Guide for Expedition in Path of Exile

Intro

Expedition is one of the best mechanics to run in maps at the start of a league. It generates raw currency and allows for powerful gear crafting on a limited budget.

While Expedition is simple and easy without much investment, it can also be extremely rewarding and challenging on a high budget.

Expedition Overview

Expedition has two main components: Expedition sites in maps and Expedition Logbooks.
Both forms of Expedition generate Artifacts and currency required to trade with NPCs in your hideout.

It’s a gear printer and a money printer.

Expedition Breakdown Video

You can find a video detailing the Expedition mechanic here:

Changes to Expedition in Patch 3.27

Patch 3.27- Keepers of the Flame is adding asynchronous trade to PoE 1, which is a buff to Expedition. Selling logbooks and items you craft with Rog will be much easier than in previous leagues.

When Should You Run Expedition?

You can run Expedition the entire time you are in maps, if you want.

Many players focus on Expedition during the initial push up to Tier 16 maps, then ditch it for mechanics that directly produce currency without a middleman, like Strongboxes. This is fine! Fully-juiced Expedition is one of the most difficult mechanics in Path of Exile, and it is proportionally very rewarding.

There’s nothing wrong with running Expedition early when you don’t have the budget to use Scarabs, taking a break once you first hit Tier 16 maps, then coming back to push hard once your character is strong.

Why Run Expedition?

Expedition generates raw currency and Logbooks, which you can run or sell. It also spawns a ton of juiced-up rare monsters in a tightly confined area.

It is a fairly quick mechanic in maps, as well. Expeditions generally add 30 seconds or less to each map. This is far less time than mechanics like Blight and Ritual, which can add several minutes.

Farming Expedition in Maps

The Expeditions you find in maps will feature one of the four Expedition NPCs: Gwennen, Rog, Tujen, or Dannig. Once you walk close enough to activate them, you can begin placing explosives around the area.

Here is your priority for detonation targets in maps:

1. Remnants
2. Runic Monster Markers
3. Expedition Chests

Expedition Remnants

Expedition Remnants grant rewards and downsides to monsters and chests unearthed by explosions. Modifiers from Remnants apply to the explosion that triggered them and all subsequent explosions in the Expedition, but not any previous explosions. Because of this behavior, you will want to plan your detonation sequences from start to finish.

The downsides from Remnants can be build-disabling, granting monsters powerful offensive and defensive bonuses such as All Hits Crit or Fire Damage Immunity. Remnant rewards are strong, too, providing benefits like Runic Monsters are Duplicated (the best bonus) or Runic Monsters have 40% Increased Chance to drop Logbooks.

Read the Remnant modifiers and avoid downsides that will brick your build!

Runic Monster Markers

Runic Monsters are marked by a skull on top of a stick. They are the only source of Expedition Logbook drops, so you will want to hit as many Runic Monster markers as possible in maps.

Running Expedition Logbooks

Logbooks can be rolled just like maps, which will make them significantly more rewarding. You can split Logbooks into two items using a Fenumal Plagued Arachnid at the Beastcrafting Altar.

Every Logbook has two or three locations available with different factions and implicit modifiers affecting each of them, but you can only choose to run one site.

The preferred factions are, in order:

1. Knights of the Sun
2. Black Scythe Mercenaries
3. Order of the Chalice
4. Druids of the Broken Circle

• Area Contains X (Boss name) – This Logbook is guaranteed to contain an Expedition boss. Depending on the faction, it can be worth dramatically more than a typical Logbook.
• x% Increased Number of Explosives – You can unearth significantly more treasures throughout the Logbook with this bonus.
• x% Increased Explosive Radius – Your Explosives within the Logbook will cover more terrain, allowing you to unearth more treasures with each blast.
• x% Increased Explosive Placement Range – Allows you to spread out across the Logbook and hit valuable chests and side areas more easily.

Get More from Logbooks

One of the biggest differences between Logbooks and Expedition in maps is that chests in Logbooks have reward modifiers, making them more valuable than they are in maps. Currency and Expedition are the two most useful types of reward chests. Runic Monsters in Logbooks cannot drop Logbooks, so they aren’t nearly as useful as they are in maps.

Logbooks also contain underground areas and side areas, with each area holding two to six random reward chests, so hunting them down is worth the effort. You will be able tell that the areas can be opened up because they glow green when you highlight them with an explosive.

Unique Expedition Bosses

Each Expedition faction has a unique boss that can spawn within their Logbooks. These bosses will be marked on the map with a large skull and benefit from all Remnants that are included in the detonation sequence before they are unearthed.

Killing an Expedition boss, especially one empowered with a large number of Remnant bonuses, can grant a massive amount of Expedition Artifacts and Vendor Refresh Currency. They can also drop Expedition-exclusive unique items like Olroth's Resolve and Ward armour pieces.

Ward is a special armour type that isn’t used in many builds, but it can be useful with very specific setups.

Expedition Currency

Each Expedition NPC has four tiers of Artifacts that correspond to the value of the items they trade. Larger artifacts typically trade for more valuable items. Artifacts are automatically put into your Expedition Locker, but cannot be traded with other players. They also have specific Vendor Refresh Currencies. As the name would indicate, these currencies can be used to reroll the stockpile of items they currently have available.

Vendor Refresh Currencies can be sold to other players through the in-game Currency Exchange. Here is a list of the four Vendor Refresh Currencies, rated from most valuable to least valuable:

1. Burial Medallion – Dannig
2. Exotic Coinage – Tujen
3. Scrap Metal – Rog
4. Astragali – Gwennen

Expedition NPCs

Each of the four Expedition NPCs has their own faction, mechanics, and currency. Some NPCs are more useful than others!

The factions available on Expedition Logbooks are not influenced by the NPC that was at the Expedition in which they dropped. Even if Gwennen is at an Expedition, you can still get a Knights of the Sun Logbook to drop.

Gwennen

Gwennen represents the Druids of the Broken Circle.

She allows the player to gamble on unknown items in the hopes that they return a valuable unique. Unfortunately, Gwennen is mostly a waste of time.

Rog

Rog represents the Order of the Chalice.

He provides a guided, semi-random item crafting mechanic. Although Rog is RNG, you can make good items very cheaply with him.

Tujen

Tujen represents the Black Scythe Mercenaries.

He trades you currency and valuable items, but he haggles over the price. You should not overpay, but if you try to push him too low, he may take back the item entirely.

A safe rule when haggling with Tujen is to offer about 60-70% of his initial asking price. He will typically accept the first offer.

Dannig

Dannig represents the Knights of the Sun.

He offers other Expedition NPCs’ Artifacts and Vendor Refresh Currencies at a discount, and will occasionally sell Logbooks as well. You should buy any Logbooks he has available, and buy discounted Black Scythe Artifacts and Exotic Coinage.

Expedition Atlas Passives

Most of the small and notable passive skills associated with Expedition in the Atlas Passive Tree are good. Be warned that these bonuses only apply to Expeditions in your maps, not Logbooks.

Here are the highlights:

• Extreme Archaeology – A must-have keystone passive. This turns your explosive chain into a single, giant explosive. It gives you a little less control over what chests and Remnants you detonate, but immensely increases the speed with which you can clear out Expeditions.
• Buried Knowledge – Increases the number of Runic Monsters in Expeditions in your maps, and dramatically increases the amount of Logbooks they drop.
• Scratchin’ Up the Ground – Increases your chances of Tujen leading the Expedition in your maps.
• A Noble Quest – Increases your chances of Dannig leading the Expedition in your maps.
• Hunt for Answers – Increases the chance of Expedition spawning in your maps. Combined with small passives around the tree, you can guarantee Expedition is in every map.
• Ancient Writings – Increases the number of Remnants in your maps and gives them a chance to have more modifiers. Remnants are the main source of both risk and reward in Expedition, and this bonus pushes that even further.
• Distinguished Demolitionist – Grants 35% increased Explosive Radius, helping you cover even more ground with your explosives. The increased number of explosives does not work with Extreme Archaeology, and that’s okay.
• Warning, this is bad! Ancient Decay – Causes Runic Monsters to spawn missing 20% of their life. It’s bad.

Expedition Scarabs

Here is a breakdown of the Expedition Scarabs:

• Expedition Scarab – Guarantees Expedition will spawn in the map. Not worth using.
• Expedition Scarab of Verisium Powder – Grants 80% Explosive Radius and 50% Increased Number of Explosives. The explosive radius stacks with Extreme Archaeology, the explosive number does not. This scarab helps you blast more of the Expedition area, which multiplies the value of all of your other investments into Expedition.
• Expedition Scarab of Runefinding – Grants 100% Increased Runic Monsters. This bonus is amazing, and an absolute must-have for any kind of juiced Expedition farm setup.
• Expedition Scarab of Archaeology – Remnants have 2 additional Suffixes and Prefixes. You should only use this Scarab if you are ready for a serious challenge, but it will be rewarding.

Behold the novel-sized tooltips attainable with Archaeology Scarabs!

Once you are ready to use Scarabs, here are two potential setups we recommend:

• Cheap Setup
  - Runefinding x2
  - Verisium Powder x1
  - Monstrous Lineage x2

• Expensive Setup
  - Runefinding x2
  - Verisium Powder x1
  - Archaeology x1
  - Risk Scarab x1

Conclusion

Expedition has everything a Path of Exile player needs: currency, gear, and gambling! That’s it!