PoE 2 crafting has this funny way of making you feel smart and broke at the same time, especially when you're chasing a mirror-tier minion Rattling Sceptre. You start by hunting a base with the Spirit line you actually care about, because reservation is always tight in real builds. If you're planning to burn PoE 2 Currency on something, it might as well be a base that can carry the whole project. The catch is the fracture step: you can't fracture a clean item, so you pad it out to four mods first, usually with a bench craft like Desecrate, then take the shot and hope the Spirit mod is the one that sticks.
Locking the Base
That fracture roll is the emotional rollercoaster. When it hits, you've basically bought yourself permission to keep going; when it misses, you're not "salvaging," you're shopping again. And you feel it, because bases aren't free and time isn't either. People underestimate how much of "high-end crafting" is just setting up a platform that won't collapse later. A fractured Spirit line is that platform. Without it, every later step is a gamble stacked on another gamble, and the odds get ugly fast.
The Chaos Wall
After the fracture, it's back to the oldest habit in the book: Chaos spam until the item finally shows you the right prefix, the big one, +4 to Level of all Minion Skills. This is the part where your patience gets tested. You'll roll plenty of almost-good items that still aren't it. Most players quit here, or they settle and pretend it's fine. But if you're serious, you keep going until you see the +4 and you stop immediately, because now the craft changes from "roll" to "control."
Omens and Safer Slams
Once you've got the fractured Spirit and the +4 prefix, Omens are where PoE 2 starts feeling like a different game. With Omen of Dextral Exaltation, the next Exalted Orb is pushed into a suffix, which means you can chase minion attack/cast speed without accidentally stuffing a prefix slot and wrecking your plan. The really comforting loop, though, is Omen of Light with an Orb of Annulment: you add a Desecrated mod on purpose, slam, and if the slam lands on junk, you can annul the Desecrated part instead of playing "please don't delete my +4." Omen of Sinistral Crystallisation then helps peel off unwanted prefixes when you're tightening the final layout, so you're not forced to reroll the whole weapon.
What You're Paying For
That's why finished sceptres with huge Spirit, +4, and clean speed suffixes end up priced in multiple Mirrors: the cost isn't only the currency, it's the number of controlled attempts it took to land the right hits. If you're trying this yourself, you'll quickly notice the craft doesn't fail on one big mistake, it fails on a dozen small ones—using an omen at the wrong time, filling the wrong slot, panicking and slamming anyway. And if you're short on materials mid-process, some players top up through marketplaces like U4GM, since it's a straightforward way to grab currency or items and keep the crafting session moving instead of stalling out for days.