Path of Exile: Siege of the Atlas Details and Starter Builds for 3.17 Archnemesis

“Sirus is dead. Zana has chosen exile. But the Atlas of Worlds remains a beacon for Eldritch horrors. We imprisoned the Elder. We placated the Maven. We’ve been preparing for the arrival of another. But we never expected for. They embody insatiable hunger, crushing darkness, searing flame, merciless wrath. If we don’t stop them, they will consume everything. This is a war for our very existence! They are here. Stand with us or we will all perish.”

Exiles, prepare yourselves – Path of Exile: Siege of the Atlas arrives next week, bringing the most significant endgame overhaul since the Conquerors expansion. Grinding Gear Games has just revealed comprehensive details about this game-changing update, and we’re breaking down everything you need to know about both Siege of the Atlas and the accompanying Archnemesis challenge league.

To help you gear up quickly for the new content, we’ve expanded our PoE currency services specifically for Archnemesis. Now let’s dive into what makes this expansion so transformative for the endgame experience.

Siege of the Atlas Story and Threat Overview

In this critical expansion, you’ll enlist with Kirac’s militia to scout the Atlas frontlines for emerging threats. After encountering the Maven, you’ll discover that two additional Eldritch Horrors comparable to her or The Elder are approaching the Atlas. However, unlike the Maven’s observational nature, these entities are driven by pure consumption – they intend to devour everything in their path. Your mission becomes clear: understand these cosmic threats and prevent them from annihilating Wraeclast entirely.

New Pinnacle Boss Encounters

Siege of the Atlas introduces The Searing Exarch and The Eater of Worlds, representing the most formidable adversaries Wraeclast has ever faced. The path to confronting them requires navigating numerous influenced maps and defeating their powerful lieutenants, The Black Star and The Infinite Hunger, each offering valuable rewards for successful completion.

Voidstones: The New Endgame Progression System

The previous Atlas system required Watchstones for both unlocking new maps and elevating map tiers across your Atlas. In Siege of the Atlas, Watchstones have been completely removed, with previously hidden maps restored to the base Atlas for immediate access. The power previously locked behind craftable Watchstones has been integrated into the new Atlas Passives, preserving essential benefits while eliminating tedious management.

Despite retiring Watchstones, the development team recognized the value of tier elevation mechanics. This led to the introduction of Voidstones – you can acquire up to four of these powerful artifacts from Uber Elder, The Maven, The Searing Exarch, and The Eater of Worlds. Positioning Voidstones within your Atlas systematically increases all map tiers, eventually creating a uniformly Tier 16 endgame environment.

The Unified Atlas Passive Tree

Siege of the Atlas eliminates the concept of Atlas regions entirely, replacing the previous Regional Atlas Passive Trees with a single comprehensive tree containing over 600 selectable passives. You’ll earn 117 Atlas Passive Skill Points by completing bonus objectives on different maps, with each unique map completion granting one skill point.

Beyond incorporating the most effective skills from regional trees, the developers have designed numerous entirely new options that empower you to customize your risk-reward balance for Atlas content.

Favoured Map System Enhancements

The Favoured Map System enables targeted farming of your preferred maps. Favoured map slots unlock through various achievements like completing Tier 16 Maps or defeating Elder Guardians, with 12 total slots available for optimization.

Sextants and Voidstone Integration

Sextants become available from Tier 14 onward and now apply to Voidstones instead of individual maps. When utilized on a Voidstone, the effect encompasses your entire Atlas, creating more strategic gameplay opportunities.

Your current Simple and Prime Sextants will automatically convert to Awakened Sextants at launch. The team has reintroduced this functionality through a new currency item called the Surveyor’s Compass, which drops periodically and can be purchased from Kirac for 1 Chaos Orb.

Eldritch Implicit Modifiers: Advanced Item Customization

Every major Path of Exile expansion introduces innovative methods for creating powerful items. Siege of the Atlas brings Eldritch Implicit Modifiers – a sophisticated endgame crafting mechanic where The Searing Exarch and The Eater of Worlds each provide distinct modifier sets that can be applied to items using Eldritch Embers and Eldritch Ichor respectively.

Although this process replaces existing implicit modifiers, it’s possible to maintain both Eldritch modifier types simultaneously on a single item.

The Orb of Conflict enables manipulation of modifier tiers within the available six-tier system. When applied, this orb randomly elevates one modifier’s tier while reducing the other’s tier. The newly introduced Eldritch Chaos Orb, Eldritch Exalted Orb, and Eldritch Orb of Annulment can adjust prefixes or suffixes based on which Eldritch entity has dominance on the item.

Expanded Unique Item Roster

This expansion delivers an entire collection of new unique items dropping from the four introduced Atlas bosses. These include Ashes of the Stars Onyx Amulet, Dissolution of the Flesh Prismatic Jewel, Polaric Devastation Opal Ring, and Ceaseless Feast Spiked Gloves.

Additionally, the developers are introducing Forbidden Flame and Forbidden Flesh – exceptionally rare aspirational unique jewels that must function together to unlock their full potential, opening numerous advanced build possibilities for endgame characters.

Kirac’s New Role and Mission Structure

With Zana’s departure, you might wonder about the fate of her Atlas missions. Kirac now assumes command, though the system operates differently under his leadership as Commander with critical missions for Atlas exploration.

You access these missions through your map device similarly to before. However, you won’t encounter Kirac within maps themselves, nor can you apply Kirac objectives directly to specific maps.

Consequently, the developers have increased the probability of receiving Kirac Atlas Objectives upon defeating map bosses.

Kirac missions now emphasize reward acquisition over completion metrics, designed to provide supplementary league content or additional item drops.

These missions now incorporate diverse content including Conquerors, Ritual Encounters, Expedition Encounters, and even Monstrous Treasure – the former prophecy that transforms areas to contain 24-36 extra strongboxes without natural monster populations.

The Archnemesis Challenge League

Archnemesis revitalizes rare monster encounters through approximately 60 new monster modifiers, allowing customized boss fights with controlled risk-reward ratios. These modifiers combine across over 35 recipes to generate progressively more powerful and rewarding modifications.

Recommended Builds for League Start

Game Balance Updates and Build Archetype Buffs

Siege of the Atlas focuses balance improvements on two commonly underperforming gameplay styles: hit-damage bow characters and hand-casting spellcasters.

While including typical adjustments for overperforming builds, the majority of changes constitute buffs rather than nerfs. The objective ensures players utilizing hit-damage bow builds and hand-casting spellcasters achieve significantly enhanced competitiveness.

Specialized Storage Solutions

Alongside Siege of the Atlas, we’re introducing two specialized stash tabs: Flask Stash Tab and Gem Stash Tab. A beneficial side effect enables setting regular tabs with affinity for Flasks or Gems regardless of specialized tab ownership.

The Gem Stash Tab facilitates organized storage for up to 500 skill and support gems. Default display shows all stored gems, with four category filters (Red, Green, Blue, White) and dropdown sorting options including Current Gem Level, Required Level, or Quality for efficient retrieval.

The Flask Stash Tab accommodates 500 Flasks with filtering capabilities for Life, Mana, Hybrid, Utility, and Unique flasks. The dropdown modifies sort order between item level, base type, and quality, enabling quick identification of specific flask types, vendor conversion candidates for glassblower’s baubles, or high item level flasks for advanced crafting.

Crucially, even without purchasing these specialized tabs, you maintain the ability to configure affinities for gems or flasks on existing stash tabs.

Launch Boss Kill Competitive Event

Concurrent with Siege of the Atlas launch, the developers are hosting a competitive event where participants race to achieve first kills against The Maven, The Searing Exarch, and The Eater of Worlds within the hardcore solo self-found Archnemesis league. Significant prizes await the victors – monitor official announcements next week for detailed event mechanics and reward structures.

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