In PoE 2, loot farming is a core mechanic. However, how much does character rarity actually impact your results? That is exactly what we are trying to examine with a detailed test contrasting 0% and 100% rarity setups. We shall also describe all maps, farming strategies, and Atlas Trees used in the test. By the end, you will know exactly how much rarity you need to maximize your efficiency.

• Why Test Rarity?
• About the Test
• Maps Setup and Strategy
• Atlas Tree
• Tablets Setup
• Tower Setup
• Loot Comparison
• Worth It?
• 0.1 vs 0.2 Rarity
• Mechanics
• How to Get 100%?

↖ Why Test Rarity?

In this league, we have been trying out different farming mechanics. One question we are often asked is: Is character rarity important? To answer this question, we attempted a controlled zero rarity versus 100% character rarity test under the same map conditions. Let's explore further the amount of rarity needed.

↖ About the Test

To keep things realistic, we designed the test to reflect typical farming conditions. 

• Maps Influenced by Towers: Each map was run with two towers containing three tablets each, mimicking real-game farming scenarios.
• Breach Mechanic: Breach provides a lot of Rare monsters. The more monsters we have -> the more loot we drop -> easier to check how impactful is Rarity based on quantity of valuable drops
• Besieged Atlas Tablet: This guaranteed a stable number of monsters per map for reliable data.

This setup ensured that the loot results were as close to standard farming conditions as possible.

↖ Maps Setup and Strategy

For the maps, we aimed for consistency while keeping costs reasonable. Here's the breakdown:

• Map Mods:
  • Quantity: ~10-15% Quantity
    
  • Rarity: 40%+ Rarity
    
• Distilled Paranoia: Used to boost the number of rare monsters.
• Loot Boost: Approximately 36% additional loot from map modifiers.

These maps are affordable and represent what most players would use for basic farming strategies. Both 0% and 100% rarity setups followed this same approach to ensure fair comparisons.

↖ Atlas Tree

The Atlas Tree was specifically designed to maximize loot density without introducing too much randomness.

Key Nodes:

• Precursor Tablet Bonuses: Boosted monster density and loot quality.
• Remnants of Power Bonuses: Increased chances for additional rare monsters.
• Breach-Specific Nodes:
  • Rising Power
    
  • Fantic Invasion
    
  • Crumbling Walls
    
  • Interdimensional Assault

Exclusions:

• Grasping Hands: Skipped as they weren't critical for this test.
• Unstable Energies: Avoided due to its randomness, which could skew results.

Why This Setup?

This simple yet effective Atlas Tree focuses on Breach pack size and explicit modifiers, ensuring consistent density for reliable loot comparisons.

↖ Tablets Setup

To ensure a fair comparison, we used two sets of nearly identical tablets for both 0% and 100% rarity tests.

Key Features:

• Increased item rarity
  
• Additional rare monsters
  
• Increased monster density
  
• Increased item quantity 
  

Tablet Details:

The unique tablet ensures a high monster density and includes breaches for both tests. We kept the monster density increase consistent at around 1%.

↖ Tower Setup

The maps were prepped with the following buffs to maintain consistency:

Buffs Applied:

• Slight increase in quantity and rarity
  
• Up to 20% monster density
  
• Additional rare monsters 
  

For the test:

• The 0% rarity setup had no rarity modifiers on the character or items.
•  The 100% rarity setup maximized rarity without altering other factors.

↖ Loot Comparison

The results from farming 30 maps with each setup revealed significant differences in loot quality and quantity.

Key Observations

1. Divine Orbs: Minimal difference between setups (4 vs. 5).
2. Chaos and Exalted Orbs: Significant increase with 100% rarity.
3. Valor Orbs: Nearly doubled with high rarity.
4. Breachstones and Splinters: Largely unaffected by rarity.
5. Alchemy Orbs: Slight decrease with high rarity.

Loot Comparison Table:

↖ Worth It?

Adding rarity to your build can yield noticeable benefits, but is it worth the effort? 

• Currency Boost: Running 100% rarity resulted in about 1.5 to 2 divine orbs more across 30 maps compared to running without rarity.
• Chaos and Exalted Orbs: Higher rarity increases the chances of chaos and exalted orb drops.
• Divine Orbs: While not guaranteed, the chances of raw divine orb drops appear slightly higher with rarity.

If your build can accommodate 100% rarity, it's worth adding for better loot returns. Even without rarity, loot remains decent, but higher rarity enhances the overall yield. Diminishing returns may apply at higher rarity levels (above 100%).

↖ 0.1 vs 0.2 Rarity

Rarity mechanics have changed since version 0.1, resulting in a nerf.

While rarity isn't as overpowered as it once was, it remains a valuable addition to most builds.

↖ Mechanics

The effectiveness of rarity depends on the mechanics you are farming:

Before committing to rarity in your build, consider the mechanics you’ll be farming. For most general currency farms, adding rarity is advantageous.

↖ How to Get 100%?

Achieving 100% rarity is simpler than you might think. Here’s an example setup used during testing:

1. Helmet: +46% increased rarity of items.
   
2. Boots: +23% increased rarity of items.
   
3. Ring: +32% increased rarity of items.

Total: 101% Rarity

Apply a second ring for a bump in rarity along with the first. The helmet and boots have less competing modifiers making them the best slots for rarity. The suffixes on boots that provide +20-25% increased rarity are preferable. With this setup, surpassing one hundred percent rarity is easily achievable and does not require much compromise from other aspects of the build.

In PoE 2, adding chaos and exalted orbs to your build enables significantly more loot drops. Although the added value is not as high as previous versions, it is still useful for almost every farming method. Look at your mechanics and gearing options to determine which goal best fits your goals.