How to get the best out of Expeditions
The new league is out, and it’s time to make things go boom for good loot or challenging fights. It’s called the Expedition League, and it can be a great way to demolish stress and get some rewards along the way. There are also new PoE currency, new shop NPCs, and new items to collect. So, here’s a rundown of what to do and how to make the most out of Expedition encounters.
How Encounters Work
When starting out on the encounter, you’ll see a new NPC, a detonator, and several markers dotted around those two. These markers, signs, or sticks depict what you can unearth in that area, ranging from treasure to enemies or a challenge.
To unearth whatever is under the rubble, you’ll have to place explosives in areas you want to be unearthed. Encounters start out with 4, but this limit increases as you go through the acts. Explosives can’t be too far away from each other and the detonator, so place them with care. They’ll explode in the order you placed them in (more tips on this later), and then you can collect the loot or battle enemies.
If you fall, it’s easy to return to the fight to continue it or loot the remaining chests. While you’ll get mostly junk equipment, what’s important are the new currencies you can get.
The Four Merchants
The expansion introduces four new NPCs related to the expeditions. They are Gwennen the Gambler, Tujen the Haggler, Rog the Dealer, and Dannig Warrior Skald. All are merchants and are open to trade with you if you have the correct currency to trade with them.
Gwennen takes Broken Circle Artifacts, and you can reroll her merchandise with Astragali. You can buy equipment of uncertain rarity and quality from her, as befitting her Gambler title. Depending on your luck, it can be the best thing ever or utter trash.
Tujen sells his items for Black Scythe Artifacts, and his shop restocks when you use Exotic Coinage. With him, you can haggle the prices on his shop, but set it too low and he might delete the item from his stock. It’s best to lower it to a moderate price so he’d still be interested to trade with you.
Rog accepts Order Artifacts and changes his stock with Scrap Metal. He is the most straightforward merchant among the four, with a bit of extra. For an additional fee, he will craft the item you want to buy for you. As he crafts, you can choose whether to skip the upgrade or apply it to the item. When done, just take the item and you’re good to go.
Dannig is the last merchant of the four. He’ll exchange your Sun Artifacts for one of the other three’s artifact currency. He won’t change his stock, but their prices change if you use the Burial Medallion. Later, you’ll unlock the feature to use Expedition Logbooks through his shop.
Tips for Running Expeditions
Check out all the indicators first. Sometimes, you’ll see Unearthed Remnants that will make enemies from subsequent detonations harder to fight. Here’s where careful planning takes effect. If you want a challenge, you can explode the Remnants first to make enemies more difficult to defeat. Otherwise, you could leave it near the end so it won’t affect too many enemies.
You don’t have to use up all of your explosives. With this, you might accidentally detonate your planted bombs prematurely. This also lets you focus on the markers where you really want the rewards. If you’re sure that you’ve covered all the indicators you want, you can go directly to the detonator to get the loot.
If you have a full inventory after an encounter, you can talk to the NPC or merchant to open the Expedition Locker and store the shards.
Expedition Logbooks may be found at around level 34. They can be crafted and sold through PoE trade. These open up huge Expedition maps for even more rewards. Make sure you’re ready before tackling one.
White chest markers are pretty much worthless, orange and yellow ones are the way to go. The latter ones give out better rewards than the white ones. That said, if there isn’t anything better, you might as well get those.
With the current situation of the game, the rewards from expeditions might not earn you some Exalted Orbs. That said, you should be using the artifacts to trade with the new merchants for the best items. Still, it could be worth trying out the new skill gems introduced in this league, if nothing else.
At any rate, enjoy Path of Exile and Expeditions!
