Path of Exile Item Upgrades
Upgrades to items are a common and crucial method to enhance the performance of numerous items in Path of Exile. They can be a fantastic source of damage or more AD or even more attachments.
Often times 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 increase the effectiveness of the item that they're attached to. Armor upgrades can be found in the world of the game and are available from Blacksmiths on bonfires. Alternately, they can be rescued from items with upgrade components in them using a specialist or more powerful salvage kit.
The level of an armor's or weapon's upgrade determines the amount of damage it can absorb. The upgrade of an armor piece to maximum upgrade level will boost the damage it absorbs. However, it's important to keep in mind that this will raise its weight, requiring it to be heavier than before.
There are many different kinds of armor upgrade available in the game. Each has a different impact. For example, some upgrades give the armor a certain amount of health points while others will make it lighter and stronger. The name of the armor upgrade will tell you the kind of upgrade an item can be given, as illustrated below.
Some of the upgrades also require magic or a hybrid technology and magic, which is 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. These charges are either continuously updated or never expire based on the upgrade.
Iron Ore is the cheapest option to improve your armor. It can be found by exploring and looting small chests. Titanium is more expensive however, it is available from smelters located in Orgrimmar and Stormwind City. Certain upgrades, like the Reforge or 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 definitely worth the cost.
The player must be aware that upgrading a piece up to the maximum upgrade level will increase its defense value. However, it will also decrease its agility and speed. It is not recommended to upgrade armor above +9. The added defense generally isn't worth the weight and power costs of the upgrades.
Weapons
Weapon upgrades allow players to enhance certain aspects of their weapon. For example, an upgrade may improve the damage that is caused by shotgun shells or the accuracy of a sniper rifle. Some weapons have special upgrades to improve their inherent qualities. These include Frictionless Materials (improves stability and decreases the chance of the risk of overheating) and Kinetic Coils (increases projectile acceleration for more damage).
item upgrades of weapon upgrades require a whetblade, one of three Power Dices and a different amount Minerals and Erons. These are obtained through either finishing side quests, killing a certain amount of bosses or monsters, or by contacting the Weapon Upgrade NPC 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 price of a certain number of Bars. The more bars you need 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 your weapon and equipment sets has changed a bit. Previously, you could seek out an Upgrade Bench and pay for a specific number of Bars to upgrade your weapon or equipment to a higher quality. You could do this until your weapon or equipment reached its maximum upgrade level and at that point, the upgrades would reset.
You can still do this however, the process is high on RNG and low on agency. Instead, you're much better off going to stores and buying gear that has low upgrade levels but excellent base scores and stat distributions. These items have a greater chance of giving you the highest tier advantages and benefits.
To level up quicker, players usually be more inclined to upgrade their weapons. In addition to these players, they should also consider upgrading the weapons that are most popular with their squadmates to increase their power and effective. For instance, Shepard should consider upgrading the M92F to unlock the Beretta M93R, which will enhance its effectiveness when paired with experts in biotics like Grunt and Tali.
Jewels
Jewels can be used to boost the effectiveness of a skill or provide additional effects on weapons and armor. They can be created using an process known as jewelry crafting, in which you combine a gemstone and various chemicals at a table. The higher the level of the gemstone, the better its secondary effect. These reagents can be obtained around the world from Treasure Goblins, World Bosses and sometimes by salvaging Legendary equipment. You can also purchase 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. The stat boosts will vary depending on the level the jewel is at when it's slotted into weapons, jewelry, or equipment.
The Jeweler can craft all tiers of gems, except for the rare and legendary ones which require a certain level to get. In contrast to other upgrade components, jewels can be swapped with another identical jewel without destroying the original one. However you can only swap out one jewel in an equipment piece only once.
It is typical to use more gems to enhance the appearance of. Apart from improving performance, the jewels create an outer layer that is more durable than metal, so repeated friction with pivots doesn't cause harm as easily.
A Glyphmaster can offer glyphs to improve the appearance of your weapons and shields. These glyphs give a slight boost and can be freely swapped, but they are not guaranteed to appear as loot. Glyphs, just like jewelry, can be upgraded at the Jeweler to exchange gold and Scattered Crystals. Glyphs can also be taken out and returned to the inventory. Other upgrade components, like aegis and traits, are not swappable, and can only be recovered using an Upgrade Extractor or salvaging them using Black Lion Salvage Kit or Ascended Salvage Tool.
Trinkets
Trinkets can give your character many small, but beneficial, advantages. They can be obtained in the starter areas as loot, personal story rewards, from vendors, or by doing road interactions. They can also be crafted by jewelers, and found or purchased from the Trading Post.
The first trinkets that a player is able to unlock is the cloak, which gives a small but useful bonus in speed of movement and evasion. The player will then be able to acquire necklaces, rings, and amulets in a similar fashion to how they acquired weapons and armor. Each piece of equipment comes with an upgrade slot that can be either universal or jewel. Universal upgrades are smaller and can be used on any equipment. Jewels are not upgradeable or replaced and are only compatible with certain trinkets.
These trinkets can provide additional bonuses and abilities that are active even when the hero isn't in combat. This lets a hero be more efficient when they are not active. It can also make up for the absence of good slot in the talent tree or team which are usually filled by a hero's top stats.
A good rule of thumb for trinket upgrades is to prioritize BiS (Best-in-Slot) items that you won't be replacing soon, followed by any items with desirable stats that are less important than the iLevel of the item that is being upgraded. This is especially true when you're looking to upgrade several stats on an item. It's more beneficial to upgrade a single important stat than two less important ones.
Jungle players will often upgrade their yellow trinkets to a red one prior to the start of the game. Mid and top players, on the other hand will pick either a pink or green ward, depending on the game's matchup. These choices will have a significant impact on the hero's ability to control his map.
Aside from the items mentioned above, players can find other trinkets throughout the game in the form of trophies and awards. These can be obtained by completing certain milestones within the story, like completing a chapter's main quest or killing a particular boss. You can view them by selecting the achievement in the reward section of the hero's menu.