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 attaches.
Rare-grade equipment is usually superior to the more modernized Common or Magic equipment due to their higher requirements.
Armor
Armor upgrades can be applied to both weapon and armor items. They boost the stats of whatever item upgrader mod they are attached to. Armor upgrades can be found in the world of the game and purchased from Blacksmiths on bonfires. They can also be salvaged by using a specialist or higher salvage kits to recover upgrade components from items.
The level of an armor's or weapon's upgrade determines the amount of damage it will take on. The ability to absorb damage of an armor piece will increase as it is upgraded to the maximum upgrade level. It is important to note that this will increase the weight of the armor, therefore it should be heavier.
There are several different types of armor upgrade available in the game. Each has a different impact. For instance, certain upgrades give the armor a certain amount of health points while others make it stronger and lighter. The name of the upgrade will indicate the type of upgrade item an item upgrader kit (official website) can be given, as illustrated below.
Some of the upgrades also require magic or a hybrid technology and magic, which is identified by the "Magic" and "Hybrids" entries in the table. Furthermore, some upgrades require a fee to use, and are shown by a "Charges" entry in the table below. These charges are either updated daily or never expire based on the upgrade.
Iron Ore is the cheapest option to improve your armor. You can find it by exploring and looting small loot chests. Titanium is more expensive but it can be obtained from smelters located in 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 give a significant improvements in stats and are worth the cost.
The process of upgrading an armor piece to the highest upgrade level will significantly boost its defense but the wearer must be aware that increasing its weight will dramatically reduce its speed and agility. It is not recommended to upgrade armor past +9. The added defense usually isn't worth the weight and power costs of the upgrades.
Weapons
Weapon upgrades give players the ability to improve certain aspects of their weapon. For example an upgrade can improve the damage that is caused by the shells of a shotgun or the accuracy of a rifle sniper. Some weapons have special enhancements to enhance their intrinsic capabilities. These include Frictionless Materials (improves stability and decreases the chance of weapon overheating) and Kinetic Coils (increases projectile acceleration for more damage).
The majority of upgrades to weapons require one of three Power Dices, a different amount of Minerals and Erons, and a whetblade. These are obtained through either finishing side quests, killing a certain number of monsters or bosses, or through the Weapon Upgrade NPC located in Central Flarine.
The process of upgrading a weapon, equipment Set piece, or Whetblade requires visiting the NPC [Armor] Boboko in Central Flarine and paying her an upgrade fee that is based on a specific number of Bars. The higher the upgrade level, the higher the number of bars you will need to complete the upgrade. The cost of the upgrades will be less if you have more than one of the relevant upgrade materials.
In Chapter 2: Season 5 the way you upgrade your weapon and equipment sets has changed a bit. Prior to Chapter 2 Season 5, you could upgrade your weapon and equipment by paying a specific number of Bars. You could do this until you reached a maximum upgrade level for the equipment or weapon, following which upgrades would reset.
This is still possible, but it depends heavily on RNG. Instead, you're much better off visiting stores and buying gear with low upgrade levels, but excellent base scores and stat distributions. They will also have a chance at gaining you the Best item upgrade tier of benefits and blessings.
To level up faster, most players will be more inclined to upgrade their weapons. Players should also upgrade the weapons that their teammates utilize to increase their power. Shepard, for example, should upgrade the M92F to unlock the Beretta M93R. This will make the weapon more effective when used in conjunction with biotic specialists like Grunt and Tali.
Jewels
Jewels are used in the armor's sockets and weapons, enhancing a stat and providing secondary effects. They can be made through the process of jewelry crafting, in which you combine a gem with various chemicals at a table. The higher the quality of the gem, the greater the secondary effect. These reagents can be found around the world through Treasure Goblins, World Bosses and occasionally by salvaging Legendary equipment. You can also buy them from The Jeweler in exchange for gold and Scattered Prisms.
The quality of a gem can be improved at the Jeweler in stages that range from Crude to Royal. Depending on the tier of the gem, it will provide a different stat boost when slotted into weapons, gear and jewelry.
The Jeweler is able to create all kinds of gems, apart from the rare and legendary ones that require certain levels to gain. Like other upgrade components jewels can be swapped with another jewel of the same kind without damaging it. However you can only swap out one jewel in an item of equipment once.
It is common to use more jewels to enhance the appearance of. In addition to improving performance, the jewels also create a surface that is harder than steel, so the repeated friction with pivots doesn't damage them as easily.
A Glyphmaster can offer glyphs to improve the look of your weapons and shields. These glyphs provide a small boost in power and can be traded, but they're not guaranteed to appear as loot. Glyphs are upgradeable, as jewelry, by visiting the Jeweler for gold and scattered Crystal. Glyphs can also be removed, which returns them to the inventory. Other upgrade components, like traits and aegis, are not swappable, and are only recoverable by using an upgrade item Extractor, or by salvaging them using a Black Lion Salvage Kit or Ascended Salvage Tool.
Trinkets
Trinkets are pieces of equipment that offer many small but useful benefits to your hero. They are available in the starter area as rewards for personal stories or loot. They are also available from vendors and by the completion of road interactions. They can be found on the Trading Post, or crafted by jewelers.
The first trinket players will unlock is the cloak. It grants a small, but useful bonus in movement speed and evasion. The player can then acquire necklaces, amulets, and rings in a similar manner to how they acquired weapons and armor. Every piece of equipment has an upgrade slot that is either universal or jewel. Universal upgrades offer smaller bonuses and can be put into any type of equipment however, jewelry cannot be replaced or upgraded and is only compatible with specific types of trinkets.
These trinkets also grant additional bonuses and abilities that are active when the hero is not fighting. This allows the hero to be more effective while inactive and also helps make up for a lack of a strong team or the absence of any talent tree slots that normally are filled with the hero's ideal 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 in the near future, then any items with desirable stats, but less important than the iLevel of the item that is being upgraded. This is especially true when an item has multiple stats that you'd like to upgrade as it's usually more beneficial to upgrade one important stat than two sub-optimal ones.
Jungle players will often upgrade their yellow trinkets to a red trinket at the beginning of the game. Mid and top players however they will select a pink or green ward, based on the matchup. These choices will have a significant impact on the hero's abilities to control maps.
Aside from the items mentioned above, players can discover a variety of other items in the form of trophies and awards. These can be earned by completing certain milestones in the story. For instance, completing the main quest for a chapter or defeating the boss. These can be viewed by selecting the relevant achievement in the reward tab of the hero menu.