Strategy
Expedition in 0.5 is one of the most beginner-friendly money mechanics because it has no Atlas passive tree of its own — instead it runs through a self-contained quest line that you sail through map by map. You blow up expedition chests with a placed detonator and collect valuable salvage: starforged ores, rare alloys (some worth hundreds of divines), and most importantly Expedition Log Books that reveal new sections of the Atlas. Because there are no Atlas points gating it, travelling between expedition maps is essentially free, which makes it a low-investment activity you can start running early.
The real profit comes from the bosses. Working through the quest line unlocks a chain of Kalguuran bosses culminating in a pinnacle fight, and those bosses drop powerful support gems — the creator pulls a Borana Siege support worth around 40 divine orbs from one Medbet kill. After the quest line, you re-trigger those pinnacle encounters with Shattered Talons on the reforging bench to farm them repeatedly.
Atlas Tree & Setup
Expedition has no Atlas tree. Instead, start the quest line in the Ziggurat Refuge by speaking to Farad, who unveils the Ruins of King’s March to the bottom-right of your start. You need to reach roughly tier 11 to beat the first gated boss. Keep your gear’s chaos/element coverage flexible — some V-relic islands (e.g. Frigid Bluffs) make monsters immune to chaos damage, which you must avoid if chaos is your main damage. Use a good loot filter so the chest dumps don’t bury valuable drops.
Investment & Returns
- Investment: low — travel between expedition maps is free; you only need to find Log Books and Sagas (omens) by running rune-stone encounters.
- Returns: mid — rare alloys can spike to hundreds of divines, log books sell for ~2 div, and pinnacle bosses drop support gems worth tens of divines. The repeatable pinnacle version is harder and often runs at a slight loss unless you hit a rare unique.
- Scaling: increase monster effectiveness and pick more monster flags for better rewards at the cost of a tougher fight; rarity rune-stones (e.g. Kui totems) stack item rarity from monsters.
Step-by-step
- Talk to Farad in the Ziggurat Refuge and travel to the Ruins of King’s March to begin the quest line.
- In each map, check the rune stones first — only pick runes you actually want (sell good ones, or buy what you need off poe.ninja); more runes = harder encounter.
- Place the detonator within explosive range, prioritise the largest expedition chests (bigger flag = better chest) and any rare-monster skulls, then detonate.
- Collect Log Books to reveal new Atlas sections and bank Sagas/omens to guarantee specific boss encounters.
- Progress the quest line through the Kalguuran bosses up to the pinnacle crater boss.
- After the quest, use Shattered Talons on the reforging bench, take the reforged item to Makora, and re-run the pinnacle boss to farm support gems.
Risks
- Don’t waste Log Books — they’re consumable and cost ~2 div to replace.
- Watch V-relic modifiers (chaos immunity, etc.) before detonating them — the wrong one can brick your damage for the map.
- The repeatable pinnacle version is profit-negative on average; only chase it for the rare valuable uniques and support gems.
- Higher monster effectiveness and 5-rune stones spike difficulty significantly — only opt in if your build can handle it.
Credits & Source
Method credited to Spud the King. See the source video: The 100% Expedition Guide You Need in PoE2 0.5.