Path of Exile 2 Trading & Currency System - How to Get and Use PoE 2 Gold and Orbs

Path of Exile 2 introduces significant changes to its economic system while maintaining some familiar elements from its predecessor. The most notable change is the introduction of gold as a primary currency. In this article, we’ll explore the PoE 2 currency and trading system, and learn about how to use and get the currency (gold and orbs), as well as how to trade & exchange in the game.

Related Read: Best PoE 2 Leveling Builds

Updated (December 18, 2024):

Path of Exile 2 Currency Explained - PoE 2 Gold and Orbs

Path of Exile 2's trading system represents a sophisticated evolution of its predecessor's economy.  GGG removed a number of currency items from the Path of Exile 1 and also introduced an untradeable currency - gold. PoE 2 gold is first previewed in Path of Exile: Settlers of Kalguur, it serves multiple essential functions in the game. As the game director emphasized, the untradeable nature of PoE 2 gold encourages players to actively use it for character improvement rather than trading it with other players.

Can you trade gold in PoE2? In Path of Exile 2, you can't trade gold directly with other players. Gold is primarily used for transactions with NPC vendors, such as buying items or gambling for new gear. Instead of trading gold, players exchange items using other currency items like exalted orbs, similar to the original Path of Exile.

Orbs are still the primary currency for crafting and trading in Path of Exile 2. They are aiming to make crafting orbs more common, allowing players to engage with the crafting system throughout the campaign. 

List of PoE 2 Currencies (Available)

Orb of Transmutation

Orb of Augmentation

Regal Orb

Exalted Orb

Orb of Alchemy

Chaos Orb

Divine Orb

Vaal Orb

Essences

Omens

Runes

Soul Cores

Artificer’s Orb

Blacksmith’s Whetstone

Armourer’s Scrap

Jeweller’s Orb

Gemcutter’s Prism

Orb of Fusing

Currencies Removed in PoE 2 (Not Available)

Orb of Scouring

Orb of Alteration

Chromatic Orb

Eldritch Currencies

Harvest Lifeforce

Fracturing Orb

Orb of Regret

Orb of Dominance

Awakener’s Orb

Enkindling Orb

Orb of Unmaking

Sacred Orb

Orb of Horizons

Harbinger’s Orb

Scarabs

HInekora’s Lock

How to Use Path of Exile 2 Gold?

1. Trade with vendors: Gold allows you to buy and sell items from vendors, with vendor inventory restocking each time your character levels up. Magic items cost approximately three times more than basic items. When selling items to vendors, you receive significantly less gold than the purchase price - approximately 1/6 or less of the buying price. This system can be particularly valuable for obtaining +1 rank skills and specific modifiers needed for your build.

2. Gambling: You can spend gold to gamble for random items. While gambling can potentially yield rare or valuable items, it's generally considered risky, especially in the early game. For example, spending 1,300 gold on gambling might result in a rare item that only sells for 600 gold. While gambling could be useful as a gold sink in the late game, it's recommended to avoid it during early progression when gold is needed for more essential purposes.

3. Respec passive skill points: Gold is required to reallocate passive skill points in your skill tree. Each point reallocation costs 356 gold. This is a crucial mechanic for build optimization and correction, making it an important consideration when managing your gold. The cost can add up significantly if you need to reallocate multiple points, especially when fine-tuning your endgame build.

How to Use Path of Exile 2 Orbs?

Currency orbs are used to upgrade items.

• Orb of Transmutation: Upgrades a Normal item to a Magic item (one modifier).

• Orb of Augmentation: Adds a second modifier to a Magic item.

• Regal Orb: Upgrades a Magic item to a Rare item (three modifiers).

• Exalted Orb: Adds modifiers to a Rare item, up to a maximum of six.

How to Get & Farm Path of Exile 2 Gold?

1. Killing Monsters

This is the most direct and consistent way to earn gold in PoE 2. As you progress through the game and defeat monsters, they will drop gold automatically. The amount of gold dropped typically scales with monster level and rarity - magic, rare, and unique monsters tend to drop more gold than normal ones. End-game bosses and special encounters are likely to provide larger gold rewards.

2. Selling items to vendors

• Selling basic (white/normal) items to vendors provides the lowest gold return. While this isn't the most efficient way to earn gold, it can still be useful early in the game or when inventory space is limited. Regular items are abundant and easy to find, making this a reliable if modest source of gold income. The selling price is typically around 1/6 or less of the vendor's buying price for similar items.

• Magic (blue) items sell to vendors for approximately three times the value of normal items. These items have one or two modifiers and are more valuable to vendors. While the gold return is better than normal items, inventory space management should still be considered when deciding which magic items to pick up for selling.

• Rare (yellow) items provide the highest vendor sale value among regular gear. These items have multiple modifiers and are valued accordingly by vendors. While they take up the same inventory space as normal or magic items, their higher gold return makes them more worthwhile to collect for selling, especially in the early to mid-game phases when gold is particularly valuable for character progression.

3. Trading Arbitrage

Players can potentially profit from price differences between the website and in-game exchange systems. This creates opportunities for trading arbitrage, where traders can capitalize on price disparities between the two platforms to generate additional currency or gold.

How to Get Path of Exile 2 Orbs?

1. Disenchanting Items

• Disenchanting magic items: Yields shards of Orbs of Transmutation. Accumulating enough shards allows you to create a full Orb of Transmutation.

• Disenchanting rare items: Yields shards of Regal Orbs. Accumulating enough shards allows you to create a full Regal Orb.

2. Salvaging Items

• Salvaging socketed items: Provides Artificer's Orbs, used for adding sockets to items.

• Salvaging items with quality: Provides Armourer’s Scrap and Blacksmith’s Whetstone, which are used to increase the quality of other items. Higher quality items yield more scraps/whetstones when salvaged.

Path of Exile 2 Trading Systems - How to Exchange and Trade Currency/Items in Path of Exile 2

1. In-Game Exchange

The game features an integrated currency exchange platform where players can list items for trading. It costs 25 gold to place an order on this exchange. The interface is divided into two main sections: the left side shows what currency you want to receive, while the right side displays what you're offering in exchange. The exchange operates on a two-sided market system. Players can list their desired trades by selecting items from stackable currency. Only stackable currency-related items can be traded through the in-game exchange system. Important items like gear, weapons, unique items, crafting materials, and special jewels cannot be traded here.

How to unlock the PoE 2 currency exchange market?

You need to complete the first three Acts of the campaign. Upon defeating Doryani and unlocking Cruel difficulty, the Currency Exchange becomes accessible. During your progression through the acts, different NPCs will facilitate the exchange: Finn in Act 1, Risu in Act 2, and Alva in Act 3. After completing the campaign and reaching the endgame, all three NPCs continue to offer the Currency Exchange service.

How to exchange currency in PoE 2?

1. Select "I Want" currency type

2. Select "I Have" currency type

3. Set the currency conversion rate. The market shows suggested exchange rates based on current orders

4. Place an order (requires a small gold fee). Trades complete automatically when matching orders are found. 

PoE 2 currency conversion rates

Players can list items for partial amounts of valuable currency (e.g., 0.1 Exalted orb). Unlike Path of Exile 1, you can't physically split valuable currency items. Currency rates are currently in flux due to Path of Exile 2 being new. Players can negotiate alternative currency types. For example, 0.1 Exalted orbs could be traded for 5 Jeweler's orbs, 10 Regal orbs, or other currency combinations. If you want to know the actual relative value between different currency items, you can check our PoE 2 currency exchange rates.

2. Official Website Trading

For items that cannot be traded through the in-game exchange, players must use the official Path of Exile website's trading platform. This is where approximately 90% of all trading activity occurs, continuing the tradition from Path of Exile 1. This external trading system handles the more complex item trades that aren't supported by the in-game exchange. Website trading doesn't have listing fees, unlike the in-game exchange. Players can contact each other directly through the website system.