Crafting with the Gale Essence Emerald in Path of Exile 2 combines the power of essences with strategic item selection to create fast, effective gear upgrades that boost your build’s speed and damage. This process transforms a normal (white) base item into a powerful rare item by guaranteeing a specific modifier related to cold damage or evasion, which aligns perfectly with the Gale Essence Emerald’s bonuses. Here’s a step-by-step explanation of how to craft efficiently using this essence and maximize its benefits. Step 1: Choose the Right Base Item Start with a solid white base that suits your build and the Gale Essence Emerald’s focus. Since this jewel enhances cold damage and evasion, pick an item type that benefits most from these stats—such as gloves, boots, or body armor with good base defenses or sockets. The base should ideally be unmodified or have desirable magic affixes if you plan to augment further. Step 2: Apply the Gale Essence Emerald Using the Gale Essence Emerald on your white base guarantees a cold-related modifier, such as increased cold damage, cold resistance, or evasion-related stats. Essences in Path of Exile 2 work by forcing one specific mod tied to the essence’s tag, providing a semi-controlled crafting outcome. This step upgrades your item to magic or rare rarity, depending on the essence tier, giving you a powerful starting point. Many seasoned crafters stockpile Greater Essences of Gale Essence Emerald for this reason—they ensure a consistent cold damage base. Step 3: Augment and Refine the Item After applying the essence, use Augmentation Orbs to add additional affixes that complement the cold and evasion theme. These might include increased attack speed, elemental damage, or additional resistances. If the item is magic, augmenting can add a second mod; if rare, you can use other crafting orbs like Chaos Orbs to reroll or add further modifiers. Step 4: Use Greater Essences for Higher Tiers If you want to push the item further, Greater Essences of Gale can upgrade the base essence mod to a higher tier, increasing the power of the cold or evasion-related affix. This step is crucial for crafting high-level gear that significantly boosts your character’s speed and damage output. Step 5: Final Touches with Exalted Orbs or Crafting Benches Once you have the core cold damage or evasion mod locked in by the Gale Essence Emerald, you can use Exalted Orbs to add additional rare modifiers or utilize crafting benches to fine-tune stats like resistances, life, or attack speed. This final step polishes the item into a high-quality piece tailored to your build’s needs. Why This Matters for Speed and Efficiency The Gale Essence Emerald’s guaranteed cold-related mod synergizes well with builds that rely on fast, cold-based attacks or spells, enhancing both damage and survivability through evasion. By using essences, you bypass much of the randomness of traditional crafting, making your gear upgrades faster and more reliable. This method is especially valuable early in leagues or when crafting budget-friendly but effective gear. A well-rolled Gale Essence Emerald-influenced item can elevate an entire build's performance in both mapping and boss encounters. Crafting with the Gale Essence Emerald involves selecting the right base, applying the essence to secure a powerful cold or evasion mod, augmenting and upgrading the item, and finishing with precise crafting touches. This process turns simple bases into fast, high-impact gear that harnesses the wind’s power, perfectly aligning with the essence’s thematic and mechanical strengths.