InPath of Exile, item modifiers play a critical role in shaping your character’s build and power. One of the more obscure but interesting suffixes you may encounter when identifying gear is the enigmatic ‘of the Horsefly.’ This modifier may seem minor at first glance, but understanding its behavior, rarity, and strategic value can help you decide whether to keep, reroll, or vendortrash items that bear it. Exploring how ‘of the Horsefly’ works, its impact (or lack thereof) on builds, and what options players have when encountering it provides clarity for both new and veteran Exiles.
What Is of the Horsefly?
‘of the Horsefly’ is a generic mod that can appear as a suffix on magic or rare items in Path of Exile. It falls under the category of whimsical or placeholder mods rather than powerful explicit modifiers that benefit your character directly. Encountering this mod typically means you have an item with flavor text or filler modifiers but without significant utility.
Origin and Rarity
- ‘of the Horsefly’ has no functional effect on stats like resistances, damage, or life.
- It appears mostly on lowtier magic items or as part of early game gear drops.
- Because it provides no benefit, it’s considered a junk or decorative suffix by most players.
Despite its name, there is no known lore connection to lore or content; instead, it likely represents an aesthetic or humorous touch added by the game developers.
Gameplay Impact and Strategy
Since ‘of the Horsefly’ offers no gameplay benefits, its practical impact on your character is minimal. However, knowing how to treat it in terms of management and decisionmaking can save inventory space and currency.
What to Do If You Find It
- In early leveling, ignore it or vend it for minor currency.
- Later on, avoid using crafting currency on such items they offer no benefit.
- If the item has desirable implicit or other mods aside from this suffix, consider bench marking it or rerolling other affixes.
In other words: it’s best treated as a placeholder suffix fun, but not functional.
Why Keep Items with of the Horsefly Occasionally?
Some players may wonder if there is ever a reason to hold onto an item with ‘of the Horsefly.’ While the modifier itself does nothing beneficial, the item could still have valuable implicit mods, sockets, quality or be useful for other crafting or leveling purposes.
Potential Value of the Item
- Good for early leveling if the base type is strong.
- May serve as a vendor recipe donor or skill tree save item.
- Rerolling tools (e.g. Essences) could overwrite the suffix if you aim for better stats.
Thus, don’t dismiss an item immediately just because it has this suffix; evaluate the other properties carefully.
Rerolling and Crafting Alternatives
If you’re working toward optimizing gear, encountering ‘of the Horsefly’ is a cue that the item is far from ideal. Instead of keeping it, consider rerolling through any of the following methods:
- Use Alterations or Augmentor orbs to replace unwanted suffixes.
- In early game, using Augmented shards to swap mods quickly.
- Later, strong crafting can overwrite or remove meaningless suffixes completely.
These steps make it easy to turn junk affixes like ‘of the Horsefly’ into something useful, especially when targeting high-tier mods.
Comparison with Other Filler Modifiers
of the Horsefly is not alone. Players may also find similar suffixes such as ‘of the Mouse’, ‘of the Weasel’, or ‘of the Crow’. These filler names share the same pattern: aesthetic only, no functional gameplay benefit.
Common Traits of Filler Mods
- All belong to filler or humoristic suffix groups.
- No impact on character performance, resistances, or stats.
- Often appear on lowitem level gear or unidentified gear drops.
Recognizing them helps streamline loot decisions once you see a whimsical suffix, you know to focus on core stats.
Psychology Behind Hoarding or Deleting
Many players report hoarding items with strange suffixes, either out of nostalgia or for novelty. While charming, holding onto dozens of ‘of the Horsefly’ items serves no practical use. It’s wise to periodically clear inventory of these unless a specific item’s base or other mods remain valuable.
When It Might Be Fun to Keep Them
- Novelty or collection hoards of unusual suffixes.
- Social sharing screen shots or stash showoff humor.
- Templating preserve a bench for future fillermod crafting builds.
But for serious build planning, they remain a curiosity rather than an asset.
Concluding Thoughts
‘of the Horsefly’ may seem like a peculiar artifact in your Path of Exile inventory, but its presence says more about the game’s loot variety than anything else. It’s a harmless, flavor-driven suffix with no gameplay effect. Learning to recognize and swiftly move on from it helps streamline your crafting focus and keep your inventory organized. Whether you discard it immediately or keep one or two for collection purposes, ‘of the Horsefly’ is ultimately a harmless footnote in the vast tapestry of PoE item modifiers.