No Rest for the Wicked Crafting and Enchanting Guide

You're staring at a white-tier weapon wondering how to transform it into endgame-worthy gear. Here's the thing: No Rest for the Wicked features one of the most flexible crafting systems in modern ARPGs, but the game doesn't explain half of it. Whether you're enchanting your first item or min-maxing a plagued build, this guide breaks down every crafting mechanic you need to dominate Sacrament and beyond.

The crafting system rewards smart resource management and strategic planning. You'll learn how to manipulate gear rarity, optimize enchantments, and exalt items to maximum potential without wasting precious materials.

Gear Rarity Tiers

What most players miss is that rarity determines more than just color. Each tier fundamentally changes how you can modify your equipment.

Common (White) items serve as your crafting canvas. They arrive with no enchantments and empty gem slots, making them perfect for masterwork projects. Weapons include one weapon-specific rune, but that's it.

Rare (Blue) items carry one empty gem slot and up to three enchantments. All enchantments are positive bonuses with no drawbacks. For players progressing through the main story, well-rolled blue items perform admirably without the complexity of managing negative stats.

Plagued (Purple) items represent top-tier gear before legendaries. You'll find one gem slot and up to five enchantments, with one being a negative modifier. The trade-off is worth it when you understand how to build around the downside. Check our No Rest for the Wicked Best Builds guide to see how experienced players leverage plagued gear.

Legendary (Gold) items feature fixed, unique enchantments specific to each weapon. These typically include three to four special modifiers you can't find elsewhere.

No Rest for the Wicked Crafting and Enchanting Guide

How to Enchant Items Effectively

Eleanor handles all enchanting at her shop in Sacrament. Upgrade her building to level three for full access to her services. The enchanting process costs 50 bronze coins per item and gives you a 50/50 chance of creating either blue or purple gear.

Pro tip: Farm white items during your regular runs, then batch-enchant them at Eleanor. You'll build up a solid inventory of rare and plagued gear to either use or sell for profit.

The Fallen Ember System

Fallen Embers are your most valuable crafting resource. Never sell these. You'll use them to add enchantments to items with open slots or reroll existing stats you don't want.

Here's how it works:

• Hover over a Fallen Ember and press the use button
• Select your target item
• Choose to either add a new enchantment or reroll an existing one
• Yellow numbers indicate maximum percentage rolls for that stat

The key here is understanding enchantment groups. Each stat belongs to a specific group, and items can only have one enchantment from each group. Trying to roll a stat from a group already represented on your item wastes Embers.

The Gem System

Gems add powerful bonuses based on where you slot them. The same gem provides different effects depending on whether it goes in a weapon, shield, armor piece, or accessory.

Take a Chipped Sapphire as an example. Slotted in a weapon, it adds cold damage infusion. In armor, it grants cold resistance. On gloves specifically, you'll get frost buildup with higher percentages than other slots.

Critical gem rules:

• Purple-highlighted stats indicate optimal slots for that gem type
• Percentages roll randomly when you slot the gem
• Gems are permanent and cannot be removed without destroying the item
• Masterworked items require four gems in all slots

Creating Masterworked Gear

Visit Eleanor's infuse tab to create masterworked items. Select a white item with four empty gem slots and fill all four positions. The item transforms into a masterworked piece with a light gold border.

You can still enchant masterworked items, but there's a catch. Enchanting removes the last three gems and converts them into enchantments. Only your first slotted gem remains. Plan accordingly by placing your most important gem in the first slot.

Weapon and Armor Upgrades

Fillmore at the blacksmith handles all weapon upgrades. Items currently max at level 12 using standard materials. Pushing to level 13 and beyond requires endgame pestilence materials like Torn Sinew.

For armor upgrades, visit Meera and Mary at the tailor shop. The process mirrors weapon upgrading but requires armor shards instead of weapon shards.

Upgrade costs scale with level:

• Early levels need basic materials (pine planks, iron ingots)
• Mid-tier requires refined resources
• Endgame demands torn materials from pestilence content

Both vendors also craft specific items if you've learned the blueprints. Purchase patterns from various Sacrament vendors or find them as drops. For build-specific gear recommendations, our No Rest for the Wicked Stats Guide covers optimal stat allocation.

Weapon upgrade menu

Rune Mechanics

Runes function as special abilities exclusive to weapons. Each weapon supports up to four runes mapped to your face buttons. Eleanor manages all rune operations through her dedicated menu.

You have three options with runes:

1. Add a rune to an empty slot (85 bronze coins)
2. Destroy a rune to free the slot (85 bronze coins, rune is lost)
3. Extract a rune to keep it (85 bronze coins, weapon is destroyed)

If you want to swap runes on your main weapon, destroy the unwanted rune first, then add your preferred replacement. Extraction only makes sense when you're retiring a weapon but want to preserve a valuable rune.

Exalting Gear to Maximum Potential

The Watcher at the top of Rookery Tower handles exaltation. This endgame system maximizes individual stat percentages on your gear.

Each stat exalts independently using torn materials:

• Torn Marrow for basic exaltations
• Torn Sinew for moderate improvements
• Torn Husk for significant percentage jumps
• Torn Effigy for the rarest upgrades

Stats closer to their maximum percentage cost less material. A stat at 9% requiring only 1% to max costs one Torn Marrow. A stat at 29% needing 21% to reach 50% demands significantly more resources.

No Rest for the Wicked Crafting and Enchanting Guide

Fully Exalted Bonuses

Completely exalting an item (all stats at yellow maximum percentages) grants additional stat bonuses. The green numbers in the exaltation preview show these extra benefits. You don't need to exalt everything at once. Max out stats you know you're keeping while you continue rolling for perfect enchantments.

Endgame Material Management

Three torn materials drop from pestilence content:

• Torn Sinew (most common)
• Torn Marrow (moderate rarity)
• Torn Husk (rare)

The Watcher's trade menu lets you convert three of one type into one of another. Trade three Torn Marrow for one Torn Husk when you're short on the rarer material.

Pro tip: Farm Torn Sinew aggressively since it's the most abundant. You can always trade up when you need specific materials for exaltation.

Crafting Comparison Table

Advanced Crafting Strategies

The Deterministic Build Method: Instead of relying on random enchantment rolls, masterwork white items with four specific gems. This guarantees four perfect stats. Then enchant the item for a 50/50 shot at purple rarity, adding up to three more enchantments. You'll want to reroll those additional stats with Fallen Embers.

Blue Item Viability: Don't automatically dismiss blue gear. A blue item with three perfect enchantments and a well-rolled gem often outperforms a purple with mediocre stats and a crippling negative modifier. Test both options before committing resources.

Material Hoarding Priority:

1. Fallen Embers (never sell)
2. Torn materials (trade up as needed)
3. Gems (save until you finalize builds)
4. Weapon/Armor shards (use freely for upgrades)

Common Crafting Mistakes

What kills most builds isn't bad luck, it's poor resource management. Avoid these pitfalls:

Slotting gems too early. You can't remove gems without destroying the item. Wait until you've finalized your enchantments before committing gems.

Ignoring enchantment groups. The community spreadsheet saves countless Fallen Embers. Check it before every reroll session.

Extracting instead of destroying. Accidentally destroying your equipped weapon because you mixed up the rune options feels terrible. Read the confirmation prompts.

Selling Fallen Embers. The bronze coins aren't worth losing your primary enchantment currency. Farm bronze through selling blue items instead.

Exalting incomplete items. Finish rolling perfect enchantments before spending torn materials. Rerolling after exaltation wastes your endgame resources.

For combat strategies that complement your crafted gear, check our No Rest for the Wicked Parry Timing guide to maximize your defensive potential.

Building Your First Endgame Set

You'll want to focus on one armor set and one weapon initially. Trying to optimize multiple builds simultaneously spreads your materials too thin. Start with your weapon. Farm white versions of your preferred weapon type, enchant them in batches, and evaluate the results. When you land a purple with two or three solid enchantments, invest Fallen Embers to perfect it.

Once your weapon is finalized (perfect enchantments, no gem yet), move to armor. Repeat the process for each piece. Prioritize chest and legs first since they provide the largest stat bonuses. After your core set is complete, add gems to seal the build. Then begin the exaltation grind using torn materials from pestilence content.

The crafting system in No Rest for the Wicked rewards patience and planning. You don't need perfect gear immediately. Build incrementally, save your rarest materials for confirmed keepers, and don't be afraid to experiment with different stat combinations. The flexibility of the system means you can always pivot your build as you discover new strategies and playstyles.