PoE Currency! Click on one of the Path of exile orbs you want to read about!
Poe currency guide for new players
As in every game in the market, there is currency in Path of Exile. For other games it’s mostly gold, but in Path of Exile currency is much more complex than that. Game has interesting system – currency in it is also used for crafting, that means it will never become obsolete as it often happens with gold in other games. Currently there are more than 20 different currency orbs, it is very confusing for newer players and that is why I am writing this PoE currency guide. I will cover all Path of Exile currency items, write down some tips and tricks of using, obtaining and spending them and help you understand the value of each orb and a little about how poe currency trading works.
My tip to new players is – save currency until you reach later point into the game and carefully read about it before using it to fully understand what each piece does.
I have made something like PoE currency exchange guide with each orb’s price in relation to Orb of Chaos, as it is the, let’s say, the most used currency for pricing items and trading them between players. Below you can see currency list with descriptions.
These are approximate ratios to help understand currency better, the actual in-game ratios will vary based on which league are you playing in or new in-game content. Best way to get exact ratio when playing is to ask other people in Global chat because in Trade chat sellers are preying on people who do not know ratios and it’s very likely that they will try to scam you.
I have made a list of poe orbs – the list goes mostly starting with cheapest and ending with most expensive currency.
If you are interested, here is trusted Path of Exile store which is the best place to buy Path of Exile currency when you really need it for your build or items.
Scroll of Wisdom
Scroll of Wisdom is the most used currency in the game as it is used to identify magic, rare or unique items. You can obtain Scrolls of Wisdom as drops from monsters, selling Portal Scrolls to vendor (1 Portal Scroll will yield you 1 Scroll of Wisdom), selling Orbs of Transmutation to vendor (1 Orb of Transmutation will yield you 4 Scrolls of Wisdom) or combining 5x Scroll Fragments. Scroll Fragments are obtained by selling normal (white items) to vendors. Scrolls of Wisdom will always be in high demand as there are people who are running specialized “magic find” builds that get a lot of rare items from bosses that need to be identified. Rate to Chaos Orb is approximately 140-160 Wisdom Scrolls : 1 Chaos Orb.
Portal Scroll
Portal Scroll is used to instantly make portal to town in corresponding act. Usually Portal Scroll stack up in bank, so you can convert them to Scrolls of Wisdom using vendors and sell to other players like that with aforementioned ratio. It is worth mentioning, that there is also skill gem version of portal, which allows you to open portal infinite amount of times without Portal Scrolls. Rate to Chaos Orb is the same as for Wisdom Scrolls: 140-160 portals : 1 Chaos Orb.
Armorer’s Scrap
Armorer’s Scrap is used to improve quality of an armor piece, such as boots, gloves, chest armor, helm or shield. This is currency widely used on endgame items, however some people use it on items while levelling, although I am not one of them as it feels pointless. Adding quality to an armor piece enhances its defensive statistics – armor, evasion or energy shield.
Adding 1 Armorer’s Scrap to item based on rarity adds to it:
Normal – 5% quality
Magic – 2% quality
Rare – 1% quality
Unique – 1% quality
Armorer’s Scraps can also be turned into Blacksmith’s Whetstones by trading 3x Scraps to 1x Whetstone using certain vendors. They can be obtained by trading with vendor, as drops or selling any armor pieces with combined quality of 40% or more.
Blacksmith’s Whetstone
Blacksmith’s Whetstones are used to improve quality of weapons – wands, bows, maces, swords etc. This currency is also mostly used on endgame items, but I myself sometimes like boost my DPS a little by adding some quality to it while levelling. Adding quality to a weapon enhances its minimum and maximum damage values.
Adding 1 Blacksmith’s Wheststone to item based on rarity adds to it:
Normal – 5% quality
Magic – 2% quality
Rare – 1% quality
Unique – 1% quality
Blacksmith’s Whetstones can be turned into Armorer’s Scraps by trading 1x Whetstone to 1x Armorer’s Scrap using vendors. They can be obtained by trading with vendor, as drops or selling any weapons with combined quality of 40% or more.
Glassblower’s Bauble
Glassblower’s Baubles are used to improve quality of all kind of flasks. I usually do not bother spending them while levelling and only use them on my final flasks that I am going to use in endgame. Best bet is to use them on normal quality flasks as it will be more efficient unless you get unique flask.
As for armor items and weapons, adding 1 Glassblower’s Bauble to flask based on rarity adds to it:
Normal – 5% quality
Magic – 2% quality
There are no rare flasks in the game at the moment
Unique – 1% quality
One Glassblower’s Bauble can be bought for 8x Blacksmith’s Whetstones by trading with vendors. They can also be obtained as drops or by selling flasks with combined quality of 40% or more.
Orb of Transmutation
Orbs of Transmutation are used to transform normal item into magic item. The resulting magic item can spawn with 1 or 2 affixes (mods). I myself do not use these orbs a lot on my items, because I wear either unique or rare items but they are useful in another way. They are great to use on white strongboxes, white flasks which drop (instead of using a lot of Orbs of Alteration which is more expensive than that) and I also like to use them on good base items with high itemLevel. You can get lucky that way and roll high value mod on item, it is worth noting, magic item with one highly rolled mod can be sold times and times more than rare item with 6x mediocre mods in this game.
Usually Orbs of Transmutation stack up for me so I sometimes like to trade them to Scrolls of Wisdom which I spend fast. 1 Orb of Transmutation yields you 4x Scrolls of Wisdom when sold to vendor. You can also obtain orbs of Transmutation as drops, selling unidentified magic or rare items to vendor, or buy it for 7x Portal Scrolls from vendor. Ratio to Chaos Orb is approximately 35-40 Transmutations : 1 Chaos Orb.
Orb of Augmentation
Orbs of Augmentation are used to add one affix (mod) to magic item which has only 1 affix. Magic items can spawn with 1 or 2 mods and Orb of Augmentation can be only used on those which have 1 mod. I myself use those orbs mostly on strongboxes when they have just 1 mod or on flasks. You can transform them to Orb of Alteration by selling 4x Orbs of Augmentation to vendor. You can also obtain them as drops and selling rare items with 6 affixes to vendor (yields 1 Orb of Augmentation for item). Ratio to Chaos Orb is 60 Orbs of Augmentation : 1 Chaos Orb.
Orb of Alteration
Orbs of Alteration are used to randomly reroll magic item. Basically, the effect of using Orb of Alteration on magic item is the same when using Orb of Transmutation on white item, both results in randomly rolled magic item. I often use Orbs of Alteration when I am rolling maps, as they are easy to obtain. Also, they are good to be used on certain types of strongboxes. Orbs of Alteration can be obtained by selling 4x Orbs of Augmentation to vendor. You can also obtain them as drops and selling identified rare and magic items. Most common ratio to Chaos Orb is 16 Orbs of Alteration : 1 Chaos Orb, although you can find people who sell 20 Alterations for 1 Chaos or the opposite – 14 alterations or less for 1 chaos.
Chromatic Orb
Chromatic Orbs are used to recolor sockets on the item. All the sockets of the item are recolored randomly, so sometimes it might take a while until you get colors you want. It is worth noting, that base item also plays role in coloring the sockets. Items with armor will roll red sockets more commonly, items with evasion will roll green sockets more commonly and items with energy shield will roll blue sockets more commonly. Blue and green sockets on armor based item, red and blue sockets on evasion based item, green and red sockets on energy shield based item are called off colors. The more off colors you want on the item, the harder it will be to achieve. The most popular way to obtain Chromatic Orbs is by selling items with one green, one blue and one red socket linked together. So it requires a minimum 3link item with a socket of each color. Worth noting that you can also sell 4link items where blue, red and green sockets are linked together.
Other ways to obtain Chromatic orbs are through drops and buying them at vendor (which I do not recommend, as it is very expensive). Ratio to Chaos orb is approximately 13-20 Chromatic orbs : 1 Chaos Orb.
Jeweler’s Orb
Jeweler’s Orbs are used to randomly reroll amount of sockets item has. In endgame it can take quite a lot of them to roll six sockets on your item (according to wiki, the chance to roll six sockets is 0,33%), so it is good to save them up for later. I myself usually have a lot of them and I like to trade them for Orbs of Fusing for my personal use. Jeweler’s Orbs are obtained by selling any item with six sockets to vendor. Every six-socket item will yield you 7x Jeweler’s Orbs. They can also be obtained through drops or buying them at vendor for 2 Orbs of Alteration each (I myself very often buy them this way). Ratio to Chaos orb is 8 Jeweler’s Orbs : 1 Chaos orb.
Orb of Chance
Orbs of Chance are used to roll normal item to random rarity. It means, by using it on white item, it can turn magic, rare or even unique if the base item has unique version. I myself like to use Orbs of Chance on white Gavels, Occultists Vestments, Penetrating Arrow quivers and some other items because unique versions of these items are very powerful and expensive, although chance of getting them is extremely low. Orbs of Chance are mostly obtained as drops but they can also be obtained through vendor, by selling 2 identified rare items with same name to vendor. Ratio to chaos orb is 8 orbs of chance : 1 chaos orb.
Cartographer’s Chisel
Cartographer’s Chisels are used to improve quality of a map. Maps are endgame items and Chisels can only drop from monsters with level 50 or above. Adding quality to a map increases the item quantity dropped by monsters inside that map.
Adding 1 Cartographer’s Chisel to a map based on rarity adds:
Normal – 5% quality
Magic – 2% quality
Rare – 1% quality
Unique – 1% quality
I personally ONLY use chisels on normal quality maps as it is the most efficient way and throwing them on magic, rare or unique maps would be terrible waste of currency, so avoid doing that. Chisels can be obtained by selling Stone Hammer with 20% quality, Rock Breaker with 20% quality or Gavel with 20% quality and one map to vendor. They can also be obtained as drops. Ratio to Chaos orb is approximately 3-4 Chisels : 1 Chaos Orb.
Orb of Scouring
Orbs of Scouring are used to remove all the mods from magic or rare piece of equipment and reroll item to normal (white). Worth noting, that socket colours, links and item implict properties stays the same. Personally I do not use Orbs of Scouring a lot, mostly when I find Cartographer’s Strongbox in high level maps. If the given strongbox does not have appealing mods, I use Orb of Scouring, making strongbox normal quality and use Orb of Alchemy on it, turning it rare. If it has no desired mods, I repeat the proccess until I get something worth keeping on the strongbox, like additional items, or mirrored items mod. Orbs of Scouring are mostly obtained as drops, however there is vendor recipe for getting them – sell rare item with 2 affixes to vendor. Ratio to Chaos Orb is usually 2 Orbs of Scouring : 1 Chaos Orb.
Orb of Alchemy
Orbs of Alchemy are used to upgrade any normal (white) item to rare quality. Rare items made with Orbs of Alchemy can have 3 to 6 affixes on them, which spawn randomly. Best use of Orbs of Alchemy for me has been upgrading normal maps with 20% quality into rare maps. As mods are random, some of them can be quite a challenge for certain builds. Also, if you have many Orbs of Alchemy, you can trade them with other players or use on white rings on amulets with high itemLevel – I have rolled quite a few expensive pieces of jewelry that way. Orbs of Alchemy can be obtained by selling items with certain mods – increased item rarity for example. Selling items like that gives you Alchemy shards, 20 of those shards combine into an Orb of Alchemy. Also they can be obtained as drops. Ratio to Chaos Orb is 2 Orbs of Alchemy : 1 Orb of Chaos.
Orb of Fusing
Orbs of Fusing are used to randomly reroll links between sockets on item. If item has 4 sockets and they are all already linked together, you will be unable to apply any more Orbs of Fusing. I myself mostly use Orbs of Fusing on items with 6 sockets, as it gives you chance to six-link the item. Six linked items are generally quite expensive, especially six linked unique body armors. I usually wait until late game before I start using them, except when I need to four link an item while levelling. In Path of Exile fusing probability is approximately 1 to 1500 if talking about six-linking an item, that is why Orb of Fusing is not the cheapest one. Orbs of Fusing can be obtained as drops, purchased from vendor in 3rd act for 4x Jeweller’s Orbs. Ratio tor Chaos Orb is usually 1.5 – 2 Orbs of Fusing : 1 Orb of Chaos.
Blessed Orb
Blessed Orbs are used to reroll implicit property on the item. Implicit property is mod, that differentiates some bases – for example, implicit mod on Coral Ring is + maximum life, implicit mod on sapphire ring is + Cold resistance. Implicit properties have value brackets, for example, Sapphire ring can spawn with any implicit cold resistance value between 20% and 30%. Blessed Orbs can be used on those items to randomly reroll the implicit mod value in those brackets. They can be applied to items of any rarity. I do not suggest you using them on items while levelling, it is really doubtful that item you’re using them on is worth more than 1 Blessed Orb. They can be obtained only as drops. Ratio to Chaos Orb is usually 1 Blessed Orb : 1 Chaos Orb, but sometimes you can get 2 Chaos Orbs for 1 Blessed Orb.
Orb of Regret
Orbs of Regret are the only orbs that are not used on items. They are used to gain passive skill refund point. With every refund point you can undo 1 point you have spent in passive tree. I personally do not use them a lot because I have my builds planned out pretty carefully before I begin playing and it is enough with passive refund points got from quests. Although some people are using them a lot because they need different setups for different situations. They can be obtained as drops and from certain vendor recipes, but those recipes are not even close to being efficient. Ratio to Chaos Orb has almost always been 1 Orb of Regret : 1 Chaos Orb.
Chaos Orb
Chaos Orb is used to randomly reroll any rare item. I personally use Chaos Orbs on high level rare maps with undesirable map modifiers to completely reroll them into something else or Cartographer’s Strongboxes in high level maps. One Chaos Orb can be thought as an equivalent of 1x Scouring Orb + 1 Orb of Alchemy as it does exactly the same to rare item as applying Orb of Scouring and after that Orb of Alchemy. I would not advise spending Chaos Orbs until late game, as only 1 Chaos Orb can buy you awesome unique items for levelling. Worth noting, that vast majority of unique items in this game are worth 1 Chaos Orb Orb and are mostly used for levelling, so be careful how you spend Chaos Orbs – do not use them on any items while you’re levelling, just buy some uniques from other players. Chaos Orbs can be obtained from drops, but they can also be obtained from Chaos recipe, that a lot of people have no idea about. The Chaos recipe works as follows – you have to sell set of items to vendor. All of those items should be rare and have at least 60 itemLevel. You have to sell a set of 2x rings, 1 amulet, belt, gloves, body armour, helm and 2x one handed weapons (1x one handed + 1 shield works too) or 1x two handed weapon to vendor. Worth noting, that if all those items are unidentified, you will get 2x Chaos Orbs from the recipe.
Vaal orb
Vaal Orbs are used to corrupt items. When item is corrupted, you cannot apply any currency on it. You can change socket colors or links on the item only with help of Vorici. Corrupting item may modify it in different ways – it can change color of one or more sockets to white, change implicit property of the item to certain properties obtainable only by using Vaal Orb, do nothing on item or turn item into rare with 6 affixes and random sockets if Vaal Orb is used on it. Applying Vaal Orb to 2 handed weapons or body armors, can also six link the given item.
Vaal Orbs can also be used on gems, strongboxes or maps.
Using it on gem can have no effect, add level, add quality or turn gem into corresponding Vaal gem.
Using it on map can have no effect, add or subtract one level, reroll map into rare with 6 affixes, make map unidentified (map mods and item quantity stay the same).
Using it on strongbox, Vaal Orb corrupts all the items inside the strongbox, that can be corrupted.
I personally like to use Vaal Orbs on strongboxes. Most frequently I use them on Armorer’s Strongboxes or Jeweler’s Strongbox. Corrupted Armorer’s Strongboxes have decent chance of dropping six linked body armors, that can be sold for pretty good amount of currency. Corrupted Jeweler’s strongboxes often drop few rare pieces of jewelry that have six affixes and can potentially be quite valuable.
Vaal Orbs can be obtained as drops or by selling 7x Vaal skill gems + 1 Vaal Sacrifice fragment to any vendor.
Vaal Orbs are usually traded in ratio 1 Vaal Orb : 1 Chaos Orb, however some people trade them in 1 Vaal Orb : 2 Chaos Orbs.
Regal Orb
Regal Orbs are used to turn magic (blue) item into rare item adding 1 affix. Regal Orbs are mostly used in end game for crafting high value items. I personally do not use Regal Orbs a lot, I hoard them and trade for other currency. They can be obtained as drops or through the same recipe Chaos Orbs are obtained, only items sold to vendor have to be at least itemLevel 75 or higher.
Ratio to Chaos Orbs is usually 1 Regal Orb : 1-3 Chaos Orbs.
Gemcutter’s Prism
Gemcutter’s Prisms or GCPs as they are called in game, are used to improve qualty of any non corrupted skill gem. Adding quality to skill gem will improve its damage, duration, area of effect or other attributes, depending on the gem. Every Gemcutter’s prism you use on skill gem, gives it only 1% of quality, so you need 20 of GCPs to get skill gem from 0 to 20 quality, although I do not suggest you to add quality to gem if it has under 15% quality. My reasoning is that Gemcutter’s Prism is not the cheapest kind of currency. Gems with at least 15 quality can be bought relatively cheaply from other players and require only few GCPs to get gem to 20% quality and upgrading them this way will be much cheaper than upgrading skill gem from 0 to 20 quality yourself. Gemcutter’s Prisms can be obtained from drops, by selling 1 Skill Gem with 20% quality to a vendor or by selling skill gems with combined quality of 40% to a vendor. Ratio to Chaos Orbs is usually 1 Gemcutter’s Prism : 2-3 Chaos Orbs.
Divine Orb
Divine Orbs are used to randomly reroll values of mods on items. They can be used on magic, rare or unique items. They are similar in how they work with Blessed Orbs, only these gems affect explicit properties of an item. If you find one while levelling, DO NOT use it on any item, it is valuable orb and is probably worth much more than item you’re using it on. Divine Orb can be obtained by selling six linked item to vendor or by drops. Ratio to Chaos Orbs can vary – 1 Divine Orb : 80-200+ Chaos Orbs.
Exalted Orb
Poe currency piece I am most excited about when I see one drop. Exalted Orbs are used to add one random affix to a rare item. They are used for high level crafting and also are the main currency for trading very high value items. If you find Exalted Orb while levelling, DO NOT use it on random items, this Orb is very valuable and can buy you good items for late game. Exalted Orb can be obtained only as drop. Ratio to Chaos Orbs is 1 Exalted Orb : 10-15 Chaos Orbs depending on the Challenge League.
Eternal Orb
Eternal Orbs are used to make an imprint of an item. Later that imprint can be used to restore item to its previous state after currency has been used on it. Eternal Orbs are used mostly in combination with Exalted Orbs or Regal Orbs while crafting high value items. Eternal Orbs were obtained only as drops but with every moment ratio to Exalted Orb is getting higher, because Eternal Orbs no longer drop. For ratio, you should ask the seller you’re planning to buy from because it’s changing every day. This is one of PoE currency pieces that you want to buy as soon as possible – the longer time you wait, the more expensive Eternal Orbs will get!
Update: starting with Awakening expansion, Eternal Orbs became legacy. It means monsters stopped dropping them and only way of obtaining them is trading with other players that have some in their possession.
Mirror of Kalandra
Mirror of Kalandra is used to make exact copy of any rare item. This is EXTREMELY rare piece of currency, I have been playing since closed beta and still haven’t seen one drop. If you by any miracle get it as drop THINK VERY CAREFULLY before using it, it is worth more than 150 Divine Orbs. They are so rare most of Path of Exile players will never see one drop. If you get extremely lucky and Mirror drops, consider yourself rich.
