Identifying items

Magic and Rare drops arrive unidentified: you see the base and the rarity, not the modifiers. Uniques always drop identified (Unique items).

Two ways to identify

1. Scroll of Wisdom. Use it on one item. It costs 100 gold in the shops, and it also drops (Currency and orbs).
2. A merchant, free. Stand next to a gear merchant, such as a weaponsmith, armourer or jeweller in a hub, and say identify. Every unidentified item in your backpack and its containers is identified at no cost. The merchant answers with one line: how many items were revealed. It is refused while you are in a trade, and says so when there is nothing to do.

Both routes give exactly the same result: the item's data is rewritten in place, so it keeps its place, its sockets and its item level.

What an unidentified item accepts. Only a Scroll of Wisdom, an Orb of Scouring or a Vaal Orb. Every other orb is refused until you identify it (Crafting basics, Corruption and the Vaal Orb).

Tip. Identify in town, in one visit, after a map. A full backpack is one sentence to a merchant. Items you do not need are better handled by the loot filter, which hides or salvages Normal bases before they reach you (The loot filter and salvage).

Related: Item rarity, Affixes, Vendors.