This comprehensive guide explores the absolute best farming strategy in Path of Exile 2: juicing Grand Expeditions. It is worth noting that this strategy is exceptionally challenging. I will detail several methods to effectively lower the difficulty. Furthermore, given the significant buffs to the Expedition mechanic, it would not be surprising if GGG decided to nerf it in the future. Currently, Expedition vastly outperforms any other endgame content.
This guide primarily focuses on how to juice Aldur's Saga. This process differs slightly from juicing regular Grand Expedition maps. Your build must be incredibly powerful to tackle these maps. I strongly recommend having a Headhunter-equipped character at the very least. This represents the absolute hardest content in the game right now. However, not every single map will be impossible. The vast majority of maps are manageable, but certain maps become completely insane, with rare monsters auto-attacking for 15,000 damage. Additionally, you absolutely need excellent ailment protection against freeze and chill. The Spirit of the Ox passive is a fantastic way to gain both ailment immunity and slow reduction simultaneously. This is an extremely high-skill and knowledge-intensive mechanic. Entering blindly will inevitably result in poor profits.
Tablet Setup
For maximum profit, use 3x Irradiated Tablets. You want three tablets with the modifier "Map has 2 additional random map modifiers." Combine this with Monster Effect or an increased number of Rare monsters. Item Rarity is acceptable, but strictly worse than the previous two options. Three-modifier tablets are expensive, but they are ideal for your Giga Aldur's Saga maps containing all seven runes. Personally, I would not pay more than approximately 10 Divine Orbs for a single tablet.
For a cheaper and easier approach, look for Increased Number of Rares, Monster Effect, or Monster Rarity. Aim to get two out of these three modifiers. This setup yields slightly worse loot and creates easier maps, but the tablets are significantly cheaper. Utilize these on non-Aldur's Saga maps.
Waystone Setup
Eight-modifier Waystones appear to be the absolute best for maximizing loot. Aim for the highest possible Monster Effect. Monster Rarity is also quite potent; general Item Rarity is merely okay, and Pack Size is largely ineffective. Tier 16 Waystones can be excellent, but they are quite expensive and ultimately unnecessary. You easily reach area level 81 with Tier 15 maps during Grand Expeditions. This means you will still reliably drop item level 82 exceptional bases. The cheapest option is to craft your own 70% effect Waystones with six modifiers and then corrupt them afterwards.
Atlas and Master Selection
For the Atlas Master, Jado is the top recommendation. Prioritize the following nodes: Unexpected Missions, Eastern Knowledge, Partial Translations, and Kjeen Appraisal. Doryani is also a viable alternative, but I personally achieved greater success running Jado. Regarding biome preference, Desert is statistically the best, but Forest offers a much easier layout to navigate.
Understanding Aldur's Saga
Ideally, you should use Aldur's Saga on four rumors that do not contain a boss or a special event. Boss fights and unique maps consume your precious Expedition encounters. When utilized correctly, you can almost entirely self-sustain your supply of Aldur's Saga, although this does involve a degree of RNG. As a helpful trick, you can move items around in your inventory to check if your next logbook contains four or more rumors.
Unique Maps and Boss Rumors
Several rumors indicate specific boss encounters or unique maps. Stardrinker, Origin of the Fall, The Last to Fall, and End of the Circle are all Boss Encounters. All That Glitters, Reflective Waters, Almost Paradise, A Good Fellow, and Fallen Skies are Unique Maps. Refer to dedicated community spreadsheets for a full list of rumors. Generally speaking, I do not care about map layouts; my sole focus is maximizing the number of Aldur's Saga maps.
Fallen Skies and Stardrinker
Fallen Skies is arguably the single best unique map in this rotation. Running it guarantees an Aldur's Saga drop. Currently, you can utilize a Visions of Paradise atlas node to run this specific map twice back-to-back. Stardrinker will spawn Uthred, who drops a quest item exclusively for the Runeseeker's Call. This item is worth a staggering 900 Divine Orbs, but it can only drop once per character. It is perfectly fine to run this if you are traveling and actively searching for high-quality Aldur's Saga rumors.
Executing a Grand Expedition with Aldur's Saga
Your primary objective is straightforward: pick up the highest value purple runes and proliferate them into combinations of seven or more runes. This mechanic requires an immense amount of Expedition practice to master. Essentially, at the very beginning of the Expedition, you do not strictly care if your initial rune combinations are only four to six. You want to secure as many high-value runes as possible. Towards the very end, you want a plethora of seven-plus rune combinations for maximum loot output. However, there is a tremendous amount of nuance involved in this decision-making process. One rune stands far above the rest: Opulent. Without the Opulent rune, my loot quality is substantially worse. Consequently, I usually rush towards this rune immediately if it appears on the map. Keep in mind that on maps featuring five, six, or seven runes, you should reroll aggressively because your baseline outcome can never be truly bad. As a general rule, always keep seven-plus rune combinations if they appear near the end. Conversely, always reroll five-rune combinations at the very start if they lack any high-value purple runes.
Rune Tier List
- SS Tier: Opulent. Note that if you manage to create an eight or nine-rune combination at the very end containing Opulent, you can safely end the run there even if you have no remaining proliferation runes left.
- S Tier: Power, Death, Bond, and Oath.
- A Tier: Time and Rebirth. Note that Rebirth is the only blue rune present on this tier list.
- B Tier: The remainder of the purple runes. These are not critically important, and you can almost always reroll them if you are sitting at three to five runes.
- C Tier: The remainder of the blue runes.
Conclusion
To recap, while this farm demands a significant investment in both gear and mechanical skill, the raw currency returns are unmatched in the current PoE 2 economy. Master the rune combinations, respect the difficulty, and you’ll find yourself swimming in wealth before the inevitable nerf hammer falls. Special thanks to Fubgun for his insightful video on this topic.
