Help a Newb Understand When to Vaal and When Not to Vaal

Hello, everyone! I've been playing for a few weeks now and I've successfully leveled two characters into end game. While my first was way too squishy for my liking, my TS Jugg is a BLAST to play.

I've bought gear. I've crafted gear. I've collected gear off the ground. I watch streamers and YouTube vids instead of regular TV (UNDISPUTED. BEST AXE. IN THE GAME.) and find it entertaining.

That said, while I've seen people Vaal Orb things no fewer than 1000 times, nobody ever really explains their reasons for it or how they pick the things they Vaal. Now, I understand Vaaling your skill gems at level 20 & quality 20. That extra level for many skills can net some significant DPS and/or survivability.

What I *don't* understand is why people Vaal seemingly great (and expensive) gear. What's the big deal about corrupting an Inpulsa, for example? Should I maybe try to corrupt my weapons? How do I know what the possible outcomes would be? I understand they could lose an important stat or even turn yellow, but is there a way to find out what kind of positive stats I could gain from corruption? (They're cheap enough that I could buy more if something horrible happened.)

Thanks for your input!

As you said, gem levels are important. One possible corruption on a body armor (for example, Impulsa) is "+2 level of socketed [type] gems", where [type] can be AoE, Curse, Aura, Duration and so on and so forth.

Check out https://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/List_of_item_corrupted_implicit_modifiers for what can be corrupted on what.

Some can only be gained throught the tier 3 corruption room in the temple, while some can be gained by straight up Vaal Orbing something.

Always keep in mind, that vaal your equipment can result in bricking it.
because of this, vaal stuff only if you have got a backup if the vaaling fails.

Like a lot of other things in PoE, using a Vaal orb is a gamble. Why do people do it? For the same reason people buy lotto tickets.

Rule of thumb: if you can't afford to lose the item then don't do it. ;)

As an example, take trusty old Belly of the Beast. This armour costs around 4ex (6l obviousy), now if you hit the right corruption, say "+1 level to socketed gems" it will be worth ten times as much. However, the chance to hit such a valuable corruption is much less than 1 in 10. You can end up with some much less desirable corruption and still sell it for maybe 3ex (ppl have to factor in the costs for recolouring after corruption) ... or with a total brick which means 4ex down the crapper.

Another example, you find Kaom's Heart with ilvl 80 or higher. Now this is a no-brainer really. The market is flooded with sh*tty Kaom's so an ilvl 80 Kaom's is really begging to be corrupted. ilvl 80 is required to hit that much coveted "+1% to maximum resistances" corruption. Ideally you want a tier 3 corruption room in your temple for this and hope for two good corruptions, say +1% max res and x% max life or xx% increased damage.

Happy vaaling, Exile. ;)

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tomay schrieb:

Another example, you find Kaom's Heart with ilvl 80 or higher. Now this is a no-brainer really. The market is flooded with sh*tty Kaom's so an ilvl 80 Kaom's is really begging to be corrupted. ilvl 80 is required to hit that much coveted "+1% to maximum resistances" corruption. Ideally you want a tier 3 corruption room in your temple for this and hope for two good corruptions, say +1% max res and x% max life or xx% increased damage.

Happy vaaling, Exile. ;)

Just checked, a ilvl 80 costs 1-1.5 ex, a corrupted with +1% max res 12-20ex.

If you have got enough currency to gamble, it may be worth the risk, but I'm not sure I would risk this, especially outside the T3 temple.

Well, if you're lucky enough to get Kaom's Heart with ilvl 80+ you still have the choice to sell it to someone with enough cojones/currency to do the vaaling if you're lacking either. ;)

But it remains true, the ilvl80+ Kaom's Heart really wants to be corrupted.

One thing that took me a while to figure out that makes Vaaling qualitatively different than other crafting is that corrupted mods take the place of the implicit mod. A lot of otherwise very good items have unimpressive implicits (or no implicit) so for example that +2 Inpulsa's still has all the other usual mods.

Same goes for a rare with a bad implicit, but great rolls on everything else it's like getting a 7-mod rare (if you roll right)

Wow, guys. I appreciate all your responses! This helps a LOT, and I'll be sure to keep all your advice in mind.

I've only recently figured out exactly how Incursion even works, so the next time I'm given the opportunity, I'll really work on getting that corruption room. And I will DEFINITELY make sure I have a backup because I don't have cajones at all. Haha.

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BleedMeAnOcean schrieb:

I'll really work on getting that corruption room. And I will DEFINITELY make sure I have a backup

Low risk/high profit would be using popular skill gems in a T3 corruption room. For example, 20/20 Ancestral Warchief can result in 21/20 Vaal Ancestral Warchief which is currently selling for 15-20ex (in STD).

If science goes bad, it's just a bricked skill gem rather than some valuable high-end item.

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BleedMeAnOcean schrieb:

because I don't have cajones at all. Haha.

You can sell your T3 corruption room to someone who is "better equipped." ;)

for a newbie, I would say if you just dont vaal anything, its the safest route.

super low-risk: tabula
20/20 gems IF you can afford to get/buy another 20/20 in case they brick

in general, the more common and relatively cheap something is (ie, unique) the less risk it poses. of course, a unique no one uses will probably be not useful/valuable even with a great corruption.

I wouldnt recommend vaaling any rares unless its crafted and the result isnt terribly good but not total trash either, where a great vaal implicit boosts the value a ton. a good example of that is an amulet that you wont be too sorry if you brick, but if you land a very rare +1 curse the stats on it would be quite valuable