Meta orbs were originally things of great power, they used togive you the ability of magic despite anything otherwise.

However

Now, they just assist in magic. Mostly just adding to your manapool.

Most* that can't use mana is because they don't have enough or any in theirsoul, so the orbs are more like Batteries for mana.

Maybe some are still that way,

Like Damien's

But they're more of a general item.

*a few rare cases, such as ollie, can't flow mana properly, so is more "unusable" mana than insufficient mana.