As a new season begins in Path of Exile 2, players everywhere are asking the same question: What’s the most reliable way to make currency early and consistently? While there are dozens of complex strategies involving layered mechanics, heavy juice, and extreme optimization, there is one method that continues to stand above the rest in terms of simplicity, POE2 Currency, and consistency—Essence Farming.

This strategy is not new. It worked exceptionally well in patch 0.3, and in patch 0.4, it remains just as powerful—if not better. Essence farming requires very little mechanical complexity, works on almost any build, scales naturally with investment, and can generate 30–40 Divine Orbs per day, even without playing at extreme efficiency. In many ways, it is the perfect “set and forget” farming strategy for players who want reliable income without stress.

In this guide, we’ll break down everything you need to know: map setup, tablet choices, Atlas passives, in-map execution, and how to sell your essences efficiently. If your goal is to fund upgrades, stabilize your economy, or simply enjoy mapping without thinking too hard, essence farming will never fail to deliver.

Why Essence Farming Works So Well in PoE 2

At its core, essence farming revolves around one simple concept: killing empowered rare monsters that always drop guaranteed crafting currency. Unlike many mechanics that rely on RNG-heavy drops or boss-exclusive rewards, essences are consistent. You are always rewarded for your time.

Better yet, essence monsters scale extremely well with Atlas investment, Precursor Tablets, and corruption mechanics. The strategy does not require expensive gear, high damage thresholds, or specialized builds. As soon as you reach Tier 15 maps, almost every build in the game can handle it.

Another major advantage is scalability. You don’t need to fully juice maps right away. You can start with a modest setup and gradually invest more as your character grows stronger and your currency pool increases.

Core Strategy Overview

The entire strategy revolves around adding as many essences as possible to every map you run. This is primarily achieved through Overseer Precursor Tablets that guarantee additional essences per map.

Ideally, you will run maps with:

Multiple Essence Precursor Tablets

Tier 15 maps

High mod density (4–6 mods)

Atlas passives that heavily amplify essence quantity and quality

At full investment, this strategy generates extremely consistent profits, even during unlucky streaks.

Precursor Tablets: The Heart of the Strategy

The most important component of essence farming is your choice of Precursor Tablets.

Optimal Setup

The best tablets are those that guarantee additional essences in each map. While these tablets can appear expensive at first glance, they pay for themselves every single run.

If you’re on a lower budget, there are ways to ease into it:

Use filters to find cheaper tablets by lowering the minimum roll requirement.

Run two “double essence” tablets and one “single essence” tablet instead of three double essence tablets.

This setup still provides excellent returns while allowing you to add a secondary mechanic like Abyss, Breach, or Delirium for bonus income.

If you can afford full investment, however, two-essence tablets are absolutely worth their price.

Map Setup: Simple but Effective

For maps, you will be running Tier 15 maps, ideally fully sustained through your Atlas.

Step-by-Step Map Preparation:

Collect a large batch of Tier 15 maps and store them in a separate tab.

Use an Alchemy Orb on each map until it has at least four modifiers.

If your build can handle it, use an Exalted Orb to slam the map up to six modifiers.

Quickly scan your maps for high rarity rolls:

Maps with 60%+ item rarity can sell for around 10 Exalted Orbs.

Maps with 80–90%+ rarity can sell for 25–30 Exalted Orbs.

Selling these maps outright is often more profitable than running them yourself.

If your build cannot handle six-mod maps yet, stick with four mods. You can always upgrade later.

Using Regex to Avoid Bad Mods

Certain map modifiers can completely ruin your farming efficiency—or even make maps unplayable for your build.

To avoid this, use a regex filter to automatically highlight maps that do not contain dangerous mods. Common examples include:

Reduced recovery

Maximum resistance reduction

Any mod that severely counters your defenses or damage

Once your regex is set:

Only run maps that light up

Set aside or reroll the rest

This saves time, prevents unnecessary deaths, and keeps your runs smooth and consistent.

Atlas Passive Tree Setup

Your Atlas tree for essence farming is extremely straightforward.

Key Priorities:

All Precursor Tablet-related nodes at the top of the tree

Remnants of Power (20% chance to double all essences in a map)

All essence nodes in the bottom-right quadrant

Ecological Shift for even more total essences

Extra points in experimental or spirit nodes for general juice

Essence Type Selection

One crucial node allows you to influence which essence types appear more frequently. You should always choose Energetic Resonance, which increases:

Attack Speed essences

Chaos-related essences

Speed modifiers

These essences are currently among the most valuable and most traded on the market.

Boss Tree Investment

Make sure you have at least three points in the boss tree at the top of the Atlas. This grants:

An additional essence from the Crystal Realm

Ideally, you will eventually fill this out completely, but it’s not mandatory early on.

Optional: Abyss Integration

If you plan to use Abyss Tablets, pick up Shadow of Undeath on the Atlas tree. This grants additional Abyss essences and slightly boosts overall returns.

Beyond that, the rest of your Atlas points are flexible. Choose mechanics you enjoy, or that complement your build, cheap Path of Exile 2 Currency.

Running the Maps: How to Play Efficiently

Essence farming in PoE 2 has never been easier.

Step 1: Rush the Map Boss

Hug the walls and find the map boss as quickly as possible. Once the boss is killed:

All remaining mechanics in the map become highlighted

You no longer need to search every corner

This dramatically speeds up essence hunting.

Step 2: Interacting With Essence Monsters

When you encounter an essence monster, inspect it carefully.

If it already contains:

Perfect Essence of Sorcery

Perfect Essence of Haste

Perfect Essence of Battle

Greater Essence of Ruin

Greater Essence of Opulence

Kill it immediately.

If it does not contain one of these five:

Always use a Vaal Orb (Ball Orb) on it.

Why?

Greater Essences can upgrade into Perfect Essences

Perfect Essences can upgrade into Essences of Corruption, worth roughly one Divine Orb each

Rolling valuable essences is where most of your profit comes from

There is no need to overthink this. Just follow the rule and move on.