Among the early-game crafting tools in Path of Exile and PoE 2, the Orb of Augmentation is often underestimated. It doesn’t create something new or flashy on its own, and it’s so common that players tend to overlook its strategic value. Yet this tiny piece of currency plays a surprisingly important role in shaping your gear, supporting vendor recipes, and smoothing the early-to-mid-game crafting curve. Even as players rush through content or accumulate stacks of poe 2 currency later on, the humble Augmentation remains a consistent utility item that shows up in more crafting steps than expected.
At its core, the Orb of Augmentation takes a magic item with only one affix and adds a second one. This seems simple, but the impact can be substantial depending on the base item and what you’re trying to achieve during leveling. When you find a strong weapon or piece of armor and convert it from normal to magic using a Transmutation, you’re only halfway there. Adding that second affix is often what determines whether the item becomes a temporary powerhouse or just vendor fodder. For weapons in particular, augmenting into an offensive prefix or suffix can significantly increase your damage during the campaign.
The Orb of Augmentation also matters because of its involvement in multiple vendor recipes. During early progression, you’ll commonly use Augmentations to complete recipes that reward identifying scrolls, crafting bases, or even gear upgrades. This utility makes them worth saving rather than mindlessly spending on every blue item you come across. As you advance, these recipes become less central, but in PoE 2’s adjusted economy and crafting flow, they still help stabilize your resource pool. And with systems becoming more interconnected, many players wisely avoid wasting Augments early so they have room to buy upgrades later using cheap poe 2 currency when needed.
Another reason the Orb of Augmentation matters is its role in shaping curated gear. When you’re hunting specific early-game affixes—like resistances before key bosses or life rolls to stabilize your survivability—augmenting the right magic item is often the most efficient approach. It’s much cheaper than using an Orb of Alchemy, and it provides more precision in the early-to-mid game where overinvesting can slow down progression.
The value of Augmentations begins to shift as you enter maps or the mid-game. Rares become more common, and crafting leans more heavily into Alchs, Essences, and higher-tier currency. At this point, Augments transition from gear-upgrade tools to components in crafting systems. Even then, they remain useful for adjusting magic utility items like flasks or for stepping through multi-phase recipes where each affix matters.
The Orb of Augmentation is more impactful than it initially appears. It’s cheap, accessible, and deeply woven into the crafting foundation of both PoE and PoE 2. By understanding when to use it—and, just as importantly, when to save it—you can keep your early gearing smoother, your crafting options open, and your overall progression more efficient, especially as
poe 2 currency interacts more heavily with the game’s revamped itemization.