It’s no secret that Path of Exile is one of the deepest and most extensive games in the ARPG genre. And with a game that deep – there’s no shortage of awesome tools to go along with it.
Perhaps one of the best known of these tools is the all too famous PoE Trade Macro add-on.
In today’s quick guide, we’ll be extending on our previous PoE Hotkeys guide to give you the low-down on how the macro works, what it’s used for, and how you can make the most of it to enhance your gameplay.
What Is The PoE Trade Macro & What Does It Do?
First and foremost, let’s get up close and personal with this little tool.
At its core, the PoE Trade Macro is a script that helps you loot, stash, and trade better in Path of Exile. But, here’s a slightly more detailed explanation – this tool does a stellar job at helping you identify the value behind particular items to price them accurately for sale. And overtop of this, if you’re keen on crafting, rolling, and upgrading your loot into mirror-worthy items, this tool is just the right macro to be your item data swiss-army-knife in PoE.
In turn, aside from researching items, affixes, rolls, probabilities, and other helpful info – the macro helps you make more currency.
How so – you might ask?
Well, it’s pretty simple! With the PoE Trade Macro, you’ll be pricing your items closer to their real value. And in most cases, making efficient use of the macro while you identify, dump, or vendor items will help you stop missing out on well-rolled loot between farming runs.
Here Are Some Of Its Features
So, now that we’ve got a slightly better idea of what PoE Trade Macro can do for you – let’s take a look at some of the key features and shortcuts (macros) that you’ll use in-game.
Bear in mind, I’ll only be covering the most important features that you’ll be using daily below. However, this macro features a tonne of capabilities, hotkeys, and helpful mini-tools to go alongside it – all to turn that efficiency dial way up when it comes to your PoE farming.
Item Information
As the first one on the feature list – this macro is one of the biggest and most important features of this entire tool.
Maybe you’re running a map, or maybe you’re just quickly sorting loot between runs – whatever the case, you can press Ctrl + C, and voila – you’ve got an entire drill down on the item.
From the item’s affixes and roll ranges to probabilities, stats, and even accurate pricing estimates – this hotkey gives you all the data you’ll ever need to quickly sort the trash from the treasure.
And when it comes to crafting bases, the Item Info function is an absolute godsend!
Advanced Item Information
While the general quick peek Item Info macro does the job fairly well in most cases – sometimes you just need that extra tidbit of information on a particular item and its stats.
Well, this is where this command (Ctrl + Alt + C) comes in handy!
It’s no secret that the regular info lookup can hit roadblocks when it comes to hybrid stats, being unable to categorize it correctly as an affix or suffix, or a hybrid roll. On the other hand, the advanced info macro takes care of these problems by making use of data from popular open-source item databases.
Note: This command seems to pull all of its information from pathof.info which is one of the most extensive item databases & simulators for Path of Exile.
Cross-League Search
Need to lookup an item’s price in standard instead of the current league? No problem! Just hit Ctrl + L and compare prices across all the different leagues you’re interested in.
With that said, here’s a quick tip: you can change your league outside of the game too!
When you first install the trade macro, your league will automatically be set to the current softcore trade league. You can change this in the Macro’s settings, accessed by right-clicking the macro’s app icon in your system tray.
Quick Search
If you’re less detail-oriented, and the rolls and affixes of your item don’t mean the world to you – then this function is likely to become your new best friend in PoE.
The quick search PoE Trade Macro Hotkey (Ctrl+D) allows you to grab the current average, lowest, and highest price for your item, using the item’s stats to estimate its potential trade value.
However, in all honesty, across the last 5 leagues – identifying rares via the Quick Search function has been a bit of a hit and miss. I strongly recommend that you stick to using this function for basic tradeable tidbits and reagents like divination cards, maps, unique gear, gems, and just about any item that doesn’t come with variable stats which may send the needle haywire.
But what if you need to identify the value of a particular good-looking rare that just dropped? That, dear reader, is where the Advanced Search function comes in handy.
Advanced Search
Unlike its much less detailed Quick Search Counterpart – the Advanced Search macro (Ctrl + Alt + D) allows you to focus the search around particular affixes, roll ranges, open stat slots, and so many more points of data that may contribute to the value of your item.
This helps you get an accurate valuation for your loot, without running the risk of possibly underselling your gear, or pawning off a mirror-worthy item at a pawn shop price.
And here’s the other nice bit, the trade macro automatically pops open your search on PoE.trade as well, to help you gauge the market a little better once you’ve picked out what stats you care about.
What Are Some Of The Shortcuts In This Tool?
Aside from its super handy suite of features and functions – PoE Trade Macro features a nifty bunch of shortcuts and hotkeys you can use to raise the QoL of your gameplay.
Here are just a few of those PoE Trade Macro Hotkeys:
- Item Search – Need to look up any item in the game on PoE Trade without the hassle of tabbing in and out of the game a million times? Just press Ctrl + I in-game.
- Age Of Listing – Not sure how long you’ve been selling an item for? Press Ctrl + E while hovering over an item to see its sale age.
- Item Wiki – Hit Cltr + W in-game to pull up a wiki page for the item or its base and learn more about it.
- Quick Hideout – Tired of typing out “/hideout” or trying to find the waypoint to TP there? Just press F5 and off you go!
- Stash & Vendor Lookup – Need a particular item base from your stash, a vendor, or just about any inventory interface throughout PoE? Hover over an item of the same base and press Ctrl + Alt + F to find items of the same base type.
How Can You Get The Macro Set Up?
Now that we’re practically experts when it comes to having a solid understanding of what the macro does and how to use it – let’s talk about the last bit of info you’ll need to get started with it in your own game.
Here are the 3 quick steps you’ll need to follow to install this tool:
- Install AutoHotkey (not a V2.X version) and extract the PoE Trade Macro ZIP archive somewhere on your PC.
- Change your PoE Video Settings to run the game in borderless windowed mode and run PoE Trade Macro.
- Change any tool-related settings to set it up how you like it and enjoy every ounce of awesomeness this tool has got to offer.
Are There Any Alternatives To PoE Trade Macro?
To no surprise, since this tool took off on such a big note – many other community members have been sharing their take on item identification, pricing, and trading tool suites.
One of the better ones that has recently been crowned as the vastly improved version of this macro, as well as the one I personally use in PoE, is the PoE Overlay by Kyusung4698.
It builds over top of the good points that PoE Trade Macro boasts, and improves in areas that it falls short in. And hey – having access to a wealth of extra information like item pricing distribution, price trends, and other relevant data is definitely a nice bonus too!
Aside from that, you’ve also got the slightly newer and fresher Awakened PoE Trade which brings in a number of QoL features and support for some of the newer league content, as well as bringing data in from PoE.ninja.
Closing Thoughts
And there you have it folks – our quick and easy guide to everything you’ll need to know about PoE Trade Macro. From what this tool is and what it does to why you should use it and the steps to get started, we’ve given you the low down on every nook and cranny of this handy script.
Now it’s time for you to get it set up, get farming, and make some serious bank in PoE Heist League – see you next time!
