Last Epoch Crafting Guide: Maximizing Efficiency with Shards, Runes, and Glyphs

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Crafting plays a crucial role in gearing up in Last Epoch. Crafting in the early game can make the game significantly easier, while late-game crafting is essential to creating the most powerful items. The system is relatively simple but still provides a lot of flexibility and variety.

In this guide, we’ll cover all the key aspects of crafting, including how to craft, crafting items, and some basic strategies to maximize your crafting potential.

How to Craft

To start crafting, open the Forge by pressing 'F'. Once open, you can add an item to craft on by either pressing 'Shift + Right Click' or by dragging and dropping the item into the center slot of the Forge. From here, you have several options:

Upgrade an existing affix that is below tier 5 by clicking the up arrow next to the affix.
Add an affix to an empty affix slot by clicking the plus sign in the empty affix slot or the large plus sign at the bottom center.
Add a Glyph by placing it into the center slot (which looks like a scroll with a plus sign).
Add a Rune by placing it into the slot that looks like a hexagon with a plus sign, located to the right of the large plus sign at the bottom center.

The options you choose will depend on the type of craft you want to complete and your overall crafting strategy. Once you’ve selected one or more options, the large rectangular button at the bottom will light up in purple, indicating that you can craft on the item by pressing that button.

Forging Potential

Forging Potential is what allows an item to be crafted on. If an item reaches 0 Forging Potential, no further crafting can be done. Nearly every type of craft will cost some Forging Potential, with some crafts being more expensive than others. The cost of a craft is determined by:

The tier of the affix being added or increased, or the cost of the Rune used.
Whether adding or increasing an affix results in a Critical Success.
Whether a Glyph of Hope was used and successfully procced.
If neither a Glyph of Hope proc nor a Critical Success occurs, the craft will roll within the Forging Potential Range.

For example, if you have a ring with Tier 3 Minion Damage, upgrading it to Tier 4 costs between 1 and 18 Forging Potential. If the craft results in a Critical Success or a Glyph of Hope procs, the upgrade will cost 0 Forging Potential. If not, the cost will fall within the 1–18 range.

Items do not have a fixed amount of Forging Potential, so some will have more potential than others. The amount of Forging Potential on an item is determined by:

The area level where the item dropped (lower-level areas tend to have lower potential).
The rarity of the item (higher rarity means more potential, so Exalted items usually have more potential than Rare items, which have more than Magic items, and Magic has more than Common).
A random roll within its rarity and area level range.

Higher Forging Potential means more crafting opportunities before running out. This makes Rare and Exalted items much better crafting bases than Magic and Common items.

Crafting Materials

In Last Epoch, there are a variety of crafting materials to choose from, which all fall into three categories: Shards, Runes, and Glyphs.

Shards
These are the most basic crafting materials, used in almost all of your crafts. Shards represent the affixes that are placed on gear, either by upgrading existing affixes or creating new ones. To craft an affix or upgrade the tier of an existing one, you must have at least one shard of the corresponding stat.

Example 1: You have a Tier 2 Health affix on your body armor and want to upgrade it to Tier 3. You must have at least one Added Health Shard in your crafting inventory or you won't be able to craft it. If you want to upgrade to Tier 4 after upgrading from Tier 3, you'll need another Added Health Shard.
Example 2: You have an open prefix slot on your gloves and want to add Strength. You will need at least one Strength Shard. You'll also need one additional Strength Shard for every upgrade tier.

Glyphs

There are five types of glyphs in the game, and each directly affects affixes:

Glyph of Hope: This is a core crafting component used when upgrading an affix tier. It provides a 25% chance that the craft will consume no Forging Potential.
Glyph of Chaos: When upgrading an affix tier, this changes the affix to something different, while still upgrading its tier. For example, if you have a Tier 2 Strength Prefix, using a Glyph of Chaos will reroll it to Dexterity and upgrade it to Tier 3. Note: You need a shard of the affix you're changing (e.g., a Strength Shard).
Glyph of Order: When upgrading an affix to a higher tier, this keeps the roll range. For example, if you have a Tier 4 Health affix with 55 HP (the highest possible for that tier), using a Glyph of Order upgrades it to Tier 5 with a roll of 75 HP (the highest possible for that tier).
Glyph of Despair: This rare glyph has a chance to seal an affix of your choosing instead of upgrading it. Sealing an affix moves it to a 5th affix slot, opening up the affix slot it previously occupied. Sealed affixes cannot be crafted on. For example, using a Glyph of Despair on a Tier 2 Intelligence affix will seal it in the 5th affix slot, opening up a prefix slot for further crafting.
Glyph of Envy: Allows you to keep and upgrade one affix while changing all other properties of the item, including implicits. It’s primarily used to speed up the leveling process for additional characters by adding stability to timelines.

Runes

Runes are used for more specific crafting actions:

Rune of Shattering: Destroys an item and turns some of its affixes into shards of the same type. The number of shards received can range from 1 to the total number of affixes on the item.
Rune of Refinement: Rerolls the values of all affixes on the item within their tiers. For example, using a Rune of Refinement on a ring with Tier 5 Void Resistance will change the roll to somewhere between 30-45%.
Rune of Removal: Randomly removes one affix on an item and returns its tier as shards. For example, using this rune on the previous ring will remove Tier 5 Void Resistance and return 5 Void Resistance Shards.
Rune of Discovery: Adds Tier 1 affixes to all open affix slots with an increased chance of adding rare affixes. This rune does not cost Forging Potential. For example, using this on an item with only one prefix will add 1 prefix and 2 suffixes to the item without using any of its Forging Potential.
Rune of Shaping: Rerolls any implicits that have a roll range. For example, using this rune on a Hollow Blade will reroll the Melee Void Damage and Void Penetration, but the Melee Physical Damage will remain unchanged since it’s a static number.
Rune of Ascendance: Transforms a Common, Magic, or Rare item with at least 1 Forging Potential into a Unique item of the same type. For example, using this rune on a Hollow Blade will turn it into a Volcanus.
Rune of Creation: Creates a duplicate of the item. This lowers the Forging Potential of both the original item and the copy to 0.

Critical Success

A Critical Success occurs when you achieve a particularly favorable outcome in a craft. Every time you add an affix or upgrade the tier of an affix, there’s a chance that it will result in a Critical Success. When this happens, the craft will be completed for free (including shard costs), and any affix below Tier 5 will also be randomly upgraded to the next tier. This means you'll effectively get two crafts for the price of one, but you won’t have any control over which affix gets upgraded.

Here are a few tips to handle this potential situation and even turn it in your favor:

Glyph of Chaos: If you plan to use a Glyph of Chaos to change an affix, do it early in the crafting process before upgrading other affixes. If you get a Critical Success on the affix you’re trying to change, it will make it harder to get the correct affix or may even prevent the change if the Critical Success results in a Tier 5 affix.
Upgrading lower-tier affixes: Upgrading lower-tier affixes first can lead to free crafts on higher-tier affixes if they happen to roll a Critical Success. Higher-tier affixes cost more, so upgrading lower-tier ones first can help you avoid expensive crafts.
Shard scarcity: If you are low on shards for a particular affix, upgrading other affixes on the item might result in a Critical Success on the desired affix without costing any shards.
Affix Slot Control: A Critical Success can’t upgrade an affix that doesn’t exist. If you have an open affix slot with at least one low-tier and one high-tier affix, upgrade the lower-tier affix(es) first before adding a new affix to the open slot. This increases your chances of a Critical Success on the higher-tier affix(es).

Crafting Strategies

While crafting in Last Epoch is relatively simple, there are several strategies that can help you maximize your crafting efforts. Here are a few tips that we find particularly useful, even for new players:

Always use Glyph of Hope when adding or upgrading an affix, if you have one. If you don’t have any, it’s often better to wait for one to drop before crafting. Glyphs of Hope are fairly common, especially in the endgame, so you'll eventually have plenty to use.
Rune of Discovery can be a great way to upgrade items cheaply in the campaign. If one drops, use it on an item that is missing some affixes to get some free stats!
If you’re targeting shards for a particular affix, use a Rune of Removal instead of a Rune of Shattering. If it removes the affix you want, you’re guaranteed to receive shards equal to the tier of that affix.
- Example: If you have body armor with Tier 4 Health, a successful Rune of Removal will give you 4 Increased Health Shards. If you used a Rune of Shattering, you could end up with only 1 shard, or even 0, if there are other affixes on the item.
Related to the previous point: When targeting shards with a Rune of Removal, you can keep using Removals until you get the affix you want or until your Forging Potential runs out. Combine Rune of Removal with a Glyph of Hope to reduce your chances of running out of Forging Potential. If you do run out of Potential before getting the affix you want, you can use a Rune of Shattering. There will be fewer affixes on the item, increasing your chances of getting at least one shard of the affix you need.
If you have an item that has great potential but one bad affix, instead of risking ruining the item with a Glyph of Chaos or Rune of Removal, try using a Glyph of Despair. If successful, the affix will be sealed into a 5th affix slot, opening up the slot it was in for a new affix. This strategy is more likely to succeed on low-tier affixes, items with 4 affixes, and/or Exalted items.
- Example: Tier 1 affixes on an Exalted item with 4 affixes are guaranteed to seal, while Tier 4 affixes on a Rare item are unlikely to succeed.

Summary

Crafting is done in the Forge, which is accessed by pressing 'F'.
Forging Potential is required to craft on an item, and as you craft, you risk depleting the Forging Potential. When it reaches 0, no further crafting can be done on that item.
Shards are the most basic crafting material, needed to add or upgrade affixes. Runes and Glyphs serve various functions, each with its unique impact on the crafting process.
Critical Successes make a craft free, while also adding an additional random tier to the item.

Always use Glyph of Hope when adding or upgrading affixes.
Use Rune of Removal to target specific shards.

Last Epoch Crafting Guide: Essential Tips for Crafting Efficiency