# Atlas of Worlds The **Atlas of Worlds** is Path of Exile's end-game [[map]] system. The Atlas is a series of linked maps that players can progress through after completing a quest for [[Officer Kirac]]. It is explored and discovered by running maps within the [[Map Device]] at a player's [hideout](Hideout). The Atlas of Worlds is a visualization of the dream worlds that are opened by activating maps, indicating how these worlds are linked. The player starts at one of four starting maps in the center of the Atlas. These tier 1 maps start dropping on Act 8. Players can find new maps in adjacent, connected maps in the Atlas. The Atlas comprises more than 150 different maps. Maps have a chance to drop in other connected maps, and they can be traded between players. The Atlas has 8 regions each of which have many maps within them. Each region has a citadel, which is an interface that allows socketing 4 watchstones within it. These watchstones can have various crafted modifiers, that players can add onto them using sextants. Quest watchstones drop from defeating the Conquerors, while craftable watchstones can be purchased from other players or obtained as boss drops. Each region also allows players to select unique Atlas passive skill perks that affect drops and environmental effects within that region, such as improving Blight, Harvest, Delirium or other types of content. Every map has one or more unique bosses. The Atlas has two bonuses which affect map drops, being the Atlas Completion Bonus and the Awakening Completion Bonus. These bonuses must be earned by defeating the map boss under certain conditions. The Atlas has many end-game bosses that players can fight, such as Sirus, Awakener of Worlds which can only be encountered by chasing the Conquerors across the Atlas, and The Maven which requires completion of the Maven's challenges in The Maven's Crucible. Other bosses like The Shaper, The Elder and Uber Elder can be fought repeatedly simply by using a special set of 4 map fragments in the Map Device. ## Map Drops Map drops are not completely random; instead, a specific tier is chosen first and the map type is chosen from a pool of maps completed for that tier or connected to the map the character is currently in. Only connected maps and maps previously completed can drop from a map area. In addition to these rules, this map drop pool only consists of maps that are currently visible on the Atlas meaning maps that are removed from changing Watchstones are removed from the drop pool. There are a couple exceptions: During Zana's missions where you can obtain maps without restrictions from your Atlas progression, unique maps which can also drop their base type, and various league content that may drop maps. Following this, when a map drop's tier is rolled and no maps of that tier currently exist on the atlas, a map isn't dropped but instead adds to a "map equity" system that helps higher tier maps to drop.*[confirmation needed because of 3.10 change]* ## Regions The Atlas is split into 8 different regions, each affecting a Watchstone or Conqueror's area of influence and what item bases can drop. The 8 regions are: -  Glennach Cairns -  Haewark Hamlet -  Lex Ejoris -  Lex Proxima -  Lira Arthain -  New Vastir -  Tirn's End -  Valdo's Rest A new region without any maps is: -  The Uncharted Realms