Path of Exile Item Upgrades
Item upgrades are a common and crucial method to enhance the performance of a variety of items in Path of Exile. They can cause additional damage, AD or even affixes.
Rare-grade equipment can be superior to modernized Common or Magic gear due to their higher requirements.
Armor
Armor upgrades are a form 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 world of the game and can be purchased from Blacksmiths at any bonfire. They can also be salvaged by using a professional or higher salvage kit to retrieve upgrades from the items.
The amount of damage an armored item or weapon can absorb depends on the degree of upgrades. The damage absorption of an armor piece will increase when it's upgraded to the maximum upgrade level. It's important to remember that this will increase the weight of the armor, so it must be heavier.
There are several kinds of armor upgrades that are available in the game, and they all have distinct effects. For instance, certain upgrades will grant the armor a certain amount of additional health points, while others will make it stronger and lighter. The kind of armor upgrade an item can receive will be indicated by the name of the upgrade as illustrated in the table below.
Some of the upgrades also require magic or a hybrid technology and magic, which is shown by the "Magic" and "Hybrids" entries in the table. Some upgrades also require a fee to use, which is identified by an "Charges" entry in the table below. The charges for these upgrades refresh daily or never expire, according to the upgrade.
Iron Ore is the cheapest method to upgrade your armor. You can locate it by exploring and looting small chests. Titanium is more expensive but can be found in 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 provide significant boost in stats, and are definitely worth the cost.
Upgrading a piece of armor to max upgrade level will greatly increase its defense values however, the user must be aware that increasing its weight can drastically decrease its speed and agility. For this reason, it is not recommended to upgrade armor pieces beyond +9, since the defensive boost gained is generally not worth the weight and power cost of the upgrades required.
Weapons
Weapon upgrades allow players the ability to improve certain aspects of their weapon. Upgrades can boost the accuracy of a rifle, or the damage that shotgun shells do. Some weapons have special 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).
The majority of upgrades to weapons require three Power Dices, a different amount of Minerals and Erons and a whetblade for applying. These are obtained through either doing side quests, or killing a certain number of bosses or monsters, or through the Weapon Upgrade NPC in Central Flarine.
The process of upgrading a weapon, equipment Set piece or Whetblade requires visiting the NPC [Armor] Boboko in Central Flarine and paying her an upgrade fee that is based on a specific number of Bars. The higher the upgrade level, the higher the number of bars you will need to complete the upgrade. If you have multiple upgrade materials, the cost of upgrading will be lower.
In Chapter 2: Season 5 the way you upgrade your weapon and sets has changed. Before you could search for an Upgrade Bench and pay a set number of Bars to upgrade your weapon or equipment to an increased level of rarity. You could do this until you reached the maximum upgrade level for the weapon or equipment, after which the upgrades would be reset.
It's still possible, but it depends heavily on RNG. It is better to purchase gear that has low upgrade levels, but high base scores and stat distributions. These gears have a greater chance of giving you the most prestigious tier of benefits and blessings.
The majority of players will make the most of upgrades to weapons they use most frequently to make sure they are able to level up quicker. In addition to these players, they should also consider upgrading the weapons they use with their squadmates to increase their power and effective. For instance, Shepard should consider upgrading the M92F to unlock the Beretta M93R to make it more useful when paired with experts in biotics like Grunt and Tali.
Jewels
Jewels are utilized in the armor's sockets 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 with various reagents at a jewelry table. The higher the grade of the jewel the better the secondary effect. These reagents can be found around the world through Treasure Goblins, World Bosses and, sometimes, by salvaging Legendary equipment. You can also purchase them from The Jeweler in exchange for Scattered Prisms and gold.
The Jeweler can enhance the quality of gemstones in stages ranging from Crude up to Royal. The boosts to stats will differ depending on the level the jewel is at when it's inserted into jewelry, weapons, or equipment.
All kinds of jewels can be made at the Jeweler, with the exception of the rare and legendary jewels which require you to be at a certain level to obtain the privilege of having them. Like other upgrade components jewels can be swapped out by a different identical jewel without destroying it. You are able to replace the jewel once in an item of equipment.
Using more jewels in a movement will make it feel smoother, and is often used for aesthetic reasons. The jewels also improve performance and create a surface harder than metal so that repeated friction from pivots does not cause damage to them.
A Glyphmaster can offer glyphs to improve the appearance of your shields and weapons. These glyphs offer a small boost and can be traded, but they're not guaranteed to appear as loot. Glyphs are like jewelry and can be upgraded by the Jeweler in exchange for Scattered Crystals and gold. Glyphs can also be taken out and returned to the inventory. item upgrade , such as traits and aegis are not swappable, and are only recoverable by using an Upgrade Extractor, or by salvaging them using the Black Lion Salvage Kit or an Ascended Salvage Tool.
Trinkets
Trinkets are a great way to give your character a variety of small, but valuable benefits. You can find them in the starter area as loot or as personal story rewards. They are also available from vendors as well as through the completion of road interactions. They can be purchased from the Trading Post, or crafted by jewelers.
The first trinkets that a player can unlock is the cloak, which gives a small but useful bonus to speed of movement and evasion. The player can then acquire necklaces, rings, and amulets in a similar manner to how they acquired weapons and armor. Each piece of gear comes with one upgrade slot that accepts either a universal or a 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 also provide additional bonuses and abilities that are active when the hero is not in combat. This allows a hero to be more efficient while inactive. It also helps compensate for the absence of excellent team or talent tree slots that are normally filled by the hero's best stats.
A good guideline for trinket upgrades is to prioritize BiS (Best-in-Slot) items that you will not replace 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 if an item has multiple stats you wish to upgrade, since it's generally better to upgrade just one crucial stat than two subpar ones.
In the beginning of the game junglers will usually want to upgrade their trinket to a red in the middle and top players usually choose a green or pink ward (depending on the game's matchup). These choices will have an impact on the hero's ability to manage the map.
Aside from the things mentioned above, players may also find other items in the form of awards and trophies. These can be obtained by completing certain milestones within the story, such as finishing a chapter's main quest or killing a particular boss. These achievements can be seen by selecting the relevant achievement from the reward tab of the hero menu.