Crafting Guide: Talisman (Mid-Tier)

This guide will take you through the process of crafting a Talisman that will be strong for many Wolf, Bear and Wyvern builds. I am currently using this on my Frost Wolf Build and it was an immense damage upgrade.

This craft's cost depends on the availability of bases, crafting materials and the time of the league.

What You'll Need

• Several normal rarity Maj, Jade or Fungal Talisman Bases, item level 82 is ideal, but 79 is fine too. It seems like a 1 in 13 to hit Tier 1 or Tier 2 #% increased Physical Damage when using a Perfect Transmute and Perfect Augmentations
• Alternatively: buy a Maji Talisman on the Trade Site with as high #% increased Physical Damage as possible (155%+ is Tier 2+)
• Orb of Augmentation
• Exalted Orbs
• Greater Essence of Abrasion
• Perfect Essence of Battle
• 2x Omen of Dextral Crystallisation
• Omen of Abyssal Echoes

Base

The base you use is up to your build

• Maji Talisman: Base DPS 61-114, 1.25 Attacks per Second (109 DPS), 8.00% Critical Chance. Implicit: +8-12 to Maximum Rage
• Jade Talisman: Base DPS: 101-151, 1.10 Attacks per Second (138 DPS), 5.00% Critical Chance
• Fungal Talisman: Base DPS: 59-98, 1.40 Attacks per Second (110 DPS), 8.00% Critical Chance

Maji has a good balance of damage and Attack Speed with a Rage implicit, Jade has a slow Attack Speed and low Crit Chance, but very high base damage, and Fungal Talisman has a very high Attack Speed with lower base damage.

Step 1: #% increased Physical Damage

In the first step, you want to either buy a Talisman from the Trade site with Tier 2+ increased Physical Damage (155%+), or lower if it is all you can afford.

Alternatively, you can buy several bases and use Perfect Transmutes, followed by Perfect Orbs of Augmentation (if you didn't hit a Prefix with the Transmute) to try to hit #% increased Physical Damage. It seems this is a 1/13 chance for success.

Step 2: Getting Flat Physical Damage

In this next step, you need to ensure that your Talisman has a Suffix before continuing (use an Orb of Augmentation) because we'll need it in Step 3

Use a Greater Essence of Abrasion on the Talisman. This will make it Rare and add Tier 3 flat Physical Damage (23-35 to 39-59 Physical Damage)

Step 3: Getting the Third Prefix

Next, we're going to use a Perfect Essence of Ice to add our third prefix: Gain 25-33% of Damage as Extra Cold Damage. Perfect Essences first remove a modifier before adding their special one, but when combined with an Omen of Dextral Crystallisation, it guarantees that the modifier that will be removed is a Suffix. The only modifiers on our item that matter now are Prefixes, so we can do this safely

• Activate an Omen of Dextral Crystallisation
• Use a Perfect Essence of Ice on the Talisman

If you want Extra Fire Damage, use a Perfect Essence of Flames, or a Perfect Essence of Electricity for Extra Lightning Damage.

Step 4.1: Getting +5 to Attack Skills

In the next step, we'll be using a Perfect Essence of Battle to get +5 to Level of All Attack Skills. Similar to the previous step, this will first remove a modifier, then add the Essence modifier, so we'll need to do this safely to avoid ruining our Prefixes

1. Exalt Slam the item to add any Suffix
2. Activate an Omen of Dextral Crystallisation
3. Use the Perfect Essence of Battle

POSSIBLE SITUATION - YOU EXALTED ON LEVEL OF ALL MELEE SKILLS

If you Exalted Orb adds any # to Level of All Melee Skills, you will not be able to use the Essence of Battle. If you hit 5-7, then you don't need to worry, but if you hit something lower, there is a way to fix it

1. Activate an Omen of Dextral Crystallisation
2. Use a Perfect Essence of Haste (this will add Chance to Gain Onslaught on Kill)
3. Exalt the item again
4. Activate an Omen of Crystallisation and use a Perfect Essence of Battle

If you keep the Perfect Essence of Haste mod, that's great. If you somehow manage to Exalt on a low level of Melee Skills, you're in a tough situation, but there is a possible solution.

1. Exalt the item again (it should have 3 Suffixes now)
2. Activate an Omen of Dextral Necromancy
3. Use a Preserved Rib on the item.

This has a 1/3 chance to remove the Melee Levels mod and add a Desecrated modifier. If you still fail, you're a bit out of luck at this point without spending more Currency that in would take to restart the craft

Step 4.2: Getting +5 More Cheaply

There is a cheaper way to get +5 Attack Skills without having to use another Omen of Dextral Crystallisation, but it does have some risk, and also makes the next step a bit more risky

1. Exalt the item three times to fill the Suffixes
2. Use a Perfect Essence of Battle

Because the Suffixes are full, and +5 Attack Skills mod is a Suffix, when the Essence removes a modifier it will be forced to remove a Suffix. The risk in this part is that you have a higher chance to Exalt on a low level of +# to All Melee Skills and also with the next step which could remove the +5 after you've added it. Continue to Step 5.2 if you went this route

Step 5.1: Getting Attack Speed

Next, we want to get Attack Speed on the Talisman which we can guarantee with an Amanamu modifier. There are only 3 Amanamu Suffix modifiers on Talismans, one of which is 12-18% increased Attack Speed/12-18% increased Companion Attack Speed, meaning it will be guaranteed upon Revealing

1. Activate an Omen of the Liege
2. Use a Preserved Rib on the Talisman
3. Optional - Activate an Omen of Abyssal Echoes (allows you to reveal the modifier twice and pick the best result. We do this almost as a free Divine Orb for this modifier)
4. Reveal the item at the Well of Souls in Act 2

Step 5.2: If You Went the Cheaper Route

In this step, your Suffixes are full and Desecrating the Talisman will forcibly remove a modifier to add a new one

1. Activate an Omen of Dextral Necromancy (ensures a Suffix is removed)
2. Activate an Omen of the Liege
3. Use a Preserved Rib on the Talisman
4. Activate an Omen of Abyssal Echoes and Reveal

There is a 1/3 chance that the Desecrated modifer will remove the +5 to All Attack Skills. If this happens, use a Perfect Essence of Battle again, and hope it doesn't remove the Desecrated modifier you just added. If it does, repeat this until you succeed.

Step 6: Finishing the Craft

All that's left is to add Quality with Blacksmith's Whetstones, add some Sockets with Artificer's Orbs and add in Runes of your Choice. I like the Farrul's Rune of the Hunt especially if you're using Wisdom of the Maji on Shaman, otherwise use two Greater Iron Rune to finish up.

You're done!