The Blood gloves recipe
Blood gloves are one of the 36 Horadric Cube crafting recipes. Like every craft, the recipe is a magic (blue) base + a rune + a perfect gem + any jewel:
- Base: magic Heavy Gloves, Sharkskin Gloves or Vampirebone Gloves (normal / exceptional / elite versions of the same glove family)
- Rune: Nef (#4)
- Gem: Perfect Ruby
- Jewel: any jewel, any quality — its stats do not carry over
Every pair comes out with three fixed (preset) mods:
- 5-10% Chance of Crushing Blow — the reason these gloves exist. CB cannot roll on rare gloves at all; Blood gloves are the only gloves in the game that can have it.
- 1-3% Life Stolen per Hit
- +10-20 to Life
On top of that, the craft rolls 1-4 random rare affixes — the higher the output item level, the more affixes: ilvl 51-70 gives 3-4 affixes, and ilvl 71+ always gives the full four. Crafted items follow rare-item rules throughout, and Larzuk will only ever give them one socket.
Best base: Sharkskin vs Vampirebone vs Heavy
All three bases produce the same fixed mods, but they are not equal:
- Vampirebone Gloves (elite) — the default choice: 56-65 defense, level requirement 47, and elite bases have the ilvl headroom you want for top affixes.
- Sharkskin Gloves (exceptional) — perfectly fine and slightly lower requirements; a "blood crafted sharkskin gloves" roll with the right affixes loses only a little defense to Vampirebone.
- Heavy Gloves (normal) — not worth the gem. Same mods, but the base defense and prestige of the finished item are far lower, and resale value follows the base.
Where to get blue bases: gamble gloves on a high-level character, or farm high-ilvl zones (Hell Chaos Sanctuary, Worldstone Keep and other high-level areas from our farming spots guide) and keep every blue Sharkskin/Vampirebone pair you see.
Crafting levels: the ilvl breakpoints that matter
The output item level of a craft is ilvl = (character level / 2) + (base ilvl / 2), and the output's affix level decides which affixes can roll. The two chase affixes sit at affix level 40 and 43:
- +2 to Javelin and Spear Skills (Spearmaiden's prefix, alvl 40) — unlocks with ilvl 76+ bases on a clvl 66+ character.
- +20% Increased Attack Speed (of Alacrity suffix, alvl 43) — needs a slightly higher output; clvl 72+ with an ilvl 76+ base covers it.
Practical rules: always craft gloves on your highest-level character, never a low-level mule — a low clvl can push the output below the affix thresholds no matter how good the base is. And prefer ilvl 76+ bases so both breakpoints stay reachable. For the full formula and the same breakpoints for rings, amulets and belts, see our crafting guide.
What to roll for (the 2/20 chase)
A perfect Blood gloves roll for a Javazon combines the fixed CB with four strong affixes. In priority order:
- +2 to Javelin and Spear Skills — the build-enabling prefix; Bowazons take +2 Bow and Crossbow (Bowyer's) instead.
- 20% IAS — gloves are a key IAS slot for reaching attack breakpoints.
- 3% mana leech (of the Bat) and a second 3% life leech (of the Leech) — the latter stacks with the preset to 6% total.
- 10% Crushing Blow on the fixed roll — the difference between 5% and 10% CB is a real damage jump against bosses.
- Resistances, strength, dexterity — the classic padding stats that turn a good pair into a trade trophy.
A clean 2/20 with useful leech and resists is one of the most valuable crafted items in the game — check current prices on the platforms in our trading sites guide before you settle.
Blood gloves not working? Every cause, checked
If the transmute button does nothing, it's one of these:
- Wrong base color. The gloves must be magic (blue). Rare, set, unique and white/gray/socketed gloves will not craft.
- Wrong base type. Only Heavy Gloves, Sharkskin Gloves and Vampirebone Gloves work. Light Gauntlets, Gauntlets and every other glove type belong to different recipes.
- Wrong gem quality. It must be a Perfect Ruby — Flawless and lower do nothing. Cube three flawless gems up first if you have to.
- Wrong rune. Nef (#4) for Blood gloves. Ort is Hit Power gloves, Ith is Safety — easy to mix up when batch-crafting.
- Missing jewel. Any jewel works, but one must be in the cube.
If the recipe worked but the result looks bad, that's not a bug — the fixed mods always roll, and the random affixes are exactly that: random. Batch-crafting a dozen bases is the normal way to fish for 2/20.
Blood gloves vs Hit Power gloves
The two glove crafts share the same chase affixes but different fixed mods, and they serve different builds:
- Blood gloves (Nef + Perfect Ruby, Heavy/Sharkskin/Vampirebone): Crushing Blow + life leech + life. The Javazon and melee choice — CB is boss-killing damage you can't get on gloves anywhere else.
- Hit Power gloves (Ort + Perfect Sapphire, Chain Gloves / Heavy Bracers / Vambraces): knockback plus a Frost Nova proc when struck. The classic Bowazon craft — knockback keeps enemies at arrow range.
Rule of thumb: spears and bosses → Blood; bows and knockback → Hit Power. Many Amazons craft both and swap per farm route.