Fate of the Vaal

Energise Vaal Beacons, build Atziri's Temple room by room, beat the Architect for the Royal Access Chamber, and face the Red Queen.

Start: Vaal Beacons and the Vaal Ruins
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The climb to the Red Queen

Six stops, in order. Tick each one when you've done it in game.

0 of 6 done in game.

  1. Stop 1

    A Vaal Beacon

    Kill the monsters around a Beacon in a map, then activate it.

    You complete your first Beacon.

    Taught in Vaal Beacons and the Vaal Ruins

  2. Stop 2

    Six Crystals

    Bank Energised Crystals. Lira Vaal maps always have Beacons, and Temple Tablets add more.

    You have six or more Energised Crystals.

    Taught in Vaal Beacons and the Vaal Ruins

  3. Stop 3

    Build the Temple

    At the console in the Vaal Ruins, lay rooms and Paths toward the Architect's Chamber.

    Your road reaches the Architect's Chamber.

    Taught in Building the Temple

  4. Stop 4

    Xipocado, Royal Architect

    Beat him to open Xipocado's Console of Restricted Rooms.

    He's dead and you've used his console.

    Taught in The Architect and the Red Queen

  5. Stop 5

    Royal Access Chamber

    Place it from the console in a Temple of area level 75 or higher, connect it and complete it.

    The Royal Access Chamber is complete.

    Taught in The Architect and the Red Queen

  6. Stop 6

    Atziri, the Red Queen

    Beat the Red Queen, then her second form, the Fell Serpent. Take the Medallion she drops to the chamber entrance to open her Vault.

    Both forms are beaten and her Vault is open.

    Taught in The Architect and the Red Queen

The Path rule

Since 0.5.0, a room that has to be removed but still connects to other rooms becomes a plain Path. Your road survives; the room's bonus doesn't.

Older guides build a long snake of rooms to stop decay. That no longer works.

Tier 4 needs a passive

Rooms stop at Tier 3 until you take Transcendent Progress on this storyline's Atlas tree. Quipolatl's Medallion only goes up to Tier 3 as well.

GGG's 0.5.0 notes. The wiki says not every Tier 4 reward is confirmed yet.

Lessons

  1. Vaal Beacons and the Vaal RuinsBeacons, Energised Crystals, Lira Vaal and Temple Tablets.Up next
  2. Building the TempleRoom Cards, upgrades, Tier 4, Destabilisation and Medallions.Open
  3. The Architect and the Red QueenXipocado's Console, the Royal Access Chamber, both Atziris and her Vault.Open
  4. Temple craftingInfusers, the Architect's Orb, Orbs of Sacrifice and the limb swap.Open
  5. The TemplePass it to light up the test node on the map.After the lessons

Temple crafting

The Temple's crafting goes past where a Vaal Orb stops.

  • Vaal Infusers push quality past 20%. Up to 30%, with a chance to corrupt. Armourer's for armour, Blacksmith's for martial weapons, Arcanist's for caster weapons, Catalysing for jewellery.
  • The Architect's Orb corrupts a corrupted item again. It adds another corruption enchantment or destroys the item. The wiki says 50/50, from one source.
  • Orbs of Sacrifice come after Atziri. They upgrade a Corrupted Enchantment on a Rare item once, and remove one random explicit modifier to pay for it.
Read the Fracturing and Sacrifice lesson
Read “Temple crafting” as text

Push quality with Vaal Infusers

A Vaal Infuser takes an item that is already at 20% quality past the usual maximum, by up to 10%, to 30%. Each use can also corrupt the item, so don't use one on something you aren't ready to lock.

The wiki says the Smithy's Masterwork Forge, at Tier 3, gives Infusers.

  • Armourer's Infuser: Armour. Pick it when: You're finishing a body armour, helmet, gloves or boots. The cost: The item can be corrupted.
  • Blacksmith's Infuser: Martial weapons. Pick it when: You're finishing a weapon like a bow, mace or spear. The cost: The item can be corrupted.
  • Arcanist's Infuser: Wands, staves and sceptres. Pick it when: You're finishing a caster weapon. The cost: The item can be corrupted.
  • Catalysing Infuser: Jewellery: rings and amulets. Pick it when: You're finishing a ring or amulet. The cost: The item can be corrupted.

Know the Architect's Orb

The Architect's Orb corrupts an item that's already corrupted. It either adds another corruption enchantment and makes the item Twice Corrupted, or destroys it. It comes from the Corruption Chamber's Tier 3 device, or Atziri's Royal Troves.

If it goes wrong: The wiki puts the odds at 50/50, from a video. Only use it on an item you can afford to lose.

Upgrade with an Orb of Sacrifice

An Orb of Sacrifice upgrades a Corrupted Enchantment on a Rare item, and removes one random explicit modifier to pay for it. Each enchantment can only be upgraded once. They come from Atziri's rewards and, since 0.5.4b, the Currency Exchange.

  • Kamasa's: Amulets, rings and belts. Pick it when: Your jewellery has a corruption worth upgrading. The cost: One random modifier.
  • Kopec's: Armour. Pick it when: Your armour has a corruption worth upgrading. The cost: One random modifier.
  • Yaomac's: Weapons and quivers. Pick it when: Your weapon has a corruption worth upgrading. The cost: One random modifier.
  • Yugul's: Jewels. Pick it when: Your jewel has a corruption worth upgrading. The cost: One random modifier.

Swap a limb

The Flesh Surgeon room, at Tier 3, holds the Transcension Device. It replaces one of your limbs with a Vaal one for a strong bonus that lasts until you die. At Tier 4 you can use it twice.

Since 0.5.2 the Jado's Mortuary map offers the same limb swap.

Spot the other devices

Tier 3 rooms hold more devices, and most can be taken as a currency instead. The Thaumaturge's Gem Corrupter gives Crystallised Corruption, the Alchemy Lab's Soul Core Infuser gives a Core Destabiliser, and the Sacrificial Chamber's Morphology Mechanism gives a Vaal Cultivation Orb.

The Crafting course covers the Orb of Sacrifice next to the Fracturing Orb.