Crafting Early Game MELEE weapons in Path of Exile

Zizaran shares some tips about crafting weapons in Path of Exile, in preparation for the melee rework in Path of Exile 3.25 Settlers of Kalguur.
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[@HailofThorns]

"it is a lot better to be lucky than unlucky" Thank you Ziz

[@ReggaeTroner172]

Now I know why my leaguestarts always suck lol

[@yimwee2401]

Truly life changing

[@justjay3750]

woa...my mind is absolutely blown.

[@MrBuns-yi2hk]

I think he was just trying to give examples of stats to look for on gear lol. But yeah, maybe not the best presentation.

[@svdwellen]

The one thing I got out of this video. I will focus on my luck this season 😂

[@MrOPD]

"So this is how you get a good melee weapon at like level 10 - now, in our 2nd step, this is how you do multicraft fractured ilvl83 bases with fossils and essences."

[@mattiasandersson8693]

In acts, you just repeat the first craft with the new weapons you find👍🏻

[@steel5897]

Average Ziz guide.

[@monkeybomb1232]

@@mattiasandersson8693 See i just keep going with whatever random shit i find untill i cant then il try this crap

[@erastal]

@@monkeybomb1232 its fine to just go through with the random drops, but remember how to do these things can speed clearing the campaign by like 15-20 minutes

[@hitihautriponel419]

Average melee progression: 2 alt axe -> 20 div axe

[@Carlthuulu]

Melee totems being straight up deleted and skills across the board being buffed has made me actually wanna try a melee build for once

[@larracis]

I'm thinking of going melee as well. I like the bow play style so I normally go for a bow build but thinking of switching it up. I've been playing since like 2019 and I don't think I've ever even attempted a melee build.

[@Carlthuulu]

@@larracis I’ve been playing since closed beta 2013 with small breaks here and there and I haven’t either lmao it’s about time I’m usually a minion die hard

[@larracis]

@@Carlthuulu I lied. I might've tried flicker strike one time but I didn't like it so I don't even think I made it to mapping before I moved into a different build.

[@PsYchotic666Joker]

​@@larracis I can top that. I have been playing since closed beta and never once played templar and I only played scion once which was in 2013 😂

[@kahldris1228]

As someone who messes around in poe from time to time and typically like casters. Maybe I should try some melee could be fun to switch things up.

[@alexgabriel5877]

Don't forget we will have Faustus to buy smart rolled items for gold from him, he might be the best source of good items in campaign / early maps

[@Kitamanjaro]

Just reading this comment made me so hyped again, can't wait till friday

[@catedoge3206]

ye

[@AndrewChicken]

I really appreciate that you're making updated melee guides! I plan on getting super addicted to PoE again with the Settlers update and branching out into melee properly for the first time. I've been a witch main for most of my time in this game and haven't pushed a melee character up to mapping, but I'm excited to do that for the first time in this expansion!

[@geeleiia8807]

YO dude! I've been playing poe and paladins for a long time now, was not expecting this crossover lol

[@AndrewChicken]

@@geeleiia8807 Heh, it's not much of a crossover. PoE is just one of those games I love playing in my spare time!

[@itzsquishy3712]

@@AndrewChicken are you as good at poe as you are at paladins? I learnt a lot from you before I stopped playing paladins btw, much love to you bro

[@AndrewChicken]

@@itzsquishy3712 Not even remotely. I made an iceberg graphic once comparing the complexity levels of Paladins, Warframe, and Path of Exile - three of my favorite games. Warframe is the visible part of the iceberg above the water, and Path of Exile extends far down into the depths below. Paladins, meanwhile, is a little flagpole sitting atop the iceberg! I put way too much time into Paladins, meanwhile I have a fraction of the time in PoE. You'd better stick to Zizaran for guides, because I'm not making any anytime soon 😂 That said, I have a pretty good Necromancer build that I crafted based on someone's guide and I'm decent at understanding Witch's Necromancer and Elementalist mechanics, and that's after nearly 1000 hours of off and on gameplay over the years. **There are 6 other classes with 18 other ascendencies that I have no clue how to play.** I feel confident in saying I could beat the story campaign with each base class if I felt like it, but I'd get clobbered during mapping (and have already been clobbered at that stage with a few Ranger and weaker Witch builds).

[@EverydayZach]

in the patch notes there is a line that says "NPCs will no longer have items that can be purchased with Quality Currency Items, and no longer sell Glassblower's Baubles." if I understand this right, you will not longer be able to use blacksmith and armorers scraps to purchase items.. am I wrong here?

[@iAmIMBADUDE]

you arent buying currency. you are selling it to the vendor and he gives u an item. the recipe will still be there m8

[@AtomicBarito]

@@iAmIMBADUDE That isn't what they're asking, they're talking about how Ziz says early you're likely gonna buy a weapon from a vendor for a blacksmith whetstone, and if that'll still be there next patch

[@Zaonnn]

You're right about not being able to buy Axe for Blacksmith stone but they didn't say "You can no longer buy items". By what they said we can only conclude that you won't have items that cost quality currency. We may still buy that same Axe but with different currency.

[@ReggaeTroner172]

@iAmIMBADUDE He is asking about the price of the weapon in the example, wich zis bought for 1 blacksmith's whetstone, and they said weapons will no longer cost quality currency so yeah, he is probably right.

[@iAmIMBADUDE]

@@ReggaeTroner172 oohyeah,totally misunderstood. my bad homies

[@Mejker]

0:40 - Vendors will not sell items for Whetstones/Armourer scrap anymore.

[@DeedlyDood]

It will be gold, which is better imo. Should have enough after the first few areas.

[@Mejker]

@@DeedlyDood No, Gold will be used with league mechanic and only gear you will be able to buy with it will be specifically Faustus Gambling. Normal vendor will simply use different basic currencies - most likely wisdom/transmutes/alteration orbs/alchemy orbs.

[@SuSp3cT666]

they said in the live stream that vendor items dont cost quality currency anymore. so its okay to use them while leveling

[@hassanalmattar5168]

Damn Ziz I was literally looking for vids on how to make melee weapons lol. When can we expect the build guides come out of the kitchen? Thank you for what you do to this game and community

[@MikeSakaru]

I'd imagine very close to 26th, since that gives him the most time to cook 'em up so they don't come out a bit raw in the middle. (Though I imagine we could expect a few updated ones that didn't change much sooner than that.)

[@Mispointed]

watch exile mage he will guide you

[@zudi8709]

I paused your video after your first craft at around 3:20 and started adding my own crafted weapon into PoB manually to see its pDPS, only a few seconds before you demonstrated that the whole thing can be copy pasted into PoB 🤣😅 never felt so dumb in my life after I unpaused your video. Really helpful guide btw for newbs like me, thanks for posting it! Based on this I was able to craft a 590 pDPS despot axe for my leaguestart juggernaut on a random iLvl 85 base, first ever craft in my PoE carreer and I am happy it turned out quite well ^^

[@Howardwhoknows8]

this was more about late game than early game but thanks for all your hard work.

[@Roge9]

you could probably make a video on the differences between the weapon bases for melee, like sword, axe and mace. Can't decide what weapon type I wanna go on my melee build this league.

[@kylebusc3624]

I see what you're saying, but I think the only thing that really matters is the DMG ranges, attack speed and crit chance. Other than that it's all interactions on the passive tree with certain weapon types/ skills that can only use certain types. As far as I know there isn't anything inherently different from an axe and a mace

[@Saranio]

id probably wait what kind of new enchantments you can get at the settlement smith, as those are dependent of the base

[@OGuardadorDeRebanhos]

I would add that in general you should look to upgrade your weapon every act or act and a half. And because you're doing it, don't rely on your weapon for critical sockets like attack links.

[@FlareFluff]

Remember folks, am upgrade is an upgrade You can use awakened poe trade to check base dps as well The reason you scale phys is because when though most melee skills involve other damage, it converts into that damage from physical. Can you please explain impale? It's a "damage" stat that doesn't show itself upfront. Can you give an example of what kinds of rolls to recombinate?

[@SakaiSteven]

Impale is a mechanic that takes a % of every hit you do and store it on the enemy until you reach your impale cap and then you deal a burst of damage If you are doing impale You scale Physical damage

[@iyaoyascarson700]

Tldr: spam phys essences, hope you got an attack speed 3 t1/t2, hopefully you unlocked phys and bleeding mods from betrayal ( recommended you farm early at the hills after blood aquaduct ) The higher essences you can snipe on the tree, don't worry just take the nodes on atlas and sell off the essences you don't need. Glhf exile

[@LV426Survivor]

I don't even know what betrayal is lmfao

[@sanjayramroop4690]

I started playing last epoch for the melee and now I'm switching back to poe for these buffs. I'm so proud of GGG for the great update.

[@Schmidteren]

perhaps the gamble part will be good for lvling. Looked like insane items from that feature in the video. Unless it's too expensive.

[@neruneri]

Good shout on the tri ele stats. Just having any flat damage at all, including elemental, does wonders in the first three acts.

[@slimbonepickins7167]

If you wanna make that last method more expensive but more rewarding, roll essences til you hit hybrid (go for T1 at your own budgets risk) with an open suffix, lock prefixes, harvest reforge speed til T1..took me about 70 divine but I had a despot axe with over 1000 pdps in the end

[@Gabranthh]

This will go in tandem with the upcoming melee league starters

[@Hixarian]

Also a good thing to note: Rog crafting can give you access to strong early mapping weapons or great late mapping bases without spending any currency!

[@nach4642]

I think the only added caveat is looking at pDPS indicator is not always helpful unless you are scaling AS and AS is important for damage output as opposed to QoL. If you're slamming more than once per second pDPS matters not if its got AS on it.

[@andreasstahl8207]

My second season and first time as a melee build, using a Zerker slam build that you recently put out, but if this crafting is what is needed to get a good weapon I might be extremely screwed 😂

[@robertl8429]

What do you mean by hitting hybrid?

[@MrVonDutchman]

A point i struggle with is early maps. I don't often league start melee and am not that experienced with it. like i have 3 alts, no essences or anything and zero damage and getting enough materials too craft something "early" seems too slow... maybe im just too impatient to grind for the essences :D

[@merlin5822]

i was looking for an exact video like this. i'm low key new to PoE and i never played meele. thx ziz

[@andreas_resch]

If these tutorials are targeted towards beginners, they are way too fast. Even I as an occasional player have a hard time sometimes.

[@kev23dk]

Can you please make a guide for SSF melee? all bosses viable in this league? The last time I played was 2 leagues ago only got to level 94 boneshatter and couldn't progress any further because of the spell suppression bs with having to craft my own axe.. for average gamers like myself who will only make 1 character per season. Just an idea to throw out maybe you will be kind enough to share your ssf ideas for people who are not gods at this game. Overall only clocked in about 500 hours total still confsued about all the end game crafting mechanics since they keep adding stuff every league. I can't keep up hahaha

[@alexanderg9670]

Quality is reworked, so if you loot extra whitestones, slam it on your best weapon immediately It could make sense to stay a 1-2 bases behind with lower item level for 20% more damage from quality in certain cases, but you would need to do the math

[@m.h.4907]

The T1 or T2 fracture is unavailable for casual players. The fracture alone is between 80-120 divine on a Despot Axe base. But you can try to make it yourself, fracture orbs are fairly easy to get with Harbinger

[@KhronicD]

There's always the chance of having one actually just drop with a good t1 fracture. :P

[@PetrCobra]

I'd say I did a pretty decent amount of harbingers this league for someone who doesn't play the game 24/7. Most of my mapping was with harbingers specced into, with some of that specifically juiced for the mechanic as well. I have 3 fracturing shards. Yeah, getting fracturing orbs is not something I'd call "fairly easy".

[@m.h.4907]

@@PetrCobra Then you got extremely unlucky. When you run all 3 harbinger scarabs, atlas plus Map Device option on top you should net more. I just farmed harbinger 1 week/8h max in my SSF league and pulled 4 orbs

[@Disciple_]

Love the new background displates!

[@TimHoekstra]

What updated guide would you recommend to somebody that wants to get into crafting, knows some basics but still needs to learn all the lingo related to crafting, what effects those aspects have and how it works?

[@mawrys7604]

You can check out maxroll's section about crafting, I would not say that it will transform you into a multiple mirrors project crafter but it gives basic understanding of every kind of crafting methods available in game during last league (ignore graveyard crafting since it will be gone)

[@niccoli003]

Any chance there is a guide to all of the shorthand names used for things in the game. PoE for Dummies edition would be great.

[@andrii.pushkarov]

How do you do "reforge physical" in the game? Chaos orb itself reforges randomly

[@pedigreeforcats]

7:46 no, it's not updated. With new quality changes it has 1182pdps

[@evidicus]

I don’t even know enough to understand this video! Still rolling melee this league

[@seekerrekees]

I just realized you have a fishing rod equipped 😂 that's awesome

[@Holborovv]

I didn't understand any of that. It's like you're talking a different language.

[@prems]

My thoughts exactly 😂

[@LubzarAv]

You're not alone buddy

[@ruinition737]

I felt that!

[@TheDaddi9]

wouldn't the 2handed axe heist base be pretty good? with the +40% quality? or will the base be changed in 3.25 and i missed it

[@Hellstorm14]

That got changed so it now ignores enemy physical damage reduction instead. Near the beginning of the item changes section of the patch notes.

[@TheDaddi9]

@@Hellstorm14 ohhhhh yeahh thank you. I actually missed it haha

[@KhronicD]

@@TheDaddi9 They removed basically everything that had extra quality on it. Including perfect fossils. Understandable since quality is multiplicative instead of additive now. 40% qual on a high ilevel weapon or armor would be insane.

[@TheDaddi9]

@@KhronicD yeah true. Thats why I thought that would be a nice Base haha thank you

[@rhettorical]

7:27 - I threw that exact axe into Craft of Exile and it said my pDPS was like a third of that, am I doing something wrong or were there changes since this video? I'm just really confused.

[@foxdavion6865]

Harbingers are definitely going to be high priority farms this League for Fractured Orbs.

[@BigDogHaver]

who up meleemaxxing

[@markkatch]

this is a good thing for me to brush up on and as an older player i needed this info

[@CsStoker]

I had no idea you could do this in-game

[@ragecounterfit309]

You had no idea you could craft?

[@CsStoker]

@@ragecounterfit309 None at all

[@alexanderg9670]

They should add a side quest for crafting an elemental resistance on any gear in Act 2, or maybe even applying a transmute in Act 1, or both

[@fakeigniz13]

So what DPS should you be aiming for? 800 got mentioned and 1000 was like a peak? Is it the same for bows?

[@tigerseye1202]

How would you go about building around a two hand axe with all three elements? The raw number on the weapon gets higher, but I assume you'd have to scale the rest of the build differently?

[@alexanderg9670]

Search for elemental damage multi on gear and tree

[@PsycoMouse]

Im interested how conquer bases are now, we can see some crazy items this league

[@TheTerspet]

that sst bleed sneakpeak though, almost 10m bleed dps, thats poggers

[@wumperX]

The MinMax PoB the Engraved Hatched is used but in the Midgame setup the Runic hatchet is used. Isn't the Runic hatched straight up better? Is this an oversight in the PoB?

[@thedrunkenguy9402]

Wouldn´t the Apex Cleaver be best due to Quality beeing a Multi now ?

[@locmorningstar2740]

That modify got changed on Apex cleaver

[@KhronicD]

For a pure phys build, Apex with it's new implicit that gives ignore phys damage reduction still makes it a very good base. But it appears that it's no longer going to be possible to get any weapons/armor with higher than 20% qual. As far as I've seen anyway.

[@Soforcom]

the wiki is community run but sometime along the life span of the wiki, GGG began hosting the wiki

[@Jodo45]

Streaming to KZbin is the gateway to such a bigger audience can't wait to watch ya here

[@Spo3ka]

Couldnt the Prime-, Honed- and Apex-Cleavers be pretty good after the Changes, because they can have up to 60% Quality? Correct me if im wrong

[@andrewbako9494]

Nice!! Need something like this for basic bow crafting plz!!

[@dantelokesten]

That fishing rod tho

[@r33ject75]

any plans for an earthshatter build? always thought it looked good but I am maybe 2 full seasons deep in poe soo. you guys are awesome for me

[@arthurcurry850]

What i am going to do is ... im gonna play LS Slayer and ill start the league with oni farm that will take me 16 working hours stretched over 6 to 7 days. Once i get it i will start playing the league when the prices normalize and builds be refined . Best strat ever i know

[@SunslayerJenkins]

I believe they are removing the quality currency cost from vendors (said in the Q&A) so that it will no longer cost whetstones for early weapons.

[@JamesWilliams-js7we]

I think I've settled on Slayer for my league starter but I still don't know what skill to use. Maybe Perforate or Lacerate of hemorrhage.

[@magscat493]

My early game technique is to start 1 week later and then beg leveling items from global. Works every time.

[@corengraunt7521]

time to melee crown of eyes witch

[@francobuzzetti9424]

this turned endgame real quick

[@dragon501000]

New player here and is it weird that I still understood nothing? I'm still in acts and I just equip what's better as they drop from mobs, Thanks for the guide tho.. will come back to this when I learn more.

[@ahmadashraf9448]

Guys, don't forget Merciless Armament card. I bet it's going to be super popular. Plus, we have recombinator.

[@Buru_Poteto]

I've been spamming essences trying to get T1 hybrid and I've spent 100+ divs and still didn't hit a SINGLE one few leagues back and now the axe is rotting in my inv cuz I gave up

[@AsHx47]

1 year + into poe , zero idea on melee but i love bleed . Any recommendations for first time melee player?

[@illustrukarma]

The phys prison welcomes its new joiners

[@Daniel-vx1lz]

rubbed me the wrong way that you didn't click "undo" after you rolled over the attackspeed at the end

[@codycook8404]

i might come back from my mage skellies and back to my first build that got me to mapping and try out cyclone slayer again

[@ross3813]

Can you alter legendary weapons at all?

[@radekgramburg4830]

Sorry Ziz but after 4:14 I couldn't listen to that gibberish. If this is for experienced players than it's missed coz they know how to do it. If it's for new players the information you giving makes it even harder to swallow and use in game. Bro, simplify the crap and make some structure to the passing knowledge.

[@geog26]

the card games of oarpg when it comes to metas ,glad poe 2 is on its way

[@trippy1v349]

Why would someone benefit from added elemental damage on a melee build?

[@99range92def]

Would a whetstone possible be better used to quality a decent base axe then do the recipe since 1=20% quality?.

[@zlidyh5]

recipe first, quality second.

[@blacksparkss21]

You are not broke,until you are broke!

[@RamiGB]

How was the fishing Zizz?

[@sammyjenkis5260]

isnt it just better now to use the whetstone to get 20 quality on low level weapons?

[@ElicatrothTV]

Isnt bleed affixes on weapons removed? Pretty sure they removed all DoT Chance type affixes for weapon

[@KhronicD]

The patch notes only say that the suffixes that gave increased damage for bleed + chance to bleed were removed. The prefixes are the ones that have the hybrid %phys or flat phys + chance to bleed.

[@FinnFB5]

Honestly, these videos are getting lazy. If you want to teach new players, then keep the video streamlined and clean, not rambling and repetitive. All this information could be condensed to 4 min with a bit of prep (see for example the old Engineering Eternity guides). I like you as a creator, but as the prime source for new players, I don't want them to sit through so much info-slob.

[@naldo4316]

i am making a dual wield build lol mace and axe

[@madmulk9]

Now that melee is coming back I'm finally going to be able to get insight into how to play the way I want... Never been able to find insightful guides on how to play melee minus like one boneshatter guide so I'm glad to finally LEARN!

[@jesse2535]

I personally am not a fan of guaranteed weapon recipes because they can make loot weapons less likely to be an upgrade, which in turn makes playing melee less about that good dopamine hit of getting a weapon upgrade and more about waiting for the next weapon base to drop to do the recipe. Ofc, this is only an issue in the campaign, but anything that makes the campaign less engaging, makes it worst in my opinion.

[@zackwilson6761]

Im trying so hard to understand crafting. But i just dont get it

[@SlobodanDragas]

Doing lord's work Zizaran.

[@NokturnalMTG]

I'm new to the game and thought I would try a melee build but after watching this video I realize.. this isn't for me

[@chrislognshot]

can you do this for bow or wand too.

[@danielmcdonald8149]

If this is intended for beginners.....I wish you would go a bit slower, show us how the crafting website works, not use so much slang, take a little more time to dumb it down. I had to rewatch several times to decipher what you are doing and I am still very confused. Also, if this is for early game, why would you start at a level 83 axe? Maybe I don't understand what early game means.

[@Projectt808]

I NEVER KNEW YOU CAN CRTL C IN GAME OMG

[@derekmead5758]

People will be selling these axes (not even fractured ones, likely around 700 Physical dps) for a lot of money this league due to the demand there will be in the economy. Keep that in mind before you shop around as this is likely by far a cheaper option. Unless you're purchasing a T1 fractured phys mod ^_^

[@testdemgames]

Easy way to craft a league starter axe, just be lucky, grind 4 different mechanics and have 100 deafening essences. Its that easy and quick.

[@TricksterMK]

When you hover over the skill it shows the DPS, is that accurate? A lot of times I use that number to compare different weapons. Not sure if I'm doing it right but I have a feeling I'm not...

[@nathannavarro1177]

Ingame it is very inaccurate, in pob it is very accurate

[@TricksterMK]

@@nathannavarro1177 thank you! So basically I have to import my character, then copy paste the item into POB to look at the numbers? Is this the right way?

[@nathannavarro1177]

@@TricksterMK you'll have indeed a pretty much correct calculation of your damage, there is exceptions tho, but its accurate

[@TricksterMK]

@@nathannavarro1177 Ty!

[@KhronicD]

The in game tooltip only calculates based on base damage x attack speed, without considering any other factors except any aura effects you currently have enabled. So it ignores so many different things that affect that actual dps.

[@Quellen-u5t]

I only played PoE for one league a few years ago. Thinking of giving it my best for this coming league. But I'm already confused as shit 2 mins into this video 🤣

[@ImAzraa]

Not your fault mate. This is probably one of the worst quick guides for melee weapon crafting i've ever seen. As in, this dude went nearly unintellegible brain vomit. No coherence to the points he was trying to make. Plenty of better guides out there, by Carn and guys like BigDucks

[@Mr_JMB]

Glad it isn't just me that thought that. Said a lot, but taught hardly anything.

[@nillawafers7025]

The more I look at the league mechanic during our end game mapping there really isn't a change. Yes the Auction house thing is nice but once you MAX the city settler stuff it seems bleh. Look, this will be your daily POE log in for four months. Log in, check boat, check loot, run 5 maps.....MAYBE defeat a pirate invading you. Then ummm yeah man, come to this comment in 3 months.

[@Grimgariano]

Will you post some league starters for noobs?

[@alifarhadi8109]

Man I have to say your guides are amazing BUT as a rather new player I have to say I didn't understand most of what you said like idk what fractured stuff are and how to get them

[@SkullBoy75]

ty :D

[@CuriousOne75]

10:12 "I dont play Melee".... after this mayor Melee Buff? 😦

[@maxxvii2037]

When does the league exactly starts?

[@BrutalAsKittens]

26th

[@filliphavlik8015]

Hello wouldn’t the apex cleaver better due to the quality? It is now multiplicative and 60% qual is a lot.

[@KhronicD]

The implicit was changed, there appear to be no items in the game with more than 20% quality as far as I can see. But yes, if it was still allowed to have that much qual, it would be insane.

[@filliphavlik8015]

@@KhronicD Thanks missed that in PN

[@bentleygrove106]

Thankyou for trying but this video highlights exactly why I fade out around lvl 70 any time I play. Maybe if there was an in game guide (or encyclopedia) I could understand all the things I do wrong.