Path of Exile Item Upgrades
Item upgrades are a common and crucial method to enhance the performance of many items in Path of Exile. They can provide extra damage, AD or even affixes.
Rare-grade equipment can be superior to upgraded Common or Magic gear due to their higher requirements.
Armor
Armor upgrades can be applied to both weapon and armor items. They improve the stats of the item they are connected to. Armor upgrades are available in the world of the game and are available from Blacksmiths on 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 item or weapon will absorb is contingent on the degree of upgrades. Upgrading a piece of armor to its highest upgrade level will boost the damage it absorbs. But, it's important to be aware that this upgrade will increase its weight, causing it to be heavier than before.
There are several different types of armor upgrades available in the game. Each has a different impact. For example, some upgrades give the armor a certain number of additional health points, while others make it stronger and lighter. The name of the armor upgrade will indicate the kind of upgrade that an item will receive, as shown below.
A few upgrades also feature magical or a combination of technology and magic which is shown by a "Magic" or "Hybrid" entry in the table below. Some upgrades also require a charge to use, which is shown by an "Charges" entry in the table below. These charges are either updated daily or never expire depending on the upgrade.
Iron Ore is the cheapest method to improve your armor. You can find it by exploring and looting small loot chests. Titanium is more expensive, but can be found in the smelters of Orgrimmar and Stormwind City. Certain upgrades, such as the Reforge or the Hot Potato Books can only be applied on armor pieces that are of high-level. These upgrades can provide significant boost in stats, and are well worth the cost.
The player must be aware that upgrading a piece to the maximum upgrade level can boost its defense. However, it will also reduce the speed and agility of the piece. It is not recommended to upgrade armor above +9. The defensive boost gained usually isn't worth the weight and power costs of the upgrades.
Weapons
Weapon upgrades let players increase the effectiveness of specific aspects of the weapon. Upgrades can improve the accuracy of a rifle, or the damage that shotgun shells cause. Certain weapons also come with upgrades that enhance their inherent qualities. These include Frictionless Materials (improves stability and minimizes overheating of the weapon) and Kinetic Coils (increases the velocity of projectiles for greater damage).
The majority of upgrades for weapons 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 by killing a certain amount of bosses and monsters.
Upgrades to a weapon, equipment Set piece or Whetblade requires visiting the NPC [Armor] Boboko in Central Flarine and paying her an upgrade cost of a set number of Bars. The more bars you need to complete an upgrade, the more expensive the upgrade. The cost of upgrades will be less if you have more than one of the upgrade materials.
In Chapter 2: Season 5, the method of upgrading your equipment and weapon sets changed a little. Prior to item upgrader could upgrade your weapon or equipment by paying a specific number of Bars. You could do this until your weapon or equipment reached its maximum upgrade level at which point the upgrades would be reset.
It's possible, but it depends heavily on RNG. Instead, you're much better off visiting stores and buying gear with low upgrade levels but good base scores and stat distributions. They will also be able to give you the highest tier benefits and blessings.
To improve their skills faster, many players prioritise upgrading their weapons. Additionally players, they should also consider upgrading the weapons they use with their teammates to make them more powerful as well. For instance, Shepard should consider upgrading the M92F to unlock the Beretta M93R, which will increase its utility when accompanied by experts in biotics like Grunt and Tali.
Jewels
Jewels are used in the sockets of armor and weapons, increasing a stat and providing secondary effects. They can be created using an process known as jewelry crafting, which is where you combine a gem and a number of specific ingredients at a table for jewelry. The higher the quality of the jewel the better the secondary effect. These reagents are available from Treasure Goblins and World Bosses in the world, or by salvaging Legendary Gear. You can also purchase them from The Jeweler for gold and a Scattered Prism.
The Jeweler can boost the quality of gemstones in stages ranging from Crude up to Royal. The stat boosts can vary depending on the tier the jewel is in when it's slotted into jewelry, weapons, or equipment.
The Jeweler can create all tiers of gems, with the exception of rare and legendary ones, which you must be at an appropriate level to obtain. Jewels can be substituted with another one without damaging the original. You can only replace the gem only once in a piece of equipment.
Using more jewels in the movement will make it feel smoother and is usually performed for aesthetic reasons. In addition to enhancing performance, the jewels create an area that is stronger than metal, which means that repeated friction from pivots won't cause damage as easily.
In addition to the above upgrades players can also acquire glyphs for their shields and weapons from a Glyphmaster. These glyphs offer a small boost in power and can be exchanged, however they're not guaranteed to appear as loot. Glyphs, just like jewelry, can be upgraded by the Jeweler to exchange Scattered Crystals and gold. Glyphs can also be taken out from the inventory, and they are returned to the inventory. Other upgrade components, such as traits or aegis can't be exchanged and can only be retrieved by using an Upgrade extractor or salvaging with Black Lion Salvage Kit or Ascended Salvage.
Trinkets
Trinkets can be used to give your character many small, but beneficial, advantages. They can be acquired starting in the areas of starting as loot, personal story rewards, from vendors, and by performing road interactions. They can also be crafted by jewelers and later found or purchased from the Trading Post.
The first trinket that a player can unlock is the cloak. It provides a tiny but valuable boost in speed of movement and the ability to evade. Then, they can acquire rings, amulets, and necklaces in the same way to how a player can acquire armor and weapons. Each piece of equipment has one upgrade slot that accepts either a universal or jewel upgrade. Universal upgrades are smaller and can be used on any equipment. Jewels cannot be upgraded or replaced and are only compatible with certain trinkets.
These trinkets provide additional buffs and abilities that are active even when the hero isn't engaged in combat. This lets a hero become more efficient even when not in combat. It can also make up for the lack of a excellent slot in the talent tree or team that are normally filled by the hero's optimal stats.
As a general rule trinket upgrades should be prioritized over BiS (Best in Slot) items that you aren't likely to replace anytime soon. Then, you should consider any items that have desirable statistics aren't as important as the iLevel of the item that is to be upgraded. This is especially true when you are looking to upgrade multiple stats on an item. It's better to upgrade one important stat than two less important ones.
At the beginning of the game players in the jungle are likely to upgrade their trinket to a red, while top and middle players usually choose a green or pink ward (depending on the game's matchup). These choices will have a significant impact on the hero's ability to control his map.
In addition to the items mentioned above, players will also discover other trinkets in form of trophies and rewards throughout the game. They can be earned by completing certain milestones within the story, like completing a chapter's main quest or killing a certain boss. These achievements can be seen by selecting the relevant achievement in the reward tab of the hero menu.