Crafting Items in Path of Exile: A Comprehensive Guide
Path of Exile (PoE) is renowned for its deep gameplay mechanics, and one of the most intricate systems in the game is item crafting. Crafting items in PoE allows players to customize their gear, enhancing their characters’ power and survivability. However, with so many options and complexities, mastering the crafting system can be daunting. In this guide, we’ll break down the essentials of crafting items in PoE, helping you make the most of your resources and create powerful equipment.
Understanding the Basics of Crafting in PoE
Crafting in PoE is all about modifying items to suit your needs. Unlike other RPGs, PoE doesn’t have a traditional crafting system where you combine materials to create items from scratch. Instead, it focuses on alteration and augmentation—changing the properties of existing items to make them more powerful.
Key Concepts:
Crafting Bench: This is where all the magic happens. You can access the crafting bench in towns or through a portable bench if you’ve purchased one.
Essences, Exalted Orbs, and Other Currency: Crafting requires specific types of currency, such as Essences, Exalted Orbs, and Orbs of Augmentation. These are used to modify or create new properties on items.
Suffixes and Prefixes: Items have suffixes (modifiers that apply to the player) and prefixes (modifiers that apply to the weapon or armor). Crafting allows you to change or add these modifiers.
Crafting Methods in PoE
There are several ways to craft items in PoE, each with its own mechanics and requirements. Here are the most common methods:
1. Essence Crafting
Essences are a core part of the crafting system. Each essence has a specific effect when applied to an item. For example, the Essence of Woe adds a chance to gain a power charge on kill, while the Essence of Zeal adds increased attack speed.
How It Works: Place an essence in the crafting bench, select the item you want to modify, and the essence will apply a specific modifier.
Tips: Use high-tier essences for the best results. Also, ensure the item has enough available modifier slots to accommodate the change.
2. Harvest Crafting (Harvest League Mechanics)
Introduced in the Harvest League, this method allows players to plant seeds to grow crafting resources. Harvest crafting is more complex but offers greater control over item customization.
How It Works: Plant seeds in the Sacred Grove, harvest them to get various crafting materials, and then use those materials at the crafting bench.
Tips: Focus on high-tier seeds for rarer resources. Experiment with different combinations to achieve unique modifiers.
3. Augmentation and Alteration
These are simpler crafting methods that allow you to add or change modifiers on an item.
Augmentation: Uses Orbs of Augmentation to add a new modifier to an item.
Alteration: Uses Orbs of Alteration to randomly change a modifier on an item.
Tips: Augmentation is more reliable but less flexible, while alteration can be risky but offers the chance to get rare modifiers.
Advanced Crafting Strategies
Once you’ve mastered the basics, it’s time to dive into more advanced strategies to maximize your crafting efficiency.
1. Targetting Specific Modifiers
Instead of randomly altering or augmenting items, focus on targeted crafting. Use specific currency and methods to aim for the modifiers you need.
Example: If you’re crafting a bow for a critical strike chance build, use an Essence of Woe to add a chance to gain a power charge on kill, then use Orbs of Augmentation to add critical strike chance.
2. Crafting for Meta Builds
Different builds require different modifiers. Research the meta builds for your character and craft items that align with their needs.
Example: For a Bleed Gladiator, focus on crafting weapons with increased physical damage and attack speed.
3. Economic Crafting
Crafting can also be a way to make in-game currency. Craft items that are in demand, such as high-quality one-hand weapons or energy shield body armor, and sell them at the trade league.
Tip: Use meta-modifiers that are consistently in demand, such as life, resistances, or critical strike chance.
Case Study: Crafting a High-Quality Weapon
Let’s say you want to craft a high-quality one-hand axe for a Champion Duelist. Here’s how you might approach it:
Base Item: Start with a high-quality base item. For axes, a