View source for Guide:Crafting Cubing and Socketing v1.10, by Uzziah

==Imbuing==

Imbuing is the act 1 quest reward that charsi gives. It takes a normal quality item and makes it a rare quality item.  The imbue quest can not be used by a char with a level lower than 8. 

The imbue quest sets the ilvl to character level plus four. In equation form
* clvl + 4 = ilvl
Once you get your item level you're not quite done. The alvl needs to be determined so that you can get your affixes. From another thread RTB posted this:

Originally Posted by Hammerman
<blockquote>
You need the quality level (can be found in the armor.txt / weapons.txt / etc.) and the magic_lvl to determine the affix level (alvl) with the following algorithm:

If (ilvl>99) then {ilvl=99}<br>
if (qlvl>ilvl) then {ilvl=qlvl}<br>
if (magic_lvl>0) then {alvl=ilvl+magic_lvl}<br>
else<br>
{<br>
if (ilvl<(99-qlvl/2))<br>
then {alvl=ilvl-qlvl/2}<br>
else {alvl=2*ilvl-99}<br>
}<br>
If (alvl>99) then {alvl=99}<br></blockquote>

I only mention this here because it needs to be introduced and this is the first section of rerolling.

There are varying views on the imbue quest do you just use it immediately or do you hold it. I have seen both ways used and have my own opinion of it but I don't feel its right to express that here.

Using it right away guarantees you a rare of your choice of item. This can be beneficial when playing untwinked. However, that item will be based on your current character level and thus the affixes allowed will be lower than they could be.

Saving the imbue quest for later allows you to get better affixes at the character level you desire. However, often people forget about the quest or they already found rare/unique/set items that can be greater than the imbue so they feel it's a waste to get the imbue.

On a personal note I like to use my imbue with exceptional belts such as demonhide sashes. I tend to find a lot of the normal quality exceptional belts in act 5 normal, and tend to see a rare belt stay with my characters for a long time. I also use it to gain hard-to-get staffmods (see staffmod section).