Path of Exile 2 Crafting Overview

You use crafting to progress your character in Path of Exile 2 by improving your gear to prepare for the game's challenges. PoE 2's crafting is designed to be approachable and provide complexity at the top end, without being overwhelmingly complicated. Based on what we know so far, improving items is the core of Path of Exile 2's crafting system. You start from a desirable base and then add or change affixes to achieve an end result.

Crafting Currencies

Path of Exile 2 has currency driven crafting systems. Different Orbs modify items in unique ways, typically by adding or removing affixes. But not all orbs from the original Path of Exile exist in PoE 2. The most notable change is that Orbs of Scouring do not exist in Path of Exile 2! This means you cannot "scour away" an undesirable affix, which increases the value of White (uncrafted) items because there's no way to revert a Rare or Magic item to a White uncrafted state. Members of the Maxroll team with hands on experience with Path of Exile 2 noticed that White items are exceptionally rare.

Socket Modifying Currencies

Your sockets are now present on Gems, rather than gear. Furthermore, sockets are automatically considered linked meaning you don't need to use Orbs of Fusing. This should make gearing in the early game much easier! Instead of worrying about sockets, links, and colors on gear you simply need to focus on Resistances, Life, and damage.

Colored sockets appeared in some early demos, whereas more recent ones, like GamesCom 2024 had white sockets able to fit any Support Gem. This means Cromatic Orbs probably won't exist in Path of Exile 2. Keep in mind, this is subject to change as the game continues to undergo rapid iteration. We don't yet know the state of Jeweler's Orbs. Gems don't automatically have 5 Sockets so Jeweler's Orbs may be needed to upgrade them as you progress. Again, this is something GGG is rapidly iterating on so take everything in this section with a grain or two of salt!

Basic Currencies

Here are some of the basic crafting currencies you can use in Path of Exile 2:

• Scroll of Wisdom - Identifies an item.
• Transmutation Orb - Transforms a normal item to a Magic item with 1 Affix.
• Augmentation Orb - Adds 1 Affix to a Magic item.
• Alchemy Orb - Transforms a normal item into a Rare item with 4 Affixes.
• Orb of Chance - Randomly transforms a normal item into a Magic, Rare, or Unique item.
• Regal Orb - Transforms a Magic item into a Rare item, adding 1 Affix.
• Exalted Orb - Adds 1 random Affix to a Rare item.
• Orb 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 Orb - Randomizes the numerical values of an item.
• Vaal Orb - Unpredictably changes the item and may prevent the item from being crafted further.

Unknown Orbs

There are many other orbs in Path of Exile 1 like Sacred Orbs, Vaal Orbs, Veiled Orbs, and Fracturing Orbs. So far, only Vaal Orbs have been confirmed to exist in PoE 2 but their exact functionality is currently unknown.

Basics of Crafting

Crafting in PoE 2 begins with a base. The affixes you can roll vary based on the item level and attribute requirement for the base. For example, Dexterity gear has modifiers related to Evasion, whereas Intelligence gear provides Energy Shield. Hybrid bases, roll modifiers from both pools, so a Jacket can roll modifiers from both the Dexterity and Intelligence pools. Normal items have no affixes, Magic items have up to 1 Prefix and 1 Suffix, whereas Rare items have up to 3 Prefixes and 3 Suffixes. During the crafting process, you apply currency orbs to add, remove, or modify the affixes on an item.

Overall the changes to crafting mean you are more likely to pick an upgrade off the ground, and then enhance it through crafting, especially during the early game. You can start with either a White item, a Magic item, or a Rare item, but most players are likely to begin with a Magic or Rare item that already has some desirable Affixes.

Starting from a White base means building an item up from nothing, though some currencies, like an Orbs of Alchemy, allow you to shortcut this process. With a Magic base, you can start with two desirable Affixes on the item. Then you could use a Regal Orb to upgrade it to Rare and add more Affixes, though this requires a significant investment. Finally starting from a Rare item gives you the largest number of initial Affixes, but a good Rare item is going to be considerably more expensive than a White base.

Finishing an Item

The next step is using currencies to finish the item. We don't know the details of how this works yet, but it's most likely going to involve Chaos Orbs, Exalted Orbs, and Orbs of Annulment. If you start with 4 good Affixes you can add a 5th with an Exalted Orb. Alternatively, if your item has an undesirable modifier you can use an Orb of Annulment to attempt to remove it, or a Chaos Orb to try to replace it with something better. But there's an element of randomness with all of these Orbs, you might remove an Affix you want to keep or add something that makes the item worse. Other crafting systems (tied to League mechanics) may offer more focused ways to craft or finish items.

Other Crafting Systems

Path of Exile 1 also has a lot of other crafting systems like the crafting bench, Essences, Beastcrafting, Fossil crafting, Eldritch implicits, Harvest crafting, and Rog crafting. There's a good chance some of these crafting systems are coming to PoE 2. However, GGG is also working to simplify crafting while maintaining depth. So some of the most powerful crafting options like Harvest, are less likely to make it into PoE 2.

So far, we know the Crafting Bench is returning for Path of Exile 2 and Essences are very likely to return. Now this next part is pure speculation, so take it with a grain of salt. But, I do think a couple of PoE's crafting systems would fit well into PoE 2. In prior interviews, GGG stated they wanted crafting systems to be more focused. So the two systems that immediately come to mind here are Beastcrafting and Fossils! For example, you could use Fossils to craft your armor, and Beasts to craft your weapons. This would fit with the goal of giving players options while also simplifying the overall crafting experience.

In Path of Exile 1, some crafting systems, like Essences, Fossils, and Rog are intended for item creation. On the other hand, others primarily exist to finish items, these include Betrayal, Bestiary, and Tainted currencies. Most of the currencies for finishing items tend to be more expensive, and less random than those used for item creation. However with the focus on simplicity and accessibility, Path of Exile 2 may diverge from this. There could be more item creation systems with only a few deterministic methods of finishing an item such as the Crafting Bench.

Summary

Crafting in Path of Exile 2 involves using currency orbs to build an item up from trash into treasure. You use different Orbs to transform your base from White to Magic or Rare, add affixes, or remove and re-add them in an attempt to reach a desirable outcome. The goal here is an additive system with few ways to remove modifiers from an item, which encourages players to pick items up off the ground. There are additional crafting mechanics, tied to Leagues which give you a different set of tools to modify your items or create new crafting bases. The Affixes you can roll depends on the item's base, with different pools being assigned based on whether the item requires Dexterity, Strength, or Intelligence.

Written by: Tenkiei

Reviewed by: Crouching_Tuna, Havoc616, Palsteron