White items in PoE are not all junk - they integrate into the vendor system and by themselves can be bases for crafting into top tier items.
The key ones to know initially, which will help you build a currency base, are:
RGB linked to vendor = chromatic orb
6 socket to vendor = 6x fusing orbs
quality items (single 20% quality item, or multiple totalling 40%):
armors - armourer’s scrap
weapons - blacksmith’s whetstone
flasks - glassblower’s bauble
maps - cartographer’s chisel
skill gems - gemcutter’s prism
full ilevel 60-74 set (helm, chest, belt, boots, rings, ammy, gloves, weapons/shield for both hands - chaos orb
full ilevel 75-100 set (helm, chest, belt, boots, rings, ammy, gloves, weapons/shield for both hands - regal orb
20% quality hammer/breaker/gavel with any map - cartographer’s chisel
7 vaal gems and sacrifice vaal fragment - vaal orb
There is a set recipe for below ilevel 60 items (for chance orbs), but that’s not really worth the effort. Once ilevel 60’s start dropping, start sorting rares into junk gear tabs with a view to vendoring them as sets for chaos orbs. Don’t be a afraid to drop an alchemy’s on white ilevel 60’s to fill a gap (ie you’ll have less rings and ammy drops) to make sets. alch-chaos typically trades at 3:1, so if you use no more than one alch per vendor trade, you’ll still be ahead. You also get a shot at rolling an excellent ring or ammy for an upgrade to your build, or that you could sell for way more itself.
To that end you will also start a collection of white items that you may use as a crafting base yourself for twinking, or jewelry to fill chaos recipes and hope to roll upgrades.
And red tier Elder down as well. I’m still not clear on the mechanics of the fight because I’m literally right clicking my way through the atlas on the gladiator, lol.
Another vendor tip to keep in mind: when you’ve got your Masters up to a certain level (4, I think?) they start offering skill gems for sale. Fairly often you can find a quality gem on offer, and it doesn’t cost any more than the normal version. I collect these until I have a total of 40% quality and sell them for a Gemcutter’s Prism. And once in a blue moon you might even find one you’d actually like to use!
I think I remember that if you trade a lvl 20 gem you will get it back as lvl1 quality 20. I have never powerleveled enough for that to be useful though.
Spectres are great now, too. The 3.1.1 patch fixed some gems like Spell Echo which weren’t quite doing the right thing on some spectres (especially Solar Guards), and now they are very powerful again (instead of just fairly powerful.) The Abyss jewels with flat minion damage and minion attack/cast speed are a big buff. On top of that, one of the new uniques and some of the shaper/elder bonuses are saving me gem slots and I can fit a bit more into the build than usual for a summoner.
This particular set of links is what the posts above are talking about. To help clarify, Ancestral Call shouldn’t actually kick in for this 4-link. However, Sunder is so powerful you might not notice.
Added Fire or Faster Attacks are would be good places to start.
Also, if you didn’t know, after you finish the Library quest (find the 4 golden pages), you can buy all gems (including cross class gems) at level one, once you’ve done whatever quest they’re associated with, from the quest dude by the waypoint. It’s super convenient.
I believe Lilly functions similarly if not the same as of partway through act 6.
Yeah about the library guy. And I used the Ancestral Call on a single hit attack and the effect is pretty obvious. Also obvious why it would be OP firing on an AOE.