With the official Path of Exile 2 0.5 league launch underway, almost all core endgame and league mechanics have received massive reworks, balance changes, and new exclusive reward systems. Which is the best strategy to farm currency and gear in the current league? This tier list will rank every major mechanic in PoE 2 0.5.  

PoE 2 0.5 Best Farming Strats Tier List (Runes of Aldur)

Stick to S/A-tier PoE 2 0.5 farm mechanics that are the biggest patch winners and cover all early gearing and currency needs. You can also run Ritual as a supplementary farm for unique and Rune income. 

1. Expedition - S Tier (Best Overall League Start Farm)

Expedition takes the absolute top spot in PoE 2 0.5, and it is the most reliable and profitable mechanic for every league starter. This mechanic has been fully reworked and tightly integrated, it is the biggest early-league currency printer in this patch.

In previous league iterations, Expedition dropped exclusive unique currencies like Black Scythe Artifact, Broken Circle Artifact, and Exotic Coinage. All of these old exclusive Expedition currencies have been removed in 0.5. However, a critical patch note change makes this mechanic stronger than ever: players can now use stash-stored currency to purchase items directly from Expedition vendors. This update confirms that Expedition still retains its powerful gear gambling and vendor crafting functions. This is game-changing for the 0.5 league because GGG implemented massive early-game crafting nerfs for all weapons and armor. Traditional crafting methods are no longer viable for fast early gearing: rolling white bases with transmutations and augments is far more expensive, players can only add a maximum of one Greater Essence and one Perfect Essence per gear piece, and Recombinators are completely removed from early armor crafting.

With normal crafting gutted, dropped and vendor-purchased gear is the only reliable early-league gearing method. Expedition directly solves this problem by consistently spawning usable weapons, body armor pieces, and endgame base gear. On top of gear farming, the new league floods players with Runes, Alloys, and raw currency, creating steady, high-volume income from the very first day of the league. The only downside of Expedition is its inherent difficulty. Like past versions, Expedition encounters are dangerous for low-level, unfarmed league start characters. Monster density and enemy damage can catch new players off guard. Even so, its unmatched economic value completely outweighs the risk, making it the undisputed best mechanic for PoE 2 0.5 league start.

• Pros: Infinite early gear supply to bypass crafting nerfs, consistent Rune/Alloy/currency drops, vendor item purchasing support, top-tier league start ROI

• Cons: High combat difficulty, risky for undergeared early characters

2. Breach - S Tier (Scaling King, Day 2–3 Dominance)

Breach is another S-Tier reworked mechanic in PoE 2 0.5, sharing almost all the strengths of Expedition with unique scaling advantages. It follows the same winning formula: reliable early gear drops and massive raw currency loot, perfectly adapting to the new crafting-nerfed league.

The biggest upgrade for Breach is its brand-new Breach Genesis Tree, which lets players target-farm exclusive gear from Breach encounters. Combined with the naturally high loot drop rate of Breach monsters, Breach becomes a double-value farm: you get both targeted specialty gear and random juicy rare drops from monster kills.

Breach has two key differences from Expedition that shape its early-league performance. First, all gear obtained from the Genesis Tree is jewelry only (rings, amulets, belts). In early league gearing priority, weapons and body armor always come first, so jewelry is secondary. This makes Breach slightly weaker than Expedition on Day 1, when players prioritize core defensive and offensive gear. Second, Breach scales extremely rapidly. By Day 2 of the league, most players have fixed their weapon and body armor slots and start investing heavily in jewelry upgrades. High-roll triple flat jewelry, amulets with +2/+3 melee or projectile skill levels, and rare Breach exclusive bases skyrocket in value. By Day 3, Breach easily surpasses Expedition in profit potential.

A critical early-league tip for Breach: never prioritize the currency tree. In PoE 1 and the early days of PoE 2, Breach’s currency-focused nodes are a massive bait. High-tier currencies like Divine Orbs have extremely low drop rates from the currency tree. In contrast, a single well-rolled 3-mod weapon, 4-mod body armor, or high-tier jewelry can sell for multiple Divines. Early league demand for usable gear is infinitely higher than rare random currency drops. Save currency tree farming for mid and late league only.

• Pros: Excellent late-Day-1 and early-Day-2 scaling, dual loot source (monster drops + Wombgifts Tree gear), high-value jewelry output

• Cons: Secondary gear priority on Day 1, currency tree is worthless for early league

3. Ritual - A Tier (High-Upside Unique & Rune Farming)

Ritual receives a full rework in PoE 2 0.5 and becomes one of the most underrated high-upside early-league mechanics. The entire Ritual reward pool has been reworked for this patch, eliminating filler drops and focusing entirely on two reward types: Unique Items and Omens.

Omens are stable early-league currency items. Common drops like Omen of Whittlings and Anointment materials consistently sell for 0.5 to 1 Divine Orb each during league start, providing reliable baseline profit. The real power of Ritual, however, comes from its unique item rewards.

GGG buffed dozens of previously worthless unique items for the 0.5 league. These upgraded uniques have extremely high early-league value, as new league starters lack viable gear options and will pay premium prices for functional unique items. Unlike late league, where uniques are easily replaceable with crafted rare gear, early-league uniques are core build enablers with insane market demand. Ritual’s biggest exclusive feature is its new mod-stealing Rune system. Players can extract one random modifier from Kalguuran or Ezomyte unique items, seal the modifier into a Rune, and socket it into any weapon of their choice. This new mechanic causes early-league unique item prices to surge, and Ritual is the most efficient way to farm these valuable unique bases for mod extraction.

The only reason Ritual sits at A-Tier instead of S-Tier is its slight inconsistency. Unique drops rely on luck more than Expedition or Breach’s steady gear/currency output. Even so, its high ceiling and stable baseline rewards make it a perfect supplementary farm alongside the top two S-Tier mechanics.

• Pros: No filler rewards, high-value buffed uniques, exclusive mod-stealing Rune farming, stable Omen currency drops

• Cons: Loot is less consistent than S-Tier mechanics, relies partially on RNG unique drops

4. Abyss - B Tier (Solid Crafting Material Farm, Risky Gameplay)

Abyss is a stable mid-tier mechanic in PoE 2 0.5 with no major reworks or buffs this patch. While other core mechanics received massive overhauls and indirect buffs, Abyss is basically unchanged, making it fall behind in the early-league meta. Additionally, the powerful Omen of Light mechanic with Amanamu modifiers (which printed massive currency last league) has been fully nerfed.

In the new league, Abyss’s only valuable drops are core crafting materials: Jawbones, Ribs, and Collarbones. These bone materials are still among the most powerful early-league crafting tools and hold steady market value. They are essential for players crafting endgame gear once basic gearing is complete. The biggest flaw of Abyss is its high difficulty. Abyss encounters are notoriously rippy, with dense tough monster packs and sudden damage spikes that can wipe undergeared league start builds. Since Expedition and Breach provide far easier and more consistent early gear, most players will skip Abyss on Day 1–2.

Abyss’s value scales with league progress. If Expedition’s raw gear gambling output is lower than expected in the new patch, Abyss will instantly rise in priority as a top-tier crafting material farm. It is a strong situational backup option but not a primary league start farm.

• Pros: Valuable irreplaceable early crafting bones, stable consistent material drops

• Cons: No patch buffs, high difficulty, outclassed by S/A-Tier mechanics early on

5. Delirium - B Tier (Late League Value, Low Early Demand)

Delirium (Deli) is another mid-tier mechanic in 0.5, with clear early-league weaknesses and solid mid-league potential. Its core farmable reward is Liquid Emotions, a currency used for crafting rare jewels and amulet anointments.

The core issue with Delirium is simple: low early-league demand. During league start, every player’s gold priority is maximizing weapons and body armor first. No player will spend multiple Divines on amulet anointments or perfect rolled jewels when their core offensive and defensive gear is still incomplete.

For the first week of the league, players are completely fine with 1–2 modifier basic jewels and cheap, low-tier anointments. The demand for high-end jewel crafting and premium anointments only arrives 1–2 weeks into the league, once most players have finished their basic gearing. This makes Liquid Emotions nearly worthless for early farming.

Delirium is not a bad mechanic overall; it just has zero early-league ROI. It becomes a great farm in mid and late league, but it is not worth investing atlas points or farming time during league launch.

• Pros: High mid/late-league value, reliable Liquid Emotion drops

• Cons: No early-league demand, zero profit in Day 1–7 window

6. Atziri's Temple - C Tier (Worst Early League Mechanic, Full Skip)

Atziri's Temple is the only C-Tier mechanic in PoE 2 0.5 and is completely not worth farming for the entire early league. It received severe targeted nerfs that gutted its early-league profitability.

Temple’s most valuable endgame drops have been heavily degraded. The iconic high-ticket item Vertex is almost completely gutted and has lost nearly all its value. The Atziri's Body armor is usable but has also received significant stat nerfs, removing its status as a must-have early endgame gear piece. Beyond unique drops, Temple’s exclusive currency rewards are also unviable for early league. Cultivation Orbs and high-tier quality currencies (that push gear quality past 20%) are extremely powerful crafting items, but they have abysmal drop rates (5% or lower per encounter).

Worse still, no early-league player can afford to gamble these rare currencies. Testing 20 bases with 20 Cultivation Orbs is financially impossible on Day 1–3, so there is almost zero market demand for these Temple currencies early on. Their value only emerges in late league when players have excess currency for high-risk crafting.

Overall, Temple has no redeeming qualities for league start. It offers no fast gear, no reliable currency, and no high-demand materials. You can fully skip Temple farming for the entire early league period.

• Pros: High-tier crafting currency for late league only

• Cons: Gutted top-tier unique drops, ultra-low drop rates, zero early-league demand and ROI

To maximize your league start profit in Path of Exile 2 0.5, always prioritize mechanics with stable, high-demand early-league currency/material drops. Avoid mechanics that only provide late-game crafting items. Also, favor mechanics with high monster density and general loot drops. Extra random rare drops and base gear always boost early-league income far more than niche rare rewards.