How to Use the Blood Altar in Path of Exile

Beastcrafting is one of the best ways to get unique items in Path of Exile. Plenty of excellent item recipes exist, and players will encounter necessary beasts frequently enough. However, capturing them is essentially random. If you don’t know how to use the Blood Altar, have no fear. Our short guide is here to help you.

Capturing Beasts

The first thing you have to do is capture some beasts for the Altar. Without captured beasts, you won’t be able to craft anything at all. Unfortunately, your options for capturing beasts are quite limited unless you’re in the Azurite Mine during a delve. The only way to capture a beast is if Einhar (the Beastmaster and the Menagerie owner) randomly appears in an area during an encounter.

When Einhar appears during regular acts (from Act 2 onward), he will toss nets at beasts that drop below 50% Health. The lower a beast’s Health, the more likely Einhar will capture it and deposit it in the Menagerie for later use in crafting. However, there are no certainties regarding the likelihood of Einhar showing up in a single area or ways to skew the odds toward his appearance.

If you’re in the Azurite Mine, you can capture beasts when you enter a Beast Node. Einhar won’t appear here, but you can capture beasts by defeating them.

Using the Blood Altar in Path of Exile

You can craft various items once you’ve gotten to the Blood Altar. Here’s the gist:

1. Interacting with the Blood Altar will show a vast recipe list. Headers explain what the item does or its type, while subheaders separate them by quality or category.
   
2. Most recipes require a specific beast. If the beast is available in the Menagerie, its icon will be colored.
   
3. Recipes will also require a few rare beasts of the same species and a certain level (typically Level 20+). These components appear as outlines, with black outlines showcasing that you own the part.
   
4. If you fulfill all the recipe requirements, selecting the entry from the list will place the beasts in the crafting area below.
   
5. Select “Craft” to start the process.
   
6. The Altar menu will close, and the beasts used in crafting will show up as enemy units. You must defeat them all in the Blood Altar arena to get the item. If you lose, the crafting fails, and the beasts used are lost. You’ll need to capture them again.
   
7. Once you kill all beasts in the arena, interact with the Blood Altar again.
   
8. The crafted item will be in the center of the crafting section, and you can drag it into your Inventory.
   
9. The item’s level equals the level of the main beast used to craft it. For unique items, this is the specific beast.

Get Some Sweet Loot at the Blood Altar

With some luck finding the right beasts to capture with Einhar or in the Azurite Mine, you can craft almost any item imaginable. Even unique or league-specific items long gone from the general drop pool are available in the Blood Altar. Have fun slaying enough beasts to get the necessary components.