basic knowledge
Endgame

Six Map Mechanics — Breach, Expedition, Ritual, Delirium, Abyss, Temple

Basic KnowledgePublishedUpdated

Endgame maps layer in several mechanics, shown as icons. Each plays differently, rewards differently, and leads to its own pinnacle boss. In 0.5 “Return of the Ancients,” every mechanic got a dedicated Atlas region and questline — and crucially, 0.5 removed the old shared model where you inserted splinters at a World Nexus and picked a difficulty tier. Each mechanic now has its own route, so check the specific one you’re chasing rather than assuming they work alike.

0.5.5 changed Expedition and Ritual. Expedition is no longer league-limited — it’s a core mechanic, Standard included — and Ritual’s route to the Viridian Wildwood and its Tablet behaviour both changed. Both are covered in their sections below; the full change list is in the 0.5.5 patch notes.

Breach

Touch the purple hand and a Breach spreads in a ring, flooding monsters. Killing rares extends its duration; click grasping hands for Breach rings and splinters. Breaches now also carry a progress bar — fill it to 100% for a Stabilised Breach, which spawns Vruun, Marshal of Xesht.

  • Breachstones no longer open a boss fight. Combine 300 Breach Splinters into a Revelatory Wombgift, take it to the Genesis Tree at The Monastery of the Keepers, and it produces a Breachstone — which reveals Breach Strongholds on the Atlas.
  • Pinnacle: Xesht, We That Are One — the Sky Fortress bosses It That Was Tul and It That Was Esh drop the Breachlord Sac. Bring it to the Dreamer at The Monastery of the Keepers to open the Twisted Domain (area level 79).
  • Note: catalysts no longer drop from monsters in 0.5 — they come only from the Genesis Tree. See Breach Crafting.
  • The 0.3 World Nexus system of picking a difficulty with 50/100/150 Breach Splinters has been removed. Whether 0.5 has difficulty tiers for Xesht isn’t confirmed by a reliable source.

Expedition

Use explosives to detonate relics and markers, buffing monsters and boosting chest rewards. In 0.5 it’s integrated with the Runes of Aldur Remnant system, which also introduced Verisium and Runic Ward.

  • It’s core content as of 0.5.5. Farrow, Dannig, and Expedition encounters became core Atlas mechanics, Standard included; before 0.5.5 you could only run them in Runes of Aldur. In game, Expeditions appear from Act 4 onwards, and outside that league the Verisium Anvil opens once you finish The Runeseeker quest in Act 4.
  • Expedition Tablets drop in Standard and Forbidden Rites (not in Runes of Aldur). Stacking them adds Expeditions and raises density, and higher density means more chests, monster flags, and Verisium Remnants inside the dig site. The per-stack breakdown is in Expedition Crafting.
  • Pinnacle: The Aberration — after defeating Olroth, bring The Triskelion Reforged and travel from Ruins of Kingsmarch to the Verisium Crater. See the Aberration guide.
  • Olroth, Origin of the Fall lost pinnacle status in 0.5 and is now a prerequisite gate on the way to the Aberration.

Ritual

Interacting with an altar seals the map as enemies swarm in. Completing it lets you spend Tribute on rewards, including deferring an item you can’t afford yet. Rewards grant Omens.

Ritual is no longer endgame-only. In 0.5.5’s event league, Forbidden Rites, Ritual encounters appear across every campaign area, and those reward levelling currency and gear rather than endgame material. The event itself is covered in Forbidden Rites; what follows is the endgame map version.

  • Party members now gain Ritual Tribute too (0.5.5). They get their own reward selection, and those rewards cannot be rerolled.
  • Using more than one Ritual Tablet adds an extra Altar where possible, and increases the quantity of Azmeri Wisps collected inside the Viridian Wildwood.
  • The Viridian Wildwood Unique Map has been disabled; existing copies on the Atlas are rerolled into another Unique Map. The Wildwood is now reached through the Sacred Bloom Ritual reward, which drops only in Forbidden Rites.
  • Pinnacle: The Bodach — attach five pieces to the effigy in Caer Tarth to perform the Rite of the Nameless. See the Bodach guide.
  • The King in the Mists is a separate encounter, not the pinnacle. It’s reached with An Audience with the King, which reveals the Crux of Nothingness on the Atlas.

Delirium

Touch the mirror and fog spreads. The bar that appears tracks how deep into the fog you are and how long remains, not rewards. Rewards are Liquid Emotions, three of which combine to instil a Notable passive onto an amulet, or which can craft a guaranteed modifier onto a rare jewel.

  • Pinnacle content: Simulacrum — 7 waves in 0.5, not 15. Combine 300 Simulacrum Splinters into a Simulacrum and apply it to an endgame area that is already at least 100% Delirious; a fog bank reaching 100% also spawns one. Omniphobia, Fear Manifest and Kosis, the Revelation still exist but now appear largely as shard-triggered encounters, so don’t plan around a specific wave.

Abyss

The ground cracks and abysses spread; follow them, killing monsters for loot and Abyssal Troves. In 0.5 they expand into large connected abyss networks across maps.

  • Pinnacle: Vessel of Kulemak — fought in The Black Cathedral using a Kulemak’s Invitation. Its signature is the post-kill choice to steal Lich power and grow your rewards. See the Vessel of Kulemak guide.

Temple (Vaal)

Vaal temple content, dealing with energised crystals and temple-exclusive currency.

  • Pinnacle: Atziri, the Red Queen — the only one of the eight with no key item; you place rooms to open the Royal Access Chamber. After the kill, carry Atziri’s Medallion back to the entrance checkpoint to open the Vault. See the Atziri guide.

Summary

The one habit worth keeping is overlapping that mechanic’s Tablets on your farming region to concentrate income. Beyond that, treat each mechanic’s pinnacle route as its own thing in 0.5 — Breach and Delirium in particular no longer work the way pre-0.5 guides describe. For Fortress and Trial bosses, see the pinnacle access guide.