Path of Exile: Crafting Progression Gear
Progressing your character‘s gear is crucial for surviving the challenges in Path of Exile (PoE). As enemies become stronger, you need better stats on armor, weapons, jewels and more to keep up. Crafting gear with PoE‘s deep itemization systems allows tailored upgrades, but it can be complex for new exiles. This guide covers tips on crafting gear for smooth progression as you explore Wraeclast.
Understanding PoE Item Rarities
All gear in PoE fits into one of four rarity tiers: Normal, Magic, Rare or Unique. Higher rarity items have better implicit mods and more affixes to boost stats:
- Normal – Basic items with set implicit mods
- Magic – Blue text. Has 1-2 random affixes adding mods.
- Rare – Yellow text. Has 4-6 random affixes with better mods.
- Unique – Orange text. Preset affixes with unique effects. Harder to craft.
When starting maps, aim for mostly magic or rare gear. Unique items are exciting but crafting tailored rares is often better for builds. Pay attention to affixes that boost life, resistances and damage for your main skill.
Using Vendor Recipes
Vendor recipes allow sacrificing items to NPCs for currencies or materials needed in crafting. Some key recipes include:
- Alchemy Shards – Selling rares or uniques based on their item level
- Chance Orbs – Selling two-stone rings, amulets, belts or quivers
- Chromatic Orbs – Selling RGB linked sockets on items
Save up materials from vendor recipes to use when crafting progression gear. Alchemy orbs and essences help turning normal items to rares. Chromatics help socketing gear. Crafting benches in the end-game hideout also open more options.
Focus on Upgrading Weapons and Armor
Only keep and craft gear that matches sockets and stats needed for your build. Sell unneeded rares for alchemy shards to fund crafting projects. Here is the process for crafting an upgrade:
- Find a normal/magic base type with links and colors you need
- Use essences to guarantee a mod you want, then scour if needed
- Craft with orbs – alchemy for rare, chaos for rerolling affixes
- Master craft missing stats at crafting bench
- Quality with whetstones/armorer scraps if desired
Prioritize hitting life and resistances on armor pieces. Weapon dps and critical strike chance for weapons. Follow build guides for the best affixes to target.
Balance Crafting and Drop RNG
At some points crafting hits diminishing returns until you progress further. Mapping also drops higher item levels with better base types. Try targeting key slots with crafts in between general progress:
- Weapons – Huge DPS boosts from rares or uniques
- Movement Speed Boots – Faster clear speeds
- Resist Flasks – Caps elemental resists
By spreading out some crafting projects you avoid wasting too many materials at once. Adjust as you evaluate new drops – a great corruption or enchant could change plans!
Conclusion
With smart use of vendor recipes and crafting systems, you can create powerful progression gear in Path of Exile. Focus on understanding strong stats for your build and be selective in bases to craft. Layer crafts gradually working up to capped resistances and solid offense. Good luck in Wraeclast exiles!
Let me know if you have any other tips for crafting great items.
