The Fate of the Vaal league in Path of Exile 2 introduces what might be the best mechanic for early gearing in the game: the ability to make dungeons filled with valuable resources and upgrade benches. Instead of just throwing you into a pit of vipers as in previous PoE 2 leagues, Fate of the Vaal lets players pick and place individual rooms that can be upgraded to yield better rewards.
While this mechanic seems complicated at first, it's actually quite simple. In this guide, we'll be taking a look at how the Fate of the Vaal league mechanic works and how you can use it to the fullest.
Path of Exile 2: How to Find a Corrupted Nexus
Clearing a Corrupted Nexus is the only way to earn the first 30 Atlas points in Path of Exile 2. Here is where to find them.
Finding Vaal Beacons
The first thing you need to do is find six Vaal Beacons placed randomly throughout levels. These appear as large disks on the ground, and they often have corrupted monsters surrounding them. Defeat the monsters to activate the beacon and get a random item as a reward.
Once you find and activate six Vaal Beacons, a portal to The Vaal Ruins will open. This place (also called the Temple) is where all the league magic happens.
Building the Temple
Inside the Temple, you'll find a Waypoint and a stone console. Interact with the console to open a dungeon map screen. Here, you'll be able to place a random assortment of six tiles onto the map. Each of them will expand the Temple when placed, and each of them will have their own unique challenges and mechanics (apart from the basic Path tiles, of course).
If you select one of the tiles, you'll get an overview of what they are and what they do. Sealed Vaults, for example, are simple treasure rooms that contain important crafting materials and other resources. Guardhouses, on the other hand, contain a gaggle of monsters and a workbench that you can use to upgrade your gear.
Some tiles will level up other tiles — if an empty map square glows green when you select a tile, that means one of the adjacent rooms will level up once you place it. For example, placing a Commander tile next to a Guardhouse room will level the Guardhouse up, increasing the challenges and rewards inside.
Your ultimate goal is to reach the final room in the dungeon, and to do that, you need to expand the Temple six tiles at a time by finding and activating more Vaal Beacons.
Late Game Vaal Ruins
After you beat Doryani in Act 3, he'll appear at the Vaal Ruins and ask you to return to the past version of the Temple in hopes of stopping Atziri, the Queen of the Vaal, from destroying their civilization. You'll need to reach Atziri's chambers by expanding the Temple. Of course, things will be much harder by this point, so make sure to have a solid Path of Exile 2 build ready before starting.
In this stage of the game, you'll encounter more types of rooms, including ones that let you craft, upgrade, or even twice-corrupt items. There's even a room that turns you into a Vaal cyborg with prosthetic limbs that enhance your stats. Also, some of the crafting stations here can be turned into a special currency that you can use on your gear later on.
That about covers the Fate of the Vaal league mechanic, but there's a lot more to discover as you delve inside the Temple yourself. Keep your eyes peeled for tile combos and other powerful rewards as you play.
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
