Ritual

Ritual is a mechanic where you kill monsters inside a circle to earn Tribute, then spend it on items from a reward window. Up to 4 rituals can appear per map, and each one adds to a shared Tribute pool you can spend at completion.

Basic Loop

1. Enter a map and find a Ritual altar
2. Kill all monsters inside the circle to earn Tribute
3. Repeat for each ritual in the map (up to 4 per map)
4. Spend Tribute on items from the reward window, or defer them for later
5. Claim rewards before leaving. A notification now reminds you as of 3.28.

Deferral System

Instead of buying an item outright, you can defer it for a fraction of the cost, saving it to purchase later when your Tribute pool is larger. The deferral system is the core of efficient Ritual play.

Optimal Deferral Cycle

1. Use Selectiveness and Abundance Scarabs to generate as many reward windows as possible, deferring valuable items each time
2. Run one map focused on generating a large Tribute pool using the relevant keystone
3. Return and buy all your deferred items
4. Repeat the cycle

Mirage Interaction: Ritual may be particularly strong this league, completing 4 rituals in your main map then a 5th in the Mirage could generate Tribute equivalent to 4 alters in the original map. Combined with extra rerolls, you may have enough Tribute to defer and buy items efficiently without needing to switch between generating and spending cycles.

Blood-Filled Vessels

• Collect Ritual Splinters from the reward window, 100 splinters make a Blood-Filled Vessel
• A vessel forces a Ritual to appear in a map, acts like a scarab, and generates more Tribute than normal
• You cannot generate AND use a vessel in the same map, pick one

Atlas Tree

Keystones to Avoid

• Immutable Dogma: Grants more Tribute but disables rerolling Favours, making it contradictory to most Ritual passives. Situationally useful only for clearing a backlog of deferred items.
• Arbitrary Tenants: Low practical value.

Recommended Nodes

• Occult Devotion: Grants 4 rituals per map. Mandatory.
• Profitable Prayer: +2 additional rerolls per map. Mandatory.
• Flexible Dogma: Reduces reroll cost. Strong.
• Answered Appeals: Deferring Favours costs less Tribute, deferred items reappear sooner, unique monsters generate more Tribute. Strong.
• Sacrificial Due: Situational get free blood filled vessels occassionaly.
• Base Ritual Chance: Only useful without vessels.

Scarabs

• Scarab of Selectiveness: +2 rerolls per map. Strong.
• Scarab of Wisps: Generates more Tribute. Strong, pairs well with Selectiveness.
• Scarab of Abundance: Adds more Favour windows. One is usually enough; two is overkill.
• Scarab of Corpses (3.28): Adds a rare itemised corpse to the Favour window. Niche, only worthwhile if fishing for specific high-value corpses is worth it.

Synergies

• Delirium: Adds extra monsters to Rituals, increasing Tribute generation.

Notable Rewards

• Omens: Ritual-specific drops. Less impactful in PoE 1 than PoE 2.
• Itemised Corpses: Occasionally available in reward windows but rarely high-value. Not a strong reason to dedicate a scarab slot unless specific valuable corpses are identified.
• Divines: Occasional drop in reward windows.
• Mirrors: Very very rare. Apparently from Blood-Filled Vessel rituals.
• Synthesised / Fractured Items: Reward windows often contain craftable items worth picking up.
• King in the Mists Invitation: Ritual now rewards this invite, letting you fight a boss that drops The Light of Meaning, a unique jewel that has historically held strong value early league.