Path of Exile Tempering Orb Wiki & Tips

What's Tempering Orb In PoE?

A Tempering Orb in Path of Exile is a crafting item that can be used to reroll the elemental resistance values on rare poe items. Tempering Orbs can only be used on rare items (items with a maximum of three affixes) that have elemental resistances rolled on them. When used, it will reroll the values of all existing elemental resistances (fire, cold, lightning) on the item randomly. The new resistance values can be higher or lower than the previous values. It's a complete reroll. Elemental resistances can roll anywhere from -60% to +80% when rerolled by a Tempering Orb. It's a good way to try and maximize elemental resistances on gears if your values are too low. But it's random, so the new values could potentially be worse.

Can Tempering Orbs Be Used On Unique Items Or Only On Rare Items?

Tempering Orbs in Path of Exile can only be used on rare items, not unique items. Rare PoE items are items that have a maximum of three random affixes/modifiers. Unique items on the other hand always have predefined fixed affixes that cannot be modified.

Tempering Orbs works by rerolling the existing elemental resistance (fire, cold, lightning) values on rare items. Since unique items do not have random affixes that can be rerolled, Tempering Orbs would have no effect if used on them. The game explicitly states that Tempering Orbs can only affect rare items and will not do anything if used on a unique item. Trying to use a Tempering Orb on a unique will simply waste the orb without changing the item in any way.

How To Get Tempering Orb In PoE?

Here are some of the main ways to obtain Tempering Orbs in Path of Exile:

• Mapping/Running Maps - Tempering Orbs drop occasionally from magic/rare monsters and chests in high tier red maps (tier 12+). The deeper you go, the better the chance.

• Master Missions - Doing crafting missions for masters like Elreon or Vagan can award Tempering Orbs as mission completion rewards.

• Heist Blueprints - Running well-rolled Grand Heist blueprints from the Rogue Harbour may contain Tempering Orbs as rewards.

• Metamorph Monsters - Killing Metamorph bosses created in maps has a chance to drop Tempering Orbs.

• Delirium Mirrors - Reaching high tiers of rewards in Delirium encounters can grant Tempering Orbs.

• Harvest Crafting - Using the Harvest crafting system, you can craft Tempering Orbs from targeted Chaos, Annulment, and Regal seeds.

Risk vs Reward Aspect Of Using Tempering Orbs

Tempering Orbs completely reroll the elemental resistance values on an item randomly. New values could end up much lower than before. This is the main risk, ruinng the item. If new resistance values roll higher, the item is significantly improved. Getting maximum or near-maximum resistance rolls is highly rewarding. Balance of risk/reward depends on current resistance values. If values are already good but not perfect, chance of upgrading is higher than ruining the item.

Items with open affixes left allow blocking bad resistance rolls with crafting options like "prefixes cannot be changed". This mitigates some risk. On expensive rare items, the risk is higher as a bad reroll means losing a large investment. More affordable items have lower stakes. For benchcrafting or crafting projects, a fail is wasting the orb but not ruining the item. So risk is lower than on fully developed gear. As resistance values approach maximum levels, marginal upgrades get smaller. So risk gets higher near the limits of what's possible.

Tips For Running Heists To Increase The Chances Of Obtaining Tempering Orbs

Here are some tips for running Heists to increase your chances of obtaining Tempering Orbs:

• Target Grand Heists over regular Blueprints. Grand Heists have more chests and reward rooms which means more potential drops.

• Make sure your Heists are well-rolled with lots of chests, rewards, and multiple wings/paths. More content = more chance for drops.

• Use rogues with Looting and Burst of Loot modifier skills. These passives significantly boost item quantity and quality from chests.

• Bring a Windripper/Bisco's Leash character for maximum item quantity bonuses. More items means more opportunities.

• Focus on killing all enemies, not just rushing objectives. Rare/magic monsters can drop Orbs.

• Open all chests, even normal ones. Tempering Orbs have a small chance from any chest.

• Alva missions in maps sometimes award Heist Blueprints. Run those for even more Blueprint rewards.

• In each Heist wing, prioritize rooms with chest symbols like Code Rooms over others.

• Play in trade leagues versus Solo Self-Found for better access to well-rolled Blueprints from other players.

• Farm Grand Heists of high alert level areas for increased champion mob difficulty and reward quantity.