How does Atlas Elder Influence works? too stupid :(

If there is no Elder influence on the atlas (at the start of a league, or after you kill the Elder), there is a random chance for the Elder to influence a map of the same tier that you run (not necessarily the same map).

The Shaper has a chance to gain influence over any map randomly.

When you complete a Shaper or Elder influenced map, the influence is lost.

When you complete a Shaper-influenced map adjacent to an Elder-influenced map, the Elder takes over the map. When you complete an Elder-influenced map adjacent to a Shaper-influenced map, the Shaper takes over. "Adjacent" here means maps connected via the Atlas pathways.

Even without your intervention, the Shaper and Elder fight over influence on their own. They can claim maps, lose maps, or take maps from each other.



Once the Elder controls a certain number of maps (I believe 20, but I'm not completely positive), his four guardians and the Elder himself spawn on five nearby maps.

Maps occupied by the Elder or his guardians can not lose Elder influence anymore. The only way to liberate them is to kill the guardian or Elder. However you can not use this to farm them indefinitely because occupied maps do not spawn extra Elder mobs and do not drop Elder items.

The Elder or his guardians also never move from one map to another.

The Elder himself only appears after all of his guardians are dead. After you kill the Elder, Elder loses his influence over all maps on the Atlas and the whole process starts over.



The Shaper does not do anything special with his territory other than the normal effects (spawning additional monsters or empowering the map boss).



There are a few additional "absolute" rules that can never be broken.

The Elder-influenced territory must always be connected (via Atlas pathways). If the Elder loses influence over a map that would separate his territory in two parts with no connection, he also loses influence over one of the parts entirely.

Note that the above can also happen when the Shaper takes over the Elder's influence on his own. Therefore it is possible to lose a big chunk of Elder influence even without your direct involvement.

The Elder can only influence at most 30 maps at the same time. If something would cause the Elder to gain a map when he already influences 30 maps (such as you running a Shaper-influenced map next to an Elder-influenced one), the Elder does not gain influence over the map.

I do not know whether there is a limit to the number of Shaper-influenced maps.

Maps which are occupied by the Elder and his guardians must always be connected to each other by Elder-influenced territory. If an influence change would break this connection, it simply doesn't happen.

As an example, let's say that there are three Elder-influenced maps connected in a line. The first is occupied by the Elder, the second is empty, and the third is occupied by a guardian. Let's say you have no other Elder-influenced maps (you have killed the other three guardians). Normally, completing the middle map would remove Elder influence from it. However, since it would break the connection between the Elder and his guardian, the Elder influence remains on the map even after you complete it.



The above facts can be taken advantage of via carefully manipulating the Elder's influence to create an Elder ring. This allows you to run several of your favorite maps indefinitely with permanent Elder influence, regardless of which other maps you run or of the Elder and Shaper fighting on their own.

Run Shaper-influenced maps which are adjacent to Elder influence to spread the Elder there.

If the Elder takes a map that you don't want him to, run the map to force him out.

There is always going to be some element of chance involved, but you can gently guide the Elder roughly into the general area you want him to be.