Fracturing Orbs - How To Get Them, How To Use Them

This article is based upon information provided by GGG prior to the release of 0.2.0. It cannot yet be tested in game and may be subject to change. More on the 0.2.0 release here.

In POE2's 0.2.0 announcement, GGG teased the Fracturing Orb, a new crafting tool.

You can only apply a Fracturing Orb to a rare item with four or more explicit modifiers (more on what explicit and implicit modifiers are here).

It will pick one of the explicit modifiers at random, and permanently 'lock' it onto the item.

This modifier can no longer be changed by effects such as Chaos Orbs or Orbs of Annulment that can delete modifiers, nor by effects such as Divine Orbs that can modify them.

If you've played POE1 a lot, you may be familiar with the Fracturing Orb which exists in that game too. In POE1, Fracturing Shards drop very rarely from the Harbinger mechanic and twenty of them combine into a full orb.

Grinding Gear Games' announcements indicate that the Fracturing Orb will be more common in POE2 than it was in POE1, and will remain somewhat target farmable, but from a new drop source more central to the Atlas.

The orb will also be less powerful in POE2 than it was in the original game, due to the different way Essences work in Path of Exile 2.

Fracturing Orbs will be tied to specific areas on the Atlas. Specifically, corruption biomes, as shown here.

Six maps on that Atlas screen have the red 'Corrupted' icon above them, and a seventh (in the center) has a brighter version of the same icon.

This central map has a special boss encounter tied to the corruption mechanic. Once that boss is slain, the rest of this 'corrupted' biome will transform into a cleansed biome, with new monsters.

And then, if you get lucky, one of those cleansed biome exclusive monsters will drop a Fracturing Orb. (You should configure your loot filter to jump for joy when this happens).

The announcement implied players can expect 'about one Fracturing Orb per corrupted biome', assuming a strategy of rushing straight to the biome boss, slaying it, then full clearing every remaining map in the biome.

This may come at an opportunity cost, however.

Prior to 0.2.0 corrupted biomes can allow players to open maps that exceed the normal maximum zone level limit. If cleansed biomes lose this bonus, the choice of which loot to chase may be difficult.

The 0.2.0 release will confirm how this works.

Fracturing Orbs are ideally used upon rare items that are a great base type, have exactly four explicit modifiers and at least one extremely good modifier on them, but where the item is not a cohesive, completed item yet.

This amulet is a good base type and has the outstanding +3 to level of all minion skills modifier... and just not all that much else on it. Were it not already fractured, it would be the perfect target - and you'd be hoping to get this result.

75% of the time you'll fail and 'lock on' one of the less potent modifiers. At this point, you will be unable to usefully continue crafting this item.

Potentially after many attempts, however, you will succeed and wind up with the good modifier locked in.

At this point, the Chaos Orb becomes an extremely powerful crafting tool. You are unlikely to be able to 'build up' to an item with six perfect modifiers with a good fracture and exalted/chaos orbs alone, but you can repeatedly apply Chaos Orbs until you have two great non-fractured modifiers, then exalt the item out.

Fracturing Orbs are even better if the item already has two excellent modifiers, but they do not work well together.

For example, consider a weapon with a top-tier %physical damage to attacks roll and a top-tier flat cold damage to attacks roll. The Fracturing Orb here has two possible good outcomes.

There is, however, a way to take these Orbs further, using them alongside ultra-rare Omens.

The Omens discussed in this part of the article are unrealistic to acquire in quantity in solo-self-found gameplay. Consider these strategies trade league exclusive.

The true power of Fracturing Orbs is their ability to further constrain what an Orb of Annulment can choose. Especially in conjunction with other tools that constrain Annuls in different ways.

Omens are having their drop rates double-and-a-halved in 0.2.0, although this Omen will likely remain very rare and very valuable. It also cannot drop below monster level 80 (Tier 16 maps or Corrupted and/or Irradiated maps).

By default, an Orb of Annulment can remove any modifier on an item, whether that modifier is wanted or not. If an item has 2 prefixes and 3 suffixes, an Orb of Annulment is 20% to delete any specific modifier on it.

If the item is fractured, however, this becomes 25% to delete any specific non-locked mod, and 0% to delete the locked mod.

The Isolation Principle

What if the locked mod is one of the two prefixes, and you use an Omen of Sinistral Annulment?

In this case, the Omen 'bans' your Annul from deleting the suffixes, and the fracture 'bans' it from deleting the prefix you do not want deleted. Four out of five mods are banned, so the Annul always hits the fifth.

This is the isolation principle - you take an RNG orb like an Annul, and 'isolate' one result by banning all the RNG choices except one of them. It's very commonly used in crafting (in both Path of Exile 1 and 2) and players generally covet the rarer tools that are used to isolate mods.

The Omen of Sinistral Annulment was already able to deterministically remove one prefix from an item in a one prefix, three suffix state, allowing you to exalt a new modifier in its place (and if that modifier is bad, the same process can remove it again).

But with the addition of fracturing, you can improve this to also deterministically remove an exact prefix even in a two prefix, three suffix state, and to grant a 50-50 chance to remove an exact prefix in a three prefix, three suffix state.

In the hands of a very wealthy player (perhaps one experienced in the art of currency flipping), this approach can be used repeatedly until the perfect second prefix and maybe even third prefix is added (via Exalted Orb).

You should always consider the alternative option of an Omen of Whittling, however. These may be better at isolating a specific unwanted modifier than the left/right annul omens in your specific use case.

Omens of Whittling are also extremely rare and extremely valuable, although they can drop in all Tier 11+ maps. They don't really interact with Fracturing Orbs at all, they are simply an alternative to consider.

Fracturing Orbs may be too precious to use up in early progression crafting, but they add a significant degree of determinism to true endgame crafts.

This can be boosted enormously when Fracturing Orbs are used in conjunction with the left/right Annul Omens.

I expect the players who first master the use of these Orbs in trade league to end up with multiple Mirrors of Kalandra from their for-profit crafting sessions.