Crafting Basics
Published on: 2/1/2025
Crafting gear in Last Epoch is a key part of gearing up your character, whether you're leveling or pushing endgame content. The system is intuitive yet offers depth through its use of the Forge, Affix Shards, Glyphs, and Runes. Here’s a detailed guide on how to craft gear as of February 28, 2025, based on the game’s current mechanics. We have a video from AaronActionRPG for you to follow along here.
Accessing the Forge
How to Open: Press F to open the Forge anywhere in the game (no need for a specific location).
Crafting Inventory: Crafting materials (shards, glyphs, runes) are stored in a separate unlimited inventory. Transfer items from your regular inventory by right-clicking them or using the "Transfer Materials" button.
Core Crafting Mechanics
Forging Potential:
Every craftable item (Common, Magic, Rare, Exalted) has a Forging Potential number (e.g., 20/20).
Each crafting action consumes a random amount of potential (e.g., 1-14). When it hits 0, the item can no longer be crafted.
Higher-tier crafts or adding new affixes tend to cost more potential.
Affixes:
Items can have up to four affixes: two prefixes (e.g., damage, minion stats) and two suffixes (e.g., resistances, health).
Affixes come in tiers (T1 to T7), with higher tiers offering better stats.
Implicits: Base item stats (e.g., armor on a chest piece) can’t be changed but influence your crafting choices.
Crafting Materials:
Affix Shards: Dropped by enemies or obtained by shattering items. These are used to add or upgrade affixes (e.g., Added Health Shard for +Health).
Glyphs: Modify the crafting process (e.g., reduce potential cost).
Runes: Offer advanced crafting options (e.g., shatter items for shards).
How to Craft
Place an Item:
Drag an item into the Forge’s center slot or Shift + Right-Click it from your inventory.
Check its Forging Potential and existing affixes.
Add or Upgrade Affixes:
Add: Click the "+" button in an empty affix slot, then select a shard from your crafting inventory.
Upgrade: Click the up arrow next to an affix (if below T5) and use the matching shard to increase its tier.
You need at least one shard per action (e.g., upgrading T2 Health to T3 requires one Added Health Shard).
Confirm the Craft:
The UI shows the potential cost range (e.g., 1-18). Click “Craft” to apply the change.
Success is guaranteed, but potential drain is random. Occasionally, a critical success upgrades all affixes by +1 tier, costs no potential, and refunds materials.
Using Glyphs (Optional):
Add a glyph to the modifier slot below the item to tweak the process (see Glyphs section below).
Crafting Materials
Affix Shards:
Dropped from enemies, chests, or by shattering items.
Match the shard to the desired stat (e.g., Strength Shard for +Strength).
Rare shards (e.g., +Skill Levels) are harder to find—save them for endgame.
Glyphs:
Glyph of Hope: Prevents potential loss on success (common, great for early crafting).
Glyph of Chaos: Replaces an affix with a random one (risky but useful for rerolling).
Glyph of Stability: Guarantees minimum potential cost (ideal for preserving items).
Glyph of Despair: Seals an affix, freeing its slot for a fifth affix (rare, endgame-focused).
Runes:
Rune of Shattering: Breaks an item into shards based on its affixes (best for 4-affix items).
Rune of Removal: Removes one affix and gives its shards (precise shard farming).
Rune of Discovery: Adds a random affix for free (good early-game boost).
Rune of Creation: Duplicates an item (niche, costly).
Crafting Strategies
Early Game (Level 1-50):
Craft health (+Health) and resistances on gear to survive campaign chapters.
Add movement speed to boots for faster travel.
Use Glyph of Hope to stretch Forging Potential on leveling gear.
Mid Game (Level 50-70):
Upgrade key affixes (e.g., minion damage for Necromancer) on Rare items with good bases.
Shatter unwanted items with Rune of Shattering to build your shard stockpile.
Aim for T3-T4 affixes on gear you’ll use for a while.
Endgame (Level 70+):
Target Exalted items (purple) with T6-T7 affixes as crafting bases.
Use Glyph of Chaos to reroll bad affixes or Glyph of Stability to preserve potential on near-perfect items.
Combine Uniques with Legendary Potential and Exalted items in the Temporal Sanctum’s Eternity Cache for Legendary gear (see below).
Legendary Crafting
Requirements:
A Unique item with Legendary Potential (LP, 1-4, shown on the item).
An Exalted item of the same type (e.g., Unique Bow + Exalted Bow).
Process:
Go to the Temporal Sanctum dungeon (requires a key from Monoliths).
Place both items in the Eternity Cache in the past, then retrieve the Legendary in the future.
Result:
The Unique gains up to LP affixes from the Exalted item (randomly chosen).
Example: LP 2 means two affixes transfer; LP 4 means all four could transfer.
Tips:
Use Exalted items with high-tier affixes relevant to your build.
Farm Uniques with LP in Monoliths or Dungeons.
Tips for Success
Base Items: Pick items with useful implicits (e.g., +Minion Health on helmets for Necromancer).
Shard Management: Shatter items with Rune of Shattering only if they have desirable affixes (maximize shard yield).
When to Craft: Start early to smooth leveling, but save rare shards and high-potential items for endgame.
Loot Filter: Set one up (in-game tool) to highlight items with good affixes or potential.
Example: Crafting for Primalist
Item: Rare Chest (26/26 Forging Potential).
Goal: Adding All Resistance.
Add +All Resistance to the open slot.
Add the affix.
Now you may continue to upgrade the stat by using more forging potential and shards.
Crafting in Last Epoch is about balancing risk and reward. Start simple, experiment with glyphs and runes as you progress, and refine your approach for endgame power. If you have a specific build or item in mind, let me know, and I can tailor the advice further!
