How to know which item is Valuable. Detailed item guide.

Hi guys and Welcome to my guide - How to know which item is Valuable! This topic is mentioned in some other guides and threads but in my opinion it didn't recieved the attention that it needs. I get the qustions like : "Hey Korgoth is this good?" and "Should i keep this item Korgoth?" and of course "Should i try and craft this item Korgoth?" In this guide i'll try my best to answer to all these questions and more! If i've missed something or if i'm wrong about something please tell me and i'll do my best to fix it! Of course suggestions and pointing out typos are welcome as always!




Let's start with the different rarities of the items.
The are four item rarities in Path of Exile.
Normal items - they are white in color and are the most common ones.
Magic items - they are blue in color.
Rare Items - they are yellow in color.
Unique items - they are... i don't really know... brown/orange/golden.

Implicit and the explicit modifiers.

Implicit Modifiers are the base modifiers of an item which are found even on the normal(white items) Such Modifiers are the X% Spell of the wands; the life modifier of the Coral Ring; the Energy shield modifier of the Chain Belt etc. etc.
The Implicit Modifiers have a "range" in which they can be rolled ( i.e. The Coral ring can give between 20 and 30 life)
The Implicit Modifiers can be re-rolled with a Blessed orb.

The Explicit Modifiers are divided into two categories - Prefixes and Suffixes.
The magic(blue) items can have 1 Suffix and 1 Prefix.
The rare(yellow) items can have 3 Suffixes and 3 Prefixes.
Note that the rare and the magic items can have less Suffixes and Prefixes. A rare item can have 2 Suffixes and 2 Prefixes or 3 Suffixes and 1 Prefix etc. And a magic item can have 1 Suffix and no Prefix and vice versa. The magic items will always have atleast 1 suffix/prefix and the rare items will always have a total of 4 suffixes/prefixes. A rare item created by a Regal orb will have a total of 3 suffixes/prefixes if the magic item had 2 modifiers. If the magic item had only 1 modifier you'll get a rare item with only 2 modifiers.
You can add the "missing" Explicit Modifier ( suffix or prefix ) by using an Orb of Augmentation for a magic item and an Exalted Orb for a rare item.
You can also "upgrade" the rarity of an item.
A Normal item will become a Magic if you use Orb of Transmutation on it and it will get a random Suffix or Prefix (can get both at the same time). A Magic item will become rare if you use a regal orb on it and it will get a random Suffix or Prefix.
You can also "upgrade" a Normal item directly into Rare item by using an Orb of Alchemy. The rare item will have 4 random Explicit Modifiers.
You can also turn a Magic or Rare item into Normal item by using an Orb of Scouring.
You can also completly reroll the Explicit Modifiers of an item. You can do that with orb of Alternation for the Magic items and with Chaos Orb for the Rare items. The previous Explicit Modifiers will be lost and new ones will appear instead. Note that some might be the same and the amount of Explicit Modifiers might be different ( i.e. a Rare item with 3 suffixes and 3 prefixes can end up with only 2 suffixes and 2 prefixes )
You can reroll the values of the existing Explicit Modifiers with the Divine Orb. The Explicit Modifiers will remain the same but their values will be different. They can be increased or decreased. The tricky part is that the Explicit Modifiers have... "grades" and the Divine Orb can't change the "grade" of the Explicit Modifiers. It will only reroll the values within that grade.
Example:
You have a magic chest piece and it has the Prefix that gives life. The value of the given life is 10. That means that the Explicit Modifier that gives Life belongs to the Healthy grade and the amount can vary between 10 and 19. So if you use DIvine orb it will reroll the Life Prefix it will reroll it but you can only get a value between 10 and 19. No more, no less.

Item level

For an item to have a certain Explicit Modifier grade it needs to be high enough level. The item level is not the required level of the item in order for the character to use it but the level of the item itself.
How to check the item level - left click on the item then open the chat and type /itemlevel.
The item level is linked to the zone and the monster which dropped the item. Normal monsters drop items with item level same as the zone where they are. Magic monsters drop items with item level equal to the zome where they are +1. Rare and Unique monsters drop items with item level equal to the zome where they are +2.
So let's say that kill a normal monster in a level 53 zone. The items that the monster will drop will have item level 53. If the monster was Magic - 54 and if it was Rare or Unique - 55.
So by now you probably think "How the hell am i supposed to know all the possible prefixes and suffixes and their grades on top of that!?!?" Well the easiest way is to check them out in a website. Personaly i use this one: http://www.poemods.com/
You can also find them in the PoE wiki.




In this section i'll try to explain which items are good and which ones are bad. What Explicit Modifiers you want an item to have and which ones are worthless. Keep in mind that an item can be worthless now but valuable when a new patch comes out and vice versa. The general things that you want on an item are desirable and high rolled Explicit Modifiers which are actualy used by a build. The maximum item level needed to get the maximum grade of an Explicit Modifier varies. The maximum required item level for a Modifier is 78. Basicly for an item to be really good it needs to be high enough item level so it can even have the chance to have high grade Explicit Modifiers. Remeber that the right combination of modifiers but with poor low grade roll or on a low level item don't worth much(or anything at all!)


Physical damage
On your weapon basicly you want alot of +X% physical damage this comes from two prefixes one - Local Physical damage, and the othe Local physical damage + accuracy rating. THe two prefixes stack. You also want flat physical damage to further increase the damage of the weapon. You also want attack speed. Local crit strike chance and crit multiplier as the last multipliers will be just great. If the weapon is not ment for a crit user 2 resists or dexterity/strengt modifiers will be very good. Stun related modifiers as the last 2 are also great when we're speaking for maces.

Elemental damage
Tripple elemental damage ( fire+cold+lighting ) + attack speed + crit chance + crit multiplier si the way to go.
Note that currently elemental melee weapons are not very desirable ( not at all if they are two-handers )

Spell casting
Spell damage + spell damage and mana ( just like the physical damage prefixes those are 2 different stackable prefixes ) + cast speed are the basic modes that you want. +X% cold/fire/lighting(one of them) combined with those is awesome. ALso very good is the spell crit chance. The projectile speed is also good.

Special Weapons
Weapons with high initial attack speed + attack speed modifier + 2bow/melee gem level + 1 gem level is great for players who use viper strike or poison arrow
Weapons with +2 fire gem level +1 gem level are really good combined with a purity of fire aura socketed in them for extra maximum fire resistance. Very useful for RIghteous fire builds.
Dagger with local crit chance (the one that increases the crit chance of the weapon) + attack speed+ spell crit chance + double spell damage is awesome for a cast on crit build

Which modifiers are great/good/medicore/bad/for specific builds only



Armour/evasion/energy shield (depending on the item type) + tripple resists. That's all!

Which modifiers are great/good/medicore/bad/for specific builds only



Armour/evasion/energy shield (depending on the item type) + tripple resists + movement speed. Life again is mandatory for life builds. Accuracy rating is also very valuable , so is + 2 Minion gem level.

Which modifiers are great/good/medicore/bad/for specific builds only



Armour/evasion/energy shield (depending on the item type) + tripple resists + movement speed. Life again is mandatory for life builds.

Which modifiers are great/good/medicore/bad/for specific builds only




Well there are basicly two types of gloves - defensive ones and ofensive ones. Purely defensive energy shield gloves are awesome. For the offensive ones there are different useful combinations - attack speed is pretty much mandatory; flat damage modifier, accuracy rating can be very useful, so can be the mana/life leech, life modifier is a must for all life based builds

Which modifiers are great/good/medicore/bad/for specific builds only



On a belt you want tripple resist, life or energy shield + % weapon elemental damage and armour. This is pretty much the ideal belt. Stun duration and stun threshold reduction can also be useful for stunlock builds... but it's hard to come across one these days.

Which modifiers are great/good/medicore/bad/for specific builds only



All types of Rings can be useful. It depends on what do you need them from. Let's say that you lack fire resist - the ruby ring is ideal for you. But what if you need to boost your life? Coral ring is the answer! So pretty much all rings can be useful. The least used and desirable ring is the Paua Ring but it can also be pretty awesome for some build.
Now which Explicit Modifier are good for a ring? The Possible Modifiers are .. alot! A ring can get X-X physical/cold/fire/lighting damage, it can get life/energy shield/mana, resists, life/mana leech, armour/evasion etc. etc.
It's extremely hard to tell you all possible good combinations but i'll mention some.
+X-X physical damage, life/energy shield, attack speed
cast speed,+X% fire or cold or lightning damage, energy shield/life, mana
+X-X fire/cold/lightning damage, +X% Weapon Elemental Damage, + Attack speed
gold rings with +X% item rarity and quantity
Having resists or attributes on these combinations will make them even more awesome.
Life/mana leech is also extremely useful combined with +X-X physical damage
Remeber that the right combination of modifiers but with poor low grade roll or on a low level item don't worth much(or anything at all!)

Which modifiers are great/good/medicore/bad/for specific builds only



The amulets can have all of the ring modifiers plus some extra ones - critical chance and multiplier and spell damage. The amulets can also have higher grade modifiers compared to the rings. The same combinations as the rings are also awesome for the amulets but with the modifiers possible for the amulets the good combinations are even more. Things like cast speed, spell damage, crit multiplier and crit damage are just insane for casters. Add flat energy shield and X% energy shield and it becomes godly!

Which modifiers are great//good/medicore/bad/for specific builds only



On all types of shields you want high amount of armour or evasion or energy shield ( depending on the shield type) Combinations between flat and X% of the defense makes the amounts very high! You also want Life on all types of shield... except the pure Energy Shield Shields. Actualy even those can utilize Life but it's not that common. High additional Block chance is always nice. Resists are also very good. On shields with energy shield you also want spell critical strike chance and spell damage.

Which modifiers are great/good/medicore/bad/for specific builds only




On a Quiver you want pretty much everything except Life/Mana gained on kill, -X% attribute requirements and stun duration, dexterity is also kind of useless and the projectile speed is not that desirable. Note that the possible rolls of the flat damage modifiers are not that high.
Remeber that the right combination of modifiers but with poor low grade roll or on a low level item don't worth much(or anything at all!)
Uniques
Godly/Great/Build enabling/good for leveling/medicore/terrible

Which modifiers are great/good/medicore/bad/for specific builds only





I've forgot to explain the posible amount of sockets in an item ... so... i'll do it now.

Socket colors and skill gems

Each gem must be set in a socket corresponding to the gem's colour. Sockets can be found on all Armour and Weapons and can hold either active skill gems or support gems. You can change the colour/number of sockets/links between the sockets by using chromatic orb/jewller's orb/orb of fusing on the item. The result is random which means that an item with 5 sockets can end up with just one!
The random choice of colour for sockets is weighted based upon which attributes (Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence) are required to use the item as well as how much of each attribute is required to use it. For example, a low strength requirement (low base-level) pure Strength armour has a higher probability of rolling off-color sockets than a high strength requirement (high base-level) pure Strength armour. This is also true for any Chromatic Orb reforging. The estimated probability of rolling an off-color socket color is roughly 10-20%, though this depends on the stat requirements of the item in question.
Basicly this means that its pretty much impossible to get a Vaal Regalia chest with no blue sockets.

Number of sockets

Rings, amulets, gloves and quivers can't have any sockets at all.
One handed weapons and shields can have up to 3 sockets.
Gloves, boots and helmets can have up to 4 sockets.
Chests and two handed weapons can have up to 6 sockets.
Keep in mind that for an item to have a certain amount of sockets it needs to have high enough item level!
item with level between 1-14 can have up to 2 sockets
item with level between 15-27 can have up to 3 sockets
item with level between 28-34 can have up to 4 sockets
item with level between 35-49 can have up to 5 sockets
item with level 50+ can have up to 6 sockets

Vendor recipes
there are some items that you want to pick up and sell/stash due to some vendor recipes. Vendor recipe is when you sell an item or items with certain properties and you get something else in return.
The vendor will give you a chromatic orb if you sell him an item with a green, red and blue sockets linked togheter.
When you sell an item with 6 sockets you'll get 7 Jeweller orbs in return.
Selling a rare one handed weapon+shield OR 2 one handed weapons OR one two-handed weapon + 2 rings + amulet + chest + helmet + boots + gloves + belt all at the same time is a special recipe with several possible outcomes.
If all items are with item level between 1 and 59 and are unidentified AND all have quality 20%(the quality thing is not worth it) you'll get 3 orbs of chance in return. If all items are with item level between 1 and 59 and are unidentified OR all have quality 20%(the quality thing is not worth it) you'll get 2 orbs of chance in return. If they are identified you'll get 1 orbs of chance .
Note that doing that recipe is not that profitable. Just selling rares with item level between 1 and 59 when you find them would be much easier and will give you the same profit in alternation orbs.
If all items are with item level above 60 and are unidentified AND all have quality 20%(the quality thing is not worth it) you'll get 3 chaos orbs in return. If all items are with item level above 60 and are unidentified OR all have quality 20%(the quality thing is not worth it) you'll get 2 chaos orbs in return. If they are identified you'll get 1 chaos orb.
If all items are with item level above 75 and are unidentified AND all have quality 20%(the quality thing is not worth it) you'll get 3 regal orbs in return. If all items are with item level above 75 and are unidentified OR all have quality 20%(the quality thing is not worth it) you'll get 2 regal orbs in return. If they are identified you'll get 1 regal orb.



Like this guide? I've helped you out somehow? You like my account name(that's how i've got my closed beta key)? You want to make me happy? You just feel generous?
Donate a buck or two. It would be greatly appreciated!
I will use the donated money to support GGG, because they deserve it! :)




Check out my other builds
"How to smash Heads. Guide for a Facebreaker build using Infernal Blow and Dominating Blow"
http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/445390/page/8
"How to Flicker. Two Handed Weapon Edition!"
http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/528011
"How to Smash Heads. Guide for a CI Facebreaker Witch using Infernal blow."
http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/606841/page/1/#p5320422
"How to kill without doing anything. Guide for an AFK PvP witch build."
http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/721568
"How to Farm Piety. Guide for a Melee IIR/IIQ Runner."
http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/769276/page/1/#p6668082

Check out my All-round Newbie guide!
http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/590251

Check out my Newbie giveaway thread!
http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/780986

Check out my Duelist Builds List!
http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/732938

Check out my Marauder Builds List!
http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/740906

"

Barandis wrote:

Really, really nice. I've played the game for a few months, but there are a ton of builds that I've not even looked at so figuring out what stats are important to the PoE world in general was something that I didn't know very well.

One minor, minor, possible nitpick, from this:

"

KorgothBG wrote:

A rare item created by a Regal orb will have a total of 3 suffixes/prefixes

I've never tried this and don't particularly care to waste a Regal Orb on it, but as I understand it, a Regal Orb just makes a magic item rare and adds one affix to it. So that would mean that if you used a Regal Orb on a magic item with only one affix, you'll be left with a rare item with 2 affixes. Discounting that it's a monumentally bad idea to do that, is that correct?

That's actualy... extremely interesting question! I have no idea because it seems like a bad idea to do it and i've never done it. I'll try it right away and post the result ^^

OK so i've started with this amulet :

It has 1 Prefix (Freezing grade)

After using a Regal orb i've got:

Another Prefix (Lobstered grade)

So basicly the regal orb gives a modifier to a magic item. And if the magic item had only 1 modifier you'll end up with a rare with only two modifiers!