Version warning, and please read it: the Path of Exile Wiki has no page for version 3.29, and the wiki's Abyss article has a version history that stops at 3.21. The 3.29 Abyss rework itself is not wiki-documented at time of writing. Everything below that is marked wiki-verified comes from stable, pre-3.29 wiki pages (items, scarabs, atlas passives, Astrolabes). Everything specific to the 3.29 rework was verified from in-game frames in the source video instead, and is labelled as such. Nothing here is verification we did not actually do.
## Is Abyss worth it in 3.29, or is this another dead league mechanic? Worth it, with a caveat: the thing making money is not Abyss on its own. It is propagation. BawLoch is explicit that the Allflame Ember of Propagation alone would probably clear a divine per map with no Abyss involved at all, and that Abyss is simply the best multiplier available to bolt onto it — because Abyss dumps a large number of rare monsters into a small area, and every one of them inherits the propagated modifiers. That framing matters for your expectations. This is not an "Abyss or bust" farm. A large slice of the drops arrives before you ever touch the Abyss.  That is normal map clear, not the Abyss. Note the **Horned Scarab of Nemeses** lying on the ground — which brings us to the first correction in this guide.The video fills five map device slots. The wiki documents the map device as having four slots by default with two more unlockable, for six total — so five is a legal but not maximal setup, and there is a free sixth slot available to anyone who has unlocked it. Abyss Scarab tiers, for reference, run: Abyss Scarab, Abyss Scarab of Multitudes, of Descending, of Edifice, and of Profound Depth. A sixth, the Abyss Scarab of Crystals, appears as a ground drop in the source footage but has no wiki page — screenshot-verified only.
## Rolling the map: six modifiers and +138% more scarabs  The narration says "an 88% more scarabs map before chiseling". The tooltip resolves that arithmetic cleanly: the finished map reads **+138% More Scarabs** with **Quality (Scarabs) +20%**. The wiki's page for **Maven's Chisel of Scarabs** confirms that at 20% quality it grants **+50% more Scarabs**. 88 + 50 = 138. The video's number is correct and the chisel is doing exactly what it says. ## The Lightless Astrolabe: your Abyss shaped region  The narration calls this "the abyss astrolab". The correct item, per the wiki, is an **Astrolabe** — and the Abyss one is the **Lightless Astrolabe**: *"Adds a Shaped Region containing Abysses to a quadrant of the Atlas."* Astrolabes arrived in 3.28 and are acquired from Eagon Caeserius, guaranteed from memory bosses and with a chance from map bosses once you have socketed the Originator Voidstone. Two consequences the video glosses over, both wiki-documented and both things that will surprise you at the map device: * A Shaped Region covers **6–9 adjacent maps** including the one you applied it to, all in a single Atlas quadrant. That is your rotation, and it is finite. * Every map inside a Shaped Region **requires Tier 16 or higher** to enter. This is not a low-investment farm you can start at yellow maps. * You **cannot apply an Astrolabe to a quadrant that already has a Shaped Region**. Burning a bad region out is a real cost, which is why the "burn through it fast with junk maps" advice below exists. ## Which shaped-region modifiers to chase — and the one that ruins the farm  This tooltip is the whole section in one image. The region rolled +11% increased quantity, "Abysses in your Maps spawn 12% increased Monsters" — and, in the bottom line, **"Scarabs dropped in your Maps have 77% increased chance to be Abyss Scarabs"**. That last line is the trap. Since this strategy uses no Abyss Scarabs, nobody is buying them, and converting three-quarters of your scarab drops into the one scarab family with no demand is a direct pay cut. The video quotes it loosely as "90% or, you know, 70 whatever the percentage is". The wiki's shaped-region modifier pool gives the real range: **75–100%**. The frame shows 77%. | Region modifier | What it does | Verdict | |---|---|---| | Rare Monsters each have 1 additional Modifier | Feeds propagation directly — effectively half a Horned Scarab of Nemeses | Best in slot | | Area contains an additional Abyss | More pits, more rare monsters to propagate onto | Strong | | Abysses in Area spawn 10–15% increased Monsters | More Abyss bodies carrying the propagated mods | Good | | Abysses in Area have increased chance to lead to an Abyssal Depths | Side area and a shot at the Abyssal Lich | Situational | | Scarabs dropped have 75–100% increased chance to be Abyss Scarabs | Converts your payout into unsellable scarabs | Avoid the map |Terminology correction: the narration says "pets" throughout. The wiki's term is pits. An Abyss spreads via a crack and opens 1–4 pits; clearing the final pit spawns an Abyssal Trove (which always contains at least one Abyss jewel) or, sometimes, a Stygian Spire monster instead. At area level 78 and above — map tier 11+ — a four-pit Abyss can rarely open a portal to the Abyssal Depths, a side area ending at an Abyssal Lich.
## How to run the map: boss rush first, Abyss last  Read the right-hand panel. **"Rare Monsters each have 4 additional Modifiers"** — that is exactly two Horned Scarabs of Nemeses at two modifiers each, which is the cleanest possible confirmation that the scarab identification above is right. The same panel shows 279% increased quantity, 327% increased rarity, 79% increased pack size, 166% more scarabs, and "Abysses in Area have 82% increased chance to lead to an Abyssal Depths".Layout caveat, unverified: he reports that in two Toxic Sewer runs the Abyss did not spawn at all and openly asks viewers to explain it. Two maps is not evidence, the wiki says nothing about it, and we could not reproduce it. Treat it as an open question rather than a rule.
## Clearing the Abyss pit by pit The frame above shows an Abyssal Armoury chest label and an Abyss Scarab of Crystals drop. Neither name appears anywhere on the Path of Exile Wiki. Both are screenshot-verified from 3.29 footage only, and are exactly the kind of detail a wiki lagging a fresh rework would be missing.
## The Atlas tree for propagation Abyss   The **Abyss Chance** node grants "+12% chance to contain an Abyss" but also "Scarabs dropped in your Maps have 12% increased chance to be Abyss Scarabs" — the same tax as the bad shaped-region modifier, in miniature. At 12% it is a much smaller bite than 77%, and BawLoch takes the cluster anyway. Just take it knowingly.On Bismuth: there is no "Bismuth Ore" item page on the wiki. Bismuth is a Settlers of Kalguur mineral deposit found in maps, and the wiki describes touching a Bismuth deposit as adding elemental monster modifiers to all magic and rare monsters in the area (along with damaging elemental tornadoes). That is why it pairs so violently with propagation — it is a modifier source, not, as the video frames it, a generic "multiplier".
## What it actually pays The honest version, because the video's own numbers do not quite line up. BawLoch quotes roughly **1.7 divines profit per map** on both the Scarab of Wisps and the Cartography Scarab of Risk variants, and about **35–37 divines profit across a 20-map block**. His stated investment for that block moves between "around 10 divines", "around 11 divines" and "like 20 divines" at different points in the same segment, which is why the profit figure lands on a range rather than a number. His portfolio snapshot for the block showed roughly **+38 divines gained**, of which about **34.8 divines was scarabs alone**, plus around 106 raw chaos orbs with no currency-focused rolling. | Line item | Figure | Source | |---|---|---| | Profit per map | ~1.5–2 div, averaging ~1.7 div | Creator's measurement, 40 maps | | Scarab share of a 20-map block | ~34.8 divines | On-screen portfolio breakdown | | Raw chaos in 20 maps | ~106 chaos orbs | Creator, no rarity or currency rolling | | Bismuth deposits | 2 in 40 maps | Creator, sample far too small | | Allflame Ember of Propagation price | roughly 5,000 → 12,000 chaos while filming | Creator, ASR ambiguous |Two numbers are flagged UNCERTAIN and you should not plan around them. The Propagation ember price is stated once as "5k chaos ... went up to like 12k chaos" and again as "it was 5 ... it's 12", so the units are ambiguous in the transcript. The Cartography Scarab of Risk price is given as something the automatic captions render as "100kos" — most plausibly 100 chaos, consistent with the scarab prices visible in his portfolio, but we are not going to assert it. Check live prices before committing; the creator's whole framing is that propagation is climbing fast and the margin is moving.
## Abyss jewels, Stygian Vises and what this guide does not answer Several things players search for alongside this strategy are simply not what the video is about, so here is the straight answer rather than keyword padding. **Abyss jewel farming and Stygian Vise farming.** The wiki confirms the Stygian Vise is the Abyss-exclusive belt base with the implicit "Has 1 Abyssal Socket", and that it drops always from Stygian Spires and can drop from Abyssal Liches. Abyss jewels come in four types — Murderous Eye (melee), Searching Eye (ranged), Ghastly Eye (minion) and Hypnotic Eye (caster) — and drop from Abyssal Troves, which always contain at least one, as well as from Stygian Spires and Abyss monsters. This strategy will produce them incidentally, but it is not tuned for them: it is tuned for scarabs and ground loot. If jewels or vises are your goal, you want Abyss Scarab of Edifice for Stygian Spires, which this setup deliberately never buys. **Abyssal Depths and the Abyssal Lich.** A four-pit Abyss at area level 78 or higher (map tier 11+) can rarely open a portal to the Abyssal Depths, a side area ending at an Abyssal Lich boss. Shaped-region and scarab modifiers can push that chance up substantially — the map frame above showed 82% increased chance. The video never runs one on camera and offers no opinion on whether the detour is worth the time, so neither will we. **Best maps for Abyss.** The video's answer is City Square as the Astrolabe anchor, pivoting to Cemetery or Terrace when the region modifiers turn hostile, and avoiding Toxic Sewer on an unverified hunch. All five are real maps; the layout logic for City Square is wiki-supported. There is no wiki-endorsed "best Abyss map" list. **Whether the 3.29 rework changed drop rates.** Unknown, and we will not pretend otherwise. There is no wiki page for 3.29 and no patch-note page to check against. ## How this guide was fact-checked **Wiki-verified** against poewiki.net: the Allflame Ember of Propagation's exact wording, limit and source; Horned Scarab of Nemeses (name, effect, limit 2, drop level 81) replacing the video's "nemesis scarab"; Scarab of Wisps and Cartography Scarab of Risk wording; Maven's Chisel of Scarabs at +50% more scarabs; Astrolabe and Lightless Astrolabe mechanics including the 6–9 map region size, the Tier 16 entry requirement and the one-region-per-quadrant rule; Synthesised Stability; Shaping the Skies and Shaping the Mountains; the pit / Abyssal Trove / Stygian Spire / Abyssal Depths / Abyssal Lich terminology and the level 78 threshold; Stygian Vise and the four Abyss jewel types; Headhunter's base and wording; Bismuth as a mineral deposit; City Square's layout; map device slot count. **Screenshot-verified** from the source footage where the wiki is silent: the Betrayal Scarab of the Allflame tooltip at 75%; the 77% Abyss-scarab region roll; the +138% More Scarabs map; "Rare Monsters each have 4 additional Modifiers" in a live map; the Abyss Chance node's wording; the existence of the Abyss Scarab of Crystals and the Abyssal Armoury. **Corrected against the video:** "abyss pets" → Abyss pits. "Nemesis Scarab" → Horned Scarab of Nemeses. "Astrolab" → Astrolabe, specifically the Lightless Astrolabe. "Shaping the Skies adds monsters" → it does not. Bismuth as a "multiplier" → it is an elemental modifier source. The Astrolabe's Tier 16 requirement and 6–9 map region size, both omitted from the video entirely. **Unverified and flagged inline:** the two shaped-region modifiers about extra pits and extra Abyss rare monsters (wiki stat text is blank); the Toxic Sewer no-spawn claim; the Propagation ember and Risk scarab prices; and, most importantly, the 3.29 Abyss rework itself, which has no wiki coverage at all yet. This guide should be re-checked once a 3.29 wiki page exists. --- ## FAQ ### Is Abyss farming worth it in PoE 3.29? Yes, but not the way most players run it. The money is not in Abyss Scarabs — this strategy buys none. It comes from the Allflame Ember of Propagation spreading rare-monster modifiers onto Abyss monsters before they spawn, so every rare in the pit drops ground loot. BawLoch measured roughly 1.5-2 divines profit per map across 40 maps, averaging about 1.7, with zero rarity on gear. Note that the Path of Exile Wiki has no page for 3.29 yet, so the rework exact drop changes are undocumented. ### What is the Allflame Ember of Propagation and where does it drop? It is a map device fragment with Limit 1 that reads "Substitutes Monster Packs in Area. Pack Monsters that die when Rare spread Modifiers to other Rare Monsters in Area." Per the Path of Exile Wiki it drops from Catarina, Master of Undeath. It is the single enabler for this abyss propagation farm — without it, the Abyss rares carry ordinary modifier counts and the ground loot collapses. Prices climbed sharply during filming, so check the market before committing. ### Do I need Abyss Scarabs for this abyss farm? No, and you actively do not want them. This setup runs an Allflame Ember of Propagation, two Horned Scarabs of Nemeses, a Betrayal Scarab of the Allflame and one flex scarab. Because nobody consumes Abyss Scarabs in this strategy, they stay cheap — which is why the shaped-region modifier "Scarabs dropped in your Maps have 75–100% increased chance to be Abyss Scarabs" is a pay cut, not a bonus. Skip any map that rolls it. ### Which Astrolabe do I use for Abyss, and what does it cost me? The Lightless Astrolabe, which adds a Shaped Region containing Abysses to one Atlas quadrant. The video calls it "the abyss astrolab"; the wiki's name is Astrolabe. Two things the video omits: a Shaped Region covers only 6–9 adjacent maps, and every map inside it requires Tier 16 or higher to enter. You also cannot apply an Astrolabe to a quadrant that already has a Shaped Region, so a bad region has to be burned through before you can replace it. ### What drops a Stygian Vise and Abyss jewels, and can I farm them this way? Per the wiki, the Stygian Vise — the Abyss-exclusive belt with "Has 1 Abyssal Socket" — always drops from Stygian Spires and can drop from Abyssal Liches in the Abyssal Depths. Abyss jewels (Murderous, Searching, Ghastly and Hypnotic Eye) come from Abyssal Troves, which always hold at least one. This ground-loot strategy produces them incidentally, but it is tuned for scarabs. For dedicated Stygian Vise farming you want the Abyss Scarab of Edifice, which this setup deliberately never buys.