Guide To Item Upgrades: The Intermediate Guide To Item Upgrades
Path of Exile Item Upgrades
item upgrader kit upgrades are a common and crucial method to enhance the performance of numerous items in Path of Exile. They can be a great source of additional damage, more AD or even more attaches.
Rare-grade equipment can be superior to upgraded Common or Magic equipment due to their higher requirements.
Armor
Armor upgrades can be applied to both armor and weapon items. They increase the effectiveness of the Item Upgrade they are connected to. Armor upgrades can be found in the world of the game and purchased from Blacksmiths on bonfires. They can also be salvaged by using a specialist or higher salvage kits to recover upgrades from the items.
The amount of damage an armored piece or weapon is able to absorb is dependent on the degree of upgrades. The ability to absorb damage of an armor piece will increase when it is upgraded to its maximum upgrade level. It is important to note that this will increase the weight of the armor, which means it must be more heavy.
There are a few different kinds of armor upgrades that are available in the game and they all have different effects. For instance, some upgrades will give the armor a certain amount of additional health points, while others make it lighter and stronger. The type of armor upgrade that an item can receive will be indicated by the name of the upgrade as shown in the table below.
Some of the upgrades also require magic or a combination of technology and magic, which is indicated by the "Magic" and "Hybrids" entries in the table. Certain upgrades also require fees in order to be used. These are identified as "Charges" entries in the table. These charges are either constantly updated or never expire, depending on the upgrade.
The cheapest way to upgrade armor is with Iron Ore, which can be found through exploring the surroundings and looting chests of minor loot. Titanium is more expensive however it is obtainable from the smelters in Orgrimmar and Stormwind City. Certain upgrades, like the Reforge or the Hot Potato Books can only be applied on high-level armor pieces. These upgrades can provide significant improvement in stats and are a worthwhile investment, especially for 1-handed weapons.
Upgrading a piece of armor to max upgrade level will significantly increase its defense values, but the player should be aware that putting more weight on it can drastically decrease its agility and speed. It is not recommended to upgrade armor above +9. The added defense usually isn't worth the weight and power costs of the upgrades.
Weapons
Weapon upgrades allow players to improve the effectiveness of specific aspects of a weapon. For instance, an upgrade may enhance the damage caused by the shells of a shotgun or the accuracy of a rifle that snipes. Certain weapons come with special enhancements to enhance their intrinsic characteristics. These include Frictionless Materials (improves stability and decreases the chance of weapon overheating) and Kinetic Coils (increases projectile acceleration for more damage).
The majority of weapon upgrades require a whetblade. It's one of three Power Dices and a different amount of Minerals and Erons. These can be obtained by completing Side Quests, killing a certain amount of bosses or monsters, or from the Weapon Upgrade NPC in Central Flarine.
The process of upgrading a weapon, equipment Set piece, or Whetblade requires visiting the NPC [Armor] Boboko in Central Flarine and paying her an upgrade fee of a certain number of Bars. The more bars needed to complete an upgrade, the more advanced the level. If you have multiple upgrade materials The cost of upgrading will be less.
In Chapter 2: Season 5 the way you upgrade weapon and equipment sets has changed. Before you could go to an Upgrade Bench and pay for a specific amount of Bars to upgrade your equipment or weapon to an increased level of rarity. You could continue to do this until you reached a maximum upgrade level for the weapon or equipment, after which the upgrades would be reset.
It's still possible, but it depends heavily on RNG. It is better to purchase gear with low upgrade levels but with high base scores and stat distributions. These will have a better chance of bringing you the Best item upgrader tier of perks and blessings.
To improve their skills faster, most players will prioritize upgrading their weapons. Players should also upgrade the weapons their teammates utilize to increase their power. Shepard, for example should upgrade his M92F to unlock the Beretta M93R. This will make the weapon more effective when used with biotic specialists like Grunt and Tali.
Jewels
Jewels can be used to improve the effectiveness of a skill or provide additional effects in armor and weapons. They can be made through the process of jewelry crafting, where you combine a gem and various chemicals at a table. The higher the grade of the gemstone is, the greater its secondary effect. These reagents can be obtained from Treasure Goblins and World Bosses around the world, or by finding Legendary Gear. You can also buy them from The Jeweler for gold and a Scattered Prism.
The Jeweler can improve the quality of gemstones in stages ranging from Crude up to Royal. The stat boosts can vary according to the tier that the jewel is in when it is inserted into jewelry, weapons or gear.
All tiers of jewels are crafted at the Jeweler, with the exception of the rare and legendary jewels that require you to be at a certain level to be able to get these. In contrast to other upgrade components, jewels can be swapped out with a identical jewel without damaging the original one. You can only replace the jewel only once in a piece of equipment.
It is typical to use more jewels for aesthetic reasons. Apart from improving performance, the diamonds create a surface that is harder than steel, so the repeated friction from pivots won't cause damage as easily.
A Glyphmaster can provide glyphs to enhance the appearance of your weapons and shields. These glyphs offer a small boost in power and can be swapped, but they are not guaranteed to be available as loot. Glyphs can be upgraded as jewelry, by visiting the Jeweler for gold and Scattered Crystal. Glyphs may also be removed and returned to the inventory. Other upgrade components such as traits or aegis cannot be swapped, and can only be retrieved with an Upgrade extractor or salvaging with Black Lion Salvage Kit or Ascended Salvage.
Trinkets
Trinkets are small pieces of equipment that bestow an array of tiny but valuable benefits to your hero. They are available in the starter area as loot or as personal story rewards. They are also available from vendors as well as through completing road interaction. They can 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 valuable boost to movement speed and evasion. After that, they can purchase amulets, rings and necklaces in the same way to how a player obtains armor and weapons. Each piece of equipment has one upgrade slot that can accommodate either a universal or jewel upgrade. Universal upgrades offer fewer benefits and can be put into any kind of equipment while jewelry cannot be replaced or upgraded, and is only compatible with certain kinds of trinkets.
These trinkets also grant additional bonuses and abilities that are active even when the character is not fighting. This allows a hero to become more efficient even when not in combat. It can also make up for the absence of good team or talent tree slots which would normally be filled by a hero's top stats.
In general, trinket upgrades should prioritize BiS (Best in Slot) items that you aren't likely to replace soon. Next, any items that have desirable statistics aren't as significant as the iLevel of the item that is to be upgraded. This is true especially if you are looking to upgrade multiple stats on an item. It's more beneficial to upgrade item a single important stat instead of two subpar ones.
Jungle players often upgrade their yellow trinkets to a red one at the beginning of the game. Top and mid players on the other hand, will choose a pink or green ward, based on the matchup. These choices can impact a hero's ability to control the map.
In addition to the items mentioned above, players can also discover other trinkets in 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 killing a certain boss. You can check them out by selecting the achievement from the reward section of the hero's menu.