Path of Exile Item Upgrades
Upgrades to items are a common and essential way to boost the performance of numerous items in Path of Exile. They can also provide additional damage, AD or even affixes.
Rare-grade equipment can be superior to modernized Common or Magic equipment due to their higher requirements.
Armor
Armor upgrades are a type of upgrade that can be used on weapons and armor items. They improve the stats of whatever item they are attached to. Armor upgrades can be found in the game's world and can be purchased from Blacksmiths at any bonfire. They can also be salvaged by using an expert or higher salvage kit to salvage upgrade components from other items.
The amount of damage that a piece of armor or weapon can absorb depends on the extent of its upgrades. The upgrade of an armor piece to maximum upgrade level will increase the damage it absorbs. It's important to remember that this will increase the weight of the armor, so it must be more heavy.
There are several different types of armor upgrades that are available in the game. Each has a different effect. For instance, certain upgrades give the armor a certain number of additional health points, while others make it lighter and stronger. The name of the upgrade will indicate the type of upgrade that an item will be given, as illustrated below.
Some of the upgrades also require magic or a combination of technology and magic, as identified by the "Magic" and "Hybrids" entries in the table below. Certain upgrades also require fees for use. They are referred to as "Charges" entries in the table. The charges for these upgrades are updated daily or never expire, dependent on the upgrade.
Iron Ore is the cheapest way to upgrade your armor. You can find it by exploring and looting small chests. Titanium is more expensive however, it is available at the smelters 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 provide a significant boost to performance and are worth the investment, especially for 1-handed weapons.
The process of upgrading an armor piece to the highest upgrade level will significantly increase its defense values, but the player should be aware that increasing its weight will drastically reduce its speed and agility. This is why it is typically not recommended to upgrade the majority of armor pieces that are higher than +9 since the added defense is generally not worth the additional weight and power costs of the improvements required.
Weapons
Weapon upgrades allow players to increase the effectiveness of specific aspects of the weapon. Upgrades can increase the accuracy of a rifle or the damage that shotgun shells do. Certain firearms also have upgrades that enhance their inherent qualities. These include Frictionless Materials (improves stability and decreases the chance of 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. These can be obtained by completing side quests or by killing a certain number of monsters and bosses.
Upgrading a Weapon, Equipment Set piece, or Whetblade requires visiting the NPC [Armor] Boboko in Central Flarine and paying her an upgrade cost of a certain number of Bars. The more bars required to complete an upgrade, the more expensive the upgrade. If you have multiple upgrade materials, the cost of upgrading will be less.
In Chapter 2: Season 5 the way you upgrade weapon and equipment sets has changed. In the past you could search for an Upgrade Bench and pay for a specific number of Bars to upgrade your equipment or weapon to an increased rarity. You could do this until your weapon or equipment reached its maximum upgrade level, at which point the upgrades would reset.
You can still do this but the process is high on RNG and low on agency. You should consider buying equipment that has low levels of upgrade but with high base scores and stat distributions. They will also have a chance at gaining you the best tier of perks and blessings.
To improve their skills quicker, players usually be more inclined to upgrade their weapons. Players should also upgrade the weapons that their squadmates utilize to increase their power. For instance, Shepard should consider upgrading the M92F to unlock the Beretta M93R, which will enhance its effectiveness when paired with biotech specialists such as Grunt and Tali.
Jewels
Jewels are placed in the sockets of armor and weapons, increasing a stat and providing secondary effects. Jewelry crafting is the process of making them, in which you combine a gemstone with a number specific reagents on a table. item upgrades of the gemstone, the better the secondary effect. These reagents are available from Treasure Goblins and World Bosses in the world, or by finding Legendary Gear. You can also purchase them from The Jeweler for gold and a Scattered Prism.
The Jeweler can boost the quality of a gem in stages ranging from Crude up to Royal. The stat boosts will vary depending on the level the jewel is in when it's inserted into jewelry, weapons, or equipment.
All tiers of jewels can be crafted at the Jeweler however, there are some exceptions to this, such as the rare and legendary jewels that require you to be at a certain level to be able to get these. Jewels can be replaced by another one without damaging the original. You can only replace the gem once in an item of equipment.
It is normal to use more jewelry for aesthetic reasons. Jewels also enhance performance and create a harder surface than steel so that repeated friction from pivots do not cause damage to the movement.
In addition to the upgrades mentioned above, the player can also acquire glyphs for their shields and weapons from a Glyphmaster. These glyphs provide a small boost and can be freely traded, but they are not guaranteed to be available as loot. Glyphs can be upgraded, like jewelry, at the Jeweler for gold and Scattered Crystal. Glyphs are also removed and returned to the inventory. Other upgrade components, like aegis and traits, are not swappable, and can only be retrieved using an Upgrade Extractor, or by salvaging them using a Black Lion Salvage Kit or an Ascended Salvage Tool.
Trinkets
Trinkets can be used to provide your hero with a variety of small, but beneficial, advantages. They are available in the start-up area as loot or as personal story rewards. They are also available from vendors and by completing road interaction. They can also be found on the Trading Post, or crafted by jewelers.
The first trinket a player will be able to unlock is the cloak. item upgrades grants a small but beneficial boost in speed of movement and the ability to evade. The player will then be able to acquire necklaces, rings, and amulets, in a similar way to how they acquired weapons and armor. Each piece of equipment comes with one upgrade slot that can accommodate either a universal upgrade or a jewel upgrade. Universal upgrades are smaller and can be utilized on any equipment. Jewels cannot be upgraded or replaced and only work with certain trinkets.
These trinkets can also grant buffs and skills that are active when the hero is not in combat. This allows the hero to be more effective when not active and also helps make up for a lack of a strong team or the absence of any slots in the talent tree that normally are filled with the hero's best statistics.
As a rule trinket upgrades should be a priority BiS (Best in Slot) items that you aren't likely to replace anytime soon. Also, consider items with desirable statistics that are less significant than the iLevel of the item that is to be upgraded. This is especially true if you are looking to upgrade multiple stats on an item. It is more beneficial to upgrade a single important stat than two less important ones.
Jungle players usually upgrade their yellow trinkets to a red trinket at the start of the game. Mid and top players however, will choose 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 discover other trinkets in form trophies and rewards throughout the game. These can be obtained by completing certain milestones in the story, such as the main quest of a chapter or killing a certain boss. You can see them by clicking on the achievement in the reward section of the hero's menu.