Path of Exile Item Upgrades
The performance of many Path of Exile items can be improved by upgrading them. They can be a fantastic source of additional damage, more AD or even more attaches.
Rare-grade equipment is usually superior to the more modernized Common or Magic equipment due to their higher requirements.
Armor
Armor upgrades are a kind of upgrade that can be applied to weapon and armor items. They increase the effectiveness of the item that they are attached to. Upgrades to armor are available in the world of the game and can be purchased from Blacksmiths at any bonfire. Alternately, they can be rescued from items with upgrade components inside them, with a professional or higher salvage kit.
The amount of damage that an armored item or weapon is able to absorb is dependent on the degree of upgrades. A piece of armor upgraded to the highest upgrade level will boost the damage it absorbs. It's important to remember that this will increase the weight of the armor, therefore it must be more heavy.
There are a few different kinds of armor upgrades that are available in the game, and each one has distinct effects. For instance, certain upgrades will give the armor a certain amount of health points while others make it lighter and stronger. The name of the upgrade will tell you the kind of upgrade the item can be given, as illustrated below.
Some of the upgrades also require magic or a combination of technology and magic, as identified by the "Magic" and "Hybrids" entries in the table below. Certain upgrades require charges in order to be used. They are referred to as "Charges" entries in the table. These charges are either continuously updated or never expire depending on the upgrade.
The cheapest way to upgrade armor is to use Iron Ore, which can be obtained through exploring the surroundings and looting small loot chests. Titanium is more expensive, but it can be obtained through 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 provide significant increases in stats and are well worth the investment.
The process of upgrading an armor piece to the highest upgrade level will greatly increase its defense capabilities but the wearer must be aware that putting on weight can drastically decrease its speed and agility. It is not recommended to upgrade armor past +9. The defensive boost gained generally isn't worth the weight and power expenses of the upgrades.
Weapons
Weapon upgrades give players the ability to improve certain aspects of their weapon. Upgrades can boost the accuracy of a rifle or the damage caused by shotgun shells. Certain weapons come with special enhancements to enhance their intrinsic capabilities. 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 to weapons require the use of a whetblade, or one of the three Power Dices and a different amount of Minerals and Erons. These can be obtained by completing Side Quests or killing a certain amount of bosses and monsters.
Upgrading a Weapon, Equipment Set piece or Whetblade requires visiting the NPC [Armor] Boboko in Central Flarine and paying her an upgrade cost that is based on a specific number of Bars. The more bars required to complete an upgrade the more expensive the upgrade. upgrade item Casesgg of upgrades will be lower if you have more than one of the upgrade materials.
In Chapter 2: Season 5, the method of upgrading your weapon and equipment sets has changed a bit. Prior to Chapter 2: Season 5 you could upgrade your weapon and equipment by paying a certain amount of Bars. You could continue to do this until you reached a max upgrade level of the equipment or weapon, after which the upgrades would reset.
You can still do this, but the process is high on RNG and low on agency. Instead, you're much better off going to stores and purchasing equipment with low upgrade levels, but excellent base scores and stat distributions. These items have a higher likelihood of granting you highest level of benefits and blessings.
The majority of players will prioritize upgrades to the weapons they are most likely to use to help them level up quicker. Players should also upgrade the weapons their squadmates use to make them stronger. For instance, Shepard should consider upgrading the M92F to unlock the Beretta M93R, which will enhance its effectiveness when accompanied by biotic specialists like Grunt and Tali.
Jewels
Jewels can be used to boost the stats of a character or to provide additional effects on weapons and armor. They can be created using the process of jewelry crafting, which is where you combine a gem and a number of specific ingredients at a table for jewelry. The higher the grade of the gemstone, the better its secondary effect. These reagents are obtained in the world through Treasure Goblins, World Bosses and sometimes by salvaging Legendary equipment. You can also buy them from The Jeweler in exchange for gold and Scattered Prisms.
The quality of a diamond can be improved upon by the Jeweler in stages that range from Crude to Royal. Based on the tier of the gem it will give different stat boost when slotted into weapons, equipment and jewelry.
The Jeweler can create all kinds of gems, apart from the rare and legendary ones that you must attain a certain level to get. In contrast to other upgrade components, jewels can be swapped out with a identical jewel without destroying it. You are able to replace the jewel only once in a piece of equipment.
It is common to use more jewels for aesthetic reasons. Apart from improving performance, the diamonds create an area that is stronger than metal, so repeated friction from pivots won't cause harm as easily.
A Glyphmaster can offer glyphs to improve the look of your shields and weapons. These are a small perk and can be swapped freely, but are not guaranteed to drop as loot. Glyphs can be upgraded, like jewelry, at the Jeweler for gold, and also a Scattered Crystal. Glyphs can also be taken out from the inventory, and they are returned to the inventory. Other upgrade components like aegis or traits cannot be exchanged, and can only be found by using an Upgrade extractor or salvaging using Black Lion Salvage Kit or Ascended Salvage tool.
Trinkets
Trinkets are small pieces of equipment that bestow a wide range of tiny but valuable benefits to your hero. They can be obtained in the beginning areas as loot, personal story rewards, from vendors, and through performing road interactions. They can also be found on the Trading Post, or crafted by jewelers.
The first trinket players will unlock is the cloak. It gives a small but valuable boost in speed of movement and the ability to evade. After that, they can get amulets, rings, and necklaces in the same way to how a player acquires armor and weapons. Each piece of equipment has one upgrade slot that accepts either a universal or a jewel upgrade. Universal upgrades are smaller and are able to be used on any device. Jewels are not upgradeable or replaced and only work with certain trinkets.
These trinkets grant additional buffs and abilities that are active even when the hero isn't engaged in combat. This enables the hero to be more effective when not active and also helps make up for a lack of a strong team or the absence of any slots in the talent tree which would normally be filled with hero's ideal stats.
As a rule trinket upgrades should be a priority BiS (Best in Slot) items you won't replace in the near future. Also, consider items with desirable statistics that aren't as important as the iLevel for the item to be upgraded. This is especially true if an item has multiple stats that you wish to upgrade, as it's often better to upgrade a single important stat than two sub-optimal 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 the pink or green ward (depending on the game's matchup). These choices can impact a hero's ability to control the map.
In addition to the items mentioned above, players will find other trinkets that form of rewards and trophies throughout the game. They can be earned by completing certain milestones in the story, for instance finishing a chapter's main quest or destroying a boss. These achievements can be seen by selecting the appropriate achievement from the reward tab of the hero menu.