# PoE Challenge Guide > How Path of Exile challenges work, what unlocks at 36 of 40, and which four to drop. Rewritten each league, currently covering 3.29 Curse of the Allflame. - **Game:** Path of Exile - **Category:** Challenges - **Author:** LongBeam (https://guides-factory.com/about) - **Difficulty:** Intermediate - **Reading time:** 6 min - **Published:** 2026-09-06 - **Updated:** 2026-09-06 - **Tags:** Atlas, Challenges, Endgame, League 3.29, Path of Exile, Scarabs - **Canonical URL:** https://guides-factory.com/guides/poe-challenges --- ## 🎯 The short version > Every league ships 40 challenges, and **every cosmetic reward unlocks at 36**. Not 40. Four challenges are free to drop, and picking which four is the whole strategy. > > Most of the remaining 36 are not skill checks. They are *shopping*. You buy the scarab, the logbook or the contract, run it once, and tick the box. You do not need to know a mechanic to kill its boss when you can buy the entry item and walk to it. > > Two things are worth doing before challenge one, and both cost you maps if you leave them late. ## The league this currently covers
current 3.29 — Curse of the Allflame, live since 24 July 2026. Grinding Gear Games has not confirmed an end date; the last five leagues ran a median of 136 days, which puts the rollover somewhere around early December 2026.

3.30 is confirmed for late 2026, ahead of the Path of Exile 2 1.0 release, and gets its trailer and full patch notes at ExileCon, 7–8 November 2026 in Auckland. This page is rewritten for the new list once that list exists.
| | | |---|---| | **Current league** | 3.29 Curse of the Allflame | | **Reward threshold** | 36 of 40 | | **Full challenge-by-challenge guide** | [PoE 3.29 — all 40 challenges ranked](/guides/poe-3-29-36-40-challenge-guide) | | **League mechanic explained** | [Charts, voyages and the Bathysphere](/guides/poe-3-29-curse-of-the-allflame-charts-voyages-guide) | ## What 36 of 40 actually buys The reward set is cosmetic, and it is all-or-nothing at the top tier. In 3.29 that is the back attachment, the totem, the portal effect, the eel pet and the oceanic weapon effect. Every one of them lands at 36. That matters more than it sounds. Because the last four are worth nothing, the correct play is not "do the easiest 36" — it is **spend nothing on the four most expensive**, whichever those turn out to be for your build. A bosser and a mapper should drop different challenges. ## Do these three things first
The Atlas tree is the one with a real cost attached. In 3.29, *Trustworthy Teachers* wants a T16 at 80% quantity or more and *Excruciating Echoes* wants 150% — take every map-modifier-effect node and both quantity wheels, and take them **before** you run those maps rather than running them twice. The [Atlas passive tree progression guide](/guides/poe-3-29-atlas-passive-tree-progression-guide) covers the order. Filled scarab slots matter because a lot of challenge text reads "any three of the following league mechanics". Those are not tasks. They are things you were already doing, as long as the slots are not empty. See the [mapping guide](/guides/poe-mapping-guide-explained-tiers-atlas-void-stones) for how the slots and the tree interact. ## The four to drop in 3.29 | Challenge | Why it is the one to cut | |---|---| | Intrigued Interlopers | Four boss altars in a single map. Rare, and altar loot is poor enough that chasing it costs hundreds of maps of real drops. | | Horrific Halls | The wording hides the cost: five *delirium orbs*, not one delirium. A fully delirious nightmare boss at 150% quantity, with no scarab slots left over. | | Apex Assailants | Pure Uber bossing. Free if your build does that, near-impossible if it does not. | | Brinerot's Bloody Bounty | Not hard, just a brutal retry loop — every failed attempt costs a whole new voyage. **This is the one most people regret dropping.** | If your build *is* a bosser, put Apex Assailants back in and drop something with an expensive tail instead. The list is per-build, and that is the point. ## The scarab shopping list Buy these in bulk once and most of the "any N of the following" challenges collapse into ordinary mapping. | Scarab | Feeds | |---|---| | Mercenary *(+ of Infamy)* | Savage Sellswords, Cross Contamination | | Delirium | Legendary Leagues, Cross Contamination, level 100 | | Breach *(+ Marshal node)* | Legendary Leagues, Taxing Tasks, Cross Contamination | | Abyss / Abyssal Depths / Consort | Legendary Leagues, Taxing Tasks, Challenging Curators | | Shrine + Domination | Ingrained Increases, Cross Contamination, nightmare maps | | Harvest doubling + Cornucopia | Legendary Leagues, Taxing Tasks | | Sulphite, Bestiary | Trustworthy Teachers | | Ultimatum of Dueling | Bountiful Bloodlines *(guaranteed Trialmaster)* | | Strongbox, Essence, Legion, Rogue Exile, Wisp, Adversary | the "any three / any five" challenges | | Prefix- and suffix-negating | emergency valve for nightmare maps | Funding it is its own skill. The [trading guide](/guides/poe-trading-guide) and the [Syndicate currency farming route](/guides/poe-329-destructive-play-currency-farming-guide-via-syndicate) both pay for a shopping list like this inside a weekend. ## Starting a league from scratch Challenges are an endgame project, but the first 48 hours decide how cheaply you get there. A starter that maps fast beats a starter that bosses well, because the shopping-list approach turns most challenges into map runs. - [3.29 league starter build tier list](/guides/poe-329-league-starter-build-tier-list) - [Campaign levelling: zones, vendor recipes, early league tips](/guides/poe-campaign-leveling-guide-zones-vendor-recipes-early-league-tips) - [New to Path of Exile entirely](/guides/poe-beginner-guide) ## When the league rolls over This page keeps its URL and gets rewritten for the new list. The league-specific guide it points at keeps *its* URL too, and stays up as the archive for that league — challenge lists do not stop being useful when a league ends, because the mechanics come back. So: bookmark this one for "what are the challenges right now", and follow the link into the league guide for the challenge-by-challenge detail. ## FAQ ### How many Path of Exile challenges do you need? **36 of 40.** Every cosmetic reward unlocks at 36, so four challenges are free to drop. Completing all 40 adds nothing but a number on your profile. ### Which four challenges should you skip? Whichever four are most expensive *for your build*. In 3.29 the common set is Intrigued Interlopers, Horrific Halls, Apex Assailants and Brinerot's Bloody Bounty — but a build that does Uber bosses comfortably should keep Apex Assailants and drop something else. ### What should you set up before starting challenges? The item-quantity Atlas tree. Some challenges are gated behind map quantity thresholds, and building the tree afterwards means running those maps a second time for nothing. ### Are challenges worth doing if you play casually? The threshold is 36, not 40, and a large share of the 36 are single purchases followed by one map. A casual player who fills scarab slots and buys the entry items gets much further than the number suggests. ### Which league does this page cover? 3.29 Curse of the Allflame, live since 24 July 2026. The page is rewritten for each new league, and the previous league's detailed guide stays online at its own URL. --- ## FAQ ### How many Path of Exile challenges do you need? 36 of 40. Every cosmetic reward unlocks at 36, so four challenges are free to drop. Completing all 40 adds nothing but a number on your profile. ### Which four challenges should you skip? Whichever four are most expensive for your build. In 3.29 the common set is Intrigued Interlopers, Horrific Halls, Apex Assailants and Brinerot's Bloody Bounty, but a build that does Uber bosses comfortably should keep Apex Assailants and drop something else instead. ### What should you set up before starting challenges? The item-quantity Atlas tree. Some challenges are gated behind map quantity thresholds, and building the tree afterwards means running those maps a second time for nothing. ### Are challenges worth doing if you play casually? The threshold is 36, not 40, and a large share of the 36 are single purchases followed by one map. A casual player who fills scarab slots and buys the entry items gets much further than the number suggests. ### Which league does this page cover? 3.29 Curse of the Allflame, live since 24 July 2026. The page is rewritten for each new league, and the previous league's detailed guide stays online at its own URL.