Path of Exile – Hideout, Masters and Master-Crafting Guide 2019
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Path of Exile – Hideout, Masters and Master-Crafting Guide 2019

In this article we will cover everything you need to know about Hideouts in Path of Exile. Hideouts are areas where players can decorate, craft and invite masters. There have been changes to Hideouts with the recent introduction of the Betrayal League and many of these changes have been for the better.

Path of Exile Hideout, Masters and Master-Crafting Guide

Hideouts are unlocked after freeing Helena in Act 2. After that you will need to claim a Hideout by clearing the monsters that inhabit it. There are many different Hideouts with varying tilesets , and these are found in campaign and maps. To change a tileset simply talk to Helena and pick the ‘Select Hideout’ option.

You can visit other players’ hideouts by right clicking on their name and choosing the ‘Visit Hideout’ option. Visitors have limited functions available to them when in another player’s Hideout. For example they can sell items at Masters but cannot buy or use the crafting bench. Hideouts can be accessed in two ways after unlocking them:

  • By typing /hideout in chat while in town
  • When using Waypoints you can access a hideout by clicking the Hideout icon located at the bottom right corner

Recent changes have made Hideouts Cross-League, meaning you don’t have to start from scratch anymore when starting a new League. Hideouts, Decorations and Favour are shared account-wide now, and on PC (only) there is an option to export your Hideout to a file and import it later. This option can be used as a way to back up your current Hideout before doing something experimental with it, or as a way to simply share a Hideout with other community members. You can have a different Hideout setup for each tileset, and they can be swapped between at will.

Decorations

Decorations are cosmetic additions to Hideouts that have no gameplay function besides making Hideouts look more aesthetically pleasing. When a Hideout has been claimed, it can be edited by clicking on the Hideout button at the bottom right corner. Decorations are bought from Masters by earning Favour, which acts an an in-game currency in Path of Exile.

On this screen you can place all the decorations that are unlocked by buying them from Masters or gained by other means

Masters

Masters are special NPCs that randomly spawn in the wild and can be invited to a Hideout. After encountering them they will appear in towns as well.

After being found in the wild, Masters will appear in towns

Each Master offers missions, unique crafting recipes and has unique mechanics and rewards. By completing their missions you gain favour which is used to purchase Decorations. Masters have Favour Levels which are capped at 7 and every level unlocks newDecorations. Currently there are a total of 5 masters:

  • Einhar, Beastmaster
    • Found in Act 2.
    • His missions involve hunting beasts.
    • Unlocks Menagerie where you can hold beasts collected during hunts and fight beasts for rewards.
  • Niko, Master of Depths
    • Found in Act 4.
    • His missions involve finding caches of Voltaxic Sulphite that are used in the infinite dungeon the Azurite Mines.
  • Alva, Master Explorer
    • Found in Act 7.
    • Her missions are Temporal Incursions that require slaying architects to improve rewards in the large dungeon Temple of Atzoatl.
  • Zana, Master Cartographer
    • Found in the Epilogue.
    • Offers maps with specific missions.
  • Jun, Veiled Master:
    • Found in Act 1 in Betrayal League only.
    • Her missions include hunting down Immortal Syndicate members.
Menagerie is Einhar’s unique mechanic where you can capture and battle beasts for rewards

Hideouts are now automatically upgraded to the maximum size when unlocked and can have all types of Masters. There are also non-master NPCs such as Navali that can be invited to a Hideout and their functions will become usable as well.

Master-Crafting

By placing a Crafting Bench in the Hideout you are ready to start crafting. At the crafting bench you can craft every mod that is unlocked via helping Masters, as well as through exploration. Recipes that are unlocked are shared account wide.

Crafting Bench is important part of the end-game

The crafting bench lets you add one modifier to an item. In order to add a  modifier to an item you must follow these two rules:

  • Item cannot have an affix of that type already
  • Item must have prefix and suffix open

Crafted mods have a distinctive brighter text then non-crafted ones. If at any point you are not happy with the current crafted modifier, it can be removed by using an Orb of Scouring. It is also possible to craft more then one mod with Of Crafting Suffix meta-crafting mode.

Prefixes and Suffixes

Prefixes and Suffixes describe which affixes are present on an item. More prefixes and suffixes equals more affixes. To know exactly which is which, there is an option in the UI called Advanced Mod Crafting. After you enable this, hold Alt or press the Left Analogue Stick on consoles to see all modifiers.

By enabling Advanced Mod Description you can easily see what is prefix and what suffix

There is a specific amount of Prefixes and Suffixes each item can have depending on the rarity and item type:

  • Magic (Blue): up 1 of each
  • Rare (Yellow): up 3 of each
  • Unique (Orange):  fixed and vary depending on the item

Item Levels

By holding the ALT key, or pressing the Left Analogue Stick on console, you view item levels. This is important to know because item levels determine how far numbers on modifiers can go. Item level also determines the maximum number of sockets. The Level of item drops depends on the zone level but not player level.

The difference between a high level item and a low level item, and the modifiers each can roll, is gaping. Let’s take the ‘Increased Physical Damage‘ prefix as an example. The item level 1 can roll 40-49, while item level 83 can roll 170-179. Here you can check the values of every prefix and suffix.

Meta-Crafting

Meta-Crafting means crafting mods that have unique modifiers that break conventional crafting rules. These mods do not give typical stat increases or bonuses of any kind.

Example of what you can do with meta-crafting mods. Mods in Bright Blue are all crafted ones

There are a total of 5 meta-crafting mods:

  • Of Crafting
    • Recipe found in Pale Court.
    • Removes limit of only 1 Crafted Mod per item.
  • Suffixed
    • Recipe found from Unbreathing Queen V prophecy.
    • How this mod works is that it makes suffixes permanent on an item that uses this mod.
    • It is used to save suffixes that you like so that when altering the item they are not wiped.
    • This mod counts as a Prefix which means it is going to be wiped when using Orb of Scouring or altering item in any way.
  • Of Prefixes
    • Recipe found from Unbearable Whispers V prophecy.
    • Works same way as Suffixed but reversed.
  • Of Spellcraft
    • Recipe found from The Plaguemaw V prophecy.
    • It prevents Attack modifiers on an item when crafting.
    • Attack modifiers are such as IAdded x Damage, Increased Accuracy, Critical Strike Chance, Life gained on Attack etc.
  • Of Weaponcraft
    • Recipe found from Feral Lord V.
    • It prevents Caster modifiers on an item when crafting.
    • Caster modifiers are such as Increased Elemental or Spell Damage, Adds Elemental Damage to Spells, Increased Casting Speed etc.

Meta-crafting is important for the end-game because it can speed up the process for getting exactly the item you want, or creating a valuable item for trading.

Final Thoughts & Summary

Hideouts are an integral part of Path of Exile because they offer access to Master Crafting and Masters with ease. While Master Crafting and Meta-Crafting are end-game crafting methods, Decorating on the other hand is just a cosmetic bonus that has no influence on gameplay, but offers a nice distraction from constant grinding and crafting.

Purchasing Decor with Favour from Masters adds nothing of value but offers a nice distraction and change of usual PoE pace

Masters are the most important NPCs in the game because they offer a wide variety of useful functions. These include crafting recipes, mechanics (such as Menagerie where you can battle and sacrifice beasts for rewards), unlocking access to fossils and resonators, new dungeons and so on. Using what they offer to not only receive, but also craft items you desire while grinding maps is the end-game for Path of Exile. While there is a long road ahead in order to be prepared for the toughest content, Hideouts offer what is needed to get you ready for it.


If you enjoyed this guide be sure to check out more of our Path of Exile guides in Path Of Exile: Beginners Guide 2019. Or you can read about the latest news in Path Of Exile Release Gets Delayed Until February 2019. Stay tuned for our Guides on Maps and Prophecies!

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