Guide To Item Upgrades: The Intermediate Guide Towards 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 also provide additional damage, AD or even affixes.

In most cases, however upgraded Common and Magic gear is outclassed by Rare-grade gear because of their higher requirements.

Armor

Armor upgrades are a type of upgrade that can be applied to weapon and armor items. They boost the performance of the item level upgrade they are attached to. Armor upgrades can be found in the world of the game and purchased from Blacksmiths on bonfires. They can also be salvaged using a specialist or higher salvage kit to salvage upgrade components from other items.

The amount of damage that a piece of armor or weapon can absorb depends on the level of its upgrades. A piece of armor upgraded to the highest upgrade level will increase the damage it absorbs. However, it's important to keep in mind that this will increase its weight, which will cause it to be heavier than before.

There are a few different kinds of armor upgrades that are that are available in the game and they all have distinct effects. For example, some upgrades will grant the armor a certain number of health points while others make it stronger and lighter. The kind of armor upgrade an item will receive is indicated by the name of the upgrade, as illustrated in the table below.

Some upgrades also feature magical or a combination of technology and magic which is indicated by a "Magic" or "Hybrid" entry in the table below. Certain upgrades require charges for use. These are indicated as "Charges" entries in the table. The charges associated with these upgrades are updated daily or never expire depending on the upgrade.

The cheapest way to upgrade armor is with Iron Ore, which can be found by exploring the environment and looting chests of minor loot. Titanium is more expensive but is readily available in the smelters of Orgrimmar and Stormwind City. Certain upgrades, like the Reforge and the Hot Potato Books, can only be applied to higher level armor pieces. These upgrades can provide significant boost in stats, and are well worth the investment.

A piece of armor upgraded to its maximum upgrade level will significantly increase its defense values however, the user must be aware that increasing its weight can drastically decrease its agility and speed. This is why it is typically not recommended to upgrade the majority of armor pieces that are higher than +9 because the increase in defense is typically not worth the additional weight and power cost of the upgrades needed.

Weapons

Weapon upgrades allow players to enhance certain aspects of their weapon. Upgrades can improve the accuracy of a rifle, or the damage caused by shotgun shells. Certain firearms also have enhancements that enhance their intrinsic capabilities. These include Frictionless Materials (improves stability and minimizes weapon overheating) 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, killing a certain amount of monsters or bosses, or through the Weapon Upgrade NPC located in Central Flarine.

Upgrades to a weapon, equipment Set piece or Whetblade requires visiting the NPC [Armor] Boboko in Central Flarine and paying her an upgrade cost of a certain number of Bars. The higher the upgrade level, the more bars are required to complete it. The cost of upgrading will be less if you have more than one of the relevant upgrade materials.

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

You can still do this but the process is based on RNG and low on agency. You should consider buying equipment with low levels of upgrade, but high base scores and stat distributions. These gears have a better likelihood of granting you most prestigious tier of blessings and perks.

To increase their level faster, most players will prioritise upgrading their weapons. Additionally players, they should also consider upgrading the weapons that are most popular with their squadmates to increase their power as well. Shepard, for example should upgrade his M92F in order to unlock the Beretta M93R. This will make the weapon more useful when used with biotic specialists such as Grunt and Tali.

Jewels

Jewels are utilized in the sockets of armor and weapons, increasing the power of a character and bringing about secondary effects. Jewelry crafting is the process of creating them. You combine the gemstone with specific reagents in a jewelry table. The higher the level of the jewel has, the more powerful its secondary effect. These reagents can be gotten from Treasure Goblins and World Bosses all over the world, or through collecting Legendary Gear. You can also purchase them from The Jeweler in exchange for Scattered Prisms and gold.

The Jeweler can improve the quality of the gem in stages that range from Crude up to Royal. The stat boosts can vary according to the tier that the jewel is in when it's slotted into jewelry, weapons or other gear.

All levels of jewels can be 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 obtain the privilege of having them. Like other upgrade components jewels are able to be swapped with another identical jewel without destroying it. However, you can only replace one jewel in a piece of equipment once.

It is common to use more jewels for aesthetic reasons. In addition to enhancing performance, the jewels create an outer layer that is more durable than metal, so repeated friction from pivots doesn't cause harm as easily.

A Glyphmaster can offer glyphs to improve the appearance of your weapons and shields. These glyphs give a slight boost and can be exchanged, however they're not guaranteed to show up as loot. Glyphs are like jewelry and can be upgraded by the Jeweler to exchange gold and Scattered Crystals. Glyphs can also be removed from the inventory, and they are returned to the inventory. Other upgrade components such as aegis or traits cannot be swapped, and can only be found with an Upgrade extractor, or salvaging with a Black Lion Salvage Kit or Ascended Salvage tool.

Trinkets

Trinkets are small pieces of equipment that provide an array of tiny but valuable advantages to your hero. They are available in the start-up area as loot or as personal story rewards. They can also be obtained through vendors and after the completion of road interactions. They may also be crafted by jewelers, and found or purchased on the Trading Post.

The first trinkets a player unlocks will be the cloak. It grants an unimportant but beneficial boost to movement speed and evasion. The player can then collect necklaces, rings, and amulets, in a similar way similar to how they obtained 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 placed in any type of equipment, while jewelry cannot be replaced or upgraded and only works with specific types of trinkets.

These trinkets can provide additional bonuses and abilities that are active when the hero isn't fighting. This lets a hero be more efficient while inactive. It also helps compensate for the absence of strong slots in the team or talent tree which would normally be filled by the hero's optimal stats.

In general, trinket upgrades should prioritize BiS (Best item upgrade in Slot) items you won't replace anytime soon. Next, any items with desirable stats that are less significant than the iLevel for the item upgrading to be upgraded. This is especially true when an item upgrade has multiple stats that you'd like to upgrade, since it's generally more beneficial to upgrade one important stat rather than two sub-optimal 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 pick a green or a pink ward, based on the matchup. These choices will have a significant impact on the hero's ability to control his map.

Aside from the items listed above, players can discover a variety of 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, completing the main quest for a chapter or defeating an opponent. These achievements can be seen by selecting the appropriate achievement in the reward tab of the hero menu.