Unique items are some of the most sought-after pieces of gear in Path of Exile 2, and for good reason. Some of these can absolutely define a build, while others can make leveling alt characters so much faster and easier. However, Uniques are very rare, with the best ones being exceedingly so, which is why you won't want to miss the vendor who gives away a random free Unique item in one of the Interlude Acts. He'll ask for nothing in return, and while you can only take one piece of gear from his inventory, there's a pretty good chance that he'll offer the best possible Unique for one of your PoE 2 characters.
Path of Exile 2: All Unique Strongboxes (& What They Do)
Unique Strongboxes are special chests that contain some of the most valuable rewards in all of Path of Exile 2. Here is how they work.
Where to Find the Unique Vendor in PoE 2
The NPC you're looking for is named Elder Madox, a peculiar man found in the snowy peaks of Mount Kriar. To find him, you'll need to get to Kriar Peaks in the Vaal Interlude chapter. If you've already started one of the other chapters past Act 4, you can speak with the Hooded One and ask him to take you to the foot of Mount Kriar.
Elder Madox is sitting somewhere by the edge of the map. There doesn't appear to be any way to tell where his location is, though; owl spirits will appear all throughout the map, but they don't seem to particularly point toward him, as spirits can be found near the entrance to Doryani's hidden vault as well.
One thing you should keep an eye out for is a checkpoint that's seemingly placed in the middle of nowhere. In our run of Kriar Peaks, there was a checkpoint placed in a branching path. The right side led to the vault, while the left side led to Elder Madox. There's no guarantee that this will be the case for everyone, but it's worth keeping in mind, especially if you've found yourself on the other side of the map.
Elder Madox's Offerings
Speak with Elder Madox, and he'll offer you one of the many Unique items he has in his inventory. He only offers this once per character, so choose wisely.
There doesn't appear to be any limit to what Uniques this NPC offers. He might have some fairly common/low-level Uniques like 
Doomgate or 
Earthbound, though he could also have some extremely powerful or valuable ones like 
Headhunter or 
Astramentis.
Since you can only grab one Unique from Elder Madox, reaching him again with a new character will (probably) be worth it. At the very least, you'll have something to look forward to as you're trying a new PoE 2 build out, especially if you get one for early leveling.
Path of Exile II
- Released
- December 6, 2024
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- Mature 17+ / Blood and Gore, Nudity, Intense Violence, Sexual Themes, Language, Users Interact, In-Game Purchases (Includes Random Items)
- Developer(s)
- Grinding Gear Games
- Publisher(s)
- Grinding Gear Games
- Multiplayer
- Online Multiplayer, Online Co-Op
- Cross-Platform Play
- All platforms
- Cross Save
- All platforms
- Prequel(s)
- Path of Exile
- Franchise
- Path of Exile
- Number of Players
- Single-player
- Steam Deck Compatibility
- Playable
- Early Access Release
- December 6, 2024
- Genre(s)
- Action RPG, Hack and Slash, MMORPG
- Platform(s)
- PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, PC
- OpenCritic Rating
- Mighty
- How Long To Beat
- 35 hours
- File Size Xbox Series
- 100.32 GB
- Wiki
