Open Workbench → Crafting (the hotkey list and the feature bar call it Crafting Bench). Over the game it runs as a tool window. It is on the feature bar by default, and its hotkey is unbound, so assign one under Overlays → Hotkeys.
The bench is a reference book. It doesn't look at any item and doesn't spend anything. It answers the question "what does this currency actually do?" It is built from data shipped with ePOE, so it works offline and never touches the trade site.
Three crafting tools, three jobs
- Crafting Bench (this page): *what does this essence, rune or omen do?* You search the currency.
- [Crafting Assistant](guide:crafting-assistant) (Ctrl+Alt+C over an item): *what can I still do to this item?* It reads the item you're hovering and tells you which currency would work on it.
- [Crafting Simulator](guide:crafting-simulator): *what happens if I do it forty times?* It applies imaginary currency to a real item in a sandbox.
A typical craft uses all three. Look up the essence here, check it applies with the Assistant, then practise the sequence in the Simulator before you spend real currency.
The four tabs
Essences. Each card shows the essence's type, its tier and the modifier it forces, with the item slots that modifier applies to underneath. Filter by type with the chips, search names or effect text, and sort by Tier ↑, Tier ↓ or Name. A few effects aren't catalogued yet, and those cards say so instead of guessing.
Runes & Soul Cores. Every socketable: Runes, Soul Cores, Idols, Abyssal Eyes and Congealed Mists. The type chips show how many of each there are. The card lists the effect per slot and merges slots that share the same text, so a rune that does the same thing in seven slots takes one line. It also shows rank requirements, Bonded lines and a Socket-bound badge where one applies.
Distilled Emotions. The instilling currency, grouped by jewel colour (Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald, Diamond), with the modifier and affix for each. Filter to Standard or Ancient (Time-Lost).
Omens. Single-use items that change the outcome of your next matching currency use while you hold them. A few give a one-off combat effect instead. Filter by category (mostly the currency the omen steers, such as Exalted, Chaos or Desecration) and search names or effect text.
Search is forgiving on the Runes, Emotions and Omens tabs, so a partial word or a typo still finds the right card. The Runes and Emotions tabs show up to 200 cards and tell you when to refine your search.
Using it well
- Search the effect you want, not the currency's name. Type "life" or "cold resistance" on the Essences or Runes tab and you get every currency that gives it.
- Check the slot badges. An essence that grants what you want on a helmet may do something else, or nothing, on a ring. The badges under each effect are the answer.
- Read an omen before you hold it. An omen is spent by the next matching currency you use, whether or not that was the craft you meant it for.
Related
- Instilling and reforging for using distilled emotions. The Instilling page under Scanners finds recipes and prices them.
- How to read an item to understand prefixes, suffixes and tiers before you craft.