Path of Exile Item Upgrades
Upgrades to items are a frequent and crucial method to enhance the performance of many items in Path of Exile. They can cause additional damage, AD or even affixes.
Rare-grade equipment is often superior to modernized Common or Magic gear due to their high demands.
Armor
Armor upgrades are a kind of upgrade that can be used on weapon and armor items. They increase the effectiveness of the item they're attached to. Armor upgrades are available in the world of the game and can be purchased from Blacksmiths at bonfires. Additionally, they can be salvaged from items with upgrade components in them using a specialist or more powerful salvage kit.
The amount of damage an armored piece or weapon can absorb depends on the level of its upgrades. The ability to absorb damage of an armor piece will increase when it is upgraded to the maximum upgrade level. It is important to note that this will increase the weight of the armor, which means it must be more heavy.
There are several types of armor upgrades available in the game, and they all have distinct effects. Certain upgrades grant armor a greater number of health points while others make it stronger and lighter. The name of the armor upgrade will indicate the type of upgrade the item can receive, as shown below.
A few of the upgrades are also magic or a hybrid of magic and technology, which is shown by a "Magic" or "Hybrid" entry in the table below. Certain upgrades also require fees in order to be used. They are referred to as "Charges" entries in the table. The charges for these upgrades are updated daily or never expire according to the upgrade.
Iron Ore is the cheapest option to upgrade your armor. You can locate it by exploring and looting small loot chests. Titanium is more expensive, however it is obtainable 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 players a significant increases in stats and are well worth the cost.
A piece of armor upgraded to max upgrade level will dramatically boost its defense but the wearer must be aware that increasing its weight will dramatically reduce its agility and speed. It is not recommended to upgrade armor above +9. The added defense typically isn't worth the weight and power costs of the upgrades.
Weapons
Weapon upgrades allow players to increase the effectiveness of certain aspects of an weapon. Upgrades can increase the accuracy of a rifle or the damage caused by shotgun shells. item upgrader have special upgrades that improve their innate qualities. They include Frictionless Materials (improves stability and decreases the chance of the risk of overheating) and Kinetic Coils (increases the velocity of projectiles for greater damage).
Most upgrades for weapons require three Power Dices, a different amount of Minerals and Erons and a whetblade. These are obtained through either doing side quests, or killing a certain amount of monsters or bosses, or by contacting the Weapon Upgrade NPC located in Central Flarine.
Upgrades to 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 are required to complete it. If you have multiple upgrade materials, the cost of upgrading will be less.
In Chapter 2: Season 5, the way you upgrade your weapon and equipment sets changed a little. In the past you could go to an Upgrade Bench and pay a certain amount of Bars to upgrade your weapon or equipment to an increased quality. You could continue to do this until you reach a max upgrade level of the equipment or weapon, following which the upgrades would be reset.
You can still do this however, the process is high on RNG and low on agency. Instead, you're better off visiting stores and buying equipment with low upgrade levels but excellent base scores and stat distributions. These items will have a greater likelihood of granting you highest tier benefits and blessings.
The majority of players will prioritize upgrades to the weapons they are most likely to use to allow them to progress faster. Players should also upgrade the weapons that their squadmates utilize to increase their power. Shepard, for example, should upgrade the M92F in order to unlock the Beretta M93R. This will make the weapon more effective when used with biotic specialists such as Grunt and Tali.
Jewels
Jewels are utilized in the armor's sockets and weapons, enhancing a stat and providing secondary effects. Jewelry crafting is the process of making them, where you combine the gemstone with specific reagents on a table. The higher the quality of the gemstone, the better the secondary effect. These reagents can be obtained from Treasure Goblins and World Bosses around the world, or through salvaging Legendary Gear. You can also purchase them from The Jeweler for gold and a Scattered Prism.
The quality of a jewel can be improved at the Jeweler, in stages that vary from Crude to Royal. Based on the level of the jewel it can provide different stat boosts when inserted into weapons, gear and jewelry.
The Jeweler is able to create all kinds of gems, with the exception of rare and legendary ones that you must attain an appropriate level to obtain. Jewels can be replaced by another jewel without damaging the original. You can only replace the gem once in an item of equipment.
The use of more jewels in a move will make it more smooth and is usually performed to enhance the aesthetics of the movement. In addition to enhancing performance, the jewels create an area that is stronger than metal, which means that repeated friction with pivots doesn't cause harm as easily.
A Glyphmaster can provide glyphs to enhance the look of your shields and weapons. These provide a small bonus and can be swapped out at any time but aren't guaranteed to drop as loot. Glyphs, like jewelry, can be upgraded at the Jeweler in exchange for Scattered Crystals and gold. Glyphs can also be removed and returned to the inventory. Other upgrade components such as aegis or traits cannot be exchanged, and can only be retrieved by using an Upgrade extractor or salvaging with a Black Lion Salvage Kit or Ascended Salvage tool.
Trinkets
Trinkets are items of equipment that offer a wide range of small but useful benefits to your hero. They can be obtained in the beginning areas as loot, personal story rewards, from vendors, or by completing road interactions. They can also be crafted by jewelers and later found or purchased at the Trading Post.
The first trinket a player will be able to unlock is the cloak. It grants a small but beneficial boost in movement speed and evasion. The player can then collect rings, amulets and necklaces in a similar fashion similar to how they obtained weapons and armor. Each piece of equipment has an upgrade slot that is either universal or jewel. Universal upgrades offer fewer benefits and can be used in any type of equipment, while jewelry cannot be changed or upgraded, and only works with specific types of trinkets.
These trinkets can provide additional bonuses and abilities that are active even when the hero isn't engaged in combat. This lets the hero perform better when they are not active, and can also help to compensate for the absence of a solid team or the absence of any slots from the talent tree which would normally be filled with the hero's best stats.
A good rule of thumb for trinket upgrades is to prioritize BiS (Best-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 to be upgraded. This is especially true when an item has multiple stats that you'd like to upgrade, as it's often more beneficial to upgrade one important stat rather than two sub-optimal ones.
In the beginning of the game players who are in the jungle will typically want to upgrade their yellow trinket to a red, while top and middle players usually choose either a pink or green ward (depending on the game's matchup). These choices will have a significant impact on the hero's map control abilities.
Apart from the items listed above, players can discover a variety of other items in the form of trophies and awards. They can be earned by completing certain milestones in the story, for instance completing a chapter's main quest or killing a certain boss. These can be viewed by selecting the appropriate achievement in the reward tab of the hero menu.