Help Crafting Star of Wraeclast, plox

I have the unique ruby ring and an onyx amulet. I've even leveled 3 lightning warps to 19 before vaal orbing them (just in case it bumps it to 20), leveled them to 20 and no use! Does lightning warp need to be level 20 BEFORE you vaal it? Or does lightning warp have to pop from a corrupted gem strongbox? I've been looking for clarification with no luck aside from someone on reddit saying it needs to be a level 20 corrupted lightning warp (Vaal lightning warp won't do). Doesn't vaal orbing a gem always turn it into a vaal "whatever gem"?

I've only created one of the Stars myself and I bought a clean level 20 Lightning Warp gem off of another player and then vaaled it.

I can at least confirm that it does work with a gem that was level 20 before it was corrupted.
I never actually thought about vaaling a level 19 gem to take the chance on +1 level.

"

Fierytengoku wrote:

Doesn't vaal orbing a gem always turn it into a vaal "whatever gem"?

I don't think so.
If there's a Vaal version of that gem available then getting the Vaal gem is a possibility when corrupting, otherwise it's just the regular options.

Awesome, thanks for the input! I'll just have to wait another level for my current LW to hit 20 and pray to the RNG gods the vaal doesn't decide to bump it to 21, ha.

Dude, it's so much easier than you seem to think....

Just buy lightning warp from a vendor and corrupt it. If it turns to VLW, toss it and try again. If not, level it. You don't have to wait for "luck" after arduously going through the process of leveling a gem to 20.

Thanks for that helpful input. I wasn't sure if the gem HAD to be lvl 20 before it was corrupted or not.

"

Fierytengoku wrote:

Thanks for that helpful input. I wasn't sure if the gem HAD to be lvl 20 before it was corrupted or not.

... no. The game doesn't track that sort of information, at all. A corrupted gem levels normally.

Good to know, thanks. The More You Know *Rainbow-trailed Star Streaks By*