Uploaded July 2025 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago

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It’s been about 2,5 weeks since The Secrets of the Atlas expansion to Path of Exile launched, and I think it’s time for a little Solo self-found review. Please subscribe for more SSF content, and with that said, let’s dive in.

Before I dive into individual components and systems, I want to talk a bit about the overall impact of this expansion on SSF, and what I experienced playing SSF in 3.26. In general, I’m quite positive about the state of solo self found, as I think that once you’ve accepted that the game mode officially isn’t taken into account when balancing the game, it’s a game mode that brings out the best of PoE, for a bunch of different reasons. I’ve made an entire video dedicated to why I play SSF. Point is, as a baseline, I’m very positive about the SSF game mode and I think it’s implemented well. Not perfect, but very well. I know other SSF content creators, such as Smokie777, have a different outlook, and feel SSF has been deteriorating over the years, but I hold the opposite view, in fact. I think it’s only getting better.

With patch 3.26, I feel SSF progression has become smoother and easier. Several systems from Settlers went core, most notably the gambling, which is a great way to get items during the campaign, and uniques later down the line. Plus, the town itself went core, providing a bunch of different items and currency. I can’t recall losing systems for SSF progression. I don’t consider runecrafting a progression system. I refer to progression systems as those systems that can get you meaningful upgrades, not systems that add an implicit.

And while keeping various key progression systems from Settlers, we got several new ones. The mercenaries provide items, currency, skills and themselves, which has been great in SSF for all sorts of reasons. The solve a whole heap of problems and are amazing in that regard. Memory strand gear, while I haven’t figured it out entirely yet, provides another avenue of crafting gear in SSF, which helps. Tier 16,5 maps, while not a progression system in itself, provide a layer of difficulty and farm for various SSF-viable builds, still rewarding you with plenty of loot, but not requiring a super strong character. My SRS Guardian has no issues clearing these maps, for example, but struggles to kill T17 bosses. That middle layer between tier 16 and 17 maps was missing, and in particular in SSF those gaps aren’t easy to fill. Until this expansion.

And then various smaller changes I liked quite a bit. Rerolling conqueror maps, that sort of thing. They’re not purely designed for SSF, but definitely benefit SSF the most, and I feel we’ve seen a bunch of changes like this over the years. And as far as I’m concerned, that trend continues with 3.26, so overall, for SSF players, this patch has been a good one, in my opinion.

Timestamps:
0:00 Overall Impact on SSF
2:42 Balance & Build Variety
3:50 Lore
5:03 New T16.5 Maps
8:53 Pinnacle Bosses
10:31 Memory Strand Gear
11:49 Mercenaries
13:54 Settlers going Core
14:42 Betrayal Rework
15:25 Random Stuff I liked
16:52 Conclusion

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source: pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3784648

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