Scourge Maps OP y'all! Mini guide I wrote up if anyone else is looking to farm them:
This is what I learned from doing probably 100-200 scourged maps this league. Certainly not an exhaustive guide, but a good point for those looking to get started. My record in a single map has been 813 simulacrum splinters, or 189 scarabs. Total net worth in Exilence is 420 ex (dank) after 160 hours played.
Maps:
Transformation Type: You don’t want random, full blood, or rare or unique monster. They are annoying to do, and don’t give you the free ~10 rare monsters you get on manually shifting. My returns/drops were much more consistent going with the 2 manual shift types only.
Rewards:
S-tier (3+c average value): Simulacrum, Scarab, Expedition
A-tier (1-2c value): Fossils, Stacked Deck
B-tier (1c or lower value): Tainted Currency, Brech, Legion, Catalyst, Incubator, Essence, Gem, Basic currency, Scourge Boss
C-tier (some value, but low/inconsistent/annoying): Oil, Unique
F-tier: everything else
Layouts: Haunted Mansion and Tower are the best/most consistent. Estuary is also good. Others can be fine if there’s enough good reward types.
Juice: I used a rusted shaper scarab and beyond for 90% of maps. If a map was really juicy, or white quality, or had annoying mods (-100% move speed), I’d add rusted breach or abyss for a little bonus juice. The Twins prophecy is also very worth it, even at a 30c price tag.
Buying Maps: Scourge Tier 1-4 maps can be bought with good rewards (simu ,exp, scarabs) for relatively cheap (40-50c), and cooked up the rest of the way. I’d also buy Scourge 10 maps with 3+ tiers of S-tier rewards.
Gameplay:
Shifting: It’s easiest to run ahead to a pack, drop ground DOTs if you have them (Caustic Arrow OP), then shift and shoot all the mobs around you. You don’t really want to be shifting and running for a long time in the map, more frequent shorter shifts are better.
Map Mods: The only real brick for me was 6000+ physical damage taken on shift. ES builds will have a rough time, since lots more mods are bricks for them. An extra health pot is also very helpful to deal with the various degen mods.