TL;DR
- Bandit quest offers permanent character bonuses across three difficulty tiers
- Choose between Kraityn’s defensive/charge benefits or Alira’s elemental/speed advantages
- Each choice significantly impacts late-game build viability and performance
- Strategic selection requires understanding your character’s scaling mechanics
- Respec options exist but require significant currency investment
The Bandit questline represents one of Path of Exile‘s most impactful early-game decisions, providing permanent stat bonuses that shape your character’s development trajectory. Unlike temporary gear upgrades, these rewards persist throughout your entire playthrough, making them essential for long-term build optimization.
Initiating this pivotal quest involves conversing with Eramir at the Forest Encampment or directly engaging with the bandit leaders themselves. You’ll encounter three distinct completion opportunities across different difficulty levels, each offering unique reward packages. Some encounters may even yield valuable PoE Currency drops alongside the permanent bonuses, adding immediate economic value to your decision.
Strategic planning is paramount since your choices dramatically influence build effectiveness. For critical strike-focused characters, certain rewards provide exponential damage scaling that can’t be replicated through gear alone.
Kraityn operates from The Wetlands, accessible through The Riverways entrance. His reward structure emphasizes defensive capabilities and charge generation, making him ideal for tankier builds or those utilizing endurance charges.
• Normal Difficulty: +40 Base Life – This substantial health pool increase provides exceptional survivability for melee characters and hardcore league players
• Cruel: +18% Physical Damage – A significant damage boost for physical attack builds using weapons or melee skills
• Merciless: +1 Max Endurance Charge – Enables higher damage reduction uptime through enduring cry and charge-generating skills
Juggernaut and Slayer ascendancies particularly benefit from Kraityn’s offerings, as they synergize with both the defensive and offensive components.
Alira’s domain lies at the Broken Bridge, reached through Old Fields. Her bonuses focus on elemental resistance and action speed, catering to evasion-based and elemental damage builds.
• Normal Difficulty: +8% to all elemental resistances – Crucial for overcoming elemental weakness curses and reducing gear resistance requirements
• Cruel: 8% Attack Speed – Substantially improves clear speed for attack-based builds and synergizes with onslaught effects
• Merciless: +1 Max Frenzy Charge – Provides both damage and attack speed multipliers for sustained DPS increases
Raider and Deadeye ascendancies gain exceptional value from Alira’s rewards, as frenzy charge generation forms their core damage scaling mechanism.

Selecting optimal bandit rewards requires analyzing your character’s primary damage scaling methods. Critical strike builds typically favor Alira for the mana regeneration and critical multiplier, while life-based melee characters often prefer Kraityn’s raw defensive power.
Common mistakes include choosing rewards based on immediate needs rather than long-term scaling. The +40 life from Kraityn seems substantial early but becomes less impactful with percentage-based life increases from the passive tree. Similarly, resistance bonuses become less valuable as you acquire better gear.
Advanced players should consider their complete Class Guide strategy before committing, as respecing requires five regret orbs per difficulty – a significant PoE Currency investment. For comprehensive build planning, consult our Complete Guide for detailed mechanics.
Charge-based builds almost always benefit from the maximum charge increases, as each additional charge provides both offensive and defensive multipliers that scale throughout the endgame.
Action Checklist
- Analyze your build’s primary scaling mechanics (life, charges, critical strikes)
- Consult build guides to determine optimal bandit choice for your ascendancy
- Complete quest at Normal difficulty with planned reward selection
- Re-evaluate choice before Cruel and Merciless difficulties
- Farm necessary currency for potential respec using our Weapons Unlock strategies
No reproduction without permission:GameCDjnh » How Do Bandits Get Rewards from Path of Exile Master the Bandit quest rewards system and optimize your Path of Exile character builds effectively
