Will Apep’s Supremacy Bring Something New To Your Build In POE 3.24?
In this guide, we’ll talk about a forgotten unique item, Apep’s Supremacy. We’ll discuss the mechanics of this item and look at any synergies or interesting use cases they might have, especially given the many trend-changing or new unique items that have been added to the game recently.
Apep’s Supremacy is a unique shield introduced in Incursion League, located within Temple of Atzoatl, and is a combination of the predecessor unique Apep’s Slumber on Altar of Sacrifice, as well as Vial of Awakening.
This shield has unique modifiers that allow you to take physical damage from chaos damage instead of bleeding, while requiring you to be poisoned to benefit from its maximum resistance. This set of modifiers, along with Tainted Pact and other POE items, has some interesting potential.
This unique shield is exclusively dropped from a chest in Toxic Grove, a level 3 room in Temple of Atzoatl. Apep’s Slumber is a prerequisite to unlock it, and the other component, Vial of Awakening, can be dropped from the last boss of Temple.
Modifiers
Let’s first look at the modifiers on Apep’s Supremacy. We have a flat added damage modifier that adds (50-55) to (72-80) Chaos Damage. This is equivalent to a level 9 or 10 Added Chaos Damage Support.
Then there’s a very large flat energy shield modifier that adds 130 to 150 maximum energy shield. With a good base energy shield roll and 30% quality, you can actually get up to 280 energy shield from Apep’s Supremacy, which is pretty good. In addition, you also get 30% to 50% Energy Shield Recharge.
Chaos Damage From Bleeding
Now let's look at the special modifier on this shield that makes you take chaos damage instead of physical damage from bleeding.
Bleeding is a Damaging Ailment that deals physical damage over time, and is generally considered the most dangerous Damaging Ailment in the game. Bleeding deals 70% of the base damage of the blow that inflicted the ailment every second for five seconds, at least from the perspective of the monster that inflicted it on the player. But when the target is moving, the damage dealt is tripled to 210% per second.
Many characters will choose to use Soul of Ralakesh Pantheon Power to make Bleeding less dangerous. It essentially subverts the bleed mechanics so that it deals less damage to you when you move.
But now, Apep’s Supremacy will make you take Chaos damage instead of physical damage whenever you have Bleeding. The immediate synergy here is Chaos Inoculation Keystone, which sets your maximum health to 1 and makes you immune to Chaos damage.
By combining this Keystone with Apep’s Supremacy, you’ll be able to effectively ignore Bleeding. Sure, you may still be affected by Bleeding, but it won’t do any damage to you.
The modifiers on Apep’s Supremacy don’t just apply to Chaos Inoculation. In fact, it’s so strong that it can also be used on standard setups with capped Chaos Resistance. Because the vast majority of builds won’t have a lot of extra physical damage reduction to help mitigate damage from bleeding.
Apep’s Supremacy vs Soul Of Ralakesh
Next, let’s compare the modifiers for a character using Apep’s Supremacy to a character using Soul of Ralakesh Pantheon Power.
A character using Apep’s Supremacy takes extra damage from bleeding while moving. So they take 210% of the damage from hitting per second while moving. While stationary, they take 70% of the damage from hitting per second with Chaos Resistance at 75%. So they actually take 52.5% of the damage from hitting per second while moving, and only 17.5% of the damage from hitting per second while stationary.
Meanwhile, a character with Soul of Ralakesh doesn’t take the extra damage from bleeding while moving, and they take 25% less damage from bleeding while moving. So in this comparison, they’re actually taking 52.5% of the damage dealt per second while moving, and 70% of the damage dealt per second while stationary.
You can see that a character using Apep’s Supremacy with Chaos Resistance capped takes the same amount of bleeding damage as a character using Soul of Ralakesh while moving. But they take much less damage while stationary.
But one thing to note here is that Soul of Ralakesh reduces all physical damage you take by 25% while moving, not just bleeding. So it can be used to protect against physical damage from other sources as well.
Something else that might be useful is that the modifier on Apep’s Supremacy lets you take Chaos damage. But physical damage from bleeding is not actually a damage modifier taken. This interaction happens before damage modifiers taken are calculated. This means that technically, you can still shift that portion of damage to another damage type.
Slow Down The Expiry Time Of Poison
Now, there’s another potential use case for this modifier, and it takes advantage of another unique item, Tainted Pact Amulet.
Before discussing this synergy, however, we should first look at the other modifiers on Apep’s Supremacy plus the 25% Poison Chance. This modifier will give all incoming physical or chaos damage a chance to poison you.
The added Max Resistance modifier will increase all resistances, including Chaos Resistance, as long as you are poisoned. Meanwhile, Poison Expiry Rate modifier will effectively double the duration of poisons on you by slowing down the expiry time by 50%.
This differs from Poison or Ailment Duration modifiers, which are technically a multiplier of the poison duration, but do not actually increase the duration of the poison. This modifier stacks with other sources of slow expiry rate effects, up to a maximum of 75% slower expiry rate.
Tainted Pact Amulet
Now it’s time to discuss the aforementioned Tainted Pact. This unique amulet will make chaos damage heal you over time while leeching life.
Poison itself deals chaos damage over time and bleeds will also make you take chaos damage over time instead of physical damage. This is thanks to Apep’s Supremacy, and this combination of mechanics will allow you to potentially self-inflict ailment, which actually heals you instead of hurting you.
Now the interesting thing about Tainted Pact is that the healing benefit gained from Chaos Damage over time is actually based on the damage mitigated, i.e. the damage you take from the source of Chaos Damage over time.
This creates an interesting balance after it’s been mitigated by things like Chaos Resistance. You want your Chaos Resistance to be high enough so that you don’t die immediately from Chaos Strike Damage, but low enough so that you benefit from the healing over time from Chaos Damage.
However, using Tainted Pact does have one very important prerequisite. For the healing to work, you must keep leeching life until unreserved life fills up. You will need a way to maintain life leech.
You can get this effect from some non-Ascendancy mechanics. For example, the Immortal Ambition Keystone can grant this modifier. To keep you from ever reaching full health, you can also use Petrified Blood and make sure you don’t have 50% or more of your life remaining so that the life leech effect isn’t removed at 50% of the maximum recoverable amount of life.
Divine Flesh
Finally, I’ll mention Divine Flesh because you might want to use this Keystone with Apep’s Supremacy.
But if you plan on playing a build with a capped Chaos Resistance, I recommend only using Tainted Pact and Divine Flesh in this setup. Because this Keystone turns 50% of elemental damage into chaos damage.
If you choose lower chaos resistance to ensure you get a lot of healing over time from chaos damage, you will inevitably die from the upcoming elemental blows. But without Tainted Pact, using this Keystone with Apep’s Supremacy and focusing on scaling your chaos resistance and other means of chaos damage mitigation is a powerful combination.
Is Apep’s Supremacy Still Worth Using?
So why isn’t Apep’s Supremacy used more often? Honestly, I think this shield is seriously underrated right now.
But that being said, it has competitors like Saffell’s Frame, which provides an extra 1% max resistance compared to Apep’s Supremacy and doesn’t require prerequisites like Poison.
In fact, the need for Poison prerequisite is the biggest downside to this shield. Because it requires an investment elsewhere to really be effective and also makes it less reliable as a defensive mechanic.
So if you’re using a shield and taking advantage of other synergistic mechanics at the same time, it makes sense to really lean into this mechanic.
That’s it for our in-depth discussion of all the mechanics of Apep’s Supremacy. Hopefully, this guide will shed some new light on this for you!
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Just yesterday, marking the critical one-week milestone since the official launch of Path of Exile 3.29, the studio released Patch 3.29.1, the first major update for Curse of the Allflame league.
To be honest, the arrival of 3.29.1 was expected to be a pivotal turning point for the current expansion, delivering the comprehensive adjustments players had long awaited regarding rewards, combat density, and the overall gameplay experience.
In reality, however, while the patch introduced useful quality-of-life (QoL) features and targeted enhancements for specific systems, it left a significant portion of the player base deeply dissatisfied. By seemingly overlooking core feedback and failing to resolve issues stemming from newly introduced mechanics, the update ultimately proved underwhelming and even disappointing.
Notable QoL Optimizations and Mercenary Improvements
Fair is fair: Patch 3.29.1 was not without its highlights. Ducat, a brand-new currency type first introduced in patch 3.29, has been well-received by many players. This update also introduces a new Ducat: UKatoa's Ducat.
Ukatoa's Ducat allows players to convert the implicit modifier on a non-unique amulet into any other Eldritch implicit modifier. This offers an exciting and highly valuable option for players dedicated to build theorycrafting and Allflame crafting.
Beyond the new Ducat enhancement, Patch 3.29.1 included various minor fixes and refinements designed to smooth out the day-to-day gameplay experience.
Most notably, the developers implemented substantial improvements to Mercenary system; Mercenaries below level 83 received significant boosts to both damage output and overall survivability. For Luminary players who previously struggled with Mercenary support, this means a much smoother progression through the early and mid-game stages.
Furthermore, to reduce the tedious grind involved in min-maxing builds, the developers added a base utility skill slot for mercenaries in Patch 3.29.1 and increased the spawn rate of Infamous Mercenaries in Tier 16 maps by 50%. For players tackling endgame content, acquiring a top-tier mercenary companion is now significantly easier than before.
The core issue remains: the disappointing drop rate of Abyss mechanic
Despite the welcome quality-of-life improvements mentioned above, the player base's overall reception of Patch 3.29.1 remains overwhelmingly negative due to how Abyss mechanic was handled.
As is well known, Abyss mechanic was originally introduced from Path of Exile 2 and was once a fan-favorite feature; however, the version implemented in PoE 1 suffers from a severe lack of rewards.
Prior to the release of Patch 3.29.1, the developers explicitly acknowledged that Abyss content was underperforming in terms of combat density, gameplay experience, and rewards, promising major adjustments within a few days.
Unfortunately, the actual adjustments fell far short of expectations. They attempted to address the reward issue merely by tweaking Abyssal chests: reducing the frequency and quantity of low-tier item drops, improving the quality and quantity of rewards from specific chests, and buffing Greater Abyssal Chests to yield small amounts of Chaos Orbs and Scarabs.
While the experience of opening chests has improved slightly, this stopgap measure completely ignores the most critical problem: Abyss monsters themselves drop almost nothing.
Abyss monsters in PoE 3.29 appear to be affected by an extreme negative loot multiplier. Even in a heavily enhanced T16.5 map (with over 200% item quantity bonus, nearly 200% item rarity bonus, high pack size, and additional currency drop multiplier), the drops on the ground are minimal after activating Abyss Scarab of Crystals and spawning hundreds of magic monsters.
When a high-investment map spawns hordes of monsters yet fails to yield even a basic crafting currency item like an Orb of Alteration, it indicates that the issue isn't merely about low drop rates or poor quality; rather, there is a fundamental flaw in the drop mechanics, one that simple adjustments to chest rewards cannot fix.
A Regression in Loot Drop Patterns
This phenomenon has reignited strong community dissatisfaction regarding the balance between rewards from specific locations or chests versus rewards from killing monsters.
In fact, back in PoE 3.28, many players had already expressed strong discontent with the status quo where the vast majority of valuable loot was locked inside static chests rather than dropping dynamically from slain monsters. If everyone is simply farming POE currency through treasure hunting, what is the point of putting in the effort to level up characters, optimize builds, and conquer endgame bosses?
Fortunately, the developers recognized this flaw at the time and took proactive measures in Patch 3.28 to restore the base drop rates of orbs from ordinary monsters.
However, they have failed to carry this approach over to Curse of the Allflame league; while Patch 3.29.1 buffs Abyssal chests, it keeps the monster drop multiplier at zero, a worrying regression.
This forces players back into a rigid spot-based farming style: slaughtering waves of monsters yields no substantial rewards, while all valuable loot is strictly gated behind the moment one clicks a chest at the end of an encounter. This disconnect undermines the core satisfaction of boss-like challenges, as defeating large numbers of dangerous enemies ought to be the primary means of obtaining rewards.
Conclusion
Ultimately, while Path of Exile Patch 3.29.1 introduces some quality-of-life improvements and enhancements to the mercenary mechanics, it fails to deliver a satisfactory experience regarding Abyss gameplay loop.
Clearly, the developers have ignored the core issue of Abyss monster drop rates, opting instead to fall back on a reliance on chest rewards in an attempt to mask the problem, thereby rendering a potentially compelling mechanic fundamentally flawed and unrewarding, much to the disappointment of players who enjoyed the original, fluid gameplay experience of Abyss.
Unless the developers open up channels of communication and directly address the issue of base monster drop rates, Abyss content will remain a missed opportunity, leaving players with little incentive to engage with a feature that was intended to be a highlight of the expansion.
Have you noticed that a new in-game jewel called Reclaimed Malignance was released alongside Path of Exile 3.29? This amazing jewel doesn't affect your Passive Skill Tree; instead, it directly alters your Ascendancy passives, preventing you from running out of mana during high-damage output.
Acquisition and Crafting
To obtain Reclaimed Malignance in PoE 3.29, players can't rely on in-game drops. You must first collect four smaller Abyss jewels: Baleful Dominion, Destructive Aspiration, Festering Vengeance, and Extinguishing Grasp.
Sacrifice these four jewels on an altar to craft Reclaimed Malignance.
Many players are already using this jewel, but its high price reflects its effectiveness.
Below, we'll explain how to use Reclaimed Malignance and why it's so useful.
Ascendancy Notable Replacement Mechanism
The biggest difference between Reclaimed Malignance and regular Timeless Jewel is that while regular Timeless Jewels affect core Keystones within a certain range on Passive Skill Tree, this one is different.
After inserting a Reclaimed Malignance into a jewel slot, the core Keystones on Passive Skill Tree remain unchanged.
For example, if you already have Eternal Youth keystone passive skill selected, it won't change at all.
However, if you open Ascendancy panel, you'll find that one of Ascendancy Notables has been replaced. Reclaimed Malignance directly affects your Ascendancy Notable, not Passive Skill Tree.
Available Replacement Options
In Patch 3.29, depending on the jewel's seed number and your class, Reclaimed Malignance will replace one of four Ascendancy Notables with one of the following: Sanguine Bargain, Spiteful Allies, Ephemeral Bolts, or From Below.
Ephemeral Bolts are quite interesting; they limit the maximum flight distance of your projectiles to five meters, stopping once it reaches that distance.
Skills like Fireball or Kinetic Blast, which explode upon stopping, essentially create a wall in front of your character, unleashing a burst of shotgun damage with considerable burst potential.
However, the skill most worthy of our attention is From Below, as it holds immense potential in Path of Exile.
From Below Mechanism and Application
This Ascendancy passive skill allows you to cast spells even when you don't have enough Mana, without getting stuck, but at the cost of completely preventing Mana Regeneration.
Your first reaction might be that this is awkward: without Mana, your character is doomed. But the brilliance of From Below lies in the fact that since you can cast spells even with insufficient Mana, you can simply use all your Mana to activate auras, allowing you to spam spells without saving Mana, maximizing the use of this mechanic.
Another advantage is that all map affixes related to Reduced Recovery are completely irrelevant to you, since there's no Mana Regeneration to begin with. Therefore, any affix won't affect your map selection, making it very easy.
Additionally, From Below can be used in conjunction with Righteous Fire of Arcane Devotion to replace Righteous Fire.
The regular Righteous Fire adds 39% more Spell Damage, but this version adds 25% More Cast Speed, which can reach 27% with higher quality.
Previously, Righteous Fire of Arcane Devotion would continuously consume Mana, but now even Mana is empty, so whether it consumes Mana or not makes no difference - it's like getting a huge amount of free Cast Speed.
Higher Cast Speed not only increases damage output but also significantly speeds up teleportation skills like Frost Blink, greatly improving your map movement in PoE 3.29.
Furthermore, players no longer need to agonize over whether to choose Eldritch Battery + Mind Over Matter strategy, saving many points and eliminating concerns about Energy Shield-related affixes.
Even more practically, if you're using Headhunter, with a large amount of Soul Eater buffs boosting Cast Speed, your character's Mana would inevitably be insufficient.
But now that Reclaimed Malignance has replaced From Below for you, you don't need to worry about it at all. You can keep casting skills no matter how many Soul Eater characters you stack.
Limitations of Reclaimed Malignance
However, besides the advantages mentioned above, this Reclaimed Malignance also has its inconveniences.
Only Effective for Spells
Firstly, it only works for spells; attack skills will still be blocked because of insufficient Mana. Therefore, players can basically no longer use Shield Charge and will mostly have to switch to Frostblink of Wintry Blast for movement.
Loss of Ascendancy Notable
Second, it occupies your only Timeless Jewel slot, preventing you from using other Timeless Jewels and sacrificing an Ascendancy Notable. While you retain small Passives, you lose class-specific traits, a significant cost.
Randomness of Replacement
Another frustrating aspect of this jewel is that its effect depends not only on the seed number but also on your class.
You might get From Below on a Chieftain, but a completely different Ascendancy Notable on a Hierophant.
In other words, the same seed number might not produce the desired effect on a new character. Many players spend considerable PoE currency trying to reroll for their desired From Below and free Cast Speed, only to find it wasted when switching characters.
Practical Advice
To reclaim Reclaimed Malignance while simultaneously satisfying the correct Ascendancy Notable and the correct slot (without overwriting a crucial Ascendancy Notable you don't want to lose), you may need to spend more currency on rerolls early on.
Therefore, before a new character is fully developed in PoE, we can test the configuration with an older character to ensure everything works correctly before officially creating a new character, saving some trouble.
In short, this Reclaimed Malignance has a lot of room for development in Patch 3.29, especially in casting builds based on From Below. We should see many interesting builds emerge in the future.
Players, when you're meticulously planning your map and adjusting affixes in Path of Exile 2 Patch 0.5.0, have you noticed that this time is far longer than the actual time you spend on the map and fighting? The optimal gameplay everyone's chasing in endgames - finding suitable cities, stacking Deliriousness, and combining four tablets - seems to have gradually become repetitive labor.
Frankly, can we really derive enjoyment from PoE 2 endgames now?
The Preparation Phase is Tedious
Compared to the map's inherent appeal, the problems with Path of Exile 2 endgame gameplay seem to lie more in the pre-game preparation phase.
The tablet system, in particular, is incredibly tiring. Players constantly need to spend a significant amount of time managing tablet affixes and searching for suitable tablets to trade with, while also repeatedly searching for suitable city locations and modifiers in Atlas.
Furthermore, the search tools are limited, only allowing searches of visible areas and restricting bookmarks to 20, which falls far short of players' needs.
This results in players spending more time on tablets, trading, searching the map, and planning than actually fighting on it, leading to a significant imbalance in time allocation across PoE 2 content.
Profit Gap
The huge profit gap in endgames further exacerbates the players' predicament.
Based on player experiences, a single currency reward on a normal map is approximately 1 Divine, while a 200% Delirious map can yield a staggering 38 PoE 2 Divine Orbs!
This vast profit disparity forces many players, even those who find the preparation process tedious, to persevere for higher profits or to keep up with the game's economic pace.
While other gameplay options like Expedition exist, their efficiency is significantly lower than Delirious strategy, effectively limiting players' strategic choices.
Poor Map Design
Furthermore, many players have been tolerating the visual effects of PoE 2 endgame maps. Because the maps are so large, players have to spend a significant amount of time aimlessly running around in open areas, leaving very little time for meaningful combat.
Not only is the endgame map layout terrible, but the colors of the monsters and background terrain are also highly similar, making it feel like they are wearing natural camouflage during combat, which greatly affects the player experience, not to mention if Delirious effect is turned on.
Whether it's the clarity of combat or the ease of player control, the visually chaotic map design can, to put it bluntly, lead to player failure, wasting all their hard work and preparation.
Moreover, the core endgame mechanic, Towers, is actually quite disconnected from the overall game flow. If this isn't addressed, it will probably further damage the endgame experience.
Improvement Directions and Suggestions
To address the current issue of gameplay fatigue in PoE 2 endgames, the focus should definitely be on simplifying unnecessary and complex steps.
Many players believe that removing the mandatory requirement of four tablets is crucial for improving endgame gameplay. They argue that city terrain can be improved through other bonuses in Atlas Skill Tree, rather than relying solely on the benefits of four tablets.
Another important suggestion is to include key items like Grand Mirror in the currency exchange market, making them easily tradable like Breachstones or Ritual materials, thus reducing the time players spend trading and searching.
Based on the issues we mentioned earlier, another direction for game improvement is to optimize and modify the search tools and the maximum number of bookmarks, allowing players to truly devote more energy to endgame combat and character building.
Different Player Preferences
We need to recognize that everyone's gaming experience is highly subjective, so naturally, everyone will have different preferences.
Therefore, some players choose to ignore this strategy, continuing to farm at their own pace, or even enjoying the process of meticulous planning and pursuing maximum efficiency, viewing the complex preparation as part of the fun in PoE 2 Patch 0.5.0.
However, the third type of player - those forced to follow - deserves our most attention, because being forced to execute strategies is the biggest source of fatigue in endgame gameplay.
Game design can certainly require players to put in effort for substantial rewards, but this effort itself should be attractive - it could be researching builds, challenging powerful bosses, but not repeatedly searching maps, mechanically placing tablets, or wasting excessive time on trading.
When players find themselves spending far more time planning how to play PoE 2 than actually playing the game, and this planning process is tedious, lacking interaction and a sense of accomplishment, the game essentially becomes just repetitive labor.
Therefore, the core goal of optimizing PoE 2 endgame gameplay should not be to reduce the rewards of high-end farming, but rather to make the preparation and execution of strategies more engaging and enjoyable.
Unnecessary and tedious actions in the endgame should be prioritized for reduction, allowing players more freedom to choose their playstyle based on personal preference. Every step in a high-yield strategy should be enjoyable, not a heavy burden.
Are you the kind of player who would go to great lengths to achieve the optimal economic strategy in Path of Exile 2 Patch 0.5.0 endgame?
Path of Exile 3.29.0b has optimized and strengthened the League mechanic, allowing it to provide more rewards in the endgame. Because of this, you may be looking for a Farming strategy that can clear maps quickly, collect Charts as efficiently as possible, and still generate solid returns.
Without a doubt, Strongbox is one of the best choices. It offers explosive rewards, requires little investment, and has strong synergy with other mechanics, making it a highly profitable option during the early stage of Curse of the Allflame League.
Why Choose the Strongbox Strategy?
The value of Charts is currently very high, and the main way to obtain them is through Cursed Treasure in regular maps. Therefore, your goal is to farm maps quickly and collect as many Charts as possible.
This change has brought Strongbox farming back into the spotlight as a high-value mapping strategy. The core goal of this setup is very simple. You quickly complete maps, defeat bosses, collect Charts, and obtain PoE currency, Scarabs, Divination Cards, and various additional rewards from Strongboxes.
In addition, you can receive a large number of Eldritch altar rewards and more maps. Completing maps also allows you to obtain items such as Astrolabes and a large number of map drops. These rewards are extremely valuable during the early stage of the league, making this one of the fastest and easiest ways to get started.
Your goal is Boss Rush. The purpose of Boss Rush is to obtain Eldritch altar rewards from map bosses. Along the way, you should click Strongboxes and Eldritch altars, collect Charts, and leave the map as quickly as possible.
Scarab Setup
Scarabs are an essential investment for this strategy. Some Scarabs may have higher value, but they can provide excellent returns.
Ambush Scarab ×2
Ambush Scarab is the core of any Strongbox strategy. Using 2 Ambush Scarabs adds 8 additional Strongboxes to the map. They are currently very affordable, and dozens of Ambush Scarabs can be exchanged for 1 Divine Orb.
Ambush Scarab of Potency ×1
It increases the effect of Strongbox explicit modifiers by 75%. This means the modifiers on Strongboxes will provide higher item quantity bonuses.
For example, a Strongbox that originally contains 4 additional Ambush Scarabs may now contain 7, while a 100% item quantity modifier can become 175%. The more Strongboxes you open and the more valuable their rewards are, the stronger this effect becomes. These Scarabs currently cost around 1 Chaos Orb.
Ambush Scarab of Hidden Compartments ×1
This Scarab gives each Strongbox a 15% chance to be opened again. If you have good luck, you can reopen Strongboxes multiple times. It is also worth around 1 Chaos Orb.
Ambush Scarab of Discernment ×1
It increases the chance for Strongboxes to appear as rarer variants, such as Arcanist's Strongbox and Diviner's Strongbox, which are the two main high-value Strongbox types in maps.
These are Scarabs you can use when your budget is limited. If you have enough Currency, you can replace one of the above Scarabs with Ambush Scarab of Containment. It converts a large amount of map content into Strongboxes. Its value is around half a Divine Orb.
Templar Astrolabe
Since this strategy requires Boss Rush, you can also use Templar Astrolabe.
Using Templar Astrolabe creates a Shaped Region on Atlas and enhances 6-9 nearby maps. These maps gain special influences.
Each completed map within the region grants additional enhanced modifiers to the remaining maps.
However, this is not mandatory. It only provides additional rewards, and you can obtain Astrolabes naturally while farming. Whether you use them depends entirely on your own choice.
It is also worth noting that you cannot obtain Astrolabes from maps that already have Astrolabe effects, so we choose not to use them. In fact, we collected almost every type of Astrolabe, along with a large number of regular Templar Astrolabes, within a single night. Therefore, whether you want to use Currency to acquire Astrolabes and gain their rewards is completely up to you.
Map Selection
Strongbox strategies usually require maps where you can quickly find and open as many Strongboxes as possible. Therefore, compact layouts, fast clears, and strong reward pools are the best choices.
Crimson Temple is a recommended option because its Divination Card pool is extremely attractive, although the layout can be somewhat complicated. Another choice is Defiled Cathedral. Its drops are slightly weaker, but the layout is simple, and you can usually clear it by running in a circle without missing much.
You can also choose Mesa map. It is a very open map with an extremely easy boss encounter. You can rush directly to the boss, defeat it, and then clear the remaining areas. The only downside is that its Divination Card pool is not as valuable. However, you can use a Scrying Orb to transfer good Divination Card pool from one map to Mesa.
Atlas Passive Tree Setup
All Strongbox-related passives are essential, including additional Strongboxes, increased monster count, rare and corrupted Strongboxes, and the ability to reopen Strongboxes.
Regular nodes that increase currency and Divination Card rewards are also necessary.
You should also obtain as many general Scarab bonuses as possible, including the small nodes in Shaping the World that increase additional map drops from bosses. Shrine-related passives are optional and can be skipped if you are short on passive points.
All available map modifier effect nodes are worth taking, especially when using Scarabs.
Strongbox remains a very fun and powerful strategy. In PoE 3.29, Scarab values are low, meaning the investment required is minimal, and the gameplay itself is also very straightforward.
