Confused by crafting in Path of Exile 2? Crafting in Path of Exile 2 involves a whole lot of moving parts. There are different currencies called orbs that you use to upgrade your equipment. To understand upgrades, you must understand the affix system applied to the equipment. Newcomers to the Path of Exile series need to familiarize themselves with these concepts, and even if you’ve played Path of Exile 1, it’s always helpful to have a refresher.

In this guide we will introduce you an explanation of the basics of crafting in Path of Exile 2 and get you on the right track to leveling up your gear from Normal to Rare and beyond. Keep in mind that this guide only covers regular crafting, as endgame crafting is a topic on its own.

In this guide:

Path of Exile 2 Crafting: Rarities and Affixes

It’s important to understand the interaction between item rarity and affixes in Path of Exile 2. rarity Indicates how rare your gear is, ranging from your normal items at the start of the game to magical, rare, and finally unique items you’ll need to tackle Path of Exile 2’s endgame. Rarity is indicated by the color of an item’s name, making it easy to identify what it is.

AffixesOn the other hand, they represent the modifiers associated with your items – for example, a percentage increase in lightning resistance. Affixes are divided into Prefixes And Suffixes. Just like grammatical rules, prefixes are the mods that appear first when you look at an item, while suffixes come after. For an article with a lot of prefixes and suffixes, it can still be difficult to determine which is which, but fortunately this is not crucial.

When analyzing the rarity of an item and its affixes, keep the following in mind:

• Normal: Articles with a White names that have no affixes.
• magic: Articles with a Blue names that have up to 1 prefix and 1 suffix.
• Rarely: Articles with a Gold names that have up to 3 prefixes and 3 suffixes.
• Unique: Article with a Orange names that have any number of affixes.

It’s important to note that you can usually find normal and magical items through drops. Rare items are harder to get and unique items are even harder. Expect to only find these in the wild after defeating large enemies.

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Path of Exile 2 Crafting: Bullets

Crafting in Path of Exile 2 is all about taking items, increasing their rarity, and adding more affixes. To do this, you need to deal with the game’s currencies, called Orbs. These can be dropped by enemies or occasionally purchased from NPCs. They are used to increase the rarity of items or provide other benefits, such as a passive skill tree refund.

The following orb types exist in Path of Exile 2:

• Transmutation Orb: Transforms a normal item into a magic item with 1 affix.
• Augmentation sphere: Adds 1 affix to a magic item.
• Alchemy ball: Transforms a normal item into a rare item with 4 affixes.
• Ball of chance: Randomly transforms a normal item into a magical, rare, or unique item.
• Royal ball: Transforms a magic item into a rare item and adds 1 affix.
• Sublime sphere: Adds 1 random affix to a rare item.
• Bullet of annulment: Removes 1 random modifier from a magic or rare item.
• Chaos Orb: Removes 1 random modifier and replaces it with another random modifier.
• Divine sphere: Randomizes the numeric values ​​of the random modifiers for an element.
• Vaal Orb: Changes the item unpredictably and prevents the item from continuing to be crafted.

You will use all of the orbs on this list throughout the game, typically starting with a normal item and building it up via a transmutation orb, adding an affix via an augmentation orb, then continuing the transformation with a royal orb, and so on.

Of the Orbs in this list, Transmutation, Augmentation, and Alchemy Orbs are relatively common drops early in the game. All other orbs are either uncommon or rare drops.

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Path of Exile 2 Crafting: Equipment and Attributes

As you pick up new gear in Path of Exile 2, you’ll notice the relationship between the items and the game’s three core attributes – Strength, Dexterity and Intelligence. Generally, you want to upgrade an item to improve the stats your chosen class relies on most. If you pick up a dropped item, find that it already has affixes, and aren’t sure if it’s a good fit for your build, follow these basic guidelines:

• Items that boost Strength often already armor Affixes. The class that relies on strength and armor is the Warrior and to a lesser extent the Mercenary.
• Items that boost skill usually have Evade Affixes. The classes that rely most on evasion are the Ranger, Mercenary, and Monk.
• Items that boost intelligence often already Energy shield Affixes. All classes use Energy Shield, but especially the Sorceress and the Witch.

For more information on key stats for Path of Exile 2’s classes, check out our character attributes guide.

That concludes a basic look at crafting in Path of Exile 2. If you need more help, check out our guide on what to do first in Path of Exile 2, our class level list, our passive skill tree guide, and our character attribute overview.