Path of Exile Item Upgrades
Upgrades to items are a frequent and crucial method to enhance the performance of many items in Path of Exile. They can be a good source of damage and more AD or even more affixes.
Often times however, upgraded Common and Magic gear is beaten out by Rare-grade gear because of their high requirements.
Armor
Armor upgrades can be applied to both weapon and armor items. They increase the effectiveness of the item upgrade that they are attached to. Upgrades to armor can be found in the world of the game and can be purchased from Blacksmiths at bonfires. They can also be salvaged by using a specialist or higher salvage kits to retrieve upgrades from the items.
The amount of damage that a piece of armor or weapon is able to absorb is dependent on the level of its upgrades. Upgrading a piece of armor to maximum upgrade level will boost its ability to absorb damage. It is important to note that this will increase the weight of the armor, therefore it should be heavier.
There are several types of armor upgrades available in the game, and they all have different effects. For instance, some upgrades will grant the armor a certain number of health points while others will make it lighter and stronger. The name of the armor upgrade will indicate the kind of upgrade that an item will receive, as shown below.
Certain upgrades require magic or a hybrid technology and magic, as shown by the "Magic" and "Hybrids" entries in the table. Certain upgrades require charges in order to be used. These are identified as "Charges" entries in the table. The charges associated with these upgrades refresh daily or never expire dependent on the upgrade.
Iron Ore is the cheapest method to upgrade your armor. It can be found by exploring and looting small loot chests. Titanium is more expensive but is readily available in the smelters of Orgrimmar and Stormwind City. Certain upgrades, like the Reforge or the Hot Potato Books can only be applied to high-level armor pieces. These upgrades can give a significant improvements in stats and are well worth the cost.
The player should be aware that upgrading a piece to its maximum upgrade level can boost its defense. However, it will also reduce the speed and agility of the piece. Therefore, it is typically not recommended to upgrade the majority of armor pieces beyond +9, since the added defense is typically not worth the extra weight and power costs of the upgrades needed.
Weapons
Weapon upgrades give players the ability to improve certain aspects of their weapon. Upgrades can boost the accuracy of a rifle, or the damage that shotgun shells do. Certain firearms also have upgrades that improve their innate characteristics. They include Frictionless Materials (improves stability and reduces the risk of the risk of overheating) and Kinetic Coils (increases projectile acceleration for more damage).
The majority of weapon upgrades require the use of a whetblade, or one of the three Power Dices and a different amount of Minerals and Erons. These can be obtained by completing Side Quests or killing a certain amount of bosses and monsters.
To upgrade a weapon, equipment set piece, or Whetblade you need to visit the NPC [Armor] Boboko located in Central Flarine, and pay her an upgrade fee that is a certain amount of bars. The more bars required to complete an upgrade the higher the level. If you have multiple upgrade materials The cost of upgrading will be less.
In Chapter 2: Season 5 the way you upgrade your weapon and sets has changed. Previously you could go to an Upgrade Bench and pay a certain number of Bars to upgrade items your weapon or equipment to an increased quality. You could continue doing this until you reach a maximum upgrade level for your equipment or weapon, after which upgrades would reset.
You can still do this, but the process is based on RNG and low on agency. Instead, you're better off visiting stores and buying gear that has low upgrade levels but good base scores and stat distributions. These items have a greater chance of giving you the highest tier benefits and blessings.
To level up faster, most players will prioritize upgrading their weapons. In addition, players should consider upgrading the weapons that are most popular with their squadmates to make them more powerful and effective. Shepard, for example should upgrade his M92F to unlock the Beretta M93R. This will increase the effectiveness of the weapon when used in conjunction with biotic specialists such as Grunt and Tali.
Jewels
Jewels are used in the armor's sockets and weapons, increasing the power of a character and bringing about secondary effects. They can be created through a process called jewelry crafting, in which you combine a gem with various ingredients at a table for jewelry. The higher the level of the gemstone has, the more powerful its secondary effect. These reagents can be obtained from Treasure Goblins and World Bosses all over the world, or through salvaging Legendary Gear. You can also purchase them from The Jeweler for gold and a Scattered Prism.
The quality of a diamond can be improved by the Jeweler, with stages that vary from Crude to Royal. The stat boosts will vary depending on the level the jewel is in when it is inserted into weapons, jewelry, or gear.
All kinds of jewels are crafted at the Jeweler however, there are some exceptions to this, such as the rare and legendary jewels which require you to be at a certain level to be able to get these. In contrast to other upgrade components, jewels can be swapped out by a different identical jewel without damaging the original one. You can only replace the jewel only once in a piece of equipment.
Utilizing more jewels in a movement will make it more smooth and is usually used to enhance the aesthetics of the movement. Jewels also enhance performance and create an outer layer that is more durable than metal so that repeated friction caused by pivots does not cause damage to them.
In addition to the above-mentioned upgrades, the player can also obtain glyphs for their weapons and shields from a Glyphmaster. These glyphs offer a small boost in power and can be exchanged, however they're not guaranteed to be available as loot. Glyphs, like jewelry, can be upgraded at the Jeweler in exchange for Scattered Crystals and gold. Glyphs can also be taken out and returned to the inventory. Other upgrade components such as traits or aegis cannot be exchanged and can only be recovered by using an Upgrade extractor or salvaging using a Black Lion Salvage Kit or an Ascended Salvage tool.
Trinkets
Trinkets are small pieces of equipment that provide many tiny but valuable benefits to your hero. They can be obtained in the areas of starting as loot, personal story rewards, from vendors, and by doing road interactions. They can be purchased from the Trading Post, or crafted by jewelers.
The first trinket a player will unlock is the cloak. It grants a small but beneficial boost in movement speed and evasion. After that, they can get amulets, rings, and necklaces in the same way to how a player obtains weapons and armor. Each piece of equipment comes with one upgrade slot that accepts either a universal or a jewel upgrade. Universal upgrades are smaller and can be used on any piece of equipment. Jewels are not upgradeable or replaced and are only compatible with certain trinkets.
These trinkets can also grant bonuses and abilities that are active even when the character is not fighting. This lets the hero perform better when they are not active, and can also help fill in the void of a strong team or the absence of any slots from the talent tree that would normally be filled with the hero's ideal statistics.
As a general rule, trinket upgrades should prioritize BiS (Best item upgrader in Slot) items you won't replace in the near future. Then, you should consider any items with desirable stats that aren't as important as the iLevel for the item upgrader kit; http://lzdsxxb.com/home.php?mod=space&uid=3376561, that is to be upgraded. This is true especially if you are looking to upgrade multiple stats on an item upgrading. It's better to upgrade one important stat than two less important ones.
In the beginning of the game players in the jungle are likely to upgrade their yellow trinket to a red, while top and middle players usually choose 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 listed above, players can also find a number of other trinkets throughout the game in the form of awards and trophies. These can be obtained by completing certain milestones within the story, such as completing a chapter's main quest or killing a particular boss. These can be viewed by selecting the relevant achievement from the reward tab of the hero menu.