How I Made 100 Divines Flipping Maps: A POE2 Early Game Farm Guide

When players search for "early game farm" guides in Path of Exile 2, they're often told to just run more maps. But what if the most profitable strategy wasn't running the maps yourself, but selling them to others?

This guide details a powerful currency-making strategy focused on bulk crafting and "flipping" maps. It all started for me a month ago, when T15 maps were only selling for 1-2 Exalted Orbs. By a stroke of luck, I corrupted a map into a T16 with good XP mods. I listed it for 60ex, and a level 99 player bought it instantly. That single trade opened my eyes to the lucrative world of the specialized map market.

This isn't just a list of what to sell. This is a complete business model that teaches you how to identify profitable map types and build a scalable currency-making machine.

The Core Philosophy: Identifying High-Value Map Niches

The key to this strategy is understanding that not all maps are created equal. Certain players are willing to pay a massive premium for maps with specific characteristics. I quickly learned to focus on three main niches:

  1. Citadel Maps (城寨图): These are maps with six suffixes, which grants them the "Citadel" prefix. Running a Citadel map for a specific endgame encounter has a high chance to drop 1-2 extra fragments, which often translates to at least 1 Divine Orb of extra income for the runner. This makes them highly sought after.
  2. XP Maps (经验图): These are maps with prefixes that grant increased experience gain. Players pushing from level 95 to 100 will pay almost anything to speed up the process.
  3. Magic Find (MF) / "Juiced" Maps (打宝图): These are maps with three high-rolled prefixes for Item Quantity, Item Rarity, and Pack Size/Rare Monsters. These are perfect for dedicated "Magic Find" players looking to maximize their loot.

Focusing on these three categories ensures you are always serving a high-demand, high-profit segment of the player base.

The Map Flipping Workflow: A Simple, Scalable Process

Here is the step-by-step process I used to turn a small initial investment into hundreds of Divines.

Phase 1: Preparation

Step 1: Bulk Buy White Maps Go to the trade market and bulk buy T15 white maps. At the start of my journey, they were 2-3ex each. As the league progressed, the price rose to 5ex, and recently even 10ex per map. This is your raw material. I usually started with a batch of 60 maps.

Step 2: Chisel to 20% Quality Use Cartographer's Chisels on all your white maps to get them to 20% quality. This is a standard, non-negotiable step to maximize map modifiers.

Phase 2: Crafting & Anointing

Step 3: Anoint with Oils This is where you begin to specialize your maps based on their mods.

  • For maps with an Experience prefix: Anoint them with Sepia Oil (罪孽) to further boost XP gain.
  • For maps with a high Rarity prefix (over 100%): Anoint them with Amber Oil (偏执) to enhance their value for MF players.
  • For all other maps: Use Verdant Oil (妒忌) as a solid, all-around valuable anointment.

Step 4: Corrupt Everything! After anointing, use a Vaal Orb on every single map. This is a crucial step that adds variance and creates high-value outcomes. It can increase the map tier, add special implicit modifiers, or make them unidentified for a quantity bonus.

Phase 3: Sorting & Pricing (The Triage)

This is where you reap your rewards. After corrupting, you must meticulously sort your maps into different tiers of value.

Tier S+ (The Jackpots):

  • T15 Citadel Maps (6 Suffixes): Start pricing at 40 Exalted Orbs. If the quantity roll is over 700%, you can price it at 1 Divine Orb or more.
  • T15 High-Roll "Magic Find" Maps: If a map has high rolls on Quantity, Rarity, and Rare Monster prefixes, it's worth 1 Divine Orb or more.
  • T16 Experience Maps: Any T16 map with an XP prefix is worth at least 1 Divine Orb.

Tier A (Bread and Butter):

  • Other T16 Maps: Sell these in bulk. A pack of 10 can easily sell for 1 Divine Orb or more.
  • T15 Experience Maps: Less valuable than T16s, but still profitable.
  • Other T15 Six-Prefix Maps: These are also desirable and can be sold in smaller bulk packages.

Tier B (The "Junk" Pile):

  • All other maps: Don't let them rot! Put them all in a public stash tab priced at 10 Exalted Orbs per map. You will be surprised how many people buy these in bulk. Alternatively, vendor them directly to an NPC for Gold.

A Day in the Life of a Map Flipper

Once you get this system running, the results are astounding. I received so many trade whispers that I could barely play the game myself. Entering a map often meant getting called out four or five times by buyers. It felt like being an Alibaba customer service agent.

At my peak, I made 100 Divine Orbs of profit in a single weekend. On a typical weeknight, I could make around 20 Divines. My daily routine became: prepare a batch of maps, list them for sale, and then relax by watching videos or playing another game, tabbing back into POE2 to handle trades as they came in.

After about two weeks of this, I had not only earned several hundred Divines but also accumulated a massive stash of T15 "junk" maps. This led me to my next business venture: selling the Gold I got from vendoring them, but that's a story for another guide.

This method requires practice and an understanding of the market, but it's one of the most reliable ways to build your wealth from the ground up.

Happy flipping, exile!