Delirium League Mechanic Guide

Overview

Delirium in Path of Exile 2’s 0.5 Return of the Ancients update has been rebuilt from a simple fog mechanic into a layered, multi-stage endgame system with its own hub, questline, passive tree, and pinnacle boss. The Withered Willow, located to the left of Ziggurat Refuge on the Atlas, serves as the central hub for all things Delirium. Maps around this location all contain Delirium encounters and grant points for the Delirium Atlas Passive Tree. The core appeal is straightforward: Delirium turns any map into a high-density, high-reward gauntlet where pushing deeper into the fog means stronger monsters, better drops, and progression toward the mechanic’s most valuable rewards — Liquid Emotions for amulet instilling and the Simulacrum for wave-based boss rushes. The mechanic scales from casual dipping (just run into the fog, grab some loot, leave) all the way to full-commit Grand Mirror strategies that overlap Delirium with other mechanics for maximum density. (conquestcapped.com) (timesaver.gg)

How It Works

Delirium Fog is the foundational layer. Triggering a Delirium Mirror covers a map area in fog, spawning stronger, more dangerous monster variants the deeper you push. Progress is tracked on a Delirium Progress bar at the bottom of your screen, with special Mirror Shards shown on the bar as you approach 100% Deliriousness. Special Delirium monsters will spawn as the fog expands, and all monsters gain defensive buffs based on their distance from the Mirror. Fractured Mirrors located throughout the Delirium area can be activated to release additional packs of monsters. You must keep up with the advancing mist, however — falling behind for more than four seconds will end the encounter. You may also end the encounter early by clicking the UI button above your skill bar. (conquestcapped.com)

Shard Types appear between waves and during Delirium encounters, each color carrying a different effect. Purple shards shatter to make all enemies more nightmarish — larger demons, harder mobs, more rewards — but are only recommended if your build does not care about dying. Red shards spawn high-difficulty arena encounters with boosted loot bias and are generally survivable to pursue. (worstguidesever.com)

The Simulacrum is Delirium’s instanced, high-investment pinnacle encounter. Collect 300 Simulacrum Splinters (available from Tier 11+ Waystones) and combine them into a single Simulacrum item, then spend it at the Realmgate to open the arena — Clearfell Lumbermill, built from Clearfell and Ogham Farmlands tilesets. As of patch 0.5, the Simulacrum runs 7 waves of escalating difficulty (reduced from the previous 15), with Deliriousness rising roughly 5% per wave. Between waves, you choose one of three shard options that shape the run’s risk and reward: Escalating Threats (adds an additional area modifier), Apex Predators (adds an extra boss to the encounter), and Pure Emotions (adds more Delirium monster packs). The Simulacrum’s unique bosses — Omniphobia, Fear Manifest (appears from around wave 3) and Kosis, The Revelation (the tougher one, from around wave 5) — can appear more than once per run. Clearing wave 7 hands you a boss key to the Delirium pinnacle boss, Tangmazu, the Raven Trickster. As of 0.5.3, Simulacrums start at 100% Deliriousness and scale up to 200%. (timesaver.gg)

Liquid Emotions are Delirium’s signature crafting currency. The specific combination of three emotions determines which Notable you can instill onto an amulet. To see what a Notable needs, hover it on the passive tree and hold ALT, or use the “view notables” button in the instilling menu. One instillment per amulet by default — instilling again replaces the existing enchant. You cannot instill corrupted, mirrored, or sanctified items. The new Twisted Amulet and Distorted Amulet bases (introduced in 0.5) drop with two random instilled Notables already on them, and the unique Strugglescream can hold three. A critical note: instilling a Notable you have already allocated normally on your tree does not grant the effect twice. Pick notables you cannot easily path to. (timesaver.gg)

Grand Mirror — After enough Delirium Mirror completions, a Grand Mirror spawns on a nearby Atlas map. It duplicates the map boss: you fight both simultaneously. Killing them both unlocks the Trial of Madness and spreads fog over a larger Atlas region, potentially spawning multiple Simulacra. The Atlas passive node “You thought you were free” expands the area further. (worstguidesever.com)

Strategy & Tips

• Prioritize sustained clear speed over raw single-target boss damage. Simulacrum rewards builds that can handle a gauntlet of waves, not just one hard hit. If your build cannot clear Delirium map waves efficiently, simply reaching a Simulacrum boss alive will be the bigger obstacle than the boss fight itself.
• The three between-wave shard choices are a real risk/reward lever. Pure Emotions and Escalating Threats increase density and loot potential but also raise the chance of an overwhelming pull if your build’s clear speed cannot keep up. Choose based on your build’s strengths.
• Splinters only drop from Tier 11+ Waystones. Farming low-tier maps expecting splinters will not work — the game gates this reward behind higher-tier content. (conquestcapped.com)
• Use Delirium Precursor Tablets on a Tower to guarantee Delirium encounters. This is more reliable than hoping for a natural Delirium Mirror spawn. Alternatively, instilling your Waystones adds Delirium layers directly, but this does not stack with Delirium Mirrors. (conquestcapped.com)
• Delirium overlaps with Breach for players chasing maximum density (“Grand Mirror” runs), but this is a slow, high-investment strategy that needs a tanky, high-DPS build to be worthwhile.
• Use the stash between Simulacrum waves. A rest area with a stash and portal appears between each wave. Use it every wave — you will forget once, and regret it.
• Premium Liquid Emotions are worth real currency. As of the current league, rare emotions like Isolation trade around 10 Divine Orbs and Suffering around 3 Divine Orbs on the open market. Values shift weekly; check the trade site before making big decisions. (timesaver.gg)
• Known bug: monsters sometimes fail to spawn or spawn in a sealed part of the Simulacrum arena, so the wave will not complete. Try moving to the arena edges to reach stuck mobs; if fully locked, exit to character selection. GGG is actively hotfixing Delirium. (timesaver.gg)

Rewards

Delirium offers several exclusive reward categories:

• Simulacrum Splinters — stack to 300, combine into a Simulacrum for the wave-based pinnacle encounter. A full 300-splinter stack is worth a solid amount of currency and many players sell stacks rather than running them if their build cannot safely push the later waves.
• Liquid Emotions — the primary Delirium crafting currency, used for amulet instilling and jewel crafting. Rare emotions like Isolation and Suffering command high prices on the trade market. Using Liquid Emotions on a Rare jewel removes a random modifier and adds a guaranteed crafted one (Ancient Liquid Emotions do the same for Time-Lost jewels). (timesaver.gg)
• Instilled Amulets — Twisted and Distorted Amulet bases drop with two random instilled Notables, making them potentially best-in-slot items if the rolled Notables align with your build.
• Delirium-specific unique items — drop from Delirium-affected monsters and the Simulacrum’s boss encounters (Omniphobia, Kosis, Tangmazu).
• Distilled Emotions — include Despair, Disgust, Envy, Fear, Greed, Guilt, Ire, Isolation, Paranoia, and Suffering. These are the raw materials that feed into the Liquid Emotion crafting system. (conquestcapped.com)

Related Content

• Breach — overlaps with Delirium for maximum-density Grand Mirror farming strategies
• Atlas, Waystones, Towers & Tablets — Delirium Precursor Tablets guarantee encounters in Tower regions
• Passive Skill Tree — instilled Notables from Liquid Emotions interact with the passive tree

Patch History