Path of Exile 2 Simulacrum Farming Guide: 100 Runs, 300 Divines Invested – Was It Worth It?

Summary

The Simulacrum is Delirium's pinnacle 15-wave gauntlet that drops Distilled Emotions, exclusive unique items, and the Raven's Reflection shards needed to access the Tangmazu pinnacle boss. After Patch 0.5 reworked Delirium, the encounter became both harder and more rewarding. While some players choose to buy POE2 Currency to skip the farming grind, this guide breaks down a 100-run experiment with 300 Divine Orbs invested—detailing the setup, wave strategy, expected loot, and whether the grind actually paid off.

What Is the Simulacrum?

The Simulacrum is a pinnacle encounter accessed by combining 300 Simulacrum Splinters at the Realmgate on your Atlas. Splinters drop from Delirium-affected monsters in Tier 11+ maps.

The encounter consists of 15 waves of increasingly difficult Delirium monsters. Each wave has randomized negative modifiers similar to map mods. Loot drops after every wave, and completing all 15 waves grants 2 Delirium Atlas passive points and a Simulacrum-exclusive unique item.

Key bosses that can spawn:

Omniphobia – a manageable melee boss that appears from wave 5 onward

Kosis – the primary threat; features a lethal beam attack and serves as a DPS check; spawns more frequently in later waves

The Setup: 300 Divines in Simulacrum Entries

For this 100-run experiment, each Simulacrum cost approximately 3 Divine Orbs at the time of purchase, for a total investment of 300 Divines.

Entry method: Purchase Simulacrums from the Currency Exchange or farm splinters independently. At 3 Divines per entry, this represented a high-stakes experiment to determine whether the returns justified the expenditure.

Wave Strategy: Maximizing Rewards

The quantity of loot received depends on clear speed. Faster monster elimination yields greater rewards per wave.

Per-wave choices (three options appear after certain waves):

When presented with options, prioritize in this order:

Apex Predators – increases item rarity (primary objective)

Escalating Threats – increases pack size

Pure Emotions – increases Distilled Emotion drops

If a 20% chance to select more than one option appears, take it every time.

Goal: Stack as much item rarity as possible throughout the run. Higher rarity by the final waves produces superior loot explosions.

Loot Breakdown: What Drops

Per-Wave Rewards

Distilled Emotions – ten types including Ire, Guilt, Greed, Paranoia, Envy, Disgust, Despair, Fear, Suffering, and Isolation

Rare items – occasional currency, tablets, and bases

Final Wave Rewards (Simulacrum-Exclusive Uniques)

Assailum – most common drop at all difficulties

Perfidy – second most common

Melting Maelstrom – powerful mana flask; a chase item

Collapsing Horizon – quarterstaff; more common at higher difficulties

Strugglescream – rare; requires Difficulty 3 or higher

Megalomaniac – jewel with 2 or 3 enchantments; extremely rare

Raven's Reflection – used to access the Tangmazu pinnacle boss

Higher Simulacrum difficulties (using 150 splinters instead of 50) bias drops toward Collapsing Horizon, Strugglescream, and Megalomaniac.

The Results: 100 Runs in Review

Currency Drops

Raw Divine Orbs totalled 162 – an average of 1.62 Divines per run. Other notable currency included 28 Orbs of Annulment, 439 Vaal Orbs, 991 Alchemy Orbs, 50 Orbs of Chance, and 1,920 Exalted Orbs. Perfect Exalted, Chaos, and Jeweller's Orbs dropped in significant quantities.

Currency value alone exceeded 200 Divines – nearly covering the 300 Divine investment from currency drops alone.

Distilled Emotions

At least one of every emotion type dropped, with rarer variants (Despair, Fear, Suffering, Isolation) appearing less frequently. The lower-tier emotions alone added approximately 50 Divines in total value.

Raven's Reflections

A total of 62 Raven's Reflections were collected, with several double drops occurring. This yielded roughly 40-50 Divines from feathers alone.

Unique Drops

Across 100 runs, the haul included 49 Assailum helmets, 20 Perfidy body armors, 12 Collapsing Horizon quarterstaffs, 10 Megalomaniac jewels, 3 Strugglescreams, and 5 Melting Maelstrom flasks.

The Significant Drops

A Voices Sapphire and a Headhunter were the standout drops. Unidentified, the Voices Sapphire sells for roughly 1,300 Divines. Identified as a 2-socket version, it sold for approximately 500 Divines—still profitable, but a 2-socket roll represents a loss of approximately 800 Divines compared to a 3- or 4-socket version. The Headhunter was an unexpected acquisition that significantly boosted overall profit.

Profit Calculation

The total investment was 300 Divine Orbs for the Simulacrums plus roughly 15 Divines for map crafting, totalling 315 Divines.

Revenue breakdown: Raw currency contributed approximately 200 Divines. Distilled Emotions added roughly 50 Divines. Raven's Reflections brought in approximately 45 Divines. The Voices Sapphire sold for 500 Divines. The Headhunter added approximately 150 Divines. Other uniques and items contributed roughly 100 Divines.

Total revenue reached approximately 1,045 Divine Orbs, yielding a net profit of around 730 Divine Orbs.

The time investment was 15-20 hours total, delivering a profit rate of roughly 35-50 Divines per hour.

Post-0.5 Changes to Consider

Patch 0.5 reworked Delirium significantly:

A new questline called "The Hare and the Raven" was added for progression toward the Grand Mirror and Tangmazu fight

Potent Liquid Emotions unlock new jewel crafting modifiers unavailable elsewhere

The Twisted Amulet base drops with two instilled Notables

Simulacrum drop rates at Difficulty 3 and 4 bias drops toward Megalomaniac and Collapsing Horizon

At the time of writing, Simulacrums had dropped in price from 3 Divines to 2.5 Divines, improving the profitability of the strategy for future runs.

Recommendations for Running Simulacrum

1. Build Requirements – Strong area damage and high defenses are required. Evasion is particularly effective since Armor and Energy Shield can be overwhelmed by the volume of enemies.

2. Review Modifiers – Each wave features randomized negative modifiers. Review them before starting the wave to avoid unexpected complications.

3. Prioritize Kosis – His beam attack is lethal. Focus him down when he appears.

4. Collect Loot After Every Wave – Loot left on the ground when clicking the NPC to start the next wave is permanently lost.

5. Run Higher Difficulties for Better Drops – For Megalomaniac or Collapsing Horizon, run the 150-splinter version to bias drops toward these rare items.

6. Utilize Distilled Emotions – Distilled Emotions can instill amulets, modify waystones, and craft jewel modifiers. Do not leave them unused in storage.

7. Consider Running Personal Simulacrums – While selling Simulacrums provides immediate profit, running them personally yields additional rewards including unique items and the chance at Voices.

Final Verdict

The Simulacrum grind is demonstrably profitable in Patch 0.5.

With net profit of 730 Divine Orbs over 100 runs (15-20 hours), this strategy delivers a 35-50 Divine per hour return. The Voices Sapphire and Headhunter drops were fortunate, but even without them, the raw currency and Distilled Emotions nearly covered the entire investment. If you're short on startup capital, you can buy POE2 Currency from MMOEXP to fund your initial runs, though this experiment proves that consistent farming alone still yields excellent returns.