Crafting gear is an essential component for keeping characters consistently strong in . While Grinding Gear Games has already increased the drop rate of loot in a recent patch, gearing is still a required component in rounding out a character's strength.
There is a certain barrier to entry with the under-explained system. There is an abundance of different crafting materials, which, despite being understandable in isolation, can be overwhelming in their proper application. However, once players have a firm grasp on the underlying system, gear crafting can become an invaluable asset to building a character's strength.
Similar to upgrading skills in , crafting gear should be a priority throughout Act One. Finding gaps in a characters' gear, such as absent slots, low-level pieces, or underwhelming modifiers should be the first step in identifying when crafting can be useful, particularly when a character is struggling with enemies or bosses. There are multiple levers a player can use to enhance a character's strength, such as Skill or Support Gems, but often, crafting is necessary to add further support.
Path of Exile 2 has a lot of changes that make it stand apart from the first game, setting its aim for even greater heights than POE accomplished.
WIth the general removal of defensive nodes from the passive skill tree, gear is even more important in a character's survivability, especially with the designed difficulty of . Stats such as max health and elemental resistance are some of the best in the game. When struggling defensively, look towards gear first. For offense, the single most impactful piece of gear is a character's weapon. An upgraded weapon can often double or triple the damage of a character, depending on the time since an upgrade, and can be just the push needed to down a difficult boss.
As mentioned, the process of crafting is done through various crafting materials, often being Orbs. Every material can be looted from defeated enemies, but can also be a
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