Path of Exile Item Upgrades
Upgrades to items are a common and important way to improve the performance of a variety of items in Path of Exile. They can cause additional damage, AD or even affixes.
In most cases, however upgraded Common and Magic gear is beaten out by Rare-grade equipment due to their high requirements.
Armor
Armor upgrades can be applied to both armor and weapon items. They boost the stats of whatever item they are connected to. Upgrades to armor are available 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 kit to salvage upgrade components from other items.
The amount of damage that an armored item or weapon will absorb is contingent on the degree of upgrades. The ability to absorb damage of a piece armor will increase when it's upgraded to the highest upgrade level. But, it's important to keep in mind that this will increase its weight, which will cause it to be heavier than before.
There are several different types of armor upgrade available in the game. Each has a different effect. For instance, some upgrades will give the armor a certain number of health points while others make it lighter and stronger. The kind of armor upgrade an item will 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 shown by the "Magic" and "Hybrids" entries in the table. Certain upgrades require charges for use. These are identified as "Charges" entries in the table. These charges are either updated daily or never expire, depending on the upgrade.
Iron Ore is the cheapest method to upgrade your armor. You can find it by exploring and looting small treasure chests. Titanium is more costly, but can be found at the smelters of Orgrimmar and Stormwind City. Certain upgrades, like the Reforge and the Hot Potato Books, can only be applied to higher level armor pieces. These upgrades can give significant improvement in performance and are worth the investment, especially for 1-handed weapons.
The player must be aware that upgrading a piece up to the maximum upgrade level can increase its defense value. However, it will also reduce its agility and speed. It is not recommended to upgrade armor beyond +9. The defensive boost gained usually isn't worth the weight and power expenses of the upgrades.
Weapons
Weapon upgrades let players increase the effectiveness of certain aspects of a weapon. Upgrades can boost the accuracy of a rifle, or the damage caused by shotgun shells. Some weapons also have special upgrades that enhance their inherent characteristics. Frictionless materials (improves stability, reduces the risk of the risk of overheating) and Kinetic coils (increases the projectile's speed to cause more damage) are two examples.
The majority of upgrades to weapons require a whetblade. It's one of three Power Dices and a different amount Minerals and Erons. They can be obtained by completing side quests or killing a certain amount 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 fee of a certain number of Bars. The more bars you need to complete an upgrade, the more advanced the level. 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 changed a little. Previously you could go to an Upgrade Bench and pay a set amount of Bars to upgrade your equipment or weapon to an increased level of rarity. You could continue doing this until you reached the max upgrade level of the weapon or equipment, after which the upgrades would reset.
You can still do this but the process is based on RNG and low on agency. You should consider buying equipment that has minimal upgrade levels, but high base scores and stat distributions. These will then be able to give you the best tier of bonuses and blessings.
item upgrade will want to prioritize upgrades to the weapons they are most likely to use to help them level up quicker. Players should also upgrade the weapons their teammates use to make them stronger. For instance, Shepard should consider upgrading the M92F to unlock the Beretta M93R, which will make it more useful when paired with biotic specialists like Grunt and Tali.
Jewels
Jewels can be used to improve the effectiveness of a skill or provide additional effects in weapons and armor. They can be created through a process called jewelry crafting, in which you combine a gemstone and various ingredients at a table for jewelry. The higher the quality of the gem, the greater the secondary effect. These reagents can be obtained 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 boost the quality of the gem in stages that range from Crude up to Royal. Depending on the tier of the gem, it will provide a different stat boosts when it is inserted into gear, weapons and jewelry.
All levels of jewels can be crafted at the Jeweler, with the exception of the rare and legendary gems that require you to be at a certain level to obtain them. Jewels can be replaced with another jewel without destroying the original. You are able to replace the jewel once within an item of equipment.
It is typical to use more jewelry to enhance the appearance of. The jewels can also enhance performance and create a harder surface than steel, so that the repeated friction caused by pivots does not damage them.
A Glyphmaster can offer glyphs to improve the look of your shields and weapons. upgrade item provide a small bonus and can be swapped freely, but are not guaranteed to drop as loot. Glyphs are like jewelry and can be upgraded at the Jeweler in exchange for Scattered Crystals and gold. Glyphs can also be taken out and returned to the inventory. Other upgrade components such as traits or aegis cannot be exchanged and can only be recovered by using an Upgrade extractor or salvaging using the Black Lion Salvage Kit, or Ascended Salvage.
Trinkets
Trinkets are items of equipment that bestow an array of tiny but valuable benefits to your hero. You can find them in the start-up area as loot or as personal story rewards. They can also be obtained from vendors and by the completion of road interactions. They can also be made by jewelers and later found or purchased on the Trading Post.
The first trinket a player unlocks will be the cloak, which grants an unimportant but beneficial boost to speed of movement and the ability to escape. Then, they can purchase amulets, rings and necklaces in the same way to how a player obtains weapons and armor. Each piece of gear comes with one upgrade slot that accepts either a universal or jewel upgrade. Universal upgrades are smaller and can be used on any piece of equipment. Jewels cannot be upgraded or replaced, and can only be used with certain trinkets.
These trinkets grant additional buffs and abilities that are active even when the hero isn't fighting. This allows the hero to perform better when they are not active and may also help fill in the void of a solid team or any talent tree slots that normally are 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 that are less important than the iLevel of the item being upgraded. This is especially true if you want to upgrade multiple stats on an item. It is more beneficial to upgrade a single important stat rather than two suboptimal ones.
Jungle players usually upgrade their yellow trinket to a red trinket at the beginning of the game. Top and mid players however they will select a green or a pink ward, depending on the game's matchup. These choices will have a significant impact on the hero's map control abilities.
In addition to the items listed above, players can discover a variety of other trinkets throughout the game in the form of trophies and awards. These can be obtained through completing certain milestones in the story, such as the main quest of a chapter or destroying a boss. These can be viewed by selecting the relevant achievement in the reward tab of the hero menu.