Best Bosses to Farm in Path of Exile
Admin
Updated October 25, 2026
Profit per hour is where everyone starts, but cost, risk and how the money arrives change the answer. Four short answers, then the whole field compared.
How to choose a boss to farm
Profit per hour is the first thing to look at, and three other things decide whether it suits you.
Everyone starts with the same question: which boss pays the most. It is the right place to start, and this guide answers it. But the biggest number is only the best pick for you if you can reliably kill the fight behind it, and if you can live with the way the money turns up.
Profit per hour is an average, and averages hide a lot. Some bosses pay a little on almost every kill. Others pay nothing all evening and then drop one item worth the rest of your week. Two fights with the same rate can feel completely different to farm, and which one suits you depends on how much time you have and how patient you are with a run that pays nothing.
So four things decide the pick. How much profit per hour you want. What the fragments cost. How dangerous the fight is. And whether you want steady income or are happy chasing one big drop.
One of those matters far less than you would think. Boss fragments are cheap next to what the fights pay back. Almost every boss here earns back its setup in a few minutes of farming, so what you can afford is rarely what should decide your evening. What you can kill usually is.
Bosses are also the simplest content to run. Every one of them is one fragment set and one portal. There is no atlas tree to rebuild and no scarab checklist to keep. That is true of all twenty-nine, so this guide does not rank them on setup effort — there would be nothing to rank.
- Profit per hour
- What the fight is worth for an hour of your time, in divines, at current prices.
- Setup cost
- The fragments or invitation one kill consumes. Almost always the smallest part of the decision.
- Difficulty
- A rough guide to how likely the fight is to kill you, rated 1 to 5. It is a judgement call, not a measurement.
- Top drop share
- How much of the money comes from one item. High means rare, lumpy payouts.
Here are the four short answers.
~35div/h
The best rate in the game, on four Decaying Fragments that cost under a divine. The Eater of Worlds earns almost exactly the same and is rated two steps lower.
~14chaos
One Maven's Writ per kill, for about 10 divines an hour. The Shaper costs about twice as much and pays about half as much again.
3of 5
The best rate in the least dangerous group, on one Screaming Invitation. Sirus is rated the same and pays about 21 an hour.
15%
It spreads its rewards wider than any boss that earns, but pays under 10 an hour. Uber Maven is the next most even and pays far more, but it is rated one of the hardest fights.
One fight answers two of the four questions at the moment. The Eater of Worlds is level with the best earner in the game, and it is also the best earner among the least dangerous fights. What it asks in return is patience: a lot of its money is one item, Forbidden Flesh, so some sessions will pay well under the average. The cheapest and the steadiest picks pay far less than either of the top two.
Treat the difficulty ratings as one player's opinion.
How hard a boss is depends far more on your build, your gear and how many times you have fought it than on a number in a table. The ratings below are a rough guide to sort by, not a verdict. Weigh them against what you already know you can kill.
Every boss farm compared
The whole field on one screen, before the deep dive.
| Strategy | Tier | Profit per hour | Setup cost | Difficulty | Top drop share |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Uber Uber Elder | Uber Uber | ~35 | ~270c~0.8 div | 5 | 49%Sublime Vision |
| The Eater of Worlds | Base | ~35 | ~51c | 3 | 62%Forbidden Flesh |
| Incarnation of Fear | Base | ~29 | ~380c~1.1 div | 4 | 70%Enmity's Embrace |
| Catarina | Base | ~28 | ~1360c~4.0 div | 5 | 56%Veiled Exalted Orb |
| The Searing Exarch | Base | ~26 | ~110c | 4 | 72%Forbidden Flame |
| Uber Sirus | Uber | ~24 | ~35c | 5 | 41%Awakener's Orb |
| Uber Maven | Uber | ~24 | ~650c~1.9 div | 5 | 23%Progenesis |
| Uber Atziri | Uber | ~23 | ~31c | 4 | 84%Greater Spell Echo Support |
| Sirus | Base | ~21 | ~39c | 3 | 46%Awakener's Orb |
| Zorath, Vile Assembled | Base | ~20 | ~2300c~6.7 div | 4 | 40%Festering Vengeance |
| Venarius | Base | ~16 | ~70c | 4 | 72%Bottled Faith |
| The Shaper | Base | ~15 | ~30c | 3 | 54%Dying Sun |
| King in the Mist | Base | ~14 | ~24c | 3 | 92%The Light of Meaning |
| The Maven | Base | ~10 | ~14c | 4 | 79%Orb of Conflict |
| Incarnation of Neglect | Base | ~9 | ~160c | 4 | 15%Templar Astrolabe |
| Oshabi | Base | ~8 | ~34c | 4 | 86%Sacred Crystallised Lifeforce |
| Uber Incarnation of Dread | Uber | ~8 | ~440c~1.3 div | 5 | 40%The Golden Charlatan |
| Uber Venarius | Uber | ~7 | ~63c | 5 | 92%Rational Doctrine |
| Incarnation of Dread | Base | ~6 | ~240c~0.7 div | 3 | 48%Wine of the Prophet |
| The Elder | Base | ~5 | ~47c | 3 | 28%Watcher's Eye |
| Uber Searing Exarch | Uber | ~5 | ~220c~0.7 div | 5 | 47%Forbidden Flame |
| The Infinite Hunger | Base | ~4 | ~30c | 3 | 80%Choking Guilt |
| It That Was Esh/Tul | Base | ~3 | ~9c | 5 | 37%The Sundered Will |
| Uber Shaper | Uber | ~2 | ~710c~2.1 div | 4 | 74%Sublime Vision |
| The Black Star | Base | ~0 | ~40c | 3 | 43%Polaric Devastation |
| Uber Elder | Uber | ~ −6 | ~380c~1.1 div | 4 | 64%Watcher's Eye |
| Uber Incarnation of Fear | Uber | ~ −7 | ~370c~1.1 div | 5 | 17%Templar Astrolabe |
| Uber Incarnation of Neglect | Uber | ~ −10 | ~390c~1.1 div | 5 | 14%Templar Astrolabe |
| Uber Eater of Worlds | Uber | ~ −12 | ~770c~2.3 div | 5 | 65%Nimis |
Three things stand out before you read another word.
The top of the table is crowded. Two fights sit at about 35 an hour, and six more sit between the low twenties and the high twenties, close enough that a few days of price movement can reorder them. The two at the very top both rose sharply over the week, so treat the top eight as a group, and pick from it on cost, danger and variance rather than on who is first this week.
The setup costs bear almost no relation to the profits. The Eater of Worlds earns as much as anything on about 50 chaos of invitation, and Uber Sirus and Uber Atziri earn in the low twenties on under 40 chaos of fragments. Catarina's medallion costs about four divines and earns less than all three. Zorath has the most expensive setup on the site and shows a decent rate, but that figure is not reliable — see the avoid section below.
And four bosses are losing money outright at the bottom. All four are uber versions of a fight whose normal version earns.
The rest of this guide takes those columns one at a time.
The most profitable boss encounters
If you want the biggest number, start here.
| Strategy | Profit per hour | Setup cost | Difficulty | Top drop share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Uber Uber Elder | ~35 | ~270c~0.8 div | 5 | 49%Sublime Vision |
| The Eater of Worlds | ~35 | ~51c | 3 | 62%Forbidden Flesh |
| Incarnation of Fear | ~29 | ~380c~1.1 div | 4 | 70%Enmity's Embrace |
| Catarina | ~28 | ~1360c~4.0 div | 5 | 56%Veiled Exalted Orb |
| The Searing Exarch | ~26 | ~110c | 4 | 72%Forbidden Flame |
| Uber Sirus | ~24 | ~35c | 5 | 41%Awakener's Orb |
| Uber Maven | ~24 | ~650c~1.9 div | 5 | 23%Progenesis |
| Uber Atziri | ~23 | ~31c | 4 | 84%Greater Spell Echo Support |
| Sirus | ~21 | ~39c | 3 | 46%Awakener's Orb |
Uber Uber Elder leads at about 35 divines an hour, on four Decaying Fragments for around 270 chaos. It is rated as one of the hardest fights in the game. The Eater of Worlds is level with it on one Screaming Invitation for about 50 chaos, and it is rated two steps lower — the strongest earner on the page that is not among the hardest fights. Both rose sharply over the week, so the order at the top could change quickly.
The Incarnation of Fear is next at about 29 an hour on one Echo of Trauma for around 380 chaos. Most of its money is one unique, Enmity's Embrace, so expect quiet runs between good ones. Catarina earns about 28. The Syndicate Medallion it consumes costs about 1,360 chaos — the priciest setup of any boss that earns well. Even so, it pays that back in under ten minutes of farming. The Searing Exarch sits close behind at about 26 an hour on a single Incandescent Invitation for around 110 chaos.
Uber Sirus and Uber Atziri are the value outliers. Both earn in the low twenties on under 40 chaos of fragments. Uber Atziri puts most of its value in one gem, Greater Spell Echo Support, so it pays in bursts. Uber Maven earns about the same, about 24 an hour, on four Reality Fragments for around 650 chaos. It spreads its payout more evenly than any other strong earner, which makes it the most predictable of the top group.
And if you want a strong rate from another of the least dangerous fights, Sirus earns about 21 an hour on four Crests that cost under 40 chaos together.
Cheapest bosses to farm
If you want to start tonight with almost nothing, start here.
| Strategy | Setup cost | Profit per hour | Difficulty |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Maven | ~14c | ~10 | 4 |
| King in the Mist | ~24c | ~14 | 3 |
| The Shaper | ~30c | ~15 | 3 |
| Uber Atziri | ~31c | ~23 | 4 |
| Oshabi | ~34c | ~8 | 4 |
| Uber Sirus | ~35c | ~24 | 5 |
| Sirus | ~39c | ~21 | 3 |
| The Eater of Worlds | ~51c | ~35 | 3 |
What one kill actually consumes:
The Shaper
Fragment of the Hydra ×1
~7c
Fragment of the Chimera ×1
~9c
Fragment of the Phoenix ×1
~6c
Fragment of the Minotaur ×1
~8c
The Mavenis the cheapest fight worth entering, at about 14 chaos for one Maven's Writ, and it pays about 10 divines an hour. Most of that money is one item, Orb of Conflict, so it pays in bursts. King in the Mist costs a little more and pays a little more, but it is even more of a lottery — see the drop section below.
After that, The Shaper costs about 30 chaos for four fragments and pays about 15 divines an hour, from one of the least dangerous fights. Uber Atziri and Uber Sirus cost about the same and earn in the low twenties — the only reason not to run them is that you have to survive them. And The Eater of Worlds, at about 50 chaos, is the best return on a cheap setup in the game.
Fragment cost is not what decides this.
Nearly every boss that earns well covers its setup in about ten minutes of farming or less, and most do it in a minute or two. The Maven's Writ pays for itself in seconds. The only slow ones are fights that barely earn at all, which need anything from half an hour to over an hour to earn back their fragments. They are in the avoid section below. Everywhere else, pick the fight you can kill, not the one you can afford.
Easiest bosses to farm
If you want a fight you can survive, start here.
These ratings are a judgement call.
How hard a boss feels depends on your build, your gear and how many times you have fought it, so treat the order below as a rough guide rather than a ruling. What is true whatever the rating says: every fight here is a pinnacle boss, and every one of them can kill you and take your fragments with it.
| Strategy | Difficulty | Profit per hour | Setup cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Eater of Worlds | 3 | ~35 | ~51c |
| Sirus | 3 | ~21 | ~39c |
| The Shaper | 3 | ~15 | ~30c |
| King in the Mist | 3 | ~14 | ~24c |
| Incarnation of Fear | 4 | ~29 | ~380c |
| The Searing Exarch | 4 | ~26 | ~110c |
| Uber Atziri | 4 | ~23 | ~31c |
| Venarius | 4 | ~16 | ~70c |
| The Maven | 4 | ~10 | ~14c |
The Eater of Worlds is the pick. It has the best rate in the least dangerous group by a wide margin, about 35 divines an hour, on one Screaming Invitation for about 50 chaos. Sirus is rated the same and pays about 21 on a setup that costs under 40 chaos. Sirus is a fight about moving and dodging rather than standing and trading hits, so it rewards practice more than gear.
If you want to spend less to find out whether you can do this, The Shaper is rated the same, costs about 30 chaos a try, and pays about 15 an hour. King in the Mist pays about as well as The Shaper, but nearly all of its money is one rare drop — see the drop section below before you commit to it. Every fight in the top group is a base version rather than an uber, which is the usual shape but worth checking rather than assuming.
Uber bosses versus normal bosses
The uber is not automatically the upgrade.
Ten bosses have both a normal and an uber version published. Two of the ten clearly earn more at the top: the Maven and the Elder. Two more, Sirus and the Incarnation of Dread, earn only a little more — a gap small enough for a few days of price movement to close. In the other six the uber earns less than the fight it replaces, and three of those lose money outright. The word "Uber" in the title tells you nothing about whether it pays.
Maven
A clear upgrade. About forty-five times the setup cost for well over twice the profit, and still worth it — because the setup cost was never the constraint. One step harder, and it spreads its rewards more evenly than any other strong earner.
Elder
The only three-step ladder, and the middle step is the trap. The Elder earns about 5 an hour, Uber Elder loses about 5, and Uber Uber Elder earns about 35 — the best rate in the game. The top step even costs less than the middle one, so if you can survive the hardest version there is no reason to stop in the middle.
Sirus
The uber costs a little less than the base fight and earns a little more. The catch is difficulty, which jumps two steps in one go. With the normal fight earning about 21 an hour, staying on it is a perfectly good choice.
Incarnation of Dread
The uber earns about 2 more an hour for a setup that costs nearly twice as much, and it is rated two steps harder. Both versions pay modestly. Farm whichever one you are comfortable in.
Venarius
The uber costs about the same but earns less than half as much, is a step harder, and puts nearly all of its reward into a single drop.
Shaper
Sublime Vision carries most of the reward here and only just covers a setup of about two divines. The base fight earns about eight times as much on a small fraction of the fragments. Stay on it.
Searing Exarch
The base fight earns about 26 an hour. Its uber costs twice as much, is a step harder, and earns about a fifth of that. Run the normal one.
Incarnation of Neglect
The normal fight earns about 9 an hour with the most even payout of any boss that earns. The uber costs over twice as much, is a step harder, and loses about 10 an hour.
Incarnation of Fear
The normal fight is one of the best earners in the game. The uber costs about the same to enter and loses money. Stay on the normal one.
Eater of Worlds
The sharpest warning in the guide. The base fight is one of the two best earners in the game and one of the least dangerous. The uber costs about fifteen times as much, is rated two steps harder, and loses about 12 an hour.
Uber Atziri has no normal version on the site, so it has no ladder here. On its own it is one of the strongest earners in the game.
Which boss drops carry the profit
Two bosses paying the same per hour can feel completely different to farm.
A boss's profit per hour is an average. What that average hides is how the money actually arrives. Some bosses pay a little on most kills. Others pay almost nothing on most kills and then hand you one item worth a week of farming. Top drop share is how much of the reward value sits in a single item, and it separates the two.
Most lopsided. Almost all of the money arrives in one item.
| Strategy | Top drop share | The item carrying it | Profit per hour |
|---|---|---|---|
| Uber Venarius | 92% | Rational Doctrine | ~7 |
| King in the Mist | 92% | The Light of Meaning | ~14 |
| Oshabi | 86% | Sacred Crystallised Lifeforce | ~8 |
| Uber Atziri | 84% | Greater Spell Echo Support | ~23 |
| The Maven | 79% | Orb of Conflict | ~10 |
Most even. The money comes from several items instead of one.
| Strategy | Top drop share | The item carrying it | Profit per hour |
|---|---|---|---|
| Incarnation of Neglect | 15% | Templar Astrolabe | ~9 |
| Uber Maven | 23% | Progenesis | ~24 |
| Uber Incarnation of Dread | 40% | The Golden Charlatan | ~8 |
| Uber Sirus | 41% | Awakener's Orb | ~24 |
| Sirus | 46% | Awakener's Orb | ~21 |
Almost all of the money from King in the Mist is one item, The Light of Meaning. Most kills will not drop it. Its rate of about 14 divines an hour is real over a long stretch, but a short session is far more likely to pay little than to pay 14. It also sits in the least dangerous group — so a fight that looks beginner-friendly on the easiest table is the one that will test a beginner's patience the most. Uber Venarius is the same story at a smaller rate, with most of its value in Rational Doctrine.
Uber Maven is the opposite. Its biggest single drop is only about a quarter of its reward value. The money comes from several items instead of one, so the rate behaves much more like a wage and much less like a lottery ticket. Paired with a rate in the low twenties, that makes it the most predictable strong earner on the site. Both versions of Sirusare not far behind it, with a little under half their value in Awakener's Orbs.
The Incarnation of Neglect is the steady choice at a lower rate. Only about 15% of its value is its biggest drop, and it pays about 9 divines an hour. Its uber, and the uber Incarnation of Fear, are just as spread out, and it is worth saying plainly that this does not save them: both lose money at the moment. Spreading a small number evenly still leaves you with a small number.
The top earners mostly sit in between. Uber Uber Elder puts about half its value in Sublime Vision, Catarina a little over half in Veiled Exalted Orbs, The Eater of Worlds about three fifths in Forbidden Flesh, and The Searing Exarch nearly three quarters in Forbidden Flame. Those are lumpy without being lotteries. Uber Atziri is the exception: a top earner with most of its money in one gem.
If you have limited time to play, weigh this more heavily than profit per hour.
A boss with 90% or more of its value in one drop needs a lot of kills before the average shows up.
Boss farms to avoid
The fragments cost about as much as the kill returns, or more.
| Strategy | Profit per hour | Setup cost | Difficulty | What went wrong |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Uber Eater of Worlds | ~ −12 | ~770c~2.3 div | 5 | Base version earns about 35. |
| Uber Incarnation of Neglect | ~ −10 | ~390c~1.1 div | 5 | Base version earns about 9. |
| Uber Incarnation of Fear | ~ −7 | ~370c~1.1 div | 5 | Base version earns about 29. |
| Uber Elder | ~ −6 | ~380c~1.1 div | 4 | The steps above and below it both earn. |
| Uber Shaper | ~2 | ~710c~2.1 div | 4 | Only just above zero. Over an hour to earn back the fragments. |
| The Black Star | ~0 | ~40c | 3 | Cheap to enter, but earns close to nothing. |
| Zorath, Vile Assembled | ~20 | ~2300c~6.7 div | 4 | Most expensive setup on the site. The profit shown is not reliable. |
Four bosses are losing money at current prices, and every one of them is an uber version of a fight whose normal version earns. Two more earn so little that they are not worth the fragments either, and one shows a profit we would not trust.
Uber Eater of Worlds is the sharpest warning. The Eater of Worlds earns about 35 divines an hour on about 50 chaos. Its uber version, on about 770 chaos of Devouring Fragments, loses about 12 an hour. Run the normal one.
Uber Incarnation of Neglect and Uber Incarnation of Fear each cost about a divine for four fragments and lose several divines an hour. Their normal versions both earn, and the Incarnation of Fear is one of the best fights in the game. Uber Elder loses about 5, and there is no reason to run it when Uber Uber Elder costs less and earns the best rate on the page.
Uber Shaper and The Black Star still show a small profit, but not one worth chasing. Zorath is a different problem. Its four Eyes cost several divines a kill, and the profit it shows comes from two negative numbers multiplied together, so it is not a reliable figure. Treat it as unproven until the numbers settle.
How to read these numbers
- Profit per hour
- Divines per hour at the current Divine Orb price of 341.58 chaos. Every figure here is a chaos amount divided by that, so if the Divine price moves, the rates move with it.
- Setup cost
- The fragments or invitation one kill consumes, at current prices.
- Difficulty
- Rated 1 to 5, how likely the fight is to kill you. It is a judgement call rather than a measurement, it gets revised, and your own build decides more than the number does. Use it to sort, not to settle an argument.
- Top drop share
- How much of a boss's reward value sits in its single biggest drop. A high share means the profit arrives in rare lumps rather than steadily.
- Setup effort
- Every boss here is rated the simplest tier. One fragment set, one portal, no atlas work. That is why it is not a column.
- Accuracy
- Prices move every day. These are the latest recorded prices, not live quotes, so treat the figures as a guide rather than a quote. One row needs more care than the rest. Zorath was recorded from a run that lost money, and shows a profit here only because its correction is also negative; small price changes move that figure far more than the others. Live figures for every strategy are on the top strategies page.