Path of Exile Item Upgrades
The performance of many Path of Exile items can be enhanced by upgrading their performance. They can provide extra damage, AD or even affixes.
In most cases, however upgraded Common and Magic gear is often surpassed by Rare-grade equipment due to their higher requirements.
Armor
Armor upgrades can be applied to both armor and weapon items. They improve the performance of the item Upgrader Kit (theflatearth.win) they are attached to. Armor upgrades can be found in the world of games and can be purchased from Blacksmiths at bonfires. Additionally, they can be salvaged from items with upgrade components in them with a professional or higher salvage kit.
The amount of damage that an armored piece or weapon is able to absorb is dependent on the degree of upgrades. A piece of armor upgraded to the highest upgrade level will boost the damage it absorbs. However, it's important note that this will also raise its weight, requiring it to weigh more than before.
There are several kinds of armor upgrades that are that are available in the game and they all have distinct effects. For instance, some upgrades give the armor a certain amount of health points while others make it stronger and lighter. The kind of armor upgrade an item upgrader can receive will be indicated by the name of the upgrade as indicated in the table below.
Certain upgrades require magic or a combination of technology and magic, as indicated by the "Magic" and "Hybrids" entries in the table below. Some upgrades also require a charge to use, which is identified by a "Charges" entry in the table below. The charges associated with these upgrades are updated daily or never expire, according to the upgrade.
The cheapest method of upgrading armor is with Iron Ore, which can be gathered through exploring the surroundings and looting small loot chests. Titanium is more expensive however, it is available from the smelters in Orgrimmar and Stormwind City. Certain upgrades, such as the Reforge and the Hot Potato Books, can only be applied to high-level armor pieces. These upgrades can give significant improvements in performance and are worth the cost, especially for single-handed weapons.
A piece of armor upgraded to the highest upgrade level will greatly boost its defense but the wearer must be aware that putting on weight will drastically reduce its agility and speed. For this reason, it is not recommended to upgrade the majority of armor pieces above +9, because the increase in defense is typically not worth the weight and power costs of the upgrades needed.
Weapons
Weapon upgrades allow players to increase the effectiveness of specific aspects of a weapon. Upgrades can increase the accuracy of a rifle or the damage that shotgun shells cause. Certain weapons come with special enhancements to enhance their intrinsic characteristics. Frictionless materials (improves stability, and reduces weapon overheating) and Kinetic coils (increases the projectile's speed to cause more damage) are two examples.
The majority of weapon upgrades require a whetblade, one of three Power Dices and a different amount of Minerals and Erons. They can be gained by completing Side Quests or killing a certain amount of bosses and monsters.
Upgrading a Weapon, Equipment Set piece or Whetblade requires visiting the NPC [Armor] Boboko in Central Flarine and paying her an upgrade fee of a certain number of Bars. The higher the upgrade level, the more bars required to complete it. The cost of upgrading will be lower 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. Before you could search for an Upgrade Bench and pay a set amount of Bars to upgrade your weapon or equipment to a higher rarity. You could continue doing this until you reached a maximum upgrade level for your weapon or equipment, after which the upgrades would reset.
You can still do this, but the process is high on RNG and low on agency. It is better to purchase gear that has minimal upgrade levels, but high base scores and stat distributions. These will then be able to give you the highest tier bonuses and blessings.
To increase their level faster, most players will prioritise upgrading their weapons. Players should also upgrade the weapons their squadmates use to make them stronger. Shepard, for example should upgrade his M92F so that he can unlock the Beretta M93R. This will increase the effectiveness of the weapon when used with biotic specialists like Grunt and Tali.
Jewels
Jewels are placed in the sockets of armor and weapons, increasing the power of a character and bringing about secondary effects. Jewelry crafting is a method for creating them. You combine the gemstone with specific reagents in a jewelry table. The higher the tier of the jewel, the better its secondary effect. These reagents can be obtained from Treasure Goblins and World Bosses all over the world, or through collecting Legendary Gear. You can also buy them from The Jeweler for gold and a Scattered Prism.
The quality of a diamond can be improved by the Jeweler, with stages that range from Crude to Royal. The boosts to stats will differ depending on the level the jewel is in when it's slotted into jewelry, weapons or other gear.
The Jeweler is able to create all kinds of gems, with the exception of rare and legendary ones which require a certain level to get. Unlike other upgrade components, jewels are able to be swapped by a different identical jewel without destroying the original one. You can only replace the gem only once in a piece of equipment.
Utilizing more jewels in a move can make it feel more comfortable, and is often used for aesthetic reasons. In addition to enhancing performance, the jewels create a surface that is harder than metal, so repeated friction from pivots doesn't cause harm as easily.
A Glyphmaster can offer glyphs to improve the appearance of your weapons and shields. These glyphs offer a small boost and can be exchanged, however they are not guaranteed to be available as loot. Glyphs can be upgraded as jewelry, by visiting the Jeweler for gold and Scattered Crystal. Glyphs can also be removed and returned to the inventory. Other upgrade components, like aegis and traits, aren't swappable and can only be recovered using an Upgrade Extractor or salvaging them with the Black Lion Salvage Kit or an Ascended Salvage Tool.
Trinkets
Trinkets are small pieces of equipment that bestow a wide range of tiny but valuable benefits to your hero. You can find them in the starting area as rewards for personal stories or loot. They can also be obtained through vendors and after the completion of road interactions. They can also be crafted by jewelers, and then found or purchased on the Trading Post.
The first trinket a player can unlock is the cloak. It grants a small but valuable boost in movement speed and the ability to escape. The player can then collect necklaces, rings, and amulets in a similar manner similar to how they obtained weapons and armor. Each piece of equipment comes with one upgrade slot that accepts either a universal or jewel upgrade. Universal upgrades provide smaller bonuses and can be put into any type of equipment however, jewelry cannot be replaced or upgraded, and is only compatible with certain kinds of trinkets.
These trinkets can also grant buffs and skills that are active whenever the hero is not fighting. This allows a hero to become more efficient even when not in combat. It also helps compensate for the absence of excellent slot in the talent tree or team that are normally filled by the hero's best stats.
As a general rule, trinket upgrades should prioritize BiS (Best in Slot) items you won't replace anytime soon. Next, any items with desirable stats that aren't as significant as the iLevel of the item upgrader mod to be upgraded. This is particularly true if an item has multiple stats that you'd like to upgrade since it's generally better to upgrade just one important stat rather than two sub-optimal ones.
Jungle players will often upgrade their yellow trinket to a red one prior to the start of the game. Top and mid players however will pick a green or a pink ward, depending on the game's matchup. These choices will have an impact on the hero's ability to manage the map.
Aside from the items mentioned above, players can find a number of other trinkets throughout the game in the form of awards and trophies. These can be earned by completing certain milestones within the story, for instance the main quest of a chapter or killing a certain boss. You can check them out by clicking on the achievement in the reward section of the hero's menu.