The Ultimate Guide to Expedition Crafting in Path of Exile 2
This guide will walk you through the fundamentals of Expedition crafting, the roles of the four Expedition NPCs, item types worth picking up, and practical tips to maximize your profits.
The Basics of Magic and Rare Item Crafting
Before diving into Expedition crafting, it’s important to understand how modifiers work.
Magic items can hold up to two modifiers: one Prefix and one Suffix.
Rare items can hold up to six modifiers: three Prefixes and three Suffixes.
Prefixes and Suffixes are separate pools, meaning you need to balance both when building a powerful item.
This knowledge is crucial because Expedition crafting revolves around manipulating modifiers, rerolling them, or filling in empty slots.
Expedition NPCs and Their Roles
There are four key NPCs tied to Expedition crafting:
Dannig – Acts as a currency broker, selling the tokens required to interact with the other NPCs.
Gwennen – Specializes in weapons.
Tujen – Focuses on jewelry.
Rog – Deals with armor.
Unlike traditional vendors, these NPCs don’t just sell gear outright. They allow you to “craft” the item by offering a sequence of random upgrades or reroll options. You can choose to accept or skip these choices, but if you skip one, the next option cannot be skipped.
Some common crafting options include:
Adding a new Prefix or Suffix.
Upgrading a Magic item into a Rare.
Filling all empty modifier slots.
Rerolling existing Prefixes or Suffixes.
Adjusting modifier values (similar to using a Divine Orb).
Removing specific modifiers.
This system gives Expedition crafting a unique identity: a semi-controlled path where patience, strategy, and luck all play a role.
General Tips for Expedition Crafting
Don’t overcommit to bad bases. If an item still looks weak after a couple of crafts, take it and vendor it immediately. You can vendor items directly in the Expedition window.
Protect strong rolls. If you land good Prefixes, focus on rerolling Suffixes, and vice versa. Preserving valuable mods is key to upgrading items into something marketable.
Don’t ignore Magic items. Sometimes the best play is to extract a strong Magic item (like a bow with high physical % damage) and enhance it later with Essences or Desecrated Currency.
Leverage Vaal Orbs. If you craft something decent but not quite valuable enough to sell, adding sockets, quality, and a Vaal corruption can push it into a much higher price bracket.
Gwennen: Crafting Weapons
Gwennen is the go-to NPC for most players because weapons are consistently in demand.
Bows – Currently the most popular meta weapon. Always pick up Gemini Bows and reroll them for strong physical damage rolls. If you find a Magic bow with high-tier %Physical Damage (130%+), keep it as Magic and later apply a Greater Essence of Abrasion to add flat physical damage. This approach works well for other Martial Weapons, too.
Quarterstaves, 2H Maces, Spears, Crossbows – While not as meta as bows, these weapons still sell well if they roll high %Physical Damage or hybrid mods.
Wands and Staves – Only pick up if they have +4 or +5 to skill levels. Magic versions with level bonuses are especially good for Essence upgrades.
Scepters – Look for +4 to Minion Skills or high Spirit values. Omen Scepters are preferred.
Focuses – Prioritize Energy Shield, Spell Damage, or Elemental Damage, then enhance with Perfect Essence of Sorcery for +3 Spell Levels.
Quivers – Only worth picking if they provide +2 to Projectile Skills.
Tujen: Crafting Jewelry
Tujen’s jewelry crafts can yield game-changing results, though they often require more investment.
Amulets – Prioritize those with +2–3 Levels or strong bases (avoid weak bases like Crimson, Lunar, or Azure). Magic amulets with modifiers such as Spirit or Attributes are excellent candidates for Essences.
Rings – Focus on implicit resist bases or strong modifiers like Life, Mana, Attributes, or Flat Elemental Damage. Again, Magic rings with two strong mods are great Essence targets.
Belts – Valuable mods include Life, Mana, Strength, and Resists. Magic belts with dual good modifiers are also Essence-worthy.
Rog: Crafting Armor
Rog’s crafting options are best suited for Energy Shield or hybrid armor bases, though it’s worth scanning all armor types.
Body Armors – For Evasion/Armor, prioritize Resists, Attributes, and Life. For Energy Shield bases, high ES values are the goal.
Shields – Currently, pure Armor shields dominate. Look for high Armor, Life, Block, Resists, and Strength. As with other slots, Magic shields with two strong mods can be enhanced later.
When to Exalt Expedition-Crafted Items
Consider using Exalted Orbs on:
Weapons with strong physical prefixes and open slots for more.
High-value Energy Shield armor.
Jewelry with stacked Life, Mana, Resists, or Attributes.
Any item that looks market-ready but could become exceptional with one more lucky slam.
As Exalted Orbs become cheaper compared to Divine Orbs, the threshold for “slam-worthy” items drops, making it worthwhile to Exalt even moderately strong gear.
Final Thoughts
Expedition crafting may no longer be the undisputed king of crafting methods in Path of Exile 2, but it remains a powerful, budget-friendly option for players who know what to target. Gwennen’s weapon crafts provide the most reliable profits, Rog is serviceable for armor, and Tujen shines with jewelry if you have the currency to invest. By understanding item bases, knowing when to cut your losses, and leveraging Essences and Desecrated POE 2 Currency on top of Expedition crafts, you can still generate strong gear and healthy profit in patch 0.3.
