Orbs of Alchemy can used to upgrade a normal item into a rare item. The resulting rare has randomly chosen affixes and has a random number of affixes (ranging from four to six (three to four if used on jewels)).
Common use cases include upgrading good normal items (especially those with appropriate linked sockets) during the questing phase of a character's development, upgrading a normal map in order to take advantage of the large item quantity bonus from having up to six affixes, and upgrading strongboxes. Orbs of Alchemy are rarely used in the crafting of high-end rare items because it is easier to start with a good magic item and instead use a Regal OrbRegal OrbStack Size: 20Upgrades a magic item to a rare itemRight click this item then left click a magic item to apply it. Current modifiers are retained and a new one is added. to upgrade it to a rare.
Orbs of Alchemy can also be used to purchase various items from vendors, including maps, skill gems, and unidentified rare items.
Furthermore, Orbs of Alchemy are also useful for a very large number of crafting bench recipes.
Item acquisition
Orb of Alchemy can drop anywhere.
Recipes
Orb of Alchemy can be created from the following recipes:
Amount
Part
Description
Meta
20
Alchemy ShardAlchemy ShardStack Size: 20A stack of 20 shards becomes an Orb of Alchemy.
The VoidThe Void1Reach into the Void and claim your prize.
Random divination card set exchange
A
Orbs of Alchemy are uncommon currency items that can be dropped by slain monsters, chests, and destructible containers. They also drop from Arcanist's Strongboxes.
Orbs of Alchemy can also be obtained by combining 20 Alchemy ShardsAlchemy ShardStack Size: 20A stack of 20 shards becomes an Orb of Alchemy., which are in turn obtained by selling identified magic and rare items with certain modifiers to any vendor.
Orbs of Alchemy can also be obtained from the following vendor recipes:
Result
Recipes
1× Orb of Alchemy
3 x Identified rare items with same name
1× Orb of Alchemy
2 x Identified rare items with same name and both 20% quality
1× Orb of Alchemy
1 x normal, 1 x magic, 1 x rare (all 20% quality) of the same base type
2× Orb of Alchemy
1 x normal, 1 x magic, 1 x rare (all 20% quality and unidentified) of the same base type
The following currencies now have a stack size of 20: Orb of Alchemy, Vaal OrbVaal OrbStack Size: 20Corrupts an item, modifying it unpredictablyRight click this item then left click an item to corrupt it. Corrupted items cannot be modified again., Chaos OrbChaos OrbStack Size: 20Reforges a rare item with new random modifiersRight click this item then left click a rare item to apply it., Tainted Chaos OrbTainted Chaos OrbStack Size: 20Unpredictably either reforges a corrupted rare item with new random modifiers or removes all of its modifiersRight click this item then left click a corrupted rare item to apply it., Eldritch Chaos OrbEldritch Chaos OrbStack Size: 20If The Searing Exarch is dominant, reroll prefix modifiers If The Eater of Worlds is dominant, reroll suffix modifiersRight click this item then left click a rare item with The Searing Exarch or The Eater of Worlds dominance to apply it., and Veiled Chaos OrbVeiled OrbStack Size: 20Removes a random modifier and adds a random Veiled modifier to a rare itemRight click this item then left click a rare item to apply it..