Complete Guide to the Reforging Bench in Path of Exile 2

Reforging Bench Guide

The Reforging Bench in Path of Exile 2 allows you to combine various items together to create a new item. You can recycle unwanted gear for a chance at something better and, in some cases, it allows you to upgrade items.

With this guide, you will learn:

• How to unlock the Reforging Bench.
• How it works and what you can Reforge.
• When to Reforge unwanted items and when to Sell or Disenchant them instead.

"The Reforging Bench, unlocked in Act 3 of the Campaign, is a powerful additional tool to enhance your crafting and item collection."

How to Unlock the Reforging Bench

When you discover The Drowned City zone in Act 3 of the Campaign, search the area for the entrance to The Molten Vault. This area contains the Unique Boss Mektul, the Forgemaster, who is the target of the Treasures of Utzaal sidequest.

Proceed through The Molten Vault until you hear a metallic pounding sound. Nearby is an elevator that will descend to the Mektul fight. This is a tough boss with a guaranteed death mechanic if you cannot kill him fast enough. He is resistant to Fire Damage and has high Armour, so it’s a good idea to overlevel the Molten Vault and prepare for this fight, especially in Hardcore mode.

For more information on the campaign, consult the campaign guide, and for extra tips on the Mektul boss fight, check out our boss guide.

"Mektul, the Forgemaster in Act 3 is a challenging fight, but defeating him unlocks the Reforging Bench."

Once you have defeated Mektul, the Forgemaster, you can claim the Hammer of Kamasa quest item and return it to Oswald in town for a reward, including unlocking the Reforging Bench. The Reforging Bench will then be available in any Campaign Town Zone and in your Hideout (place it via the decorations menu).

Quick List of Reforgable Items

Check this quick reference guide to see what can be Reforged (and what the result is). Later in this guide, there will be much more detail on each option and strategies to take advantage of them.

Item Type	Item Returned	Notes
3x Equippable Gear in Magic or Rare (Armour, Weapons, Jewellery, Flasks, Charms, and Jewels)	Unidentified items of same Rarity and Base Type	All three items must be the same base type and rarity. No items can be Corrupted.
3x of the Same Unique Item	A new, unidentified version of the same Unique item	Effectively a way to save a Divine Orb to roll for better affixes. Uniques cannot be Corrupted.
3x Waystones of the same Tier	A new Randomized Waystone, one Tier Higher. Rarity returned is based on the lowest Rarity Input.	Can be mixed Rarity. Must not be Corrupted.
3x Precursor Tablets	A new randomized Precursor Tablet	Must all be Magic Rarity.
3x Catalyst	A random Catalyst	Must be the same Catalyst (i.e., all Esh's Catalyst). No need to unstack the Catalysts.
3x Essence	A random Essence with a very small chance of being Greater Essence	Must be the same Essence.
3x Soul Core	A random Soul Core	Must be the same Soul Core. Attribute Soul Cores do not currently work (possible bug).
3x Distilled Emotion	A Distilled Emotion of the Next Tier	Must be the same Distilled Emotion. Ire > Guilt, and so on.
3x Relics	An unidentified Relic of the same type	Must be the same Relic. 3- and 4-slot wide Relics are currently bugged and cannot be Reforged.
3x Runes	One Random Rune Back	May be helpful in a fresh start or for Solo Self Found.

Reforging Equippable Gear

The primary function of the Reforging Bench is to take three similar pieces of gear and destroy them to create a new version of that same gear. In order to Reforge pieces of equippable gear, they must meet the following criteria:

1. The same item base-type:
   For example, three Gold Rings can be reforged into a new Gold Ring.
   You cannot mix base types, even if they are the same item class (such as "Rings"). For example, a Gold Ring + an Amethyst Ring + an Iron Ring would not work.
   This includes "Advanced" or "Expert" items, which are considered different base item types.
2. The same Rarity:
   For example, Magic or Rare items.
   You cannot reforge two Rare Gold Rings and one Magic Gold Ring. In this instance, you would have to use a Regal Orb to turn the Magic one into Rare (or find another).
3. Uncorrupted:
   None of the items can be Corrupted, whether by a Vaal Orb or any other means.

Unique Items are also reforgable but follow their own rules. For more information on reforgeable Unique Items, refer to the Unique Items section below.

Should You Reforge Gear?

It is worth Reforging gear pieces under the following conditions:

1. You need a specific item type, especially rare ones:
   For example, if you are desperately searching for Chaos Resistance and need a decent Amethyst Ring, you would collect the rings, identify them, and craft them where relevant. If your crafting attempts fail, you would then store the failed attempts in your stash until you have three Amethyst Rings of a specific Rarity to reforge for a chance at something better.
2. You can't easily trade for the item you need:
   If the item base type is rare or limited in availability, you can collect and reforge them to progress towards your goals faster.
3. If you are playing Solo Self Found or similarly restricted modes:
   In these modes, you would collect as many items of the desired type as possible, craft them, and reforge the failures. It is a good idea to customize a Loot Filter to highlight the item base types that you want.
4. The time and effort are worth it:
   Collecting items and reforging them takes time. Consider doing it only for the rarest and most desired gear pieces. For everything else, it may be more efficient to farm or trade instead.

Think of Reforging Gear pieces as recycling — you can reclaim every failed Regal Orb at a 3:1 ratio. This gear reforging method works for Flasks, Charms, Jewels, Weapons, Amulets, Armour, Rings, and Belts.

Note: You can reforge three Rare items with only three affixes each into an unidentified Rare with 4 affixes (saving you 1 Exalted Orb)!

Gear Reforging Pros and Cons

Pros

• Get a 1/3rd refund on Crafting Currency.
• Recycle rare and good item bases.
• 3-Property Rares Convert Into a 4-Property.
• Deterministic Option for Solo Self Found.

Cons

• Time-consuming to stash, sort, and reforge.
• Requires a large amount of stash space.
• Fiddly Interface.
• Lose out on Gold or Regal Shards from Vendoring.

Suggested Gear Reforging Strategy

1. Collect and craft desired rare bases like Rings, Amulets, Jewels, and high-end Body Armour such as Expert Shaman Mantles.
2. Stash the failures in Public Trade Stash Tabs (see the Trading Guide for more information).
3. Put complete failures in a tab marked for the lowest price you are willing to sell for (your 2 Exalted Orb "dump tab"). Occasionally, they may surprise you with bonus sales.
4. Put anything that rolled decent affixes (but that aren't what you want) in appropriate bulk-priced tabs (e.g., 5 Exalted Orb Tab, etc.). If they sell, that’s great!

"An Inventory full of items pulled from full 1 Exalt Trade Tabs, ready to be Reforged."

1. When your Sale Stash Tabs get full, reforge items in bulk by taking them out three at a time and filling up your inventory.
2. Craft and stash any failures in trade tabs once again to repeat the process.

The benefit of this strategy is that you're casually crafting items for sale with minimal effort on your part, which helps offset crafting costs while you work towards your goals. You don't even have to price check these lower-end crafts — rough guesses for anything under 5 Exalted Orbs are reasonable. You use reforging to keep getting more chances to craft and clear things that aren't selling.

Reforging Unique Items

You can Reforge Unique Items, but they must be the exact same Unique item (not just the same base item type). They also must not be Corrupted. The result is a new version of the same Unique item, which is unidentified and randomized.

This process allows you to take three poorly rolled Unique items and essentially "Divine Orb" them. This is useful if there is a significant price difference between poorly-rolled versions of a Unique item and well-rolled ones. Uniques with important affixes that have wide ranges often end up being very cheap for low-end rolls but very expensive for near-perfect ones.

Economically, this stops being worth it if the poorly-rolled Unique item costs more than half a Divine Orb through trade. In that case, it's better to simply buy a well-rolled Unique item and use Divine Orbs on it (or just buy an already good one!).

Reforging Waystones

Reforging Waystones is likely the most common way to use the Reforging Bench. Here’s how it works:

• 3x Waystones of the same Tier become 1x Waystone of the next Tier!
  • For example, 3x Waystone (Tier 5) become 1x Waystone (Tier 6).
• You do not have to use the same Rarity for the Waystones, but they cannot be Corrupted.
• The Rarity of the Waystone you receive is based on the lowest Rarity Waystone you consumed. So, don’t waste Rare Waystones by accidentally reforging them with a Magic one!

Reforging Waystones can be time-consuming, so you should only upgrade Waystones a few tiers at a time. For example, it would take you 9841 reforges to go from Tier 1 Waystones to a single Tier 10 Waystone. Clearly, you have better things to do with your time!

Reforging Waystones is particularly useful when the Waystones you have have dangerous modifiers for your build. You can set poorly rolled maps aside and reforge them up to the next tier to have a chance at better modifiers!

You can also reforge Precursor Tablets. To do this, you need 3x of the same Tablet, and all of them must be Magic Rarity. You should only do this if you have many more Tablets than you have Towers to place them in.

Waystone Reforging Protip!

Any set of 3 Rare Waystones returns a random Rare of the next Tier — even 3x Rare Waystones with only 2 or 3 modifiers each!

You can also Orb of Transmutation + Regal Orb 3x Tier 10 Waystones and get a 4+ mod Rare Tier 11 Waystone back!

Reforging Relics

Relics are an incredibly powerful tool for conquering the Trial of Sekhemas to claim your Ascendancy powers, or even to farm for endgame wealth. Well-rolled Relics make a huge difference, and Reforging plays a vital role in obtaining them.

1. Augment all the Relics you find and evaluate the good and bad ones.
   • Keep the ones with decent stats and evaluate what makes a good Relic.
2. Refer to the Trials of Ascendancy guide section on the Trials of the Sekhemas and Relics for more information on what makes a good Relic!
   • Reforge any three of the same kind of Relic from your pile of bad ones.
3. Gather up any poorly rolled or unwanted Relics and reforge them in batches.
   • Augment again if needed and repeat the process.
4. After reforging, augment any Relics that still need improvement and repeat the process for better results.
   • Sell via trade or use your good Relics.
5. If the Reforged Relics turn out well, you can either use them for your own progression or sell them for profit.

"Examples of great Relics for the Trial of Sekhemas."

 

Reforging Essences

You can recycle three-of-a-kind Essences into one random Essence. The strategy here is very simple:

1. Reforge cheap, unwanted Essences for a chance of getting a more valuable one.
   • What is cheap and what is valuable often depends on what builds are popular at the time. To get an idea of the current market, check the Currency Exchange to see the value of different Essences.
2. Reforge Essences in Solo Self Found modes to try and luck into the Essence you need.
   • This is particularly useful in Solo Self Found mode, where you need to craft and collect your gear yourself.
3. Fun fact: You do not have to unstack the Essences!
   • Simply use three Essences of the same type, and you can reforge them without needing to unstack them.
4. There is a very small chance of the returned Essence being a Greater Essence.
   • Cross your fingers for a Greater Essence of Torment. Spoiler: It's actually an Essence of Electricity.

Reforging Catalysts

You can recycle three-of-a-kind Catalysts into one random Catalyst. The strategy here is very simple:

1. Reforge low-value Catalysts for a chance of getting a more desired one.
   • Check the Currency Exchange to see current values of the Catalysts. If the Catalysts you don't want are valuable, you may be better off selling them and buying what you need instead.
2. Reforge Catalysts in Solo Self Found modes to try and luck into the one you need.
   • This is useful in Solo Self Found mode, where you have to collect and craft your own gear.
3. Fun fact: You do not have to unstack the Catalysts!
   • Simply use three Catalysts of the same type, and you can reforge them without the need to unstack them.

Reforging Soul Cores

You can take three of the same Soul Core, such as 3x Soul Core of Opiloti, and Reforge them into one random Soul Core.

1. Recycle low-value or unwanted Soul Cores to attempt to get a better one.
   • If you have extra Soul Cores that aren't useful, you can reforge them for a chance at something better.
2. Speculative: There are reports that this may ignore drop weighting of Soul Cores, making the result truly random.
   • This could mean that reforging may not follow the usual drop rates for specific Soul Cores.
3. Note: You cannot currently reforge Attribute Soul Cores such as:
   • Soul Core of Atmohua
   • Soul Core of Cholotl
   • Soul Core of Zantipi

This might be a bug.

Reforging Distilled Emotions

Distilled Emotions have tiers, and Reforging three of the same Distilled Emotion returns 1x of the next tier.

The Tiers of Distilled Emotions are:

• Distilled Ire (Lowest)
• Distilled Guilt
• Distilled Greed
• Distilled Paranoia
• Distilled Envy
• Distilled Disgust
• Distilled Despair
• Distilled Fear
• Distilled Suffering
• Distilled Isolation (Highest)

Distilled Emotions are typically three times the price of the previous tier, with some variance due to market demands. This means that it is likely not worth reforging to upgrade for more Currency returns — you're more likely to make a loss, as anyone can upgrade but there is no way to downgrade!

Only upgrade if you need the next tier of Emotion and cannot otherwise obtain it.

Reforging Runes

If you reforge three of the same type of Rune, you will get a random Rune back. Runes are relatively common, but this method can be particularly useful for fresh starts and Solo Self Found, where you might need a specific Resistance and do not have the required Runes.

• Recycle what you have for a chance to get the Rune you need!
  • If you’re missing a specific Rune, reforging can give you a chance to obtain it by using the Runes you already have.

This is a simple and effective way to get the Runes you need, especially when you're restricted in trading or farming specific items.

Summary

The Reforging Bench is a time-consuming but powerful tool that you can use to supplement your crafting, advance your Waystone progression, and recycle unwanted resources into more desirable ones.

• Recycle bad Gear on desired and rare bases to have more chances to get something good and save yourself some crafting Currency.
• Upgrade your Waystones from one Tier to the next.
• Recycle your cheap and unwanted Essences, Catalysts, and Soul Cores for a chance at better, more valuable ones.
• Take advantage of the ability to Reforge Runes and Essences to help with your crafting in Solo Self Found modes or in a fresh start.