Guide To Item Upgrades: The Intermediate Guide To Item Upgrades
Path of Exile Item Upgrades
item upgrading upgrades are a common and important way to improve the performance of many items in Path of Exile. They can be a good source of extra damage, more AD or even more affixes.
Rare-grade equipment is usually superior to the more modernized Common or Magic gear due to their higher requirements.
Armor
Armor upgrades can be applied to both armor and weapon items. They improve the stats of whatever item they are attached to. Armor upgrades are available in the world of games and are available from Blacksmiths on bonfires. They can also be salvaged using an expert or higher salvage kits to retrieve upgrade components from items.
The level of an armor's or weapon's upgrade determines the amount of damage it will absorb. Upgrading a piece of armor to the highest upgrade level will boost its ability to absorb damage. It is important to note that this will increase the weight of the armor, so it should be heavier.
There are many different kinds of armor upgrade available in the game. Each has a different effect. Certain upgrades give armor a greater number of health points, while others make it more powerful and lighter. The name of the upgrade will indicate the type of upgrade an item upgrade can be given, as illustrated below.
A few upgrades also feature magic or a hybrid of technology and magic, which is indicated by the "Magic" or "Hybrid" entry in the table below. Some upgrades also require a fee to use, which are indicated by an "Charges" entry in the table below. These charges are either continuously updated or never expire, depending on the upgrade items.
Iron Ore is the cheapest option to upgrade your armor. It can be found by exploring and looting small chests. Titanium is more costly, but can be found in the smelters of Orgrimmar and Stormwind City. Some upgrades, such as the Reforge and the Hot Potato Books, can only be applied to higher level armor pieces. These upgrades can provide significant improvement in performance and are worth the cost, especially for single-handed weapons.
Upgrading a piece of armor to its maximum upgrade level will significantly boost its defense, but the player should be aware that putting on weight will drastically reduce its agility and speed. It is not recommended to upgrade armor above +9. The added defense generally isn't worth the weight and power cost of the upgrades.
Weapons
Weapon upgrades give players to enhance certain aspects of their weapon. Upgrades can increase the accuracy of a rifle or the damage that shotgun shells cause. Some weapons have special upgrades that enhance their inherent qualities. Frictionless materials (improves stability, and reduces the risk of overheating), and Kinetic coils (increases the projectile's velocity for greater damage) are two examples.
Most weapon upgrades require one of three Power Dices, a different amount of Minerals and Erons and a whetblade to apply. They can be obtained by completing Side Quests or killing a certain amount of monsters and bosses.
To upgrade an equipment set, weapon piece, or Whetblade, you must visit the NPC [Armor] Boboko located in Central Flarine, and pay her an upgrade fee of a certain amount 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 ways to upgrade your equipment and weapon sets was a bit different. In the past, you could seek out an Upgrade Bench and pay a set amount of Bars to upgrade your equipment or weapon to a higher level of rarity. You could do this until your weapon or equipment reached its maximum upgrade level and at that point, the upgrades would be reset.
This is still possible, but it relies heavily on RNG. Instead, you're much better off going to stores and buying gear with low upgrade levels but good base scores and stat distributions. These will then have a chance at gaining you the highest tier bonuses and blessings.
The majority of players will prioritize weapon upgrades for the weapons they most often use to make sure they are able to level up faster. In addition players, they should also consider upgrading the weapons favored by their teammates to increase their power as well. Shepard for instance, should upgrade the M92F in order to unlock the Beretta M93R. This will make the weapon more useful when accompanied with biotic specialists like Grunt and Tali.
Jewels
Jewels can be used to increase a stat or provide secondary effects in weapons and armor. They can be created through an process known as jewelry crafting, where you combine a gemstone and several ingredients at a table for jewelry. The higher the level of the gem, the greater the secondary effect. These reagents are obtained in the world from Treasure Goblins, World Bosses and, sometimes, by salvaging Legendary gear. You can also buy them from The Jeweler for gold and a Scattered Prism.
The quality of a diamond can be improved by the Jeweler, with stages that range from Crude to Royal. The stat boosts will vary according to the tier that the jewel is in when it is inserted into weapons, jewelry, or gear.
All tiers of jewels can be made at the Jeweler and Jeweler's Workshop, with the exception of the rare and legendary gems that require you to be at a certain level to be able to get these. In contrast to other upgrade components, jewels are able to be swapped by a different jewel of the same type without destroying it. However it is only possible to replace a jewel in an equipment piece once.
The use of more jewels in the movement will make it feel smoother and is usually performed to enhance the aesthetics of the movement. Jewels also enhance performance and create a surface harder than steel so that repeated friction from pivots does not cause damage to the movement.
A Glyphmaster can provide glyphs to enhance the look of your shields and weapons. These glyphs give a slight boost and can be freely swapped, but they are not guaranteed to appear as loot. Glyphs can be upgraded like jewelry, at the Jeweler for gold, and also scattered Crystal. Glyphs are also removed, which returns them to the inventory. Other upgrade components, such as traits and aegis, aren't swappable and are only recoverable by using an Upgrade Extractor or salvaging them using a Black Lion Salvage Kit or an Ascended Salvage Tool.
Trinkets
Trinkets are pieces of equipment that provide many small but useful advantages to your hero. They are available in the starting area as loot or personal story rewards. They can also be obtained through vendors and after doing road interaction. They can be found on the Trading Post, or crafted by jewelers.
The first trinkets that a player unlocks will be the cloak. It grants an unimportant but beneficial boost to movement speed and evasion. Then, they can acquire rings, amulets, and necklaces in the same way to how a player acquires weapons and armor. Each piece of gear comes with one upgrade slot that accepts either a universal or a jewel upgrade. Universal upgrades offer smaller bonuses and can be put into any type of equipment, however, jewelry cannot be replaced or upgraded and is only compatible with specific types of trinkets.
These trinkets provide additional buffs and abilities that are active when the hero isn't engaged in combat. This enables the hero to be more effective when not active, and can also help to compensate for the absence of a strong team or any slots from the talent tree that would normally be filled with hero's ideal statistics.
As a general rule, trinket upgrades should prioritize BiS (Best in Slot) items you won't replace anytime soon. Next, any items with desirable statistics that aren't as significant as the iLevel for the Item Upgrade to be upgraded. This is especially true if you're looking to upgrade several statistics on an item. It's more beneficial to upgrade a single important stat instead of two subpar ones.
Jungle players often upgrade their yellow trinkets to a red trinket at the beginning of the game. Mid and top players however will pick either a pink or green ward, based on the 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 rewards and trophies throughout the game. These can be earned by completing certain milestones within the story. For instance, completing the main quest for a chapter or defeating the boss. They can be viewed by selecting the relevant achievement from the reward tab of the hero menu.