No Rest For The Wicked – Complete Crafting Guide

Crafting in No Rest for the Wicked is one of the most complex and flexible systems in action RPGs. Unlike simpler games where you just “upgrade gear,” this game’s crafting system lets you rebuild an item from a blank slate, manipulate modifiers, and produce gear tailored to your exact build.

However, the UI does not clearly explain how most features work, so you must understand the underlying mechanics to optimize your gear effectively.

1. How Gear Rarity Works

Before attempting to craft anything, you must understand how rarity affects your ability to modify gear. In No Rest for the Wicked, there are four useful gear rarity tiers:

• Common (White): Common items have no enchantments and 4 empty gem slots. They are the blank canvas of the crafting system, and they are the version you always start with when crafting a custom item. Because they start empty, you have full control over how they are built.
• Rare (Blue): Rare items can have up to three positive enchantments and one empty gem slot. You will need to add any missing enchantments by using Fallen Embers. Rare gear can be effective early on, but it does not have enough slots for the full endgame potential that plagued gear offers.
• Plagued (Purple): Plagued gear is the primary endgame crafting tier. It can hold up to five enchantments with one gem slot, but one of the enchantments must be a negative. The negative stat is the trade-off for increased potential power. Purple items are the ones you will optimize with embers and other materials.
• Legendary (Gold): Legendary items have fixed unique modifiers and include 3-4 enchantments and a gem slot. Unique items and weapons can not be enchanted or crafted.

Tip: Don’t underestimate blue items. A blue item with a well-placed gem infusion and carefully chosen enchantments can outperform some random purple drops if planned correctly.

2. How to Use Scribe Table

Scribe Table

Before crafting anything, you must have discovered the item in the world. The game does not allow you to craft items you have never picked up from a drop, vendor, or chest. Once you have found the desired item, you need to research it so that the recipe becomes available in the crafting interface.

1. Travel to Sacrament.
2. Find and interact with the Scribe Table (next to Danos).
3. Open the Research menu.
4. Locate the item you want to craft in the list.
5. Spend 1x Research Paper to research it.
6. For Random Research, go to the item tab you want to research and use 3x Research Paper to get a random item.

You can also check in with Danos to purchase a Novice or Adept Scribe Table if available in his shop rotation. It’s best to do random research for gear to get drops that you can then use in crafting. Once researched, the blueprint is permanently unlocked for crafting. Without research, you will not see the item in the crafting menu at all.

3. Craft Multiple Weapon Copies

After research, your next task is to craft multiple copies of that item from the white tier. This is critical because each craft roll can vary in two ways:

1. Item Level – which affects base power and scaling
2. Facet – a permanent modifier attached to the item

Facets are similar to prefix modifiers and cannot be removed or changed once the item has dropped or been crafted — choosing the right facet early saves you from later regret. 

How to Craft Weapons

1. Go to your Crafting Bench (found in Sacrament or your base).
2. Navigate to the weapon type and locate the researched item (e.g., Siren’s Call bow).
3. Craft multiple copies — five to ten is a good starting point.
4. After crafting, examine each copy’s item level in the top-right and check the facet it has.

Choose the copy that has the best facet to support your build, and you can upgrade your item level later with Blacksmith. For damage-focused builds, facets that increase critical strike chance or offensive stats are preferred, even if they include minor drawbacks such as reduced durability.

Once selected, this weapon becomes your final crafting base, and all further corruption, enchanting, and upgrading should be done only on this item.

4. What are Facets?

A facet is a mod attached to an item when it is dropped or crafted, and it typically provides a bonus along with a drawback. Common facets include traits like Quick, Keen, Razor, and Sharp, each with distinct effects and trade-offs.

Facets cannot be changed once they are on an item, which is why crafting multiple copies and choosing one with a favorable facet is such a critical early step.

5. How to Enchant Gear

Corrupting Ember

Once you have selected your best base copy (high item level + desirable facet), the next step is to use a Corrupting Ember on it. Corrupting Embers are special crafting materials that transform a common gear into a Plagued item, which allows for multiple enchantments and is the main platform for endgame builds.

1. Open your inventory and find the Corrupting Ember.
2. Apply it to your chosen white item.
3. The item’s rarity will be enchanted and change to Plagued (purple), opening up deeper customization.

Once enchanted, the item will automatically receive one negative enchantment, which is simply part of the system and cannot be avoided.

6. Planning Your Final Build

Before using any embers, gems, or upgrades, you must define your final stat goals. This step ensures efficient resource use and prevents wasted crafting attempts. Follow these steps carefully:

1. Identify Core Offensive Stats – Decide which damage-related stats your build relies on. Typical examples include Critical Strike Chance for scaling damage, Damage vs Large Enemies for boss and elite fights, and Elemental Damage Bonuses if using elemental infusions. Prioritize these stats first, as they are the foundation of your item’s effectiveness.
2. Determine Sustain and Utility Stats – Select enchantments that improve survivability or mobility, such as Focus on Kill to maintain ability uptime, Movement Speed after Rune Attack to reposition during combat, or stamina/focus recovery. These stats support your damage rotation and allow for more efficient clearing of enemies without compromising your core damage.
3. Choose Elemental Infusion – Decide which elemental gem you will slot (e.g., Ice Infusion, Fire Infusion). Your choice should complement your offensive stats and playstyle, as changing the element later may require rebuilding enchantments or rolling new stats.
4. Select an Acceptable Negative – For Plagued items, one negative stat is mandatory. Choose one that minimally affects your build, such as Healing Reduced for Nearby Enemies for ranged characters. Ensure that the downside is manageable within your combat strategy and positioning.
5. Check Enchantment Groups – Each enchantment belongs to a group, and only one stat per group is allowed on an item. Attempting to roll multiple stats from the same group will fail and waste Fallen Embers. Use community tools or reference spreadsheets to confirm group compatibility before rolling.
6. Verify Final Layout – Before applying Fallen Embers or beginning upgrades, ensure all desired stats are assigned to different groups, the negative is acceptable, and your elemental infusion is decided. This final check prevents costly mistakes and ensures that subsequent crafting steps will progress efficiently toward your endgame build.

7. How Enchanting Works

Falstead’s Barricade Shield Enchantments

Enchantments are modifiers that permanently adjust your gear’s performance. After corrupting an item to Plagued, enchantments come from two main mechanics:

• Fallen Embers – which lets you add or reroll enchantments
• Essence Embers – which let you extract specific enchantment lines from donor items

How to Use Fallen Embers

A Fallen Ember is a special crafting item that allows you to modify enchantments after the initial corruption. Unlike basic enchanting, which randomly changes rarity and enchantment outcome, Fallen Embers let you target individual enchantment slots. From your inventory:

1. Select a Fallen Ember.
2. Apply it to the weapon or armor.
3. You can either: Add a new enchantment to an empty slot. Reroll an existing enchantment to try for a better stat.

Note: Each enchantment is drawn from a pool of possible stats, and because enchantment groups exist, some stat combinations may never appear together — meaning even advanced rerolling has inherent limitations.

Planning before rolling and choosing which enchantment groups are needed before spending Embers avoids the wild waste of these precious resources.

8. How to Extract an Enchantment

Essence Ember

Rerolling enchantments with Fallen Embers can be expensive and frustrating due to randomness. Instead, craft extra copies of the same item and corrupt them, then extract desirable enchantments instead of relying on randomness. A cheaper way is searching chests, defeating elite enemies, and bosses, which is also great for getting gear drops and using them in building your gear. 

This is where Essence Embers come in. Essence Embers let you extract a specific enchantment line from a donor item and store it as a one-off resource that can later be applied to your main item, as long as that enchantment obeys rarity and stat group restrictions.

1. Craft and corrupt additional copies of the item.
2. Inspect their enchantment lines and identify those you want.
3. From your inventory, select an Essence Ember.
4. Apply it to the donor item.
5. The donor item is destroyed and yields a Charged Essence Ember containing a stored enchantment line.
6. Apply the Charged Essence Ember to your main item in the desired slot.

This method dramatically reduces randomness and is how to assemble perfect gear builds without grinding thousands of embers.

NOTE: Extracting an enchantment from an item rarity is only usable on the same rarity item. So, always be sure to extract any enchantment from the correct rarity; otherwise, you will be wasting your Essence Embers. For Example, Blue items will use enchantments for Blue and so on. 

Best Enchantments for Endgame Build

• Damage Increased by % (Offensive) — A flat percentage increase to overall weapon damage is one of the most universally strong enchantments for weapons, boosting all damage output directly.
• Damage Increased Against Large Enemies — This is especially effective for boss fights and elite enemies that comprise the bulk of tougher content; prioritizing this stat increases damage where it matters most.
• Rune Damage Increased — For builds that rely on Rune attacks, this enchantment directly adds to the potency of those skills, making your abilities hit much harder.
• Attack Damage Increased After Rune Attack — This lets your weapon scale more effectively after using a rune ability, creating strong synergy between light attacks and ability output.
• Deal Damage on Staggering an Enemy — Adds extra damage when the enemy is staggered, empowering combos that rely on heavy hits or crowd control.

9. How to Fix Negative Enchantment

Every Plagued item receives a negative enchantment. Some are manageable, others are harmful. After you have built your base enchanting structure, you can use Fallen Embers specifically on the negative stat to try and replace it with something less harmful — but you cannot remove it entirely. You use a Fallen Ember:

1. Select the negative stat on your item.
2. Choose to reroll it.
3. Confirm the reroll — the old stat disappears, and a new one takes its place.

Tip: Use Essence Ember and drop items for positive enchantments to get precisely what you need for your build, and use Fallen Embers to roll negative enchantments until you get one that doesn’t feel punishing.

10. How to Upgrade Enchantments With Radiant Ember

Radiant Ember is a specific type of Ember item used to improve the power of an existing enchantment on gear — essentially pushing an enchantment closer to its maximum potential before exalting or using other enhancement systems. Radiant Ember increases an enchantment’s internal power %, which raises the displayed percentage effect when it crosses thresholds.

Use Radiant Embers to increase their internal power % so they’re near or at max roll (e.g., close to +15%, +40%, etc.).

11. How to Upgrade Gear to Max Level

Crafting stations

Once enchantments are set to your satisfaction and the item is corrupted, it remains at its base level. To bring it to max power, you must take it to Fillmore the Blacksmith to upgrade its item level.

Upgrading increases the base stats and interface roll ceilings. Do this after enchantments are finalized; upgrading too early can waste materials and force re-rolling of enchantments afterward.

The same applies for armor at the tailor shop (Meera & Mary) — upgrade it only after enchantments are decided.

12. How to Apply Gem Infusion

Gem infusion

After enchantments and upgrades are complete, it is time to choose a gem infusion. Go to Eleanor and buy the Gem you feel is perfect for your build. 

A gem infusion applies a static bonus based on the gem type and where it is slotted (weapon, armor, or accessory). For example, an Ice Infusion on a bow adds a cold damage focus, but the same gem in armor might add cold resistance. Gem effects are permanent; removing them requires destroying the item, so choose carefully.

13. Runes: Weapon Abilities

Multi Spin Rune

Runes are weapon abilities mapped to your action buttons (A, B, X, Y on a controller, for example). After finalizing enchantments and gem infusion, try out different runes. At Eleanor:

• You can add a rune to an empty slot.
• You can destroy a rune (weapon stays intact; rune lost).
• You can extract a rune (weapon destroyed; rune saved).

Extraction is reserved for when you are retiring a donor weapon and want to use its rune on another.

14. How to Exalt Items (Endgame)

Torn Marrow

Exalting is the final phase of gear optimization in No Rest for the Wicked. It lets you push individual enchantment values toward their maximum potential and make your weapon or armor significantly more powerful than a normal roll. This can be done at The Watcher, an endgame crafting station unlocked after completing the main campaign.

Exaltation Requirements

Before you can begin exalting an item:

1. Maximize the Item Level — Your weapon or armor must be upgraded to its maximum level (e.g., level 16 for tier-16 equipment).
2. Fill All Enchantment Slots — Make sure every possible enchantment slot has a stat (including the negative on plagued gear).
3. Insert Any Desired Gems — Gem infusions should be applied before exalting since exaltation locks the final stat profile.

Only items that meet all of these conditions can be exalted at The Watcher.

Step-By-Step Exalting Process

1. Travel to The Watcher – Head to The Watcher located at the top of Rookery Tower. This is the only NPC that handles exaltation.
2. Open the Exaltation Interface – Interact with The Watcher and open the Exalt menu. This will list eligible items that meet the requirements listed above.
3. Select Your Item – Choose the weapon or armor piece you want to exalt. Only items that are fully leveled, fully enchanted, and gem-infused will appear.
4. Exalt Individual Stats – In the exaltation menu, each enchantment on the item is listed with a current value and a projected exalted value. Exalting increases an enchantment’s value — typically by a set percentage (often around +25% per exalt). Each exalt applies to one specific stat or enchantment at a time.

You can exalt the same stat multiple times as long as materials are available. Stat values closer to their maximum potential cost less material to exalt; stats that are further from max require more.

The Watcher

How to Use Sublime Ember for Exalting

Sublime Ember is a special ember you can use to exalt your fully enchanted gear. It can only be used upto four times on an item. However, you cannot change enchantments on an item once you’ve used the Sublime Ember. You can find Sublime Ember from Vendors like Finley and Grinnich, from chests, fishing, digging, completing bounties, and from pestilence bosses’ loot. 

Torn Materials Used for Exaltation

Exalting requires special torn materials dropped mainly from Pestilence Outbreaks and certain endgame encounters. Torn materials include:

• Torn Sinew – Most common material; used for early exalts
• Torn Marrow – Moderate rarity; mid-tier exalt material
• Torn Husk – Rare; used for larger stat increases
• Torn Effigy – Rare; used for larger stat increases

All Exalt Levels

Each exaltation generally increases an enchantment’s value by a significant percentage, often allowing a stat to be pushed past its normal maximum cap. Each exalt attempt typically increases one stat or enchantment value, and you can keep applying materials to raise more stats.

• Exalt #1: 1 × Torn Sinew
• Exalt #2: 1 × Torn Sinew + 1 × Torn Marrow
• Exalt #3: 1 × Torn Sinew + 1 × Torn Marrow + 1 × Torn Husk
• Exalt #4: 2 × Torn Sinew + 2 × Torn Marrow + 2 × Torn Husk

Locations to Find Torn Materials

Pestilence zone

Torn resources are tied to Pestilence activity regardless of specific region, but the following areas are widely used for farming high‑tier torn resources and endgame loot:

• Shallows – One of the earliest Pestilence zones that can spawn and be farmed once unlocked.
• Mariner’s Keep – A mid‑map location that frequently hosts Pestilence events and strong enemies.
• Orban Glades – A mid‑tier area now useful for farming torn drops once Pestilence is active.
• Black Trench – Often included in daily farming rotations for Torn Sinew and Torn Marrow.
• Nameless Pass – Used both for crafting materials and high‑tier Pestilence loot.
• Lowland Meadows – Expanded area that becomes relevant for endgame farming as Pestilence spreads.
• Marin Woods – Another expanded campaign region that supports Pestilence content and materials farming.

Rotate through these zones at higher Pestilence levels (e.g., Tier 3–4 outbreaks) to maximize Torn Sinew, Torn Marrow, and Torn Husk drops from both standard enemies and Plagued Boss encounters.

Exalted items grant additional stats when maxed, and you can convert three of one material type into a higher tier (e.g., 3 x Torn Sinew → 1 Torn Husk) at The Watcher’s trade menu.

How to Create Pestilence Zones

After finishing the main campaign (Spilled Blood questline), Pestilence can spawn naturally in a zone with a cooldown (~24 hours per zone). Each area has its own timer until it can be infected again.

1. Find a bonfire/campfire in the area you want to infect.
2. Interact with it and choose “Burn/Offer” — an option to sacrifice items from your inventory.
3. Burn items (junk gear, materials, embers, Torn Resources, etc.) to start Pestilence in that zone. The more/better items you burn, the higher the challenge tier, which also improves rewards.

NOTE: Every time you “tier up” by burning resources, negative modifiers appear; at max (Tier 4), you can have multiple at once.

Pestilence Difficulty & Rewards Tuning

• Manual burning increases Pestilence difficulty and rewards — higher tiers = tougher enemies, more loot.
• Different items (Torn Materials, embers, etc.) increase severity and can add modifiers to the outbreak.
• Base-level Pestilence stays the same if you don’t burn additional items.

15. Crafting and Resource Tips

• Build consistent routes: When farming Fallen Embers, chests, and other resources, establish a loop — such as through Orban Glades and Nameless Pass — so you revisit the same areas efficiently.
• Combine farming with exploration: Many crafting materials are incidental drops. Clearing enemies and opening every chest in a zone increases your overall haul.
• Manage Ember use carefully: Because Fallen Embers are rare and used across enchanting, respecs, and endgame trials, plan your usage. Only reroll or add enchantments once you are confident in your stat goals.
• Check vendors every day: Vendors refresh their inventory daily and can sell crafting materials like research papers, which help unlock recipes and speed up progression.

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