In our Path of Exile: Secrets of the Atlas Overview, you’ll learn everything about the game’s latest expansion. This update brings a reimagined endgame with Threads of Memory, powerful new PoE Pinnacle Bosses, a brand-new challenge league called Mercenaries of Trarthus, and deep crafting updates including Memory-Strand gear and exclusive orbs in Patch 3.26. Let’s dive in!
4.9PoE Secrets of the Atlas Launch Date
Secrets of the Atlas goes live on June 13, 2025, across all platforms — PC, Mac, Xbox, and PlayStation. The Mercenaries of Trarthus league drops with it, kicking off patch 3.26 and a fresh 4-month content cycle.
PoE Secrets of the Atlas New Content
Path of Exile: Secrets of the Atlas is a major endgame expansion for PoE 1, launching alongside the new league, Mercenaries of Trarthus. This update introduces a completely new endgame progression system where you explore Zana’s corrupted memories in a chain of maps called Threads of Memory. And as always, we are ready to help you Level Up your character to unlock all exciting content in no time.
You’ll battle warped versions of familiar bosses, collect new loot, craft using memory-based currencies, and recruit deadly mercenaries to fight by your side. Here’s what’s included in Secrets of the Atlas with Patch 3.26:
- New Challenge League: Mercenaries of Trarthus — duel, recruit, or exile elite fighters;
- Endgame Memory Chains: Explore map threads with stacking modifiers and unlockable combat abilities;
- 3 New Pinnacle Bosses: The Incarnations of Fear, Dread, and Neglect;
- New Unique Items: Including the Starcaller Axe and Wine of the Prophet Flask;
- Memory Petals and Skills: Gain new temporary abilities from enemies within memory zones;
- New crafting Orbs, Remembrance, Unravelling, and Intention that interact with memory-based items in entirely new ways.
Aside from all the abovementioned changes, items found in the Secrets of the Atlas maps can come with Memory Strands, a special property that raises mod tiers and boosts crafting outcomes. The more strands an item holds, the more potential it carries.
Then, the new Mercenary system lets you duel, recruit, or exile powerful NPCs with their own builds and gear, including rare modifiers you won’t find anywhere else.
Meanwhile, Kingsmarch returns as a permanent town hub, featuring resource shipping, gold-based passive respecs, and a new way to rework mastery nodes with Runegrafts.
Finally, Betrayal has been revamped: the Mastermind boss no longer resets your board, safehouses offer better crafting options, and new rewards like Allflame Embers shake up your mapping. And we receive a long list of quality of life improvements that make gameplay smoother than ever.
PoE Secrets of the Atlas Expanded Story Line
The story of Secrets of the Atlas revolves around the return of Zana, a long-lost figure from the Atlas, and a new character named Eagon Caeserius — a mysterious scholar searching for answers about his past. As he investigates the Atlas, Eagon discovers strange Memory Tears, fractured rifts in reality where glimpses of Zana appear.
These rifts lead to Threads of Memory, linear map chains shaped by Zana’s warped memories. Each Thread reveals distorted realities brought to life by the Atlas itself. The deeper you go, the more unstable and grotesque these memories become. Along the way, players will:
- Help Eagon trace and explore these corrupted memories;
- Uncover hidden truths about Zana’s fate and the forces behind the Memory Tears;
- Witness familiar places and enemies reshaped by emotional echoes and trauma;
- Face memory-born versions of iconic bosses, twisted by the Atlas into nightmare forms.
This expansion blends gameplay with atmospheric storytelling, offering a haunting, layered narrative embedded directly into your map progression. If you’ve followed Zana’s journey since the Shaper and Elder era, this storyline ties together threads from PoE’s deepest lore — and challenges you to survive what’s left of it. Therefore, a reliable Custom Build is a must, and our team can help you prepare it.
PoE Secrets of the Atlas New Currency
Secrets of the Atlas introduces three new crafting currencies designed to interact with the Memory Strand system. These orbs give players more control over how memory-infused items behave, enhancing both item power and crafting depth.
- Orb of Remembrance
- Adds a random number of Memory Strands to a normal (white) item.
- Used to prepare your base item before advanced crafting.
- Higher strand count = stronger mod rolls.
- Orb of Unravellin
- Consumes all Memory Strands on an item.
- Upgrades random modifiers based on the number of strands consumed.
- The more strands, the better the potential outcome — but also the risk.
- Orb of Intention
- Used on Memory Influenced Maps.
- Lowers item quantity but significantly boosts the chance to drop items with Memory Strands.
- Great for players focused on farming high-quality crafting bases.
These currencies drop from the three new Pinnacle Bosses — the Incarnations of Fear, Dread, and Neglect. Each orb is tied directly into the new endgame progression loop, giving players more agency in both farming and item crafting. If you need any PoE Currency, ask our pro players to get as much as you need.
PoE Secrets of the Atlas New Unique Items
Secrets of the Atlas will introduce several new unique items, with at least two already confirmed as drops from the new Pinnacle Bosses. Additional uniques are expected to drop from other bosses and encounters throughout the league. Here a two confirmed New Unique Items in Secrets of the Atlas:
- Starcaller (Abyssal Axe): Dropped by the Incarnation of Fear. This melee weapon triggers a powerful Starfall effect on critical strikes, making it ideal for AoE-focused crit builds.
- Wine of the Prophet (Flask): Grants a random Divination Card effect when used. Each card provides a temporary buff, such as increased movement speed or gaining mods from slain rare enemies.
PoE Secrets of the Atlas New Challenge League
The league launching with Secrets of the Atlas is called Mercenaries of Trarthus. As you explore Wraeclast, you’ll encounter mercenaries from a war-torn region who challenge you to duels and offer unique rewards.
Each mercenary has their own build, gear, and personality. You can choose to hire them, loot one of their items, or exile them for a bigger reward. Some rare mercenaries carry exclusive modifiers and gear not found anywhere else.
PoE Secrets of the Atlas League Reward
The Mercenaries of Trarthus league comes with a full set of 40 challenges, each tied to league mechanics, encounters, and endgame content introduced in Secrets of the Atlas.
As you complete challenges, you’ll unlock pieces of the exclusive Watcher’s Wrath Armour Set — a dark, ornate microtransaction outfit themed around the Mercenaries’ brutal aesthetic. But this task is not as easy as it might seem; only the bravest of exiles can deal with all the Challenges. If you want to be one of them and receive all the rewards, ask our team for assistance.
PoE Secrets of the Atlas New Bosses
Secrets of the Atlas adds three new Pinnacle Bosses, each representing a twisted memory drawn from Zana’s past. These encounters take place at the end of Threads of Memory, a new endgame system where map difficulty and modifiers stack over time. The bosses in PoE Secrets of the Atlas are:
- Incarnation of Fear
- Incarnation of Dread
- Incarnation of Neglect
Each fight features unique mechanics and upgraded abilities, along with exclusive loot, including powerful new unique items and crafting currency tied to the Memory Strand system.
These bosses mark the final layer of the expansion’s memory-driven endgame and are key to unlocking the most rewarding content in patch 3.26.
PoE Secrets of the Atlas Quality of Life Features
Secrets of the Atlas brings a range of long-requested quality of life improvements aimed at making gameplay smoother and more efficient. Key PoE QoL updates in Secrets of the Atlas include:
- Pause support in solo play and offline scenarios;
- Map Device inventory to store scarabs and fragments;
- Auto-loot for Breach Splinters at the end of each encounter;
- Improved vendor UI, including saved search terms;
- Right-click unveil for veiled items, no Jun interaction needed;
- Horizon Orbs can now reroll Elder and Guardian maps;
- Essence and strongbox currency shortcuts appear automatically.
These changes modernize core systems and bring PoE 1 closer to PoE 2’s user experience.
PoE Secrets of the Atlas New Crafting Options
Secrets of the Atlas expands crafting with new item mechanics tied to the memory system. In Patch 3.26, gear found in memory-infused maps can drop with Memory Strands — a new property that enhances both item stats and crafting potential. Key crafting additions in Secrets of the Atlas:
- Items with more Memory Strands roll higher-tier modifiers;
- Currency orbs used on these items consume strands to create stronger outcomes;
- Safehouse crafting sprees now offer pre-generated rares and uniques, including re-corruptable items;
- Runegrafts, obtained via shipments, replace Mastery nodes on the passive tree with custom effects.
These systems encourage deeper item planning and provide new tools for endgame crafting and optimization. If you are not familiar with the Gear Crafting system yet, reach out to our pro players who will teach you all the tricks of the trade.
PoE Secrets of the Atlas Memory System
At the heart of Secrets of the Atlas lies the Memory System, a new endgame progression mechanic built around linear chains of maps called Threads of Memory. These threads are formed from corrupted memories tied to Zana and revealed by a new NPC, Eagon. Key mechanic features in Patch 3.26:
- Each thread is a sequence of maps with stacking altar modifiers;
- Enemies contain Memory Petals, which grant temporary combat abilities;
- You unlock and combine these abilities to boost loot, experience, and damage;
- Final maps in each thread contain warped boss fights, leading to pinnacle encounters.
The system rewards planning, offers high-risk, high-reward scaling, and ties directly into new crafting and drop mechanics through Memory-Strand gear and exclusive loot.
PoE Secrets of the Atlas Betrayal Rework
Secrets of the Atlas brings a major overhaul to the Betrayal system, making it more rewarding and less punishing for long-term planning. Key Betrayal Rework changes include:
- The Mastermind boss is now accessible via a special fragment drop from Safehouse leaders;
- Defeating the Mastermind no longer resets your Syndicate board;
- New rewards like Allflame Embers add special monster packs to maps;
- Crafting Sprees in Safehouses has been improved with stronger items and new corruption options;
- Veiled Chaos Orbs return, and unveil recipes are now part of the core game;
- You can now unveil items directly without talking to Jun.
This rework makes Betrayal more consistent, faster to interact with, and far more appealing in the endgame loop.
4.9That wraps up our Path of Exile: Secrets of the Atlas Overview. You’ve now seen everything this expansion brings to the table — from the memory-powered endgame and deadly new bosses to the Mercenaries of Trarthus league, crafting reworks, and quality of life changes. Good luck, Exile — and don’t forget to pick the right merc!
