Atlas Focus

At the Atlas table, and again on the map device screen, you pick one faction as your Focus: Lion, Falcon, Cobra or Naga. It is a preference stored with your character. It is not an item, so maps stay plain items that you can buy, sell and craft.

What it does. When you open a map with the device, the map has a good chance of containing one site of your Focus faction (The four factions). There is also a small chance of a site of one of the other three factions. Higher-tier maps can hold more than one site. The device preview tells you: "this map: Lion focus, X% site chance".

Changing. You can change your Focus freely, but only after waiting a short time (about ten minutes) from the last change. That prevents flipping between factions in the middle of a run.

Parties. In a party, the opener's Focus applies to the map. Every member earns progress in the opener's faction. If you want to farm Falcon, ask the Falcon-Focus player to open.

Why not map-carried mechanics? The owner chose Focus because it keeps progress in your own hands. You never need to buy a "Naga map" or depend on a lucky drop. A rare modifier that adds a site may come later.

Choosing a faction.

• Lion gives pre-socketed Normal bases and runes, good for runeword makers (Lion Caches (Drume)).
• Falcon gives glyphs and runes, good for spell builds (Falcon Rifts (Oberon)).
• Cobra gives essences for targeted crafting (Cobra Reliquaries (Scarlett Etzel)).
• Naga gives currency and short buffs (Naga Tide Shrines (Timira)).

There is a soft recommended order by difficulty and story: Lion, Falcon, Naga, Cobra.

Progress. Sites give Standing Points with the faction (Standing and Tokens).

Related: The Atlas, The map device.