Game Mechanics
Master guide to POE2's elemental and status effect mechanics
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PoE2's economy uses crafting orbs as both crafting tools and trade currency. Prices are league-volatile and reset roughly every 3-5 months, so always check the official trade site for live values rather than relying on fixed ratios.
The most important behavioural change vs PoE1: the Chaos Orb removes one random modifier and adds one new random modifier - it is NOT a full reroll. This has been the behaviour since launch.
Transmutation: Normal -> Magic (1 mod). Augmentation: adds a 2nd mod to a 1-mod Magic item. Alchemy: Normal -> Rare (4 mods). Regal: Magic -> Rare (+1 mod).
Exalted: adds a new random mod to a Rare without touching existing mods. Divine: rerolls the numeric values of existing mods (not which mods). Chaos: removes one random mod and adds one new random mod.
Vaal: permanently corrupts (random outcome). Annulment: removes one random mod. Orb of Chance: Normal -> Unique, or destroys the item. Fracturing Orb: permanently locks one mod on a Rare with 4+ mods. Mirror of Kalandra: perfect duplicate of a non-Unique item (rarest).
Since 0.3.0 many orbs come in regular -> Greater -> Perfect tiers, each forcing a higher minimum modifier level. Essences were re-tiered to four (Lesser/Normal/Greater/Perfect) and add a specific mod by tier.
Newer crafting items include Hinekora's Lock (foresee the next currency outcome), Soul Cores (socketable augments), Bones / Desecration crafting from Abyss (0.3.0), and Verisium plus 13 Alloy currencies from 0.5.0.
Verisium also powers Runeforging, which adds Runic Ward to armour at the Runeforging bench.
Orb of Alteration is not in the active game - PoE2 has no currency that rerolls a Magic item's modifiers.
Orb of Scouring was removed - there is no scour-to-white currency.
Many other PoE1 orbs (Blessed, Engineer's, Harbinger's, Binding, Horizon, and so on) are not part of the PoE2 system.