Orb of Scouring is like hitting the reset button on your items. It wipes all random modifiers from magic or rare PoE gear while keeping the sockets, links, and implicit modifiers intact. Its main use is in meta-crafting, but if you're not ready for that level of crafting wizardry, you might as well trade them!

Orb of Scouring Acquistion

• Vendoring for Orbs: Trade any rare item with 2 affixes for 1 Orb of Scouring. Create these items using a Regal Orb on a one-affix magic item or an Orb of Annulment on a rare item.
• Monster Drops: Defeat unique monsters for a chance to get 1 Orb of Scouring.
• Divination Card Farming: Collect nine 'No Traces' divination cards to exchange for thirty Orbs of Scouring. Farm these cards in The Ossuary (Act 5), The Reliquary (Act 10), Mausoleum Map, Relic Chambers Map, and Sepulchre Map.

Orb of Scouring Exchange Recipes

• Simple Exchanges: Swap 4 Orbs of Chance for 1 Orb of Scouring. Trade a rare item with two affixes for 1 Orb of Scouring.
• Skill Gem Shenanigans: Combine a skill gem with 1 Orb of Scouring to reduce the gem's level by 1. Note: Corrupted gems are too cool for this trick.
• Mapping Tools: Use 3 Cartographer's Sextants and 1 Orb of Scouring for a Cartographer's Seal. Mix 20 Cartographer's Chisels and 5 Orbs of Regret for an Unshaping Orb.
• Back to Basics: 1 Orb of Scouring and 1 Scroll of Wisdom create a Book of Regression.

When to Use Orb of Scouring?

• Boosting Gear: Found a magic item with awesome sockets but mediocre mods? Scour it, then use an Orb of Alchemy to give it a new lease on life. Improve an item's quality efficiently by scouring it back to normal, then enhancing it before reapplying mods.
• Map Management: For high-level maps with terrible mods, scour them to white and chisel them up instead of wasting resources. Lower-level maps with bad rolls are also great candidates for scouring.

Orb of Scouring in Practical Scenarios

• Meta-Crafting: Perfect for changing items like Glorious Plates for Kaom's Heart or for a shot at crafting a unique like Lioneye's Glare.
• Late-Game Mapping: In merciless difficulty, Orb of Scouring becomes a game-changer for managing difficult map mods and crafting strategies.