Path of Exile 2 Salvaging and Disenchantment guide

Salvaging and Disenchantments are additions to Path of Exile 2 that enable even greater itemization by getting some utility out of unwanted and obsolete gear. These features replace the now-removed Crafting Bench mechanic from Path of Exile, which enabled a lot of player power and eased the itemization pressure by quickly crafting some early and mid-game affixes.

In the recent GGG Live event, Path of Exile 2's developers explained their reasoning behind the removal of the Crafting Bench: to include item sockets and increase the drop rates of crafting currencies to make itemization easier. Salvaging and Disenchantment are the results of these decisions, which we will discuss in detail.

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How to Salvage items in Path of Exile 2

To begin salvaging items in Path of Exile 2, you must first unlock the Salvage Bench. Fortunately, this feature is locked behind the Finding The Forge quest in Act One of the game and can be accessed naturally through progressing the campaign.

Finding The Forge in Ogham Village (Image via Grinding Gear Games)

The quest is available once you complete Ogham Farmlands and make your way into Ogham Village. Completing the quest isn't particularly difficult but does require some thorough exploration of the area.

Once the quest is complete and the Salvage Bench is in the Clearfell Encampment, you can use the Bench at any time. Furthermore, the Salvage Bench is unlocked in the Act Two and Three Encampments. You can bring your unwanted items with quality modifiers to the Salvage Bench to extract the currency shards from them.

This is how you break down stuff (Image via Grinding Gear Games)

Using the Salvage Tool on any armor with quality will give Armourer's Scrap. Likewise, Martial weapons and Caster weapons with quality will grant Blacksmith's Whetstone and Arcanist's Etcher, respectively. The amount of the quality-enhancing currencies obtained is connected to the quality rating of the salvaged items.

The Salvage Tool can also be used on items with Rune Sockets, which gives Artificer's Shard upon breaking down. Collecting 10 of these shards creates an Artificer's Orb, which can be applied to items to add a Rune Socket.

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How to Disenchant items in Path of Exile 2

Disenchantment is a much simpler process of Salvaging gear and is readily available from the start. It can be used as soon as you reach Clearfell Encampment, which is right after finishing the prologue zone.

Disenchanting services are available at the Caster vendors at Encampments, namely Una of Clearfell Encampment, Zarka of The Ardura Caravan, and Servi of Ziggurat Encampment.

There's a way to get rich, very very slowly (Image via Grinding Gear Games)

Disenchanting items is also much simpler than Salvaging them. This feature can only be used on Magic and Rare items, which give Transmutation Shards and Regal Shards, respectively. Collecting 10 of these shards will grant an Orb of Transmutation and a Regal Orb.

At first glance, Disenchantment might seem like a time-consuming endeavor for very paltry rewards. However, as the orbs accumulate over time, it will become like second nature to quickly pop in and out of areas to break down a few items.

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