So with the introduction of Path of Exile 3.7 and the Legion League, one new item continues to mystify some players, that is the mysterious and powerful Incubators.
Each of these corresponds to a different effect, and like everything else in POE, there’s a lot of hidden depth to ponder when considering what Incubators to use and when to use them. To help with that process, we’ve created a simple guide meant to help you get comfortable identifying and properly using Incubators.
If you need a refresher on other Legion League content, why not take a look at our other guides on it and Path of Exile in general:
- Path of Exile Best Builds
- Path of Exile Legion Guide
- Legion Bosses Guide
- Path of Exile 3.7 Skills Overview
- Legion Patch Overview
- Legion Loot Filter Guide
- Vendor Recipes Guide
Now, back to what you really want to know, Incubators. Each of these randomly generated little wonders comes from a Legion Monolith or encounter in the Domain of Timeless Conflict. Incubators can drop at any time from any Legion mob, but they also spawn in chests marked with the Incubator symbol. Each symbol has it’s own associated loot table, and symbols can spawn for Chest, War Hoards and Rare Mobs. Check below for a full rundown of each symbol and what to look out for.
If you’re target farming Incubators, look for the spire-like symbol in the list above. Here are some general things to keep in mind while grabbing Incubators:
- Incubators have an Item Level determined by the zone they drop in, aim for higher Tier maps if farming Incubators for rare drops.
- Unique, Labyrinth, Scarab, Prophecy and other generic Incubators can literally drop ANY item within that pool. The higher the Item Level, the wider the pool. So it may be worth it farming within specific item levels if looking for very specific drops.
- Gem Incubators and Legion Mobs appear to have a higher chance to drop Corrupted Gems. I personally got a Level 21/23 Quality Vaal Molten Shell from one at the beginning of the League for example.
- Elder and Shaper Incubators are only really worth it to farm high Item Level bases for crafting. The mod pools on the dropped items are just too vast for targeted farming of certain items.
- Geomancer Incubators should only be farmed for Divine Orbs (trade 6-links to a vendor for a Divine), for the same reason as the generic Elder and Shaper Incubators.
- Map Incubators appear to take both Item Level and Atlas progression into account. More testing is needed on this, but they appear to weight drops according to your personal Atlas.
- Time-Lost Incubators only drop League-Specific Uniques, so don’t expect a Headhunter right away. It’s better to farm Divination Cards for that anyway.
With that in mind, let’s assume you have built up a nice stash of Incubators, what to do now?
Incubator Usage Tips
- There is a bug that some players are reporting that Incubators still overwrite other incubations if you click a gem socket and not the item itself, be careful of that.
- You can incubate on any equippable item, including Jewelry and off-hand/alt-slot weapons.
- Read our Legion Guide to pick out the Incubators you want to use, sell the rest. You have a limited amount of slots to use, and should only use up kills incubating the items you want.
- Always incubate something. In a bit of a contradiction to the prior tip, I would say at least keep a few otherwise low-value Incubators around in case you run out of high-value ones.