In Path of Exile (POE), pushing weapon quality beyond the standard 20% cap requires specific methods due to in-game limitations. Here’s a breakdown of the available options:
Methods for Exceeding 20% Quality:
Beastcrafting Recipe: This recipe, "Corrupt an item with 30% Quality," guarantees a 30% quality boost. However, it comes with a significant caveat: permanent corruption. The item’s properties entirely change, potentially rendering it unusable or vastly different from its original state.
Perfect Fossils: Using a resonator with a Perfect Fossil offers a chance to increase quality to a range of 15% to 30%. While desirable, this method also carries a risk. Perfect Fossils not only affect quality but also completely re-roll all existing modifiers on the weapon. This can potentially destroy valuable crafted stats you’ve invested in.
Hillock (Specific Scenarios): Under specific circumstances, the Immortal Syndicate member Hillock can raise weapon quality to 22-30% based on his rank within the safehouse. However, this relies heavily on RNG (random chance) and requires strategically manipulating the Immortal Syndicate system, making it an unreliable approach.
Important Considerations:
High Risk: All methods exceeding 20% quality involve significant risks. Beastcrafting permanently corrupts the item, and Perfect Fossils can potentially destroy valuable crafted stats.
Niche Usefulness: While a 30% quality weapon offers a potential damage advantage, it might not be necessary for every build. Builds heavily focused on physical damage might benefit more, while elemental or chaos builds might prioritize other stats.
Alternative Approaches:
20% Quality as a Target: Reaching 20% quality is a more achievable and reliable goal. This can be done through various in-game methods like using whetstones or crafting benches and offers significant benefits without the risks associated with exceeding the cap.
Focus on Other Stats: Depending on your build, other weapon stats like increased critical strike chance, attack speed, or elemental damage can be more impactful than striving for a higher quality above 20%.
Recommendation:
For most players, it’s advisable to prioritize the safer approach and aim for the achievable 20% quality. This offers a substantial damage boost without the inherent risks involved in pushing beyond that limit.
Additional Tips:
Consult online resources: Numerous build guides and crafting tutorials created by experienced players offer valuable insights into maximizing weapon effectiveness.
Experiment with different methods: As you progress in the game and acquire better resources, you can explore the riskier methods like Beastcrafting or Perfect Fossils, but be prepared for potential negative consequences.
By understanding the limitations and the associated risks, you can make informed decisions when crafting weapons in Path of Exile. In most cases, achieving the reliable 20% quality provides a substantial benefit without jeopardizing the overall effectiveness of your weapon.