Scarabs Explained

Scarabs are a type of Map Fragment item that allows you to enhance (or juice) your Maps in Path of Exile. They add Mechanics and League content to your Maps, or modify the way in which you interact with them. You can normally add up to 3 Scarabs to your Map to add more content, but also increases the potential for rewards! After you upgrade your Map Device you can add another to a Map (for a total of 4).

Scarabs are an easy and accessible method to target farm specific League Mechanics or content and enhance your currency farming in Path of Exile! As such, they are commonly used in currency farming strategies.

Each Scarab has a limit from 1 to 4, regulating the number of copies you're able to use together in the Map Device. For example, Bestiary Scarabs are limited to 1 as they add Einhar to your Maps. However, Anarchy Scarabs are Limit 4, allowing you to add up to 16 Rogue Exiles to your Map.

Scarabs are categorized by the content they apply to, these aren't strict "tiers" but some Scarabs are more common than others. For example, these are 3 of the 5 Expedition Scarabs you may encounter in your journey across Wraeclast.

Scarabs are a global drop in Path of Exile, meaning you frequently encounter them while farming. Remember, some are more common than others. There are also a few League Mechanics which are particularly generous with their Scarab rewards.

Betrayal League is one of the main ways to deterministically target Scarab rewards:

Many League Mechanics like Legion, Ritual, and Incursion have Scarab Rewards. Some Maven's Invitations reward related Scarabs and Kirac sells them from his inventory.

Each category has multiple Scarabs of different rarities, each providing different effects. The design philosophy behind this is to allow players to customize their Path of Exile experience. You can use multiple Expedition Scarabs and focus on that mechanic to maximize the value. Alternatively, you could mix Expedition and Harbinger. The rewards from both individual League Mechanics are lower but the wider variety of rewards leads to a net gain.

Here are all the categories currently available:

These are a special (extremely rare) type of Scarab that has a bigger impact on your farming as opposed to modifying a specific mechanic. They offer numerous powerful effects such as adding 2 additional modifiers to rare monsters in your Map or allowing you to access special Imbued Crafting options on the Map Device.

There are several Divination Cards related to Scarabs including the following:

The Atlas Passive Tree has several nodes relating to Scarabs. Some Atlas Passives increase the number of Scarabs you find. Others bias the drops towards a specific type such as "Anarchy" and "Cartography" or prevent a type of Scarab from dropping within your Maps. This allows you a lot of flexibility when customizing the content you want to farm.

Written by Tenkiei.
Reviewed by Dredscythe.