Forbidden Rites went live on 4 September with patch 0.5.5, and we're now in week two of a fresh economy. Everything in circulation was found in the last fortnight, which is why prices are still moving daily, and why this is the best window in the league to farm: the currency you drop now is worth more, relative to gear, than it will be in October. This guide covers what 0.5.5 changed and how each change pays.
Four things, straight from the patch notes:
Skill gems and Ascendancies weren't rebalanced in this patch, so any build you trusted last league still works. The changes are all in what you're paid for.
What 0.5.5 added on top:
The practical loop for maps: roll waystones for pack size, rare monsters and extra monsters rather than for quantity (more monsters in the circle is more Tribute), use two tablets, and defer anything expensive until a later altar in the same map has topped you up.
This is the new part, and it's aimed at exactly the player reading this in week two. Every campaign area now hides a Ritual, retuned to pay orbs and gear appropriate to your level. Do every one on the way through: they're a few minutes each, and they're the difference between arriving at maps with a stack of Exalts and arriving with nothing.
The boss clusters are worth more than they look. Each fight in the chain is harder than the last because the previous bosses come back, but the payout is at the end (Tribute spent on Uniques), and skipping a cluster costs you nothing you already had. If your character can handle the chain, it's the best-value fight in the campaign.
The rework turns the Trial from something most players avoided into a repeatable currency run. Rewards are currency and Soul Cores only; there's a chest per room, so a death keeps what you've earned; and the modifiers and reward quality carry over when you continue a run, so you can choose harder rooms for better loot. The elite monsters that spawn are now "more dangerous, but more rewarding". If your build is comfortable in it, it's the most predictable orb income in 0.5.5.
Runes of Aldur's Expedition content is now core: explosives, remnants, Dannig and Farrow's logbooks. Its value is the artifacts you trade at the vendors and the logbook areas. It's slower per hour than Ritual for raw orbs but pays in a different kind of loot, and it's on every Atlas now.
Whatever you farm, most of what hits the ground is Exalted Orbs and lesser currency. The money is in converting it:
