Experimental items in Last Epoch are a special category of gear that feature unique "experimental affixes"—powerful hybrid modifiers not found elsewhere in the game. These affixes provide significant bonuses that can greatly enhance certain builds, especially in endgame content, making experimental items highly sought after by players aiming to optimize their characters Last Epoch Gold.

What Are Experimental Items?
Experimental items always contain at least one experimental affix, which can include effects such as:
1. A percentage of Armor mitigating incoming damage over time (DoT)
2. Gaining Ward on kill and increased Ward Decay Threshold
3. Gaining Haste for a short duration after using traversal skills
4. Increased Dodge Rating or Minion Damage
5. Increased Mana Regeneration
These affixes are exclusive to gloves, boots, and belts, and an item can have only one experimental affix. While these bonuses may seem niche during leveling, they become extremely powerful when combined with endgame crafting.

How to Obtain Experimental Items
Experimental items drop exclusively from Exiled Mages, minibosses trapped in Rune Prisons scattered throughout the campaign and Monolith of Fate encounters. Defeating an Exiled Mage guarantees at least one experimental item drop, identifiable by a distinctive blue-colored affix. Players typically farm these bosses to acquire experimental gear and crafting materials.

Crafting and Upgrading Experimental Affixes
A key crafting material called the Rune of Research allows players to "lock" an experimental affix onto an item, freeing up affix slots for additional modifiers. This is crucial for maximizing gear efficiency. Using a Glyph of Insight—crafted by sealing experimental affixes with Runes of Research—players can forge experimental affixes onto non-experimental gloves, boots, and belts, provided the item has an open prefix slot.

The process of adding experimental affixes via Glyphs of Insight is deterministic, meaning the affix you receive depends on specific item conditions such as item level, tiers, or forging potential. This allows expert crafters to target desired experimental affixes by tuning their gear before applying the Glyph.

Exalted Experimental Items
Within the Circle of Fortune faction, rare items can upgrade to Exalted rarity, which can include experimental affixes with higher-tier stats (Tier 6 and Tier 7). This upgrade path enables players to obtain some of the most powerful experimental affixes on Exalted and Legendary gear, further enhancing build potential buy Last Epoch Gold.

Summary
Experimental items in Last Epoch add a unique layer of depth to gear customization, offering exclusive affixes that significantly boost performance in late-game content. Obtained by defeating Exiled Mages and refined through advanced crafting with Runes of Research and Glyphs of Insight, these items are essential for players seeking to push their characters to the highest levels of power and efficiency.