Yeah, it gets a lot easier once you have a handle on a bunch of the mechanics, so my commentary is flawed in that it is coming from 832 hours of having the systems soak in. So I can read a guide and have a fair chance of understanding whether I will be able to achieve the the build with my playstyle (many you won’t be able to do if you don’t want to trade) and how to go about getting the required items with the right sockets and links. ;)
One thing I did not touch on is crafting. Crafting in PoE is amazing and infuriating and opaque and dense and often a waste of time, depending on where you are in leveling, what you need and how much you want to spend to get something. In PoE crafting is currency and currency is crafting. Every currency item in the game has a use and it’s value is ultimately determined by what it it can do to an item. There are exchange rates inherently built in to the game itself (generally not particularly favourable) and an economy that springs up and changes over time as different currency becomes more desirable.
With the right type and amount of currency and a willingness to spend it, it is possible to craft whatever item you need (uniques generally excepted). In contrast to D3 and most other ARPG’s this makes white items some of the best in the game as they form critical bases for the gear you need. When you need 2R/G/B 4L Armour/EnergyShield gloves you have four options:
- wait for the right rare piece to drop so you can use it
- modify an existing rare using currency
- alter your gem selection to suit something that actually drops
- build it with a white base.
All of these are viable options, some you should use while leveling, some you should hold off until you are higher level. Some you should probably not do as it will just be cheaper to buy what you need via trade.
There are currency items to do everything - turn a white into a blue or yellow, reforge number and types of sockets and links, re-roll all affixes, re-re-roll specific affixes, turn a rare item into a white, make a copy of an item, lock in specific affixes so they don’t change, etc, etc. In the right combination and order of use you can custom craft some very specific gear, particularly when combined with using the masters (those peeps you find out in the levels that you help out with some monster bashing - Vorici, Catalina, Haku, etc).
Generally, as a rule of thumb, you want to limit your crafting until you reach end-game content (mapping from 60 onwards). Don’t throw a bunch of currency at a white item trying to craft something at level 20 because that item will still be relatively useless at 60. But it is perfectly fine to use some currency while leveling and you should. Stuff you should do while leveling:
- use chromatic orbs to change the colour of sockets
- use (very sparingly) orbs of fusings to change the number of links on good yellow items
- use whetstones and armourer’s scraps to improve the quality of white items before;
- using (sparingly) orbs of alchemy to turn white items into rares
By just doing those four things above, you will get the 4L’s you need to get to late game and follow most basic build guides (heaps include advice for which support gems to leave out for 4L builds).
Chromatric Orbs are relatively easy to get - any time you vendor an item with linked RGB sockets, you will get a Chromatic. Always pick up RGB linked items and you should build up a supply of Chromatics! Feel relatively free to use them to get the colours you need, keeping in mind items have a natural tendency towards some socket colours (you will spend lots of Chromatics trying to get all blue sockets on a STR based armour piece).
Orbs of Fusings are quite valuable, try not to use too many while leveling. 4L’s drop all the time past level 35, so you will probably find a white item you can use and may be better off occasionally throwing Orbs of Alchemy on one during progression - save Fusings for particularly good yellows or for later when you are trying to get a 5L at endgame.
Whetstones and Scraps - go nuts on white items before using an Alchemy Orb. Each with add 5% quality on a white item, but only 1% quality on a yellow item - ie , ideally always max quality a white item before crafting!
Orbs of Alchemy are also valuable and form one of the baseline currencies for trading (consider an Alch like a dollar - lots of stuff is priced in Alch’s). Be considerate with them when crafting as it is easy to spend a bunch on white items hoping for good affixes when you could have traded for something with those affixes for less.
Many of the other currency items are too valuable to use during leveling. Get a handle on the above and you will begin to respect the value of the other orbs.
Forget 5-links and 6-links. 5L’s are very, very rare. 6L’s are very, very, very rare. Sooner or later, you will start seeing some 5L’s you can use, or can at least craft with, but don’t peg your hopes on seeing 6L’s for a specific build idea - it may never happen. If you really want/need one, get into trading.
Phew, wall of text! Barely scratching the surface. Crafting in PoE is awesome and extensive and important and fun and opaque and frustrating and useless and a waste of currency…
Just read this for an in depth guide on how all these orbs can work to build specific items:
https://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Crafting
Note, as awesome as that is, it is also a terrible idea! Trading for the items you need is more often than not a waaaaaaaaay better use of your currency than chucking it at the RNG, particularly for casual players. But, if you only play SSF (solo-self-found), what else are you going to do with it?
