Path of Exile Item Upgrades
Item upgrades are a common and essential way to boost the performance of a variety of items in Path of Exile. They can provide extra damage, AD or even affixes.
In most cases, however upgraded Common and Magic gear is outclassed by Rare-grade gear because of their high requirements.
Armor
Armor upgrades can be applied to both weapon and armor items. They improve the stats of the item that they're attached to. Upgrades to armor are available in the game's world and can be purchased from Blacksmiths at any bonfire. Alternatively, they can also be rescued from items with upgrade components within them by using a specialist or more powerful salvage kit.
The amount of damage that a piece of armor or weapon will absorb is contingent on the degree of upgrades. Upgrading a piece of armor to its highest upgrade level will increase the damage it absorbs. However, it's important to be aware that this upgrade will raise its weight, requiring it to be heavier than it was before.
There are several kinds of armor upgrades that are available in the game, and they all have different effects. For instance, certain upgrades give the armor a certain number of health points while others will make it lighter and stronger. The type of armor upgrade that an item will receive will be indicated by the name of the upgrade, as shown in the table below.
Some of the upgrades also require magic or a hybrid technology and magic, as identified by the "Magic" and "Hybrids" entries in the table. Some upgrades also require charges to use, which is identified by the "Charges" entry in the table below. These charges are either constantly updated or never expire based on the upgrade.
The cheapest method of upgrading armor is with Iron Ore, which can be gathered through exploring the surroundings and looting chests of minor loot. Titanium is more expensive however, it is available in the smelters of Orgrimmar and Stormwind City. Some upgrades, like the Reforge or the Hot Potato Books can only be applied to high-level armor pieces. These upgrades can provide significant boost to performance and are worth the cost, especially for single-handed weapons.
The process of upgrading an armor piece to its maximum upgrade level will greatly increase its defense capabilities but the wearer must be aware that increasing its weight will drastically reduce its speed and agility. For item upgrader , it is typically not recommended to upgrade the majority of armor pieces beyond +9, since the added defense is generally not worth the extra weight and power costs of the upgrades needed.
Weapons
Weapon upgrades allow players the ability to improve certain aspects of their weapon. Upgrades can improve the accuracy of a rifle, or the damage caused by shotgun shells. Certain firearms also have upgrades that enhance their inherent characteristics. They include Frictionless Materials (improves stability and reduces the risk of the risk of overheating) and Kinetic Coils (increases the speed of projectiles to cause more damage).
The majority of weapon upgrades require the use of a whetblade, or one of the three Power Dices and a different amount Minerals and Erons. These can be gained by completing Side Quests or by killing a certain amount of monsters and bosses.
To upgrade a weapon, equipment set piece, or Whetblade, you must 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 more advanced the level. 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 changed a little. Prior to Chapter 2: Season 5 you could upgrade your weapon and equipment by paying a specific amount of Bars. You could do this until your weapon or equipment reached its maximum upgrade level and at that point, the upgrades would reset.
You can still do this, but the process is high on RNG and low on agency. You're better off buying gear with low upgrade levels but with high base scores and stat distributions. These will then be able to give you the highest tier benefits and blessings.
Most players will want to make the most of upgrades to weapons they use most frequently to make sure they are able to level up quicker. In addition players, they should also consider upgrading the weapons they use with their teammates to increase their power and effective. For instance, Shepard should consider upgrading the M92F to unlock the Beretta M93R, which will make it more useful when accompanied by biotic specialists like Grunt and Tali.
Jewels
Jewels are placed in the armor's sockets and weapons, enhancing a stat and providing secondary effects. They can be created through a process called jewelry crafting, in which you combine a gemstone and various reagents at a jewelry table. The higher the tier of the jewel, the better its secondary effect. These reagents can be found around the world through Treasure Goblins, World Bosses and sometimes by salvaging Legendary equipment. You can also buy them from The Jeweler in exchange for gold and Scattered Prisms.
The Jeweler can enhance the quality of the gem in stages that range from Crude up to Royal. Depending on the tier of the jewel it can provide different stat boosts when inserted into weapons, equipment and jewelry.
All tiers of jewels are crafted at the Jeweler, with the exception of the rare and legendary jewels which require you to be at a sufficient level to qualify for these. Jewels can be replaced with another jewel without destroying the original. However it is only possible to replace one jewel in an item of equipment only once.
It is normal to use more gems for aesthetic reasons. In addition to enhancing performance, the jewels create a surface that is harder than metal, which means that repeated friction from pivots won't cause harm as easily.
A Glyphmaster can offer glyphs to improve the look of your weapons and shields. These glyphs provide a small boost and can be freely swapped, but they are not guaranteed to show up as loot. Glyphs are like jewelry and can be upgraded by the Jeweler in exchange for gold and Scattered Crystals. Glyphs may also be removed and returned to the inventory. Other upgrade components, such as traits or aegis can't be swapped, and can only be found by using an Upgrade extractor or salvaging using Black Lion Salvage Kit or an Ascended Salvage tool.
Trinkets
Trinkets are small pieces of equipment that bestow an array of small but useful benefits to your hero. They can be acquired starting in the starter areas as loot, personal story rewards, from vendors, and by doing road interactions. They can also be found on the Trading Post, or crafted by jewelers.
The first trinket a player can unlock is the cloak, which grants an unimportant but beneficial boost to movement speed and the ability to escape. The player will then be able to acquire necklaces, rings, and amulets, in a similar way similar to how they obtained weapons and armor. Each piece of equipment has one upgrade slot that accepts either a universal or 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.
item upgrades provide additional bonuses and abilities that are active when the hero is not in combat. This allows the hero to perform better when they are not active and may also help make up for a lack of a solid team or the absence of any talent tree slots that normally are filled with the hero's best stats.
As a general rule, trinket upgrades should prioritize BiS (Best in Slot) items that you will not replace anytime soon. Next, any items that have desirable statistics are less significant than the iLevel for the item that is to be upgraded. This is particularly true if an item has multiple stats that you'd like to upgrade as it's often more beneficial to upgrade one important stat than two sub-optimal ones.
At the beginning of the game, junglers will usually want to upgrade their trinket to a red in the middle and top players typically choose the pink or green ward (depending on the game's matchup). These choices will have an impact on the hero's ability to manage the map.
In addition to the items mentioned above, players will find other trinkets that form of rewards and trophies throughout the game. These can be obtained by completing certain milestones in the story, such as finishing a chapter's main quest or killing a particular boss. They can be viewed by selecting the relevant achievement from the reward tab of the hero menu.