Rituals are one of the endgame Activities in Path of Exile 2, and they allow players to sacrifice enemies to dark gods in exchange for Favours that help power up your character and progress through more difficult content. Here's everything you need to know to make the most of these encounters.

Where to Find Ritual Encounters

Maps: Ritual encounters can be found in maps marked with the Ritual symbol on the Atlas of Worlds. These maps are randomly distributed, meaning no specific biomes are guaranteed to have Rituals more frequently.

Ritual Precursor Tablet: To increase the chance of Rituals appearing in a map, use a Ritual Precursor Tablet in a Lost Tower. This guarantees more Ritual encounters.

Map Layout: Once inside a Ritual-enabled map, look for Ritual Circles scattered throughout. Typically, there will be three circles, but in Corrupted maps, you'll find four.

How to Complete Ritual Encounters

Sacrificing Enemies:

Find the Ritual Circles in the map.

Slay monsters inside the circle until the Ritual is ready for activation.

Activating Rituals:

Once enough monsters are sacrificed, activate the Ritual. After activation, the monsters you sacrificed will revive and charge at you.

A small arena will be created around the Ritual circle where you'll need to fight off the revived enemies. In cramped areas, be cautious about getting trapped.

Wave Progression:

Each subsequent Ritual will revive all previous sacrificed monsters, meaning by the third Ritual, you will face a significant wave of enemies from previous Rituals plus the new ones.

Surviving the waves gets progressively harder, especially with each added Ritual.

Ritual Rewards

Tribute: Every monster defeated in a Ritual encounter gives you Tribute, which can be used to purchase Favours from the Ritual Altar. These Favours can include:

Weapons

Armor

Jewelry

Crafting materials

Rerolling Favours: If you don't like the POE 2 items on offer, you can reroll them by spending additional Tribute.

Deferment: If you can't afford an item, you can defer it by paying 15% of the cost upfront. The item will then reappear in a later Ritual with a 10% discount.

High-Tier Ritual Altars and Audience With the King

Audience With the King: At high-tier maps (Tier 10 and above), the Ritual Altars may offer an Audience With the King, which costs around 5,000 Tribute. This item is required to challenge The King of the Mists, the pinnacle boss of the Ritual activity.

Since 5,000 Tribute is more than what most maps will give you in a single Ritual, you'll likely need to defer this offer multiple times before you can afford it.

King of the Mists: Once you have an Audience With the King, you can challenge The King of the Mists for a chance to earn passive skill points for the Ritual passive skill tree.

Ritual Passive Skills

As you progress through Rituals and defeat The King of the Mists, you'll earn passive skill points that can be spent in the Ritual part of the Atlas passive skill tree. These passive skills improve your Ritual encounters or make higher difficulty levels more rewarding.

Notable Passive Skills: These passive skills alternate between useful notables and increasing the difficulty of the Rituals, making the encounters more rewarding at higher levels.

Key Ritual Passive Skills:

(Some Examples):

Increased Tribute Drops: Makes it easier to earn Tribute during Rituals.

Increased Boss Drop Chance: Raises the likelihood of getting high-tier loot from Ritual bosses.

Boosts to Ritual Waves: Increases the number of monsters or difficulty of Ritual waves.

Enhanced Survivability: Passive defenses to help you survive Rituals in high-tier maps.

Tips for Ritual Encounters

Prepare for Tough Waves: Rituals can get tough, especially when more enemies revive with each Ritual. Make sure your defenses are strong and have a strategy for crowd control.

Manage Tribute: Since Tribute can be deferred, it's useful to plan ahead for big-ticket POE 2 items, especially Audience With the King.

Take Advantage of Tempest: When you're nearing high levels, use Tempest Bell and other area-of-effect abilities to clear Ritual waves more easily.

By completing Ritual encounters, you'll not only collect powerful POE 2 items and POE 2 currency, but also earn powerful passive skills to enhance your endgame progression. Keep your eyes open for Ritual Precursor Tablets and prioritize clearing the Rituals for maximum rewards!