Path of Exile: Crafting Guide

In a variety of video games, crafting means making new armor and weapons, allowing you to become a bit stronger. While crafting is available in Path of Exile, it works a bit differently. Rather than crafting gear, you'll get the chance to add or change certain items in a crafting-like manner.

Here, you can learn all there is to know about crafting in Path of Exile. This will cover simple modifier crafting with specific items, as well as how to use the Crafting Bench. Overall, crafting the perfect item can be a very long process, especially if you are looking for specific modifiers.

What Can Be Crafted?

In general, you can craft with any item that is not unique or Corrupted. Unique items have set stats, and Corrupted items cannot be modified regardless of rarity. Any other item can be crafted, but it's important to keep in mind that in general, crafting is a bit of a gamble.

How To Craft From Your Inventory

Crafting from your inventory can be done with currency items. Below, you can check out some currency items that are used in crafting.

These items will upgrade a normal (white) item into one of varying quality, but you will not have any control over the modifiers that are used. Thankfully, there are items that you can obtain that let you tweak modifiers. For the most part, this is also randomized, which is why we mentioned that crafting is a gamble.

How To Change Modifiers

If you craft an item from your inventory and don't like the modifiers, you can change them with some of the following items.

This, of course, isn't every Path of exile currency item out there, since there are a lot in the game. Be sure to speak to vendors, as they can sell some of these items!

How To Craft From A Crafting Bench

Another way to craft is by using the Crafting Bench, which is found within your hideout. This bench lets you put an item into the central slot and choose from a variety of applicable crafting modifiers that you can add.

One Hand Melee

Two Hand Melee

One Hand Ranged

Two Hand Ranged

These categories will also be displayed at the very top of the crafting menu, allowing you to see modifiers for each specific type of item.

Modifier Categories

When using the Crafting Bench, you will also see crafting categories such as prefixes and suffixes. These dictate how the modifier is applied to the item, but you will also see the category 'Other'.

'Other' refers to modifiers that don't directly change the stats of an item. For example, within this category, you can find 'Remove Crafted Mods', as well as the option to create an item that has at least two blue sockets and one green socket. This is great if you have an item with good modifiers, but need to tweak the gem slots.

How To Get More Crafting Recipes

Crafting recipes can be found around the maps in Path of Exile. When looking at the list of all craftable modifiers, you can even see the undiscovered recipes; hovering over one will display the general location of the recipe.

This means that if you see a recipe that you want, you can check its location and then head there. These recipes will appear on the map when you are close enough , ensuring that you don't miss its location.

If you miss a recipe, don't worry! You can always go back to a previous map and obtain it. When you find it, simply click on it to learn the recipe. From here, you can head back to your hideout and immediately use it (if you have enough materials).

More often than not, you can find recipes near the location of bosses. This could be in the room before the boss, as well as within the boss room itself. If this is the case, you can quickly grab it before battle, or just wait until after.

What Are Essences?

Now, let's take a look at essences. These are unique items that are used to upgrade a normal item to a rare one with specific modifiers. The essences themselves are a bit random, as the prefix and type can change.

Overall, an essence will consist of a prefix (such as Weeping or Shrieking), the word 'Essence', and the type (such as Greed or Zeal). So as an example, you could have the Weeping Essence of Greed. This specific item will affect items differently depending on type but overall, it deals with increasing your maximum life and recovery rate.

How To Get Essences

Throughout some maps, you may notice trapped monsters with a box above their head noting an essence. This is the best way to get essences. After all the monsters have been killed, you can then claim the essence reward.

Tips For Crafting

Lastly, let's go over some tips to help you become a better crafter. It's important to note that crafting isn't always necessary. If you are still low-level, you may end up wasting some resources in your crafting journey. Rather than spending it to craft a low-level item, just wait until you get better gear.

Overall, we suggest crafting with high-level items, as it can feel more meaningful. Additionally, crafting can be very overwhelming for new players (as there are a lot of factors and stats to keep in mind). As such, you don't have to focus on crafting if you feel like it's too difficult.

Crafting can come in handy, as many players don't do it; instead, they buy other crafted items from players. If you do feel like you want to get into crafting, a great resource is Craft of Exile. Here, you will be able to simulate crafting ideas.