Path of Exile Item Upgrades
Upgrades to items are a frequent and important way to improve the performance of a variety of items in Path of Exile. They can provide extra damage, AD or even affixes.
Rare-grade equipment is often superior to the more modernized Common or Magic gear due to their high demands.
Armor
Armor upgrades are a type of upgrade that can be applied to armor and weapon items. They boost the performance of the item they are connected to. Armor upgrades are found in the game's world and can be purchased from Blacksmiths at any bonfire. They can also be salvaged by using a professional or higher salvage kits to recover upgrades from the items.
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. It is important to note that this will increase the weight of the armor, which means it must be more heavy.
There are a few different types of armor upgrades available in the game and they all have distinct effects. For example, some upgrades will give the armor a certain amount of additional health points, while others make it lighter and stronger. The kind of armor upgrade an item can receive will be identified by the name of the upgrade as illustrated 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. item upgrader require charges in order to be used. These are identified as "Charges" entries in the table. These charges are continuously updated or never expire based on the upgrade.
Iron Ore is the cheapest option to improve your armor. It can be found by exploring and looting small treasure chests. Titanium is more expensive, however, it is available in the smelters of 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 boost to stats and are a worthwhile investment, especially for 1-handed weapons.
The player should be aware that upgrading a piece to the maximum upgrade level will boost its defense. However, it can also affect its agility and its speed. For this reason, it is generally not recommended to upgrade the majority of armor pieces beyond +9, since the defensive boost gained is usually not worth the extra 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 could enhance the damage caused by shotgun shells or the accuracy of the rifle that snipes. Certain weapons also come with enhancements that enhance their intrinsic qualities. These include Frictionless Materials (improves stability and minimizes the risk of overheating) and Kinetic Coils (increases the speed of projectiles to cause more damage).
Most upgrades for weapons require three Power Dices, a different amount of Minerals and Erons and a whetblade to apply. These can be obtained by finishing side quests, killing a certain amount of bosses or monsters, or by contacting the Weapon Upgrade NPC in Central Flarine.
To upgrade an equipment set, weapon piece or Whetblade, you must visit the NPC [ArmorBoboko. Boboko located in Central Flarine, and pay her an upgrade fee of a certain amount of bars. The more bars you need to complete an upgrade the more expensive the upgrade. If you have multiple upgrade materials The cost of upgrading will be lower.
In Chapter 2: Season 5, the method of upgrading your weapon and equipment sets has changed a bit. Previously you could search for an Upgrade Bench and pay a set amount of Bars to upgrade your equipment or weapon to an increased quality. You could continue doing this until you reached the max upgrade level of the equipment or weapon, following which upgrades would reset.
You can still do this, but the process is based on RNG and low on agency. You're better off buying gear with minimal upgrade levels, but high base scores and stat distributions. These items have a greater chance of granting you the highest tier advantages and benefits.
To increase their level faster, many players prioritise upgrading their weapons. Players should also upgrade the weapons that their teammates utilize to increase their power. Shepard, for example should upgrade his M92F to unlock the Beretta M93R. This will make the weapon more effective when used in conjunction by biotic specialists like Grunt and Tali.
Jewels
Jewels can be used to improve a stat or provide secondary effects on weapons and armor. Jewelry crafting is a method of making them, where you combine a gemstone with a number specific reagents in a jewelry table. The higher the level of the jewel is, the greater its secondary effect. These reagents can be gotten from Treasure Goblins and World Bosses all over the world, or through salvaging Legendary Gear. You can also buy them from The Jeweler for gold and a Scattered Prism.
The Jeweler can enhance the quality of gemstones in stages ranging from Crude up to Royal. Based on the level of the jewel, it will provide a different stat boost when slotted into weapons, gear and jewelry.
The Jeweler is able to create all tiers of gems, with the exception of rare and legendary ones which you must attain certain levels to gain. Jewels can be replaced with another one without damaging the original. However it is only possible to replace one jewel in an equipment piece only once.
It is typical to use more gems for aesthetic reasons. In addition to improving performance, the jewels create a surface that is harder than metal, which means that repeated friction from pivots doesn't cause harm as easily.
A Glyphmaster can provide glyphs that can enhance the look of your weapons and shields. These glyphs provide a small boost and can be traded, but they're not guaranteed to show up as loot. Glyphs are upgradeable, like jewelry, at the Jeweler for gold, and also a scattered Crystal. Glyphs can also be taken out and returned to the inventory. Other upgrade components such as traits or aegis cannot be swapped, and can only be retrieved by using an Upgrade extractor or salvaging using the Black Lion Salvage Kit or Ascended Salvage tool.
Trinkets
Trinkets can be used to give your character many small, but beneficial benefits. They can be acquired starting in the beginning areas as loot, personal story rewards, from vendors, or by completing road interactions. They may also be crafted by jewelers, and then found or purchased on the Trading Post.
The first trinkets that a player unlocks will be the cloak, which gives an unimportant but beneficial boost to speed of movement and evasion. The player can then acquire necklaces, amulets, and rings in a similar manner as they did with weapons and armor. Each piece of gear comes with one upgrade slot that can accommodate either a universal upgrade or a jewel upgrade. Universal upgrades offer fewer benefits and can be put into any kind of equipment while jewelry cannot be changed or upgraded, and is only compatible with specific types of trinkets.
These trinkets grant additional buffs and abilities that are active even when the hero isn't in combat. This lets a hero become more efficient even when not in combat. It can also compensate for the absence of strong slot in the talent tree or team which would normally be filled by a hero's top stats.
As a general rule, trinket upgrades should prioritize BiS (Best in Slot) items that you will not replace soon. Next, any items with desirable stats that aren't as important as the iLevel of the item to be upgraded. This is particularly true if an item has multiple stats that you wish to upgrade, as it's often better to upgrade just one important stat than two sub-optimal ones.
Jungle players usually upgrade their yellow trinket to a red trinket at the beginning of the game. Mid and top players however, will choose either a pink or green ward, depending on the matchup. These choices can affect a hero's ability to control the map.
In addition to the items listed above, players will find other trinkets in the form of trophies and rewards throughout the game. They can be obtained through completing certain milestones within the story. For example, completing a chapter’s main quest or beating a boss. You can view them by clicking on the achievement in the reward section of the hero's menu.