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Mirror Crafter’s Average Andy League Start Crafting Guide | Path of Exile 2 0.5

By BeltonWatch videoDuration: PT1H2M8S

Summary

  • The Physical Weapon Advantage: Physical martial weapons are highly versatile because Path of Exile 2 skill gems often convert physical damage to elemental damage, allowing one weapon to support multiple builds.
  • Resource Sustain: Physical damage is the only damage type that inherently allows for life and mana leech, easing the progression curve.
  • PDPS (Physical Damage Per Second): This is the core metric for weapon value, calculated by combining base damage, flat physical prefixes, percentage physical modifiers, quality, and local attack speed.
  • High-Value Bases: Item level (IL) 82 is the target for Tier 1 physical percentage rolls. Quality (20%–30%) acts as a “more” multiplier for base damage and is often undervalued.
  • Deterministic Crafting: By using specific Essences, Omens, and Orbs, players can guarantee a high-performing weapon with minimal RNG or risk.

Why Craft Physical Martial Weapons?

Physical weapons are effectively “chameleons.” Because many skills convert physical damage into elemental damage, a single physical weapon can endure build swaps or class changes without needing a replacement. Furthermore, physical damage provides inherent leech capabilities for life and mana, which is critical for early-game resource sustain.

From a scaling perspective, physical weapons benefit from “intramodular scaling.” The sum of the weapon’s base damage and flat physical prefixes is multiplied by the additive total of physical percentage modifiers (from runes and prefixes). This value is then multiplied again by the weapon’s quality (a 20%–30% “more” multiplier) and averaged by attack speed. The resulting PDPS is the primary indicator of the weapon’s market value.

Base Selection and Item Level Requirements

Choosing the correct base is determined by flat physical damage, base critical strike chance, and base attacks per second.

  • IL 82: Unlocks Tier 1 (T1) Physical Percentage (up to 179%) and T1 Surpassing Arrow for bows.
  • IL 81: Required for T1 Hybrid Physical damage and T1 flat elemental damage.
  • IL 77: Required for T1 Attack Speed.
  • IL 75: Required for T1 Flat Physical damage and T2 Physical percentage.
  • IL 72: Required for T1 Critical Strike chance.

Quality Note: A 30% quality weapon does significantly more damage than a 0% quality weapon. For physical weapons, high quality is often more impactful than having an extra socket early in the league.

Modifier Priority List

  1. Physical Damage Percentage (Prefix)
  2. Flat Physical Damage (Prefix)
  3. Critical Strike Chance (Suffix - if playing a crit build)
  4. Skill Gem Levels (Suffix)
  5. Increased Attack Speed (Suffix)
  6. Damage Gained as Extra Physical (Prefix)

Step-by-Step Crafting Guide (Spear Example)

Phase 1: The Prefixes

  1. Obtain a Base: Acquire an IL 82 magic or normal base (e.g., a Koyen Spear).
  2. Rolling the First Mod: Use Perfect Transmutes, Perfect Augments, and Annuls until you hit T1 or T2 Physical Damage Percentage. If Annuls are expensive, look for a magic item on the trade site that already has this modifier.
  3. Guarantee Flat Damage: Use a Greater Essence of Abrasion. This guarantees Tier 3 Flat Physical Damage and turns the item rare.
  4. Third Prefix (The “Extra” Mod):
    • Apply a Dextral Crystallization Omen. This ensures the next Essence/Corrupted Essence removes only a suffix.
    • Use a Perfect Essence of Abrasion. This removes a random suffix and adds “Gain 20% of damage as extra physical damage” (or 33% on two-handed weapons like staves/maces).
    • Utility Note: This “extra” damage is calculated after gem conversion, allowing 100% elemental conversion builds to still leech life/mana from the physical portion.

Phase 2: The Suffixes

  1. Filling Suffixes: Use Greater Exalted Orbs (cheaper than Perfect Exalts) to fill empty suffix slots. If you hit undesirable mods, proceed to use Essences to “cycle” them out.
  2. Guaranteeing Skills: Use a Perfect Essence of Battle. Since the item has three suffixes, the essence will remove one existing suffix and add “+3 to Attack Skill Gems.”
  3. Adding Utility: Use a Perfect Essence of Haste to add “Onslaught on Kill” if you are not playing a crit-focused build.
  4. Desecrated Modifiers (Optional/Advanced):
    • Use an Omen of Dextral Necromancy + Preserve Jawbone to force a Desecrated modifier into a suffix slot.
    • If the Desecrated mod is poor, use a Dextral Crystallization Omen + Perfect Essence (Battle or Haste) to remove the Desecrated mod without using an expensive Omen of Light.
    • Repeat this cycle until you hit a desirable mod like local Attack Speed or Crit.

Variation for Bows (Obliterator Bow)

The process for bows is nearly identical, but with a few differences in mod values:

  • Desecrated Attack Speed: On a bow, the Desecrated modifier provides 18% attack speed. Since T1 attack speed on bows is only 19%, this is “Tier 1 adjacent” and very easy to obtain via Desecration.
  • Surpassing Arrow: Many bow builds prioritize “Chance to fire an additional arrow” over raw speed.

Expected Outcomes

Following this deterministic path with “middle-tier” rolls (T2 Phys%, T3 Flat, T3 Crit/Speed) should result in:

  • Spear: ~577–657 PDPS (Effectively ~789 PDPS when accounting for “Extra Physical” damage).
  • Bow: ~650 PDPS (Effectively ~780 PDPS when accounting for “Extra Physical” damage).

These numbers are sufficient to clear the campaign and progress through Tier 16 maps.

Key References