Path of Exile Item Upgrades
Item upgrades are a common and important way to improve the performance of numerous items in Path of Exile. They can be a good source of damage or more AD or even more attachments.
Rare-grade equipment is often superior to modernized Common or Magic equipment due to their high demands.
Armor
Armor upgrades are a kind of upgrade that can be applied to armor and weapon items. They increase the stats of whatever item they are connected to. Armor upgrades can be found in the world of games and can be purchased from Blacksmiths at bonfires. Alternately, they can be salvaged from items with upgrade components inside them, using a specialist or more powerful salvage kit.
The level of an armor's or weapon's upgrade determines the amount of damage it will take on. Upgrading a piece of armor to maximum upgrade level will boost its ability to absorb damage. It's important to remember that this will increase the weight of the armor, which means it must be heavier.
There are a few different types of armor upgrades available in the game, and they all have distinct effects. Certain upgrades give armor an additional number of health points while others make it lighter and more powerful. The kind of armor upgrade an item can get is indicated by the name of the upgrade, as illustrated in the table below.
Some of the upgrades also require magic or a combination of technology and magic, as identified by the "Magic" and "Hybrids" entries in the table. Furthermore, some upgrades require charges to use, which is identified by an "Charges" entry in the table below. These charges are either constantly updated or never expire depending on the upgrade.
The cheapest method to upgrade armor is by using Iron Ore, which can be gathered through exploring the surroundings and looting small loot chests. Titanium is more expensive but can be found at the smelters of Orgrimmar and Stormwind City. Certain upgrades, like the Reforge and the Hot Potato Books, can only be applied to high level armor pieces. These upgrades can provide significant improvements in stats and are definitely worth the cost.
The player must be aware that upgrading a piece up to the max upgrade level will boost its defense. However, it can also reduce its agility and speed. It is not recommended to upgrade armor beyond +9. The added defense generally isn't worth the weight and power costs of the upgrades.
Weapons
Weapon upgrades allow players to increase the effectiveness of specific aspects of an weapon. For example an upgrade can improve the damage that is caused by shotgun shells or the accuracy of the rifle sniper. Certain weapons come with special upgrades to improve their inherent characteristics. Frictionless materials (improves stability, and reduces the risk of overheating), and Kinetic coils (increases the projectile's acceleration for greater damage) are two examples.
Most upgrades for weapons require one of three Power Dices, a different amount of Minerals and Erons and a whetblade for applying. These can be obtained by completing Side Quests, killing a certain number of bosses or monsters, or through the Weapon Upgrade NPC in Central Flarine.
To upgrade an equipment set, weapon piece, or Whetblade, you must visit the NPC [Armor] Boboko located in Central Flarine, and pay her an upgrade fee of a specific number of Bars. The higher the upgrade level, the higher the number of bars required to complete it. The cost of the upgrades will be lower if you have more than one of the upgrade materials.
In Chapter 2: Season 5 the way you upgrade weapon and equipment sets has changed a bit. In the past you could go to an Upgrade Bench and pay a set amount of Bars to upgrade your weapon or equipment to a higher level of rarity. You could do this until you reach a maximum upgrade level for the weapon or equipment, after which the upgrades would be reset.
You can still do this, but the process is based on RNG and low on agency. Instead, you're much better off visiting stores and purchasing equipment that has low upgrade levels but excellent base scores and stat distributions. These will have a better chance of bringing you the most prestigious bonuses and blessings.
To improve their skills faster, many players be more inclined to upgrade their weapons. Players should also upgrade the weapons that their teammates use to make them stronger. Shepard for instance should upgrade items his M92F to unlock the Beretta M93R. This will increase the effectiveness of the weapon when used in conjunction by biotic specialists like Grunt and Tali.
Jewels
Jewels can be used to increase a stat or provide secondary effects on weapons and armor. They can be made through an process known as jewelry crafting, which is where you combine a gem and several reagents at a jewelry table. The higher the grade of the gemstone is, the greater its secondary effect. These reagents can be obtained from Treasure Goblins and World Bosses in the world, or by finding Legendary Gear. You can also purchase them from The Jeweler in exchange for gold and Scattered Prisms.
The Jeweler can boost the quality of a gem in stages ranging from Crude up to Royal. The stat boosts will vary depending on the level the jewel is at when it's slotted into jewelry, weapons or equipment.
The Jeweler can craft the highest levels of gems except for the rare and legendary ones, which you must attain a certain level to get. Jewels can be replaced with another one without damaging the original. However, you can only replace a jewel in an item of equipment only once.
It is normal to use more jewels for aesthetic reasons. The jewels also improve performance and make a surface harder than steel, so that the repeated friction from pivots does not cause damage to them.
A Glyphmaster can offer glyphs to improve the appearance of your shields and weapons. These glyphs provide a small boost and can be swapped, but they are not guaranteed to be available as loot. Glyphs are like jewelry and can be upgraded at the Jeweler in exchange for Scattered Crystals and gold. Glyphs may also be removed and returned to the inventory. Other upgrade components like traits or aegis can't be swapped, and can only be retrieved through an upgrade extractor or salvaging using a Black Lion Salvage Kit, or Ascended Salvage tool.
Trinkets
Trinkets are small pieces of equipment that provide a wide range of small but useful advantages to your hero. They can be obtained in the areas of starting as loot or personal story rewards from vendors, and by performing road interactions. They may also be crafted by jewelers, and then found or purchased at the Trading Post.
The first trinkets that a player is able to unlock is the cloak. It grants a small but useful bonus to speed of movement and evasion. After that, they can acquire rings, amulets, and necklaces in the same way to how a player can acquire armor and weapons. Each piece of equipment comes with one upgrade slot that can accept either a universal or a jewel upgrade. Universal upgrades are smaller and are able to be used on any device. Jewels are not upgradeable or replaced and only work with certain trinkets.
These trinkets can also grant buffs and skills that are active even when the character is not in combat. This allows the hero to become more efficient even when not in combat. It can also make up for the lack of a excellent team or talent tree slots which would normally be filled by the hero's optimal stats.
A good general rule of thumb for trinket upgrades is to prioritize BiS (Best item upgrader-in-Slot) items that you won't be replacing soon, followed by any items with desirable stats but less important than the iLevel of the item upgrading being upgraded. This is especially true when an item upgrade (our website) has multiple stats you'd like to upgrade as it's often better to upgrade just one important stat rather than two sub-optimal ones.
In the beginning of the game junglers will usually want to upgrade their yellow trinket into a red one, while top and middle players will usually opt for a green or pink ward (depending on the matchup). These choices will have a significant impact on the hero's abilities to control maps.
In addition to the items mentioned above, players can also discover other trinkets in form of rewards and trophies throughout the game. These can be earned through completing certain milestones within the story. For instance, finishing a chapter’s main quest or beating an opponent. These can be viewed by selecting the relevant achievement from the reward tab of the hero menu.