If you’re starting PoE 3.26, the Blight “Alch and Go” Atlas tree strategy is one of the best ways to farm oils, maps, and currency efficiently. This guide will give you everything you need: map choices, Atlas tree recommendations, tower placement tips, and practical routes so you can farm effectively from the early to mid-league PoE 1 Currency.
Why This Strategy Works
The method is simple: Alch your maps → run Blight → collect rewards → move on. Blight encounters act like mini tower defense events. Waves of monsters advance along lanes toward your pump, and your task is to position towers to survive until the end. Rewards include oils, map drops, and assorted currency items. Even moderate-DPS characters can succeed by relying on towers empowered by Atlas nodes, making this strategy low-risk, accessible, and perfect for league starters or casual players.
Choosing Maps and Routes
Efficiency starts with picking the right maps. Recommended options include:
- Toxic Sewer: Narrow corridors, predictable lanes, high chest density.
- Waste Pool: Tight pathways, monsters naturally funnel, reward chests cluster well.
- Wharf: Slightly wider map, but towers can still control lanes efficiently.
- Bog: Good for mid-league variety, corridors are predictable.
Route Tips:
Start at one side of the map and follow the main corridors, clearing each Blight encounter sequentially. Focus on maps with concentrated lanes to reduce the time spent repositioning towers. Avoid overly open maps where monsters spread out, making tower placement less effective. Using Kirac missions or scouting reports can help ensure your map pool consistently has favorable layouts.
Atlas Tree Setup
The Atlas passive tree enhances this strategy. Focus on nodes that:
- Increase Blight map occurrence to see it on almost every map.
- Boost oil drop rates for better rewards.
- Enhance tower damage and range, so towers carry most of the combat load.
- Maintain map pool sustainability to keep efficient layouts available.
Prioritize Blight occurrence and tower boosts first. Sustainability nodes are useful for longer farming sessions. Properly allocating points ensures encounters are fast, manageable, and profitable.
Tower Placement and Combat
Tower placement is crucial. A simple approach:
- Chokepoint Towers: Place high-damage towers like Mortar, Flame, or Spike where monsters cluster, usually at corridor intersections.
- Support Towers: Use slowing, freezing, or debuff towers in lanes leading to the pump to control monster waves.
- Pump Protection: Ensure no lane to your pump is left unguarded. Even one missed lane can fail the encounter.
- Dynamic Adjustment: Be ready to reposition towers mid-run if waves push harder than expected.
Follow the Alch and Go mindset: keep loops fast, finish Blight, grab the chests, and move on. Don’t linger for every altar or minor boss unless they are directly along your path. Optional: include Essences or Eldritch bosses like Searing Exarch to increase drops with minimal extra effort.
Character Requirements and Practical Advice
You don’t need a fully optimized build. Moderate DPS is sufficient if towers are strong, and survivability is more important than extreme damage. Fast movement helps maintain efficient loops.
For consistent farming, focus on corridor-heavy maps early to accumulate wealth quickly. Track your map rotation to ensure favorable layouts stay available. While this method may not yield the absolute highest profit compared to endgame farming, it excels in consistency and ease of use. By following this handbook, you can steadily accumulate oils, maps, and currency while keeping gameplay smooth and low-risk.
Sample Map Loop and Tower Placement
Here’s an example of an efficient Toxic Sewer run:
- Start at the western entrance. Place a Mortar tower at the first chokepoint intersection.
- Position Flame towers along the two main corridors to handle clustered waves.
- Place a slowing tower near the pump to control lane speed.
- Clear Blight encounters in sequence, adjusting tower positions if waves break through.
- Collect chests and move to the next map in your rotation.
Repeat this process across Waste Pool or Wharf for maximum efficiency. Corridors in these maps naturally funnel monsters, allowing towers to cover multiple lanes effectively. By following the same pattern, you create a reliable farming loop that maximizes reward density while minimizing time and risk.
Conclusion
The Blight “Alch and Go” Atlas tree strategy is low-risk, reliable, and accessible. By focusing on corridor-heavy maps, investing in key Atlas nodes, and maintaining fast, goal-oriented runs, you can steadily accumulate oils, maps, and currency.
While it might not give the absolute highest profits compared to endgame farming methods, it excels in consistency and approachability, making it perfect for league starters or casual players. Stick to this method, run maps efficiently, and you’ll quickly build a strong economic foundation in Secrets of the Atlas.