Path of Exile 2: Expedition Guide - Passives, Artifacts, & Rewards

In Path of Exile 2, Expedition is one of the four main endgame events players can encounter on the Atlas map, alongside Delirium, Breaches, and Rituals. Inspired by the original Expedition League, this mechanic offers a unique blend of exploration, explosive combat, and loot gathering. This guide breaks down how to start and optimize your Expedition encounters, including how to interact with Detonators, Explosives, and the Expedition Passive Skill Tree to maximize your rewards.

PoE 2 Expedition & Detonation Mechanic, Explained

1. Starting an Expedition

To begin an Expedition, you'll need to find a map node with the specific Expedition icon on your Atlas. This icon looks like an ethereal, spiral-like shape. Once you enter the map, explore the area until you find Markers scattered around and a tent with one of four NPCs present. These NPCs will explain the basics of the Expedition, though the specifics of how to interact with the mechanics will require a bit of exploration.

2. The Detonator and Explosives

In the heart of the Expedition area, you'll find a Detonator and a new UI element in the bottom-right corner showing Explosives. Your goal is to strategically place Explosives around different Markers to trigger a series of events:

Runic Monsters: Spawned by Explosives near Red Markers.

The size of the marker determines the number of monsters spawned.

Larger markers lead to larger packs.

Unearthed Remnants: Signified by a tooltip floating above relics on the ground. These provide modifiers, often boosting monster damage or altering the quality of rewards.

Excavated Chests: Detonated near Black Markers with the spiral Expedition symbol. These chests contain valuable rewards like Artifacts, Logbooks, and Powerful Currencies.

3. Placing Explosives

To place Explosives:

Click the Explosives button in your UI.

Hover over the Expedition area to see the area of effect (AoE) of your Explosives.

Explosives only activate markers within the green radius, so spread them out to cover more markers without overlapping.

Once you've placed your Explosives, return to the Detonator and activate it to set off the event. This will spawn Runic Monsters and Excavated Chests while the Unearthed Remnants empower the monsters, making them harder but also providing better rewards.

4. Overwhelm and Reset

If you die or are overwhelmed during an Expedition, the map resets as normal. However, you can return to the event later. You can also run away after detonating Explosives, allowing you to regroup and fight the monsters at your own pace, especially using AoE abilities to handle large packs of enemies at once.

Expedition Pinnacle Map

Expeditions can reward you with Expedition Logbooks, which you can bring to Dannig in your Hideout to unlock an Expedition Map. This is essentially an extended version of the regular Expedition, with several key differences:

Logbook Portals appear around your Map Device, and you can travel to the Expedition map like any other map.

The Expedition Pinnacle Map introduces the Pinnacle Boss: Olroth. He doesn't always spawn, but the higher the map level, the greater the chance he will appear.

Olroth's Fight:

Olroth drops high-tier loot and Expedition Passive Skill Tree points when defeated.

Defeating Olroth grants 2x Expedition Passive points, which can be spent in a special section of the Atlas Passive Skill Tree.

Expedition Passive Skill Tree

The Expedition Passive Skill Tree provides PoE 2 players with an additional layer of customization for the Expedition event, offering modifiers that enhance the rewards you get from the event. You can find this tree in the Atlas Passive Skill Tree menu, and it has a blue color that spirals outward with multiple nodes.

Key Notable Nodes in the Expedition Passive Skill Tree:

Disturbed Rest: Grants increased monster rewards, allowing for better loot drops.

Detailed Records: Boosts the chances of finding valuable Path of Exile 2 items during Expedition events.

Timed Detonations: Increases the number of rewards from Runic Monsters while minimizing the penalties.

Weight of History: Gives you more chances to find artifacts.

Unearthed Anomalies: Increases the odds of finding powerful modifiers on enemies.

Legendary Battles: Increases the challenge of the event, boosting the quality of drops.

Nodes to Avoid:

Extreme Archaeology: Reduces the number of Explosives available to you, which may seem like a powerful boost but drastically limits your loot opportunities by making the event less rewarding. Respeccing out of this node can be costly in terms of Gold.

PoE 2 Expedition Event Rewards

1. Artifacts & Coinage Currencies

Artifacts are one of the key rewards of the Expedition event. There are four types of Artifacts that you can collect and trade with specific NPCs in the Expedition event. These NPCs offer unique gear and items that can't be found elsewhere in the game. Artifacts are not consumed upon completing the Exp. Edition, meaning you can hold onto them and use them in future Expeditions.

Exotic Coinage is another reward that can be used to refresh vendor inventories, allowing you to buy more unique items from the vendors.

2. Expedition Logbooks

Logbooks are valuable rewards that drop from Runic Monsters or Excavated Chests. Once obtained, you can bring them to Dannig to open an Expedition Map. These maps offer much greater rewards and have a higher chance of spawning Olroth, the Pinnacle Boss.

Olroth's Rewards: If Olroth spawns and is defeated, you will receive additional Expedition Passive Skill Tree points and high-tier loot.

Conclusion

The Expedition event in Path of Exile 2 is an exciting and rewarding mechanic that blends strategy, exploration, and combat. By using Detonators and Explosives, you can manipulate the environment to spawn powerful monsters and uncover valuable rewards, including Artifacts, Logbooks, and Path of Exile 2 Currency.

Through the Expedition Passive Skill Tree, you can tailor your event experiences to increase rewards and improve the loot quality. Keep an eye on Olroth, the Pinnacle Boss, for a chance to earn Expedition Passive Skill Tree points and powerful Path of Exile 2 items.