Hello, fellow exiles! Here's a SSF farming guide for strongboxes in the Path of Exile 3.24 Necropolis League. It revolves around a versatile Atlas tree that's both lucrative and not very challenging. While this approach demands some investment in scarabs, the returns are worthwhile.

While you may not completely self-sustain scarabs, this Atlas tree proves effective with a range of scarabs, not solely those geared towards strongboxes. Additionally, the Map Device offers 5 strongboxes for 7 Chaos Orbs, ensuring favorable returns in raw currency or divination items.

Overview

This approach is compatible with a variety of scarabs, including those designed for strongboxes, maps, shrines, and more. With this build, maps can typically be completed in just 4 to 5 minutes, making it a time-efficient option. Iit yields valuable rewards such as maps and currency, which are particularly beneficial in SSF. You don't necessarily need a top-tier build to execute this approach successfully.

However, it's important to note that strongboxes often drop numerous smaller stacks of loot, which can lead to a considerable amount of clicking. While adjusting the loot filter can mitigate this issue to some extent, even with a strict filter in place, there may still be a significant amount of clicking involved.

Atlas Tree Setup

Let's delve into the Atlas passive tree. I've opted to invest heavily in strongbox nodes because of their effectiveness. While the Twice Tempted as a strongbox node for 3 points is a bit debatable, considering the investment we're already making, it only translates to a minor difference of 10 or 11 strongboxes in your maps, which isn't substantial.

Tamper-Proof makes strongboxes rare and corrupted, resulting in more loot. The Secret Compartments cluster increases the chance of strongboxes being reopened by 16%. Investing in duplication nodes allows us to double the maps, currency, and divination cards obtained from strongboxes, which are particularly beneficial. Divination cards are crucial for sustainability and crafting currency.

Regarding the rest of the Atlas, the choices may not come as a surprise if you've seen the other Atlas trees. we focused on the Rogue and monsters combo, including nodes like Ruckus, Exiled Will, Seance, and Unrelenting Torment. Despite strongboxes not respecting Atlas limitations, I've chosen scarab nodes, enabling them to drop any scarab.

While the monsters spawned from strongboxes adhere to these limitations, they still yield numerous scarabs. Capturing monsters in strongboxes and reopening them repeatedly can lead to incredibly advantageous scenarios.

Ambush Scarabs

Regarding scarabs, there are plenty of options available:

• Regular Ambush Scarab: This adds 5 additional strongboxes, which are obviously beneficial.
• Ambush Scarab Of Potency: It makes strongboxes more potent by increasing their explicit modifiers, such as an increased quantity of contained items.
• Ambush Scarab Of Discernment: It provides rarer versions of strongboxes, including various unique strongboxes and more uncommon rare versions like the Diviner's Strongbox.
• Ambush Scarab Of Hidden Compartments: It provides a 15% chance for strongboxes to be reopened, which is additive with to Atlas tree, resulting in 31% chance to re-open using this Scarab.
• Ambush Scarab Of Containment: This scarab is rare and has been tested and proven to be valuable.

Tips And Tricks

First, if you don't have a build that can take an Ice Nova to the face or an explosion or Detonate Deads, run away after you open a strongbox.

Second, strongboxes capture native map monsters, which include the ones you put in Allflames. Make use of that, especially because you can reopen them and thus respawn many monsters with great loot.

Third, you can strategically open multiple strongboxes at once while keeping enough distance from them, killing the monsters of the previous strongbox you opened. Get some practice in, and you're zooming through these strongboxes in no time.

Fourth, remember that just the Ambush Map Device option already provides 5 strongboxes. On top of that, the map itself can spawn more strongboxes as extra content. As a result, this SSF approach is very versatile and works even without Ambush Scarabs.