Anyone who has been casually mapping in Path of Exile 2 lately might not realise just how busted the new Fate of the Vaal setup is, both for fun and for raw profit from path of exile 2 currency. It started as one of those league mechanics you poke at during the story, then forget once you hit endgame. But a streamer called Fubgun dug into the Holten campaign reset trick, and the whole thing flipped overnight. After a few hours trying it myself, it is pretty clear that normal mapping feels like busywork by comparison, and the numbers people are pulling off do not look remotely balanced.
Why Mapping Feels Like A Trap
On paper, the intended loop is obvious. Run a bunch of juiced T16 maps, gather crystals at a slow but steady pace, then build a respectable temple and hope it pays out. In practice, grinding six or more maps for a single, fairly average temple feels rough once you know what the Act 6 Holten zone can do. That interlude area drops Vaal packs right next to the waypoint every time, as long as your character is not more than ten levels over the zone. So players roll a fresh character, sprint the campaign, park in Holten around level 70, and guard their XP like it is hardcore. If you accidentally ding too high, you just throw yourself at Atziri or into a nasty pack inside the temple to lose a level and keep the farm going.
How The Holten Temple Farm Works
The real power is not just in rushing crystals, it is in how you spend them. Instead of filling the board at random, players are using a "Snake Method" layout. You build one long twisty chain that runs from the entrance through carefully chosen rooms. Spymasters come first for medallions, then Garrisons for the effectiveness scaling, so your monsters get stacked with multipliers before you reach the heavy loot parts. A lot of people are planning routes with an Atziri temple planner so they do not accidentally break key links or destabilise the wrong room. When the chain is done properly and you lock the final section with enough medallions, the monster density and drops go way beyond what you get from standard mapping, with raw divines, mirrors, and useful ilvl 84 bases showing up way more often than they should.
Community Reactions And Economy Fallout
The reaction across the community has been pretty mixed. Older PoE players are joking that it feels like Harbour Bridge farming all over again, except now the stakes are the entire league economy. Newer players, or anyone who prefers a slower pace, are not thrilled watching crystal prices collapse while basic currency inflates hard. With GGG being pretty quiet over the holiday break, there is this weird window where everyone knows the strat is a bit too strong, but it is still technically allowed. So trade chat is full of people selling Holten-ready characters, swapping temple plans, and arguing over how long it will take before the nerf hits.
Is The Grind Worth It For You
Whether you dive into this loop really comes down to what you want from the league. If you enjoy squeezing every bit of value from a system, resetting Holten for hours can feel oddly satisfying, because you always know the next temple might explode with value. If that sounds miserable and you would rather just map, boss, or try weird builds, there is also the simple route of buying currency and skipping the grind through a shop like u4gm, so you can focus on actually playing instead of babysitting your XP bar.