PoE 2 Currency Guide

Currency in Path of Exile 2 has several functions: crafting, trading, as well as possibly paying for certain services that you’ll find later in the game. This guide will cover the function, rarity and uses of various currency items that you will find in Path of Exile 2, as confirmed at the time of writing.

Currency items are found as natural drops from slaying monsters, but there is some indication that killing certain bosses during the campaign will guarantee some useful, low-level Currency, and that bosses may have a greater chance to drop higher-tier Currency types.

Rarity: Very Common

Function: Upgrades a Normal Item to a Magic Item with one Modifier 

Uses: Primarily used in the initial stage of crafting, but can be used early during the campaign to upgrade Normal Rarity (White) Items to Magic (Blue) Items for small upgrades, as well as to upgrade Flasks to Magic Rarity to improve them. Do not feel scared to use these when you need them – they are common and can be good to create sorely needed upgrades early on. If you have high level Flasks and an abundance of Orbs of Transmutation, don’t forget to use them on your Flasks!

Rarity: Very Common

Function: Adds 1 Modifier to a Magic Item

Uses: Used to add an additional modifier to a Magic Item, usually after using an Orb of Transmutation on it. These can be used to further upgrade basic items in the campaign, or to add a second modifier to a Flask. These are also used in more advanced crafting methods to gain a second rare modifier on an item before proceeding further

Note: Magic Items can have a maximum of 2 Modifiers - a prefix, and a suffix.

Rarity: Common

Function: Upgrades a Normal Rarity Item into a Rare Item with 4 Modifiers

Uses: Primarily used to have a chance to create a good rare item with at least 4 modifiers. These can be incredibly powerful during the campaign if you get lucky with the modifiers that roll on your item. During the campaign, it’s recommended you use these on good item bases, especially weapons to fish for damage upgrades, boots to try to gain Increased Movement Speed, as well as Jewelry (Rings, Amulets, Belts) and Body Armours for Life and Resistances. 

While Orbs of Alchemy aren’t very rare, they are much less common than the previous two Orbs, especially in the campaign, so use them sparingly, and only on items that could turn out to be huge upgrades for your character

Rarity: Common/Uncommon (?)

Function: Randomly Upgrades a Normal item into a Magic, Rare or Unique item

Uses: Orbs of Chance can provide an opportunity to land an upgrade of an item by transforming it into a Magic item (common outcome), or a Rare item, which similar to an Orb of Alchemy, can potentially provide a large upgrade for your character.

However, Orbs of Chance also have the ability to, on very rare occasions, upgrade an item into a Unique item of that item class. The Unique item that will be created is based on the item that you used the Orb of Chance on, which means that if you know which Unique item is created on a specific base item, you have a chance to get that specific Unique (if the item level of the base meets the Unique item requirement).

For example, if you know that a Quill Rain is a Unique Short Bow, using an Orb of Chance will give you a very low chance to upgrade a Normal Short Bow into a Quill Rain. The chance to upgrade into a Unique depends on the rarity of that Unique item. Bear in mind that some item bases have multiple Uniques, meaning that even if you get a Unique, it might not be the right one. 

Do not be too afraid to use these on potential upgrades in a similar way to how you would use an Orb of Alchemy

Rarity: Uncommon 

Function: Removes one random Modifier from a Rare (?) item, and then adds another random modifier

Uses: Chaos Orbs can be used as a gamble to possibly massively improve an item - if you have an item with 2 good modifiers, and 2 bad modifiers, using a Chaos Orb has the chance to remove one of the bad modifiers to replace it with a good one. This item should be used sparingly, and with caution, especially during the campaign. Don’t gamble on items you are using in case the Chaos Orb removes a good modifier and replaces it with a bad one, but rather save your Chaos Orbs for average items that have the potential to become massive upgrades if you get lucky. 

Other Uses: Uncertain as for now - in Path of Exile 1, Chaos Orbs are popular Currency used to trade to other players for items, as well as for use in the Map Device. It may be the same or completely different in PoE 2. 

Rarity: Very Uncommon (?) 

Function: Upgrades a Magic Item to a Rare Item with an additional Modifier

Uses: Regal Orbs have fairly limited and niche use in that they can at most upgrade a Magic item with 2 modifiers into a Rare item with 3 (or a Magic item with 1, into a Rare item with 2). These are generally reserved for more advanced crafts in which one is attempting to create a very specific item using a very clear process. 

Once we have more information regarding the Crafting system in Path of Exile 2, we will be able to discuss more uses for this Currency item.

Rarity: Uncommon (?)

Function: Grants a Passive Refund Point on the Passive Skill Tree

Uses: Orbs of Regret are used as respec points in Path of Exile 2 in order to remove points on the Passive Tree that you want to allocate elsewhere. Don’t forget that you can also use Gold to respec points with The Hooded One who you can find in all Towns and your Hideout (?) 

Rarity: Rare (?)

Function: Removes one random modifier from a rare or magic item

Uses: Orbs of Annulment are an advanced crafting currency used to remove a random modifier from an item. This might seem counterintuitive to new players, but these can be incredibly powerful when used under the correct circumstances. 

With certain aspects of the crafting system being unknown in Path of Exile 2, how these will be used isn’t entirely clear. In Path of Exile 1, Orbs of Annulment are used to gamble to hopefully remove a modifier on an item in an attempt to “make space” for a different one. Bear in mind: Magic Items can only have 1 Prefix and 1 Suffix Modifier, while Rare items are limited to having a maximum of 3 Prefixes and 3 Suffixes.

Rarity: Very Rare

Function: Adds a random modifier to a Rare item

Uses: Exalted Orbs are an extremely rare Currency item that can be used to add an additional modifier to a Rare item, without removing another one first (in the way that Chaos Orbs function).

Do not use these casually, or on items that you aren’t planning to use. Exalted Orbs are generally reserved for high-level crafting methods and are best used by players who know what they are doing.

Other Uses: Uncertain for now. May be used for Crafting Bench recipes (if it is present in Path of Exile 2), for Vendors, the Map Device or other unknown mechanics. These may also end up being a high-value Currency for trading with other players depending on their usefulness

Rarity: Very Rare

Function: Rerolls the values of the modifiers of an item within their modifier tiers

Uses: Advanced Currency item that can be used to randomize the values on items to possibly improve them. For example, if there is a Unique item that can roll between +1 to +5% to Maximum Resistances, and you find that item with +1% to Maximum Resistances, using a Divine Orb would reroll that value, as well as any other modifiers with value ranges, on that item, potentially improving it. 

These are extremely rare and shouldn’t be used carelessly

Other Uses: Unknown. Similar to Chaos and Exalted Orbs, these may be a popular Currency to trade to other players for items, or for other currently unknown uses within Path of Exile 2. We will update this section as soon as we know.

Rarity: Unknown (Most likely Uncommon)

Function: Unknown

Uses: Vaal Orbs have been confirmed to be present in Path of Exile 2, but their function and rarity are unknown at this point. In Path of Exile 1, these Orbs were used to unpredictably alter an item,, either by permanently ruining it by changing all of its modifiers (known as a “brick”), doing nothing, but giving the item a “Corrupted” tag, preventing any further alterations to the item, or by adding a very good outcome in the form of adding a new implicit modifier. Pure gamble, pure fun.

Rarity: EXTREMELY RARE - THE RAREST!

Function: Unconfirmed, but assumed: Creates a copy of another non-Unique item.

Uses: This item hasn’t been confirmed to be in Path of Exile 2 yet, but it is the most rare, sought-after, iconic and valuable item in the entire game. The fact that the logo of Path of Exile is based on a Mirror of Kalandra should suggest its importance and that it will be in Path of Exile 2.

If you find one of these, DO NOT USE IT unless you absolutely know what you are doing. If you are lucky enough to find a Mirror, tell all your friends, Reddit, and everyone in Global Chat and watch them all go wild with excitement along with you. To understand how rare the Mirror of Kalandra is, it’s not unusual for players with 5,000, or even 10,000 hours played to have never found one.

In Path of Exile 1, Mirrors of Kalandra are used to create copies of the most perfectly crafted items. Often, players will invest a massive amount of currency into creating a truly incredible item, and then offer other players to make a copy of their item, for a service fee.  

Rarity: Varies

Function: Adds an additional socket to the Gem of your choosing

Uses: 

Lesser Jeweller’s Orbs can be used to add an additional socket to a Gem and increase the socket number from 2 to 3. Rarity Unknown as of now, but may be given as a Quest Reward as well as being able to be found as a natural drop. 

Jeweller’s Orb: Can be used to increase the socket count on a gem from 3 to 4 (may also increase it from 2 to 4). Rarity unknown as of now, but presumed to be uncommon. May be given as a quest reward later in the campaign, or in the endgame. 

Greater Jeweller’s Orb: Increases the number of sockets on a Gem from 4 to 5 (may also increase it from 2 to 5). Rarity unknown as of now, but presumed to be rare, if not very rare. 

As of writing, the maximum number of support sockets a gem can have is 5 (6 if you include the socket for the Active Skill Gem itself)

There will be many more Currency items in Path of Exile 2, but we are uncertain which have been included and what their function will be. It’s most likely that Quality-improving Currencies will return in the form of Blacksmith’s Whetstones and Armourer’s Scraps, but there hasn’t been confirmation of the return of items like Gemcutter’s Prisms, Cartographer’s Chisels or Catalysts. Once we know what is in the game, we will update the guide.

There are some Currency items that have been confirmed to be REMOVED in Path of Exile 2

NOT in Path of Exile 2 (as of the time of writing):

1. Orb of Alteration - reforges a Magic item with new modifiers

2. Orb of Fusing - reforges the links of an item - not needed as sockets will be automatically linked in PoE 2

3. Chromatic Orb - reforges the colours of sockets on an item. All socket colours in Path of Exile 2 will be White, meaning they will no longer need to be recoloured

4. Orb of Scouring - removes all modifiers from a Magic or Rare item and reverts it to Normal Rarity. These are apparently not going to be present in PoE 2, but I suspect this may change as they are a foundational part of crafting in PoE 1.