Guide To Item Upgrades: The Intermediate Guide To Item Upgrades

Path of Exile Item Upgrades

Item upgrades are a common and crucial method to enhance the performance of many items in Path of Exile. They can cause additional damage, AD or even affixes.

Rare-grade equipment is often superior to the more modernized Common or Magic equipment due to their higher requirements.

Armor

Armor upgrades can be applied to both armor and weapon items. They improve the performance of the item they are connected to. Upgrades to armor are available in the world of the game and can be purchased from Blacksmiths at any bonfire. Additionally, they can be salvaged 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 will absorb. A piece of armor upgraded to the highest upgrade level will boost its damage absorption. But, it's important to keep in mind that this will raise its weight, requiring it to weigh more than it was before.

There are a few different kinds of armor upgrades that are available in the game, and they all have different effects. Certain upgrades give armor an extra number of health points while others make it lighter and more powerful. The kind of armor upgrade an item will receive will be identified by the name of the upgrade, as shown in the table below.

Certain upgrades require magic or a combination of technology and magic, as indicated by the "Magic" and "Hybrids" entries in the table. Some upgrades also require charges to use, which is shown by an "Charges" entry in the table below. The charges for these upgrades refresh daily or never expire, dependent on the upgrade.

Iron Ore is the cheapest way to upgrade your armor. You can find it by exploring and looting small loot chests. Titanium is more expensive, but it can be obtained from the smelters in Orgrimmar and Stormwind City. Certain upgrades, like the Reforge and the Hot Potato Books, can only be applied to high-level armor pieces. These upgrades can provide a significant improvements in stats and are a worthwhile cost, especially for single-handed weapons.

Upgrading a piece of armor to the highest upgrade level will greatly increase its defense values, but the player should be aware that putting on weight will dramatically reduce its agility and speed. It is not recommended to upgrade armor beyond +9. The boost in defense generally isn't worth the weight and power cost of the upgrades.

Weapons

Weapon upgrades allow players to improve the effectiveness of specific aspects of a weapon. For example an upgrade could improve the damage that is caused by a shotgun's shells or the accuracy of a rifle sniper. Some weapons also have special upgrades that improve their innate characteristics. These include Frictionless Materials (improves stability and reduces the risk of weapon overheating) and Kinetic Coils (increases projectile acceleration for more damage).

The majority of upgrades for weapons require a whetblade. It's one of three Power Dices and a different amount Minerals and Erons. These can be obtained by completing Side Quests or by killing a certain number of bosses and monsters.

To upgrade the weapon, equipment set piece or Whetblade, you must visit the NPC [ArmorBoboko. Boboko located in Central Flarine, and pay her an upgrade fee that is a certain amount of bars. The higher the upgrade level, the more bars are required to complete it. The cost of upgrading will be lower if have more than one of the relevant upgrade materials.

In Chapter 2: Season 5 the way you upgrade your weapon and sets has changed. In the past you could go to an Upgrade Bench and pay for a specific number of Bars to upgrade your equipment or weapon to an increased level of rarity. You could do this until your weapon or equipment reached its maximum upgrade item level and at that point, the upgrades would be reset.

You can still do this, however, the process is high on RNG and low on agency. Instead, you're better off going to stores and buying gear that has low upgrade levels but good base scores and stat distributions. They will also be able to give you the most prestigious bonuses and blessings.

To improve their skills faster, most players will be more inclined to upgrade their weapons. Players should also upgrade the weapons that their squadmates use to boost their strength. Shepard, for example should upgrade his M92F in order 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 used in the sockets of armor and weapons, enhancing the power of a character and bringing about secondary effects. They can be made through an process known as jewelry crafting, in which you combine a gemstone and a number of specific chemicals at a table. The higher the grade of the jewel the better the 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 Scattered Prisms and gold.

The quality of a diamond can be improved upon by the Jeweler, with stages that vary from Crude to Royal. The boosts to stats will differ depending on the tier the jewel is at when it is inserted into jewelry, weapons or other gear.

All tiers of jewels are crafted at the Jeweler and Jeweler's Workshop, with the exception of the rare and legendary jewels which require you to be at a sufficient level to qualify for these. Unlike other upgrade components, jewels are able to be swapped by a different jewel of the same type without damaging the original one. You are able to replace the jewel only once in a piece of equipment.

It is typical to use more jewelry for aesthetic reasons. In addition to enhancing performance, the diamonds create an outer layer that is more durable than metal, which means that repeated friction from pivots won't cause damage as easily.

A Glyphmaster can provide glyphs to enhance the appearance of your shields and weapons. They offer a small benefit and are able to be swapped easily, but are not guaranteed to drop as loot. Glyphs, like jewelry, can be upgraded at the Jeweler in exchange for Scattered Crystals and gold. Glyphs may also be removed and returned to the inventory. Other upgrade items components, such as aegis and traits, aren't swappable and can only be retrieved using an Upgrade Extractor, or by salvaging them using the Black Lion Salvage Kit or an Ascended Salvage Tool.

Trinkets

Trinkets can be used to give your character many small, but valuable benefits. They can be obtained in the beginning areas as loot or personal story rewards from vendors, and by performing road interactions. They can also be found on the Trading Post, or crafted by jewelers.

The first trinkets a player is able to unlock is the cloak, which gives a small but useful bonus to movement speed and the ability to escape. The player will then be able to acquire necklaces, amulets, and rings, in a similar way to how they acquired weapons and armor. Each piece of equipment comes with a slot for an upgrade that is either universal or jewel. Universal upgrades offer smaller bonuses and can be used in any kind of equipment while jewelry cannot be replaced or upgraded, and only works with certain types of trinkets.

These trinkets grant additional buffs and abilities that are active even when the hero isn't in combat. This lets the hero be more effective when not active, and can also help to compensate for the absence of a solid team or the absence of any slots from the talent tree that normally are filled with the hero's Best item upgrade stats.

A good guideline 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, but less important than the iLevel of the item that is being upgraded. This is especially true when an item has multiple stats that you wish to upgrade, as it's usually better to upgrade a single important stat than two sub-optimal ones.

Jungle players usually upgrade their yellow trinket to a red trinket at the start of the game. Mid and top players, on the other hand, will choose a green or a pink ward, depending on the game's matchup. These choices will have a major impact on the hero's map control abilities.

Apart from the items mentioned above, players can also find other trinkets throughout the game in the form of trophies and awards. They can be obtained by completing certain milestones within the story. For instance, finishing the main quest of a chapter or beating the boss. You can view them by selecting the achievement from the reward section of the hero's menu.