In Path of Exile 2, Artificer’s Orbs are core crafting items used to add sockets to your gear, enabling the insertion of runes and soul cores that directly boost your character’s offense, defense, and utility. But not all gear is created equal when it comes to socketing—knowing which items are worth your orbs can dramatically improve both your build and your resource efficiency.
Top Armor Choices for Socketing
Body Armor (Chest Pieces)
This is the most valuable armor slot for socketing. Body armor can hold up to two sockets, making it ideal for inserting combinations of powerful runes or soul cores. Adding sockets to high-quality chest gear gives you more room to enhance survivability (e.g., resistance cores), boost item rarity, or add health regeneration. Since chest pieces also tend to carry strong base stats or affixes, socketing them pays off long-term.Helmets, Gloves, and Boots
These can each hold one socket, which might seem modest but is perfect for plugging gaps in your build. For example:
A helmet socketed with a Soul Core of Tacati boosts chaos resistance—vital for surviving certain endgame encounters.
Socketed boots can grant movement speed or utility effects.
These pieces are ideal for precise stat tuning or stacking defenses.
Best Weapons to Use Artificer’s Orbs On
- Two-Handed Weapons
If you’re using bows, crossbows, maces, quarterstaves, axes, spears, flails, claws, or daggers, you’re in luck—two-handed weapons can hold two sockets, making them the strongest offensive candidates for socketing. This allows for high-impact combinations like:
Soul Core of Citaqualotl: Increased elemental damage
Rune of Apep: Boosted physical crit or attack speed
These weapons benefit immensely from offensive rune setups, especially in high-DPS builds.
- One-Handed Weapons and Off-Hands
Though they only support one socket, they’re still highly valuable:
A one-handed weapon with a core that boosts flat damage or elemental scaling can make a big difference in sustained fights.
Shields or caster focuses socketed with defensive runes add significant tankiness or mana recovery, depending on the build.
Items That Cannot Be Socketed
Some items—namely wands, sceptres, and staves—currently cannot be socketed using Artificer’s Orbs. This may change in future patches, but for now, keep your orbs reserved for gear that actually supports socketing.
Smart Socketing Strategy: Maximize Impact, Minimize Waste
Always prioritize high-quality gear with solid base stats and affixes. Don’t waste your orbs on throwaway leveling items unless absolutely necessary.
Body armor and two-handed weapons offer the highest return due to their double socket capacity.
Use one-socket gear to fine-tune your build—especially when working with soul cores that solve specific weaknesses.
And remember: sockets are permanent—you can’t remove or change them after placement (yet). This is why many players wisely choose to buy poe 2 currency to secure ideal gear first before investing Artificer’s Orbs.
Maintain a Steady Supply of Artificer’s Orbs
Need more orbs? Salvage socketed gear using the Salvage Bench to create Artificer’s Shards, which combine into full orbs. Farming socketed items from high-density zones or investing your excess cheap poe 2 currency into buying salvageable gear is a reliable way to keep your crafting going strong.
By targeting the right gear with your Artificer’s Orbs, you’ll gain the most from your investment and unlock powerful rune combinations that transform your character’s effectiveness in both campaign and endgame content. Whether you prefer to earn your orbs the hard way or buy poe 2 currency to speed up progression, knowing where to use these crafting tools is key to dominating Path of Exile 2.