In Path of Exile, while wandering through Wraeclast, you have definitely seen different kinds of strongboxes. They had various rarites, types and some of them contained different stuff than others. What new players might now know, they have potential to yield great items if your approach is right.

In this Strongbox guide, I will tell you, what kind of poe currency to use on every kind of strongbox, which mods to look for and when to use Vaal Orbs on strongboxes. There are many different types of strongboxes:

1. Arcanist’s Strongbox – contains only currency. You can find every kind of currency in these boxes, even the rarest pieces. These, in my opinion, are one of the best strongboxes to apply currency on. If they are normal rarity, I like to apply Orb of Alchemy.

2. Armorer’s Strongbox – contains armor items. This is the best strongbox to use Vaal Orb on (applying vaal orb to a strongbox corrupts all the items inside it). Before using Vaal Orb on this box, you should definitely have one of these mods on the strongbox: increased item quantity/contains additonal items/contains 3 additional rare items.

3. Artisan’s Strongbox – contains quality increasing currency (Armorer’s scraps, Blacksmith’s whetstones, Cartographer’s chisels and Gemcutter’s Prisms). I myself mostly do not bother using currency on these boxes.

4. Blacksmith’s Strongbox – contains weapons. As for artisan’s strongbox, I personally do not ever use any currency other than Orb of Transmutation on it.

5. Cartographer’s Strongbox – contains maps. I really like finding this type of strongbox. It is pretty rare, so I choose what currency to apply on it depending on map level I am in. If cartographer’s strongbox is in area under level 72, I just use Vaal Orb on it corrupting all the maps inside it.

6. Chemist’s Strongbox – contains flasks. I do not ever use any currency on these boxes as you can get flasks very easy from just playing the game. Update: These have been removed in Awakening expansion

7. Gemcutter’s Strongbox – contains skill gems. These are quite good strongboxes to use currency on if you want a lottery – you can get very lucky and roll gems have increased quality mod, although it is really rare. I myself mostly do not use a lot of currency on these boxes, but if you got some, you can try.

8. Jeweler’s Strongbox – contains rings/belts/amulets. These are good boxes to use Vaal Orb on. Corrupted jewelry and belts inside the box has good chance to turn into rare item with 6 affixes, which could yield you some pretty nice loot.

9. Large Strongbox – contains all kinds of items. Large strongboxes have more loot in them by default. I like to roll for increased quantity using Orbs of Alteration on these boxes.

10. Ornate Strongbox – contains all kinds of items. Ornate strongboxes have increased item rarity in them by default. Good mods to look for is increased item quantity, contains additional items.

11. Strongbox – contains all kinds of items. Strongboxes are one of the most common boxes in the game. Look for increased item quantity, contains additional items mods on these boxes.

12. Diviner’s Strongbox – contains divination cards. These are pretty rare, so far I have encountered only 1 of these – still got pretty good amount of divination cards (a bit more than 10). Mods you want on this strongbox is increased quantity or additional poe items – use chaos orbs to roll these.