Currency & Crafting Basics

What it is

Path of Exile has no gold. Instead, currency items (Orbs) are used for both trade and crafting. Every Orb does something: Orb of Alteration rerolls magic item mods, Chaos Orb rerolls rare item mods, Exalted Orb adds a mod to a rare item. Currency also serves as the unit of trade value — everything is priced relative to Chaos Orbs and Divine Orbs.

When you encounter it

Currency drops from the very beginning. You'll find Scrolls of Wisdom (identify items), Portal Scrolls, Orbs of Transmutation, etc. The more powerful currency comes later.

Key concepts

• •The currency 'ladder': Chaos Orb → Divine Orb → Mirror of Kalandra (ascending value)
• •Chaos Orb rerolls ALL mods on a rare — use it carefully on valuable items
• •Divine Orb rerolls the numerical VALUES of existing mods — used to perfect gear
• •Orb of Augmentation adds a mod to a magic (blue) item; Orb of Alteration rerolls it
• •Vendor recipes: selling specific item combinations to vendors gives currency (e.g. 20-quality items → Gemcutter's Prism)

Tips for new players

• 💡Never use a Chaos Orb on a good rare item — you'll reroll all its mods randomly
• 💡Use Divine Orbs to 'roll higher' on a mod you already have — not to add new ones
• 💡Check poe.ninja for current currency exchange rates each league
• 💡Scrolls of Wisdom are abundant — identify everything early, less necessary later

External resources