A Budget-Friendly Harbinger Scarab Farming Strategy in Path of Exile

Harbinger farming has always been one of those league mechanics that swing wildly between being incredibly rewarding and feeling strangely underwhelming. In most leagues, players use Harbingers primarily to generate currency shards-fracturing shards, ancient shards, and the occasional valuable orb that helps recoup map costs. But what if you could shift the purpose of Harbingers entirely and turn them into a reliable source of scarabs instead?

That's exactly the angle of this strategy: a budget-friendly, high-density Harbinger setup built specifically to generate scarabs by focusing on quantity over quality, leveraging map modifiers, altars, make POE currency and Harbinger boss spawns to maximize drops. If you enjoy smooth, fast mapping and want a consistent way to build up currency without relying on high-end investments, this method might be the perfect fit.

Below is a full breakdown of the setup, maps, atlas tree, costs, results, and why this strategy actually works despite Harbingers traditionally not dropping much outside of shards.

Why Scarab Farming Through Harbingers Works

Harbingers themselves typically don't drop a lot of raw items; they're more about shards. So scaling their monster quality-Nemesis mods, strongbox mods, or high-tier rare modifiers-normally doesn't accomplish much.

However, there's one modifier type that does benefit Harbinger spawns dramatically: map quantity.

Harbingers produce waves of rare monsters. More quantity means more drops from all those monsters, and with altars giving additional chances to duplicate scarabs or increase quantity further, the strategy compounds nicely. Instead of trying to make each monster worth more, this strategy bets on creating as many rare monsters as possible. High volume equals more shots at scarabs, and since scarabs scale so well with quantity and duplication, the profit becomes surprisingly solid.

Map Choice: Jungle Valley and Mausoleum

Map selection is crucial. You want layouts with:

 No boss alters

 Good density

 Simple navigation

 Strong altar synergy

Both Jungle Valley and Mausoleum fit those criteria perfectly.

Why no boss altar maps?

When you use altars-red or blue-you always get two choices. These choices can be:

 Player bonus

 Monster bonus

 Boss bonus

If a map has no active boss on the main layout, you remove boss bonuses entirely from the pool. This means every altar you encounter will always be:

 A player bonus (these can give scarab duplication or quantity)

 A monster bonus (these can directly add scarab drops)

This dramatically increases your chance of hitting the valuable altar mods that fuel this entire strategy. In a standard map with boss alters, you'd often get worthless boss modifiers that don't help scarab farming at all. With Jungle Valley and Mausoleum, this never happens.

How the Setup Works

Map Rolling

Rolling maps is easy and cheap because the mechanic is not difficult and doesn't require min-maxing for survivability. The goal is:

 100% more scarabs

 5-6 modifiers

 As much quantity as reasonably possible

Jungle Valley maps are inexpensive (around 10c), and because your build can handle most mods, you won't spend a fortune forcing ideal rolls.

Delirium Orb Choice

Use 1 Delirium Orb of Divination per map.

Why this orb?

Because it gives stacked decks, and the value of stacked decks almost always pays back the orb cost. It also increases monster count, which directly increases altar appearances and Harbinger density.

Scarab Selection

For scarabs, the strategy uses:

 1 Harbinger Scarab of Regency

 Gives a 50% chance for Harbingers to spawn as Harbinger bosses

 Combined with atlas nodes, this becomes ~75% chance per map

 3 Harbinger Scarabs

 Simply adds more Harbingers to the map

This setup results in roughly 15-17 Harbingers per map, which is perfect for this type of strategy.

Atlas Passive Tree Breakdown

The atlas tree is straightforward and focuses entirely on:

Harbingers

 All Harbinger nodes

 Extra Harbinger chance

 Chance for shard drops to upgrade into full currency

 25% chance for Harbingers to upgrade into Harbinger bosses

This is extremely important because Harbinger bosses spawn many more monsters and drop more currency overall

Altars

Red and blue altars both work depending on your build.

 Choose the one your character can survive reliably

 If you can tank the downsides, you can always take every altar, maximizing quantity and duplication

Scarab Nodes

All scarab-related passive points are allocated:

 Scarab duplication chance

 Scarab drop chance

 Increased quantity affecting scarabs

Combining these with altar bonuses results in noticeable improvements in drop quality.

This atlas tree is "all in" on scarabs while still supporting natural map sustain and currency generation from Harbingers.Strategy Results: What You Actually Earn

Scarab Drops

You get a healthy mix of:

 Rusted, Polished, and Gilded Scarabs

 Occasional Winged Scarabs (rare, but possible)

 Enough quantity to be consistently profitable

The scarab drops aren't insane, but considering the low investment, they're very solid and reliable.

Currency

As expected from Harbinger content, you also get a large amount of:

 Chaos orbs

 Annulment shards

 Fracturing shards

 Raw fracturing orbs (thanks to atlas upgrades)

Combined with stacked decks and altar currency drops, your profit stays steady even on unlucky maps.

Map Drops

A surprising outcome of this strategy is the number of T7 map drops you get despite not investing any points into map nodes.

For players who want to add map sustain as a side profit, adding a few map passive nodes would only make this better.

Cost Breakdown

This strategy is budget-friendly and doesn't require heavy upfront investment.

Here's the approximate cost per map:

 Jungle Valley T16 (10c)

 Map rolling cost (~500 chaos for multiple maps)

 Cheap because you only need 100% scarab mod + 5-6 modifiers

 Harbinger Scarab (2c each)

 Scarab of Regency (15-70c)

 Pricier, but you only use one per map

 1 Delirium Orb of Divination (11c)

 Total cost per map: ~0.3 Divine Orbs

This puts it in the "affordable but not super cheap" category-perfect for mid-game and early endgame players.

Profit Per Hour & Map Speed

Profit is highly dependent on map clear speed. In testing:

 Average map time: 4 minutes

 Profit: 29 Divine Orbs per hour

 If you drop to 4.5 minutes per map: 25-26 Div/hour

 If you're faster (3.5 minutes): profit increases sharply

This strategy is designed for fast builds such as:

 Kinetic Blast

 Tornado Shot

 Lightning Arrow

 Tornado and similar high-speed skills

If your build can clear instantly and handle altar downsides, you'll make far more profit than slower builds.

Why This Strategy Feels So Good to Run

 Extremely chill

 You're not dodging dangerous mechanics or managing complex layers

 High density

 Great XP, particularly for level 98-100 pushing

 Simple rules

 Open map → Click Harbingers → Click alters → Profit

 No rare, expensive items required

 Easy to scale with any fast mapper

 Consistent results

 Even low-rolling maps still produce scarabs, chaos, and stacked decks

It's refreshing compared to more complex strategies like Delve, Simulacrums, or Expedition farming where planning and investment matter far more.

Final Thoughts

This Harbinger Scarab farming strategy proves that you don't always need top-tier investment or complicated workflows to earn respectable currency in Path of Exile. By picking the right maps, leveraging altars intelligently, and capitalizing on Harbinger boss density, you can create a low-stress, high-profit loop that also delivers great XP along the way.

Whether you're early into your endgame progression or simply looking for an alternative to the common high-investment farming strategies, make POE orbs, this method offers a fast, reliable, and enjoyable way to build wealth.