Path of Exile 2
Precursor Towers and Tablets Guide
Last Update: 05/04/2025
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Precursor Towers
Precursor Towers are the major endgame mechanic that interacts and enables all other strategies. The Tower is a special Map Node randomly scattered across all Biomes in the Atlas or Worlds. There are a few available layouts, but all of them have the same competition goal - to kill all Rare Enemies and unlock the Precursor Altar, usually found at the very end of the Map. To enter the Tower, you will need a Waystone. The Tier doesn't matter, but the amount of modifiers is very important. With no modifiers, you will unlock only 1 Tablet slot. To unlock the second slot, you will need at least 3 modifiers on your Waystone. Furthermore, conquering a Rare Map with at least 6 modifiers will unlock all 3 Tablet slots for you to use.
Adding extra modifiers to Waystones makes the considerably harder and lowers the possible attempts, but usually increases the rewards. You don't always need 6 modifiers on your regular Waystones if it becomes too dangerous for your Build, but you should definitely always aim to unlock all 3 Tablet slots. Failing the Map removes the extra mechanics for future attempts, but you can still activate the Altar if you finally complete it. If you find yourself stuck, use a lower Tier of Waystone to make it easier.
Precursor Tablets
The main purpose of Towers is to activate Precursor Tablets. After completing the Tower, you can consume up to 3 Tablets to apply their modifiers to random uncompleted Maps in the Tower radius. It not only adds various mechanics to the Maps, but also makes them more rewarding, making it the core gameplay loop in the endgame. To get the most out of your Maps, you should constantly pursue new Towers and focus on completing Maps that are within their range.
Some important endgame mechanics like Breach are highly dependent on the Map Layout, so you might want to complete unfavourable Maps (like Mire, Seepage, or Vaal Factory) before activating the Tablets to make sure it won't affect such Maps. Sometimes two or more Towers will overlap with each other, allowing you to add even more bonuses to your Maps, greatly increasing your potential rewards. It is recommended to keep track of such spots and come back to them later, once you acquire a set of good Tablets and unlock all necessary Atlas Passive Tree bonuses to maximise your loot.
All Precursor Tablets can be upgraded to Magic Rarity, with one Prefix and one Suffix modifier. They can't be upgraded to Rare Rarity, although you will sometimes encounter some interesting Unique Tablets. At first this might not be the case, but you will quickly reach the point of having too many Tablets with too few Towers to use. Always try to upgrade them with Orb of Transmutation and Orb of Augmentation, and mix 3 bad-rolled for one random Tablet with the Reforging Bench or Recombinator. If you don't have a good Precursor Tablet, do not overthink it either. Using a mediocre Tablet is always better than not using any at all.
There are 6 types of Precursor Tablets. The most common is the regular Precursor Tablet that makes affected Maps Irradiated, increasing their Area Level by 1. It makes all monsters harder to fight, but also makes them more rewarding. It directly affects the possible modifiers obtainable on Rare Items, and unlocks certain drops like the Perfect Jeweller's Orb. You will also gain more Experience, which is very noticeable once you reach 90+ Character Level. You can obtain it from all monsters slain in your Maps.
The other Tablets are directly related to specific endgame mechanics. The drop requirements are quite simple: to obtain the Precursor Tablet of the specific mechanic, you have to do the specific mechanic. For example, Breach Tablets drop only from Breach monsters, Overseer Tablets drop from Map Bosses, etc.
Currently, there are 5 special Precursor Tablets, and we will definitely see more of them in the future. Their types are as follows:
| Icon |
Name and Effect |
 |
Breach Precursor Tablet
(12–18) Maps in Range contain Breaches |
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Overseer Precursor Tablet
Up to (2–4) Maps in Range contain Bosses |
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Ritual Precursor Tablet
(12–18) Maps in Range contain Ritual Altars |
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Delirium Precursor Tablet
(12–18) Maps in Range contain Mirrors of Delirium |
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Expedition Precursor Tablet
(12–18) Maps in Range contain Expedition Encounters |
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Precursor Tablet modifiers
What makes the Tablets worthwhile are the special modifiers they possess and apply to nearby Maps. Special Tablets not only add their respective mechanics to your Maps, but also enhance them in various ways. Fortunately, the list of modifiers is not that long, so you don't need to study it rigorously. Furthermore, the Prefix modifiers are all the same for all types of Tablets, further reducing the strain on you when assessing how good a specific Tablet is. Let's take a look at all the modifiers available for the Tablets.
| List of Prefix Modifiers for all Precursor Tablets |
| (3–7)% increased Quantity of Items found in your Maps |
| (10–15)% increased Rarity of Items found in your Maps |
| (3–7)% increased Pack Size in your Maps |
| (15–25)% increased Magic Monsters in your Maps |
| (10–15)% increased Rare Monsters in your Maps |
| (10–15)% increased Gold found in your Maps |
| (5–10)% increased Experience gain in your Maps |
As you can see, almost all modifiers are quite valuable, with the exception of the extra Gold or Experience. Magic Monsters are usually not as good as Rare Monsters, but it's definitely not a bad mod to have. Remember, in most Maps you should have 3 of those modifiers, and they can stack with each other.
The Suffix Modifiers offer much more variety. Each type of Tablet has its own list of possible modifiers, but you will quickly learn to recognise which modifiers are useful, and which ones should be avoided.
| List of Suffix Modifiers for regular Precursor Tablets |
| (10–20)% increased Quantity of Waystones found in your Maps |
| Your Maps have (30–50)% increased chance to contain Shrines |
| Your Maps have (30–50)% increased chance to contain Strongboxes |
| Your Maps have (30–50)% increased chance to contain Essences |
| Your Maps have (30–50)% increased chance to contain Azmeri Spirits |
| Your Maps have (15–25)% increased chance to contain Rogue Exiles |
| Your Maps have 1 additional random Modifier |
| List of Suffix Modifiers for Overseer Precursor Tablets |
| Areas with Map Bosses contain an additional Strongbox |
| Areas with Map Bosses contain an additional Shrine |
| Areas with Map Bosses contain an additional Essence |
| Areas with Map Bosses contain an additional Azmeri Spirit |
| (5–10)% increased Quantity of Waystones dropped by Map Bosses |
| Map Bosses grant (20–40)% increased Experience |
| 15–25)% increased Rarity of Items dropped by Map Bosses |
| (10–15)% increased Quantity of Items dropped by Map Bosses |
| List of Suffix Modifiers for Breach Precursor Tablets |
| Breaches in your Maps spawn (15–25)% increased Magic Monsters |
| Breaches in your Maps spawn an additional Rare Monster |
| Breaches in your Maps have (4–6)% increased Monster density |
| Breaches in your Maps have (3–5)% increased Monster density |
| Breaches in your Maps open and close (5–10)% faster |
| Breaches in your Maps contain 1 additional Clasped Hand |
| (5–10)% increased Quantity of Breach Splinters dropped by Breach Monsters in your Maps |
| Your Maps which contain Breaches have (2–4)% chance to contain three additional Breaches |
| Your Maps which contain Breaches have (5–10)% chance to contain an additional Breach |
| List of Suffix Modifiers for Ritual Precursor Tablets |
| Monsters Sacrificed at Ritual Altars in your Maps grant (5–10)% increased Tribute |
| Rerolling Favours at Ritual Altars in your Maps costs (10–15)% reduced Tribute |
| Deferring Favours at Ritual Altars in your Maps costs (10–15)% reduced Tribute |
| Favours Deferred at Ritual Altars in your Maps reappear (10–15)% sooner |
| Ritual Altars in your Maps allow rerolling Favours an additional time |
| Favours Rerolled at Ritual Altars in your Maps have (1–3)% chance to cost no Tribute |
| Revived Monsters from Ritual Altars in your Maps have (15–25)% increased chance to be Magic |
| Revived Monsters from Ritual Altars in your Maps have (10–15)% increased chance to be Rare |
| Ritual Favours in your Maps have (15–25)% increased chance to be Omens |
| List of Suffix Modifiers for Delirium Precursor Tablets |
| (5–10)% increased Stack size of Simulacrum Splinters found in your Maps |
| Delirious Monsters Killed in your Maps provide (5–10)% increased Reward Progress |
| Delirium Fog in your Maps lasts (3–6) additional seconds before dissipating |
| Delirium Fog in your Maps dissipates (10–15)% slower |
| Delirium in your Maps increases (5–10)% faster with distance from the Mirror |
| Delirium Monsters in your Maps have (5–10)% increased Pack Size |
| Delirium Fog in your Maps spawns (5–10)% increased Fracturing Mirrors |
| Slaying Rare Monsters in your Maps pauses the Delirium Mirror Timer for 2 seconds |
| Delirium Encounters in your Maps are (5–10)% more likely to spawn Unique Bosses |
| Delirium Encounters in your Maps have (3–8)% chance to generate an additional Reward type |
| List of Suffix Modifiers for Expedition Precursor Tablets |
| (5–10)% increased quantity of Artifacts dropped by Monsters in your Maps |
| (5–10)% increased Explosive Placement Range in your Maps |
| Expeditions in your Maps have +1 Remnant |
| (5–10)% increased Explosive Radius in your Maps |
| (5–10)% increased Quantity of Expedition Logbooks dropped by Runic Monsters in your Maps |
| (10–15)% increased number of Rare Expedition Monsters in your Maps |
| (3–6)% increased Effect of Remnants in your Maps |
| Your Maps contain (5–10)% increased number of Runic Monster Markers |
A good Tablet is not the only requirement to get the best rewards. Most endgame mechanics require a proper Atlas Passive Tree setup to be fully effective, which in most cases requires you to defeat the related Pinnacle Boss four times, each time with higher Difficulty. It is a challenging and time-consuming task meant as a long-term goal. In some situations selling your well-rolled Tablets on the market will be more beneficial for you than running it by yourself. The trends can be very volatile and change over night, but it is usually quite intuitive.
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