Covens of Umbra: Goodbye Scarabs on November 13

On November 13, an item Path of Exile 1 players have hoarded for years leaves the game: the Scarab. The 3.30 expansion Covens of Umbra, free on all platforms, removes it and rebuilds the Atlas passive tree and the loot along the way. The date is given in Pacific time (PST), and GGG has not published a release time.

This release lands four weeks before Path of Exile 2 reaches version 1.0, set for December 11. If you mostly play PoE2, here is what Covens of Umbra changes, with the PoE1 background you need. The facts come from the official Steam announcement of November 6, signed Natalia_GGG.

Scarabs Disappear, Threads of Creation Arrive

In PoE1, the Atlas is the endgame map (the late-game content): you pick the zones to run there. Each zone opens in the Map Device, the machine where you slot your maps. Scarabs, single-use items slotted into that device, added mechanics and bonuses to them. That is the system GGG is removing.

In their place, the Threads of Creation are also slotted directly into the Map Device. According to the announcement, a Thread applies a chosen league mechanic to the zone, increases monster rarity and difficulty, and each Thread spent raises the chance of powerful random effects on that mechanic. A league mechanic is content from a past league, such as Blight or Ritual, that stayed in the game.

Item	What the sources say
Where a Thread goes	Directly into the Map Device (Steam announcement)
Effect	Applies the chosen league mechanic, increases monster rarity and difficulty (Steam announcement)
Quantity	Up to eight Threads in total, across three mechanics at once (PCGamesN)
Types	One Thread for each league mechanic (Maxroll)
Numbers	No percentages in the sources read

Game director Jonathan Rogers gave PCGamesN GGG’s goal: “Our intention is that the average player is getting a similar amount of juice to what they were getting before with Scarabs.” The effects of the old Scarabs are spread across other systems, mainly the Atlas passive tree, and Threads add a layer of random outcomes.

Fates and the Wickerman: Empower a Boss to Claim a Piece of It

Covens of Umbra’s challenge league (the temporary league, which starts from scratch) revolves around the Coven Queen. Covenites perform rites to summon her. Defeating them lets you choose a Fate for the zone’s boss: each Fate has a few effects and raises both the rewards and the difficulty of the fight.

PCGamesN says you can combine up to three for a single fight, and that duplicates strengthen their effects. Maxroll goes further: according to its summary, two identical Fates at the same time triple the rewards. GGG did not write that in its announcement.

The Wickerman is where you keep the loot from those fights. You place Viscera, the remains of a boss empowered by Fates, on it to claim a share of its power. PCGamesN counts four slots (head, torso, arm, leg) and three rarity tiers. The Grim Fates, in turn, empower the hardest bosses of the Atlas, the end-of-progression ones PoE1 calls pinnacle bosses, to earn Pinnacle Boss Viscera.

Term	What it is	Source
Fate	A fate chosen for the zone’s boss, with its rewards and difficulty	Steam announcement
Viscera	The remains of an empowered boss, to place on the Wickerman	Steam announcement
Wickerman	Four slots, three rarity tiers	PCGamesN
Grim Fates	Empower the Atlas pinnacle bosses	Steam announcement
Pinnacle Boss Viscera	The most powerful trophies	Steam announcement

GGG hints that the Grim Fates will lead all the way to the Coven Queen. Maxroll writes that beating these empowered bosses can open the fight against her. No bonus values have been published.

Atlas, Mechanics and Loot: The Rest of the Expansion

The Atlas passive tree is rebuilt from the ground up, with a new layout and dozens of new wheels, stats and effects. GGG specifies that many came from Scarabs and can now be guaranteed. That is the official answer to what becomes of their bonuses.

Almost every endgame mechanic is changed. The announcement lists five changes, summarized here.

Element	What changes
Mirages	Back: random appearance in maps, or as a map modifier
Beyond bosses	Killing them no longer stops Beyond portals; they sometimes open a portal to their realm
Sacred Grove	No longer appears in maps, replaced by tangled roots that can be modified with currency
Gwennen	New service: she now just gambles on your items
Atziri	Moves into the Temple of Atzoatl, replacing the Vaal Omnitect

Mirages come from the Mirage league (3.28), released in March, the one whose future GGG detailed at the time in an interview about the future of PoE1.

Loot gets a “Massive Loot Rework,” with no detail in the announcement. Rogers explains it to PCGamesN this way: “Over time, the core drop pool has become stale.” According to PCGamesN, magic and rare items will be able to drop at specific tiers, and the item rarity rework aims to make Uniques and bosses the main source of currency. The new Uniques announced are not listed.

What to Do With Your Scarabs Before Covens of Umbra Releases

The current league, Curse of the Allflame, ends on Monday, November 9 at 1:00 p.m. PST, which is 10:00 p.m. Paris time. In PoE1, characters and items from a finished league move to Standard, the permanent league. Neither the announcement, PCGamesN nor Maxroll say what happens to Scarabs you already own after release. No source published to date answers: the 3.30 patch notes, not yet out, are the next place to look.

The schedule comes down to a few dates. PCGamesN reports that both games will keep running side by side. The ExileCon announcements for PoE2 are detailed in our article on ExileCon 2026.

Date	Event
Monday, November 9, 10:00 p.m. (Paris)	End of Curse of the Allflame (PoE1)
Friday, November 13 (PST)	Covens of Umbra release, free (PoE1)
Friday, December 11 (PST)	Path of Exile 2 1.0 release, free
No date published	End of the Forbidden Rites league (PoE2)