As a Path of Exile 2 league matures, the market becomes flooded with materials from popular endgame farming strategies. One of the most common is the Level 15 Simulacrum farm, which showers players in low-tier Distilled Emotions (Oils). This massive influx of specific items creates powerful market inefficiencies, opening the door for savvy traders to make consistent, low-risk profit.
The core of this strategy is simple arbitrage, exploiting price differences created by the three-to-one vendor recipe. The principle is basic: the cost of buying three units of a lower-tier material should be less than the sale price of the one higher-tier item they create.
This guide will walk you through how to apply this strategy to both Distilled Emotions (Oils) and Essences, turning a simple vendor recipe into a currency-printing machine.
The vendor recipe allows you to upgrade three of one type of Oil into one of the next tier up. Logically, the market price should reflect a 3:1 ratio. However, player demand thermique this logic on its head.
Certain lower-tier Oils are more valuable than their higher-tier counterparts because they are used in more popular map anointments. For example, Sepia Oil (for increased monster pack size) is often in higher demand than Amber Oil. Conversely, some low-tier oils are so common that they become incredibly cheap, making the act of upgrading them in bulk a highly profitable venture.
Let's look at a concrete example from the current "Dawn of the Hunt" market.
Currently, Distilled Emotion of Avarice (贪婪) is flooding the market from Simulacrum farmers. This has created a massive price discrepancy.
Here's the current market breakdown:
108,000 Gold in vendor fees.36,000 Gold in fees.Let's calculate the profit:
This means you are essentially "buying" 200 Exalted Orbs for a cost of 144,000 Gold, which is a phenomenal exchange rate of 720 Gold per Exalted Orb.
While this strategy requires manual work—vendoring thousands of oils can be tedious—a practiced player can process a full batch in about five minutes. At that rate, you could theoretically generate 2400 Exalted Orbs of profit per hour. It's a monotonous but incredibly powerful way to print currency while watching videos or waiting for your friends.
This exact same principle applies to Essences. The vendor recipe allows you to upgrade three of a lower-tier Essence into one of the next tier up. Again, you are looking for market demand imbalances.
Your goal is to find an Essence where the cost of three lower-tier units is significantly less than the price of one higher-tier unit.
0.1e total, but 1x Greater Essence of Electricity sells for 15e. This is your profit window.This method is often less volatile than the Oil market and provides another excellent avenue for consistent, low-risk profit.
The three-to-one recipe is a fundamental part of Path of Exile 2's economy, and where there are fundamentals, there are market inefficiencies to be exploited. We've discussed two primary applications:
This is a different kind of "grind"—one that tests your market knowledge and patience rather than your character's power. But for those willing to engage with it, it's one of the most reliable ways to build wealth in Wraeclast.
Happy flipping, exile!