Sharpening Your Arsenal: A Guide to Using Blacksmith's Whetstones Effectively

[Jerry]

In Path of Exile 2, Blacksmith's Whetstones are an essential currency item used to improve the quality of martial weapons. Increasing a weapon’s quality directly boosts its physical damage, making it a fundamental step in optimizing your damage output—especially for melee and physical-based builds. Understanding how to acquire and use Blacksmith's Whetstones effectively can significantly enhance your combat performance.

What Are Blacksmith's Whetstones?

Blacksmith's Whetstones increase the quality of martial weapons, which include one-handed and two-handed axes, maces, swords, bows, crossbows, claws, flails, spears, and quarterstaffs. Unlike the original Path of Exile, PoE 2 categorizes these weapons under the term "martial weapons," excluding staves, wands, and sceptres. Each percentage increase in quality grants a multiplicative bonus to the weapon’s base physical damage, making your attacks hit harder.

How to Obtain Blacksmith's Whetstones

There are several ways to acquire Blacksmith's Whetstones:

Random Drops: Enemies drop Blacksmith's Whetstones randomly, with some maps offering higher drop rates.

Salvaging Quality Weapons: Once you unlock the Salvage Bench by completing the "Finding the Forge" side quest in Act One, you can dismantle weapons that have quality to obtain Blacksmith's Whetstones. This method is reliable and allows you to convert unwanted quality weapons into valuable crafting materials.

Vendors: Some vendors sell quality weapons that you can buy and salvage for whetstones. Using the vendor search function with the keyword “quality” helps locate suitable items quickly.

Strongboxes and League Mechanics: Weapon-specific strongboxes and certain league mechanics like Delve, Heist, and Blight can reward Blacksmith's Whetstones.

If you prefer to avoid farming, you can buy poe 2 currency, including whetstones, from other players or trading platforms to save time and speed up your progression.

How to Use Blacksmith's Whetstones

Applying a Blacksmith's Whetstone to a martial weapon increases its quality by a small percentage, up to a maximum of 20%. Achieving maximum quality grants a substantial 20% more physical damage, which is multiplicative and greatly enhances your weapon’s effectiveness. You can use whetstones on any martial weapon regardless of rarity—normal, magic, rare, or unique.

It is generally best to apply Blacksmith's Whetstones to rare or unique weapons with strong base stats or beneficial modifiers. For example, upgrading a weapon like the Quill Rain or Pillar of the Caged God with whetstones can significantly boost your damage output.

Strategic Tips

Focus on weapons you plan to keep long-term, as quality improvements are permanent.

Avoid wasting whetstones on temporary or weak weapons.

Salvage all quality weapons you find to maintain a consistent supply.

Consider browsing poe 2 currency for sale online if you want to bulk up on crafting resources like whetstones without extensive farming.

Blacksmith's Whetstones are a vital resource in Path of Exile 2 for enhancing your martial weapons’ damage potential. By understanding how to obtain and use them efficiently, you can sharpen your arsenal and elevate your combat performance. Whether you’re progressing through the campaign or pushing into endgame content, weapon quality is a core factor in building a powerful character.