Using Orbs of Chance For Loot

There’s only one way of getting great loot in Path of Exile: get lucky. Loot is in integral part of the game and has its value, and we all want the best equipment possible for our characters. The only consistent way to get great endgame items is to craft them, which requires an enormous amount of currency but is somewhat less RNG based, depending on how much you’re willing to invest.

If you’re hoping for an item to drop for you then you’re in for a rough ride. Items which are worth over 10 Exalted Orbs are of course extremely rare and while they seemingly keep dropping for other players more than they do for you there is a way to increase your chances of getting one. Chance Orbs have a miniscule possibility to turn a white item into a Unique one, so using the orbs on particular whites can be a good strategy to maximize your farming time.

There are several high-value items that I almost always “chance”, and they include:

• Glorious Plate – Turns into Kaom’s Heart (value over 30 Exalted)
• Occultist’s Vestments – Turns into Shavronne’s Wrappings (value around 50 Ex unlinked, up to 80 if 6L); also chances in Infernal Mantle which is worth far less
• Siege Axe – can be chanced for Soul Taker, valued at 50+ Exalted depending on roll
• Spine Bow – Voltaxic Rift bow, valued at over 50 Ex

Note: approximate values are based on Standard league prices.

These are all some of the best items in game and highly valued by many skill tree builds, and rare enough to warrant their extreme prices. When farming Merciless Docks you should see at least 2-3 Siege Axes in a solo run, and Occultist’s Vestments are a bit more rare but still rather frequent. Glorious Plates and Spine Bows can drop in Docks or Lunaris as well but they drop more regularly once you get into 68+ map farming.

Other higher valued items still worth chancing are Hubris Circlets for Crown of Eyes, Nightmare Bascinets for Bringer of Rain & Devoto’s Devotion, Chain Belt for Auxium, Murder Mitts for Thunderfist, and Amethyst Ring for Ming’s Heart and Death Rush. All of these are worth between 10 and 30 Ex on average. There’s even more items you could try your luck with: Champion Kite Shield for Aegis Aurora, Sinner Tricorne for Alpha’s Howl, Gold Ring for Andvarius, Archon Kite Shield for Prism Guardian, Prophecy Wand for Void Battery, Slaughter Knife for Bino’s Kitchen Knife, Imperial Bow for Lioneye’s Glare and Sapphire Ring for Dream Fragments, though some of these may not be worth as much to make it worthwhile. Some of these items have certain iLvl requirements (see wiki), so for example to get Thunderfist as a drop you’d need iLvl 76: using Orb of Chance ignores these requirements so you could chance Thunderfist even on lower item levels.

It’s been said there’s about a 1:1000 shot to Chance a unique item. While I’m personally way beyond that number and have yet to see one, considering the ratio of Chance to Exalted (at the time of writing this 220:1) it’s a gambit I’m willing to take. Even if it was a 1:4000 chance it would at the very least be even in value, therefore making this a legitimate effort to obtain highly valued items. The probability of these Unique items dropping is likely not any better either, so you’re basically just doubling the possibility of getting them. Another upside to chancing is that you might even get a decent Rare item.

Tip: I usually carry 10-15 Chance Orbs in my inventory along with Wisdom/Portal Scrolls so I can immediately Chance the items and drop them so they do not take any unnecessary space.

The next time you pass by these Plates, Vestments, Axes or Bows consider the numbers and make use of all those Orbs of Chance you hoarded. There’s a possibility it will be worth it. And one day when your character is all shiny and rich be sure to remember to give me a cut of your profits. Or else.