Guide To Item Upgrades: The Intermediate Guide To Item Upgrades

Path of Exile Item Upgrades

Item upgrades 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.

Rare-grade equipment is usually superior to modernized Common or Magic gear due to their high demands.

Armor

Armor upgrades are a form of upgrade that can be used on weapons and armor items. They improve the stats of whatever item they are attached to. Armor upgrades can be found in the world of games and can be purchased from Blacksmiths at bonfires. They can also be salvaged by using a specialist or higher salvage kit to recover upgrade components from items.

The amount of damage that an armored item or weapon will absorb is contingent on the degree of upgrades. The absorption of damage by an item of armor will increase when it's upgraded to its maximum upgrade level. However, it's important to note that this will also increase its weight, which will cause it to weigh more than it was before.

There are many different kinds of armor upgrades that are available in the game. Each has a different effect. For example, some upgrades will grant the armor a certain amount of health points while others will make it lighter and stronger. The name of the armor upgrade will indicate the type of upgrade an item upgrader mod can receive, as shown below.

A few of the upgrades are also magic or a mix of magic and technology, which is identified by an "Magic" or "Hybrid" entry in the table below. Additionally, some upgrades require a charge to use, and are indicated by the "Charges" entry in the table below. The charges for these upgrades are updated daily or never expire dependent on the upgrade.

Iron Ore is the cheapest option to improve your armor. You can locate it by exploring and looting small loot chests. Titanium is more expensive, however it is obtainable 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 give players a significant improvements in stats and are well worth the investment.

A piece of armor upgraded to the highest upgrade level will significantly increase its defense values but the wearer must be aware that putting on weight will drastically reduce its speed and agility. It is not recommended to upgrade armor past +9. The defensive boost gained usually isn't worth the weight and power expenses of the upgrades.

Weapons

Weapon upgrades allow players to improve the effectiveness of specific aspects of the weapon. Upgrades can improve the accuracy of a rifle or the damage caused by shotgun shells. Certain firearms also have upgrades that enhance their inherent qualities. Frictionless materials (improves stability, and reduces the risk of overheating), and Kinetic coils (increases the projectile's speed to cause more damage) are two examples.

The majority of weapon upgrades 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, killing a certain amount of monsters or bosses, or from the Weapon Upgrade NPC in Central Flarine.

To upgrade an equipment set, weapon piece or Whetblade you need to visit the NPC [Armor] Boboko located in Central Flarine, and pay her an upgrade fee of a certain number of Bars. The more bars needed to complete an upgrade the higher the level. If you have multiple upgrade materials the cost of upgrading will be lower.

In Chapter 2: Season 5 the way you upgrade weapon and equipment sets has changed. Before you could search for an Upgrade Bench and pay a set amount of Bars to upgrade your weapon or equipment to an increased quality. You could continue to do this until you reached a maximum upgrade level for the equipment or weapon, following which the upgrades would be reset.

You can still do this, but the process is high on RNG and low on agency. It is better to purchase gear that has minimal upgrade levels but with high base scores and stat distributions. These will then have a chance at gaining you the most prestigious bonuses and blessings.

To level up faster, most players will prioritize upgrading their weapons. Players should also upgrade items the weapons their squadmates use to boost their strength. Shepard for instance, should upgrade the M92F to unlock the Beretta M93R. This will increase the effectiveness of the weapon when accompanied by biotic specialists like Grunt and Tali.

Jewels

Jewels are utilized in the armor's sockets and weapons, enhancing the stats of a weapon and providing additional effects. Jewelry crafting is the process of making them, where you combine the gemstone with specific reagents on a jewelry table. The higher the grade of the jewel the better the secondary effect. These reagents can be obtained from Treasure Goblins and World Bosses in the world, or through 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 in stages that range from Crude to Royal. The stat boosts can vary depending on the tier the jewel is in when it's inserted into weapons, jewelry, or other gear.

The Jeweler is able to create the highest levels of gems apart from the rare and legendary ones, which you must be at an appropriate level to obtain. Jewels can be replaced by another jewel without destroying the original. You can only replace the gem once within an item of equipment.

Utilizing more jewels in a move will make it feel smoother, and is often done for aesthetic reasons. In addition to enhancing performance, the jewels also create an area that is stronger than metal, so repeated friction from pivots won't damage them as easily.

In addition to the upgrades mentioned above players can also acquire glyphs for their weapons and shields from a Glyphmaster. These glyphs give a slight boost and can be traded, but they're not guaranteed to be available as loot. Glyphs are upgradeable, like jewelry, at the Jeweler for gold and Scattered Crystal. Glyphs are also removed, which returns them to the inventory. Other upgrade components, like traits and aegis are not swappable, and are only recoverable by using an Upgrade Extractor or salvaging them using the Black Lion Salvage Kit or Ascended Salvage Tool.

Trinkets

Trinkets can be used to give your character many small, but useful, advantages. They can be acquired starting in the beginning areas as loot or personal story rewards from vendors, or by doing road interactions. They can also be made by jewelers and later found or purchased at the Trading Post.

The first trinket a player can unlock is the cloak, which grants a small but useful bonus in speed of movement and evasion. After that, they'll be able to acquire rings, amulets, and necklaces in a similar way to how a player obtains armor and weapons. Each piece of gear comes with one upgrade slot that accepts either a universal upgrade or a jewel upgrade. Universal upgrades offer fewer benefits and can be placed in any kind of equipment while jewelry cannot be replaced or upgraded and is only compatible with specific types of trinkets.

These trinkets also provide additional buffs and skills that remain active whenever the hero is not in combat. This allows a hero to become more efficient even when not in combat. It also helps compensate for the lack of a excellent slot in the talent tree or team which are usually filled by the hero's best stats.

A good guideline for trinket upgrades is to prioritize BiS (Best item upgrade-in-Slot) items that you won't be replacing soon, followed by items with desirable stats but less important than the iLevel of the item to be upgraded. This is particularly true if an item has multiple stats that you wish to upgrade, as it's usually better to upgrade a single important stat rather than two sub-optimal ones.

Jungle players usually upgrade their yellow trinkets to a red one at the start of the game. Top and mid players on the other hand they will select either a pink or green ward, based on the matchup. These choices will have a significant impact on the hero's map control abilities.

In addition to the items mentioned above, players will also find other trinkets in the form of trophies and rewards throughout the game. These can be obtained by completing certain milestones in the story, such as finishing a chapter's main quest or destroying a boss. You can check them out by clicking on the achievement in the reward section of the hero's menu.