In POE 2, crafting is all about understanding the strengths and limitations of each currency item. Among the most frequently used are the Chaos Orb and the Orb of Annulment—two powerful tools that serve very different purposes. While both influence an item’s modifiers, they operate in opposite ways, making it essential to know when each one is the better choice. Using the wrong currency at the wrong time can destroy valuable bases, waste resources, and even ruin items you’ve spent hours refining. This is exactly why many players keep a reserve of poe 2 currency on hand before entering serious crafting sessions.

The Chaos Orb is the more well-known and straightforward of the two. It completely rerolls all modifiers on a rare item, giving you an entirely fresh set of affixes with a single use. This makes Chaos Orbs ideal for early- and mid-stage crafting. If you’re hunting for a strong combination of mods but aren’t working with something extremely valuable yet, chaos spamming is generally the most efficient method. It’s fast, it’s simple, and it gives you dozens of chances to land a good result. The downside is obvious: any good modifiers already on the item will be wiped out, so Chaos Orbs are rarely used once the item begins to show real promise.

That’s where the Orb of Annulment comes in. Instead of rerolling an item, it removes exactly one random affix. This may sound small, but the potential impact is enormous. When you’re holding an item with three strong mods and one bad one, Chaos Orbs would ruin it—but an Annulment Orb gives you a chance to surgically eliminate the problem affix. The catch is the randomness. If the item has multiple valuable modifiers, the Annulment might easily destroy one of your best rolls. This is why the Annulment Orb is generally reserved for more controlled scenarios, particularly when you have isolated a single bad mod.

Meta-mod crafting makes the Orb of Annulment even more useful. Locking prefixes or suffixes before annulling is one of the safest ways to guarantee the removal of an unwanted affix. This technique is expensive, but in high-end crafting, it often makes the difference between a ruined item and a perfect one. Because these meta-mod strategies require large amounts of currency, many players increase their stockpile by farming efficiently or seeking poe 2 currency for sale in preparation.

So when does each orb make sense? Chaos Orbs are best when you’re still searching for a strong foundation—before your item becomes valuable. Use them early, rapidly, and with the understanding that everything on the item will be reset. Annulment Orbs, on the other hand, shine when the item is almost perfect. They’re a fine-tuning tool, best applied when removing a single affix could elevate the gear into true endgame territory.

Chaos Orbs are for shaping, and Annulment Orbs are for refining. Once you understand this balance, you’ll be able to approach crafting more strategically and produce higher-quality items with fewer setbacks.