Map Reference

Easy: You can facetank these bosses.
Normal: You can tank these bosses but sidestepping, totems, and granites/jades will help.
Hard: You should kite these bosses due to their painful but avoidable damage. Have a dash skill ready if you are caught in a bear trap.
Very Hard: These bosses are difficult even when experienced with them. Most have unavoidable damage that can easily kill you if you aren't careful. Enfeeble or Temporal Chains with 90%+ flasked resists is highly recommended.
WTF: These bosses are very deadly. It is highly recommended that you group up or skip these bosses.

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* Means the boss is in its own level of the map.
** Means the boss is in its own level of the map. The exit becomes locked until the boss is dead.
Note: Any boss that has its own room can be dangerous when combined with certain modifiers such as Twinned (2 Bosses), Anarchic (2 Rogue Exiles), and damage/speed modifiers.

Clear Speed:
◉◉◉◉◉ Linear (Tropical Island, Strand)
◉◉◉◉● Semi-linear (Mountain Ledge, Promenade, Colonnade)
◉◉◉◉ Open area (Dunes, Shore, Dried Lake, Springs, Reef)
◉◉◉● Branching docks (Wharf, Pier)
◉◉◉ Large mazed rooms (Villa)
◉◉● Open maze (Grotto, Orchard, Thicket, Catacombs)
◉◉ Mazed floors (Temple, Overgrown Ruin, Vaal Pyramid)
◉● Tight mazed rooms (Crypt, Dungeon, Sewer)
◉ Tight winding cave (Spider Lair)
● Tight buildings (Arsenal)

You craft maps just like you craft gear by using orbs and quality improving items. These include Cartographer's Chisels, Transmutations, Alterations, Augmentations, Alchemy, and Chaos orbs. Affixes on maps increases the amount of loot you receive (item quantity) while simultaneously making it more difficult. It is important to craft maps because you can run out of higher level ones unless you do. See the sustaining maps section for more details.

You will have to decide which map affixes are best for you. See Lyralei's thread if you need an in-depth guide with this. The best affixes are more Magic Monsters and Pack Size. The worst affixes can depend on your build and include -Max Resistances, Blood Magic, Half/No Regen, and Reflect.

Prefixes


Suffixes

You get more maps based on the quantity on the map. The group quantity bonus does not increase this amount. When you start mapping it will be slow to get higher level maps. On my first character I had a hard time getting to 70+. On my next character I did my higher level maps first so that I could progress faster. Now I'm having an extremely difficult time sustaining 72+ maps, but some of my guild mates do not. I have had to fall back on running 71s a couple times now.

To sustain your map pool I do the following:

• Zana missions: These are the best way to sustain maps. Do your Zana dailies, level her by joining global 820 and doing chains, and do all Zana missions in your maps. Even if you can't complete the mission itself you can clear the mission for free maps and experience.
• Cartographer's Strongboxes: These are like winning the lottery in higher level maps. Roll them with Transmutes/Alterations/Augmentation on 68-72 maps and Alchemy/Chaos/Vaal on 73+ maps. Ignore prefixes and aim for the following suffixes:
  Abundance (+# items), Bounty (+% items), Ascendance (+item level), Kalandra (mirror every item), Ascendance (+item level)
• Upgrade maps: Sell 3 maps of the same name to an vendor and you will receive 1 map that is a level higher. This is a great way to get rid of low level maps that you'll never do. I do this on my 71 and below maps when I have over 9 of that level and 3 of a kind.
• Chisel Recipe: Pick up white Gavels, Rock Breakers, and Stone Hammers and use 4 Blacksmith Whetstones to improve them to 20% quality. Then sell them to a vendor with a single low level map for a Chisel. Use these chisels on high level maps, like 76+. I noticed a lot of these start dropping in Cruel Act 2.
• 68-72 maps: Roll them with Transmutations/Alterations/Augmentations.
• 73-74 maps: Roll them and look for the suffixes:
  of Hordes (pack size), of Champions (more Magic monsters), of Commanders (more Rare monsters)
• 75+ maps: Improve the quality of the maps with Chisels and then Alchemy/Chaos.
• Unidentified maps: You get +30% quantity if you run maps you find unidentified. I do not recommended this in hardcore or on rare maps unless you can handle all map mods.

These tips are not a joke. Follow them if you want to actually do higher level maps.

• Skip the boss: Usually it drops nothing anyway.
• Group up: The boss should die faster in a group.
• Use an OP build: Some builds are better than others for high end mapping. They're also generally more expensive.
• Get tanky: You have to be able to survive the fights before you can do them. Have a decent health pool (7.5k for some bosses), max resists, and rely on multiple forms of mitigation (armor/evasion/block/dodge).
• Curses: Enfeeble and Temporal Chains are both very useful for certain fights. Temporal chains greatly slows animations and lets you move out of harms way. It's good enemy skills you can easily avoid but are generally lethal such as for melee bosses, Brutus, Caliga, Dominus, Vaal, Tunneltrap, Merveil, Hailrake, and Flameblast users. Enfeeble is better for physical damage if you have armor and unavoidable damage. Use this on Kraityn, Stranglecharm, and the Arbiter of Knowledge.
• Totems: Later on totems are not very useful against bosses since they die in 1-2 hits, but they are very useful for regular trash. Decoy Totem and Spell Totem + Summon Skeletons are good on some easier bosses.
• Purity gems: Some bosses have elemental damage that hits like a truck. Vaal, Piety, Megaera, Draconarius, and Shock and Horror. You will very likely die if you do not run high resists against these bosses.
• Cast When Damage Taken: This is the best way to prevent instant death against physical damage. Cast When Damage Taken + Enduring Cry + Immortal Call + Increased Duration
• Vaal gems: Using at least 1 Vaal gem can mean a world of difference in the right circumstance. Vaal Haste, Vaal Rain of Arrows, Vaal Grace, and Vaal Discipline are all powerful with Increased Duration. Vaal Cyclone, Vaal Summon Skeletons, and Vaal Spark are also great.
• Situational Flasks: Every build should be running these. Granites or Jades, Resist flasks, Staunching flasks, Warding flasks
• Clear Corpses: Detonate Dead, Flesh Offering, Summon Zombie, Devouring Totem