PoE Sanity

The Stash Tabs you NEED in Path of Exile 2

By ZizaranWatch videoDuration: PT9M24S

Summary

  • Monetization Overview: Path of Exile 2 functions as a free-to-play game, but purchasing stash tabs is recommended for players planning to invest significant time. Spending approximately $40–$50 is widely considered the equivalent of purchasing a full game.
  • Shared Inventory: Stash tabs are shared between Path of Exile 1 and 2; purchasing a tab in one grants access to it in the other.
  • Essential Management: Utilize the Affinity system to automatically organize items into designated tabs when Ctrl-clicking them from your inventory.
  • Stash Tab Sales: Sales typically occur every five weeks, often one week after a new league launch. Always wait for a sale to purchase tabs.
  • Parent League Layout: Your stash tab layout for a new league is inherited from the “parent” league (e.g., standard, hardcore, or SSF). Ensure your layout is organized in the parent league before the new league begins.

Starter Recommendations

When starting out, you are provided with four basic stash tabs. These can be upgraded to:

  1. Premium Tabs: Allow you to rename, recolor, and list items for trade.
  2. Mercantile Tabs: Enable listing items for direct sale (buyouts).

Recommended strategy: Upgrade all four basic tabs to Premium, then convert at least two of those into Mercantile tabs to facilitate trading.

Tier 1: Must-Have Tabs

These tabs are considered essential for efficient gameplay and organization:

  • Currency Tab: The absolute highest priority. It provides massive stacking capacity for various currencies and includes a crafting window.
  • Map Tab: Highly recommended to manage the volume of maps encountered in the endgame. It includes folders and space for custom-crafted maps.
  • Gem Tab: Essential for storing support and active skill gems, which accumulate rapidly.
  • Rune Tab: With the high volume of runes in the game, this is now effectively mandatory for organizing socketables.

Tier 2: Highly Useful Tabs

  • Quad Tab: Four times the size of a standard tab. Excellent for “dumping” items quickly after a session and organizing gear for different characters.
  • Essence Tab: Highly convenient for storing and upgrading essences, though not strictly mandatory since they can be upgraded at the re-forging bench.
  • Fragment Tab: A very point-effective purchase for storing endgame fragments, tablets, and progression items.

Tier 3: Optional / Skip

These tabs are useful but can often be bypassed by utilizing a Quad tab or standard tabs instead:

  • Unique Tab: Primarily useful for Solo Self-Found (SSF) players who hoard unique items to potentially discover new build synergies.
  • Flask Tab: Generally unnecessary, as the number of useful utility flasks is limited.
  • Ritual Tab: Easy to skip; items like Omens can be stored in the bottom row of a Quad tab.
  • Delirium Tab: Similar to the Ritual tab, this does not require its own dedicated space for most players.

Key References