Path of Exile Item Upgrades
Item upgrades are a common and essential way to boost the performance of numerous items in Path of Exile. They can be a fantastic source of extra damage or more AD or even more affixes.
Often times however upgraded Common and Magic gear is often surpassed by Rare-grade gear because of their higher requirements.
Armor
Armor upgrades are a kind of upgrade items that can be used on armor and weapon items. They increase the effectiveness of the item they are connected to. Armor upgrades can be found in the world of the game and purchased from Blacksmiths on bonfires. They can also be salvaged using a specialist or higher salvage kit to recover upgrades from the items.
The amount of damage an armored item or weapon can absorb depends on the degree of upgrades. The damage absorption of an armor piece will increase when it is upgraded to the maximum upgrade level. However, it's important to be aware that this upgrade will increase its weight, causing it to weigh more than before.
There are a variety of armor upgrade available in the game. Each one has a distinct impact. Certain upgrades grant armor an additional number of health points while others make it lighter and more powerful. The name of the armor upgrade will indicate the kind of upgrade that an item will receive, as shown below.
Some of the upgrades also require magic or a hybrid technology and magic, as shown by the "Magic" and "Hybrids" entries in the table. Certain upgrades also require fees for use. These are identified as "Charges" entries in the table. The charges for these upgrades change daily or never expire according to the upgrade.
The cheapest method to upgrade armor is with Iron Ore, which can be gathered by exploring the environment and looting chests of minor loot. Titanium is more expensive but it can be obtained through smelters in Orgrimmar and Stormwind City. Some upgrades, like the Reforge or the Hot Potato Books can only be applied to armor pieces that are of high-level. These upgrades can provide significant increases in stats and are well worth the cost.
Upgrading a piece of armor to its maximum upgrade level will greatly boost its defense however, the user must be aware that putting more weight on it will drastically reduce its speed and agility. Therefore, it is not recommended to upgrade armor pieces beyond +9, since the defensive boost gained is usually not worth the weight and power cost of the upgrades required.
Weapons
Weapon upgrades allow players to improve the effectiveness of specific aspects of an weapon. For instance, an upgrade may improve the damage that is caused by shotgun shells or the accuracy of the rifle that snipes. Certain weapons come with special upgrades to improve their inherent qualities. These include Frictionless Materials (improves stability and minimizes overheating of the weapon) and Kinetic Coils (increases projectile acceleration for more damage).
Most upgrades for weapons require one of three Power Dices, a different amount of Minerals and Erons, and a whetblade for applying. They can be obtained by completing side quests or by killing a certain amount of monsters and bosses.
To upgrade the weapon, equipment set piece, or Whetblade, you must visit the NPC [Armor] Boboko located in Central Flarine, and pay her an upgrade fee of a certain number of Bars. The higher the upgrade level, the higher the number of bars required to complete it. The cost of upgrading will be lower if you have more than one of the upgrade materials.
In Chapter 2: Season 5, the way you upgrade your equipment and weapon sets was a bit different. Prior to Chapter 2 Season 5 you could upgrade your weapon or equipment by paying a certain amount of Bars. You could do this until the weapon or equipment reached its maximum upgrade level and at that point, the upgrades would reset.
It's possible, but it depends heavily on RNG. You should consider buying equipment with low upgrade item levels and high base scores and stat distributions. These will be able to give you the highest tier benefits and blessings.
To level up quicker, players usually prioritize upgrading their weapons. In addition players, they should think about upgrading the weapons favored by their squadmates to increase their power and effective. For instance, Shepard should consider upgrading the M92F to unlock the Beretta M93R to make it more useful when accompanied by biotech specialists such as Grunt and Tali.
Jewels
Jewels are placed in the armor's sockets and weapons, enhancing the power of a character and bringing about secondary effects. They can be created using a process called jewelry crafting, in which you combine a gem with several reagents at a jewelry table. The higher the level of the gem, the greater the secondary effect. These reagents are available from Treasure Goblins and World Bosses all over the world, or through salvaging 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 can vary depending on the level the jewel is in when it is inserted into jewelry, weapons or gear.
The Jeweler can create all kinds of gems, except for the rare and legendary ones, which require an appropriate level to obtain. In contrast to other upgrade components, jewels can be swapped with another jewel of the same type without destroying it. However, you can only replace the jewels in an equipment piece once.
It is typical to use more jewels to enhance the appearance of. Jewels also enhance performance and create a surface harder than steel so that repeated friction from pivots do not cause damage to the movement.
In addition to the above upgrades players can also acquire glyphs for their shields and weapons from a Glyphmaster. These are a small perk and can be swapped out at any time but aren't guaranteed to drop as loot. Glyphs can be upgraded, like jewelry, at the Jeweler for gold and a scattered Crystal. Glyphs can also be taken out and returned to the inventory. Other upgrade components, such as traits and aegis cannot be swapped out, and can only be recovered using an Upgrade Extractor or salvaging them using a Black Lion Salvage Kit or an Ascended Salvage Tool.
Trinkets
Trinkets can be used to give your character many small, but useful, advantages. They are available in the starting area as rewards for personal stories or loot. They are also available through vendors and after doing road interaction. They can also be crafted by jewelers and later found or purchased at the Trading Post.
The first trinket that a player will be able to unlock is the cloak. It gives a small but beneficial boost in speed of movement and the ability to evade. The player can then collect rings, amulets and necklaces, in a similar way similar to how they obtained weapons and armor. Every piece of equipment has a slot for an upgrade that can be either universal or jewel. Universal upgrades are smaller and can be utilized on any equipment. Jewels cannot be upgraded or replaced, and can only be used with certain trinkets.
These trinkets also grant additional bonuses and abilities that are active when the hero is not fighting. This lets a hero become more efficient even when not in combat. It also helps compensate for the absence of excellent team or talent tree slots which would normally be filled by the hero's optimal stats.
A good rule of thumb for trinket upgrades is to prioritize BiS (Best item upgrader-in-Slot) items that you aren't planning to replace soon, followed by items with desirable stats but less important than the iLevel of the item that is being upgraded. This is especially true when you want to upgrade multiple statistics on an item upgrade. It is best to upgrade just one crucial stat instead of two subpar ones.
In the beginning of the game, players in the jungle are likely to upgrade their yellow trinket into a red one, while top and middle players typically choose the pink or green ward (depending on the game's matchup). These choices will have an impact on the ability of a hero to control the map.
Apart from the things mentioned above, players may also find a number of other trinkets in the game in the form of awards and trophies. These can be obtained by completing certain milestones within the story, such as finishing a chapter's main quest or killing a certain boss. You can view them by selecting the achievement in the reward section of the hero's menu.