it deadly ones. Be prepared to withstand Physical Hit Attacks and make yourself fast and hexproof to increase your chances of survival. The boss drops a bunch of rare items. | |
150% increased Experience gain |
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Replica Poorjoy's Asylum - It's similar to the original, but grants more Experience, and has more monsters causing powerful Critical Strikes. If you take reduced damage from Critical Strikes (by wearing The Brass Dome, for example), it's not a big deal. The main reason to run this map is more pronounced here, making it a more desirable map out of the two. | |
200% increased Experience gain |
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Caer Blaidd, Wolfpack's Den - Not much here, just some wolves that drop maps at the end. You can run it if you've ran out of maps or if you want The Cursed King Div Card, but that's rarely a good reason. | |
Unique Boss drops 4 additional Maps |
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Oba's Cursed Trove - It can drop high-level loot from the Strongboxes at the end because the area level increases as you delve deeper into the caverns. Some of these high-level bases can be moderately expensive, but most players will run The Coward's Trial if given a choice - it too can be a source of these items. You have 9 minutes to complete the map which is plenty of time. | |
Area has patches of desecrated ground |
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Vaults of Atziri - It contains some chests with loot, but there's rarely anything good there, and running it is often just a waste of time. The Atziri's Vessel has Vaal Fragments and Vaal Skill Gems, but these are very cheap. | |
Chests have (2500-3500)% increased Item Rarity |
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Untainted Paradise - It's only obtainable as a Kirac's Mission and it's the best map to gain more experience, given the map tier is adequate. The monsters are not as deadly as in Poorjoy's Asylum. | |
(300-400)% increased Experience gain |
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