Guide To Item Upgrades: The Intermediate Guide In Item Upgrades

Path of Exile Item Upgrades

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

Often times however upgraded Common and Magic gear is beaten out by Rare-grade gear due to their requirements.

Armor

Armor upgrades can be applied to both armor and weapon items. They increase the effectiveness of the item that they're attached to. Upgrades to armor are available in the game's world and can be purchased from Blacksmiths at any bonfire. They can also be salvaged by using an expert or higher salvage kit to recover upgrade components from items.

The level of an armor's or weapon's upgrade determines the amount of damage it can take on. A piece of armor upgraded to its highest upgrade level will boost the damage it absorbs. It is important to keep in mind that this will increase the weight of the armor, therefore it must be heavier.

There are a few different kinds of armor upgrades available in the game and each one has distinct effects. For example, some upgrades give the armor a certain amount of additional health points, while others make it stronger and lighter. The name of the upgrade will indicate the kind of upgrade an item upgrade can receive, as shown below.

Certain upgrades require magic or a hybrid technology and magic, which is identified by the "Magic" and "Hybrids" entries in the table. Some upgrades also require charges to use, and are shown by a "Charges" entry in the table below. These charges are constantly updated or never expire depending on the upgrade.

Iron Ore is the cheapest method to upgrade your armor. It can be found by exploring and looting small loot chests. Titanium is more expensive, but it can be obtained from smelters located in Orgrimmar and Stormwind City. Certain upgrades, such as the Reforge or 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 investment, especially for 1-handed weapons.

The player must be aware that upgrading a piece to its max upgrade level will boost its defense. However, it can also decrease the speed and agility of the piece. It is not recommended to upgrade armor past +9. The defensive boost gained generally isn't worth the weight and power costs of the upgrades.

Weapons

Weapon upgrades let players increase the effectiveness of specific aspects of the weapon. For instance an upgrade could enhance the damage caused by the shells of a shotgun or the accuracy of a rifle that snipes. Certain firearms have upgrades to improve their inherent qualities. These include Frictionless Materials (improves stability and minimizes the risk of overheating) and Kinetic Coils (increases the velocity of projectiles for greater damage).

Most weapon upgrades require three Power Dices, a different amount of Minerals and Erons and a whetblade to apply. They can be obtained by completing Side Quests or by killing a certain amount of bosses and monsters.

Upgrading a Weapon, Equipment Set piece or Whetblade requires visiting the NPC [Armor] Boboko in Central Flarine and paying her an upgrade price of a set 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 less.

In Chapter 2: Season 5, the method of upgrading your weapon and equipment sets was a bit different. Prior to Chapter 2: Season 5, you could upgrade your weapon and equipment by paying a specific amount of Bars. You could continue to do this until you reach a maximum upgrade level for your weapon or equipment, after which the upgrades would reset.

You can still do this but the process is based on RNG and low on agency. Instead, you're much better off going to the stores and purchasing equipment that has low upgrade levels but excellent base scores and stat distributions. These will then have a better chance of bringing you the most prestigious bonuses and blessings.

To level up quicker, players usually prioritize upgrading their weapons. Players should also upgrade the weapons that their squadmates use to boost their strength. Shepard, for example, 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 can be used to increase the effectiveness of a skill or provide additional effects on weapons and armor. They can be made through an process known as jewelry crafting, in which you combine a gem and a number of specific ingredients at a table for jewelry. The higher the grade of the gemstone, the better the secondary effect. These reagents can be obtained around the world from Treasure Goblins, World Bosses and occasionally by salvaging Legendary gear. You can also buy them from The Jeweler in exchange for gold and Scattered Prisms.

The quality of a diamond can be improved at the Jeweler, in stages that range from Crude to Royal. Based on the level of the gem, it will provide a different stat boost when slotted into gear, weapons and jewelry.

The Jeweler can create all kinds of gems, apart from the rare and legendary ones that you must be at a certain level to get. Unlike other upgrade components, jewels can be swapped with another jewel of the same type without destroying the original one. However, you can only replace a jewel in an item of equipment only once.

Using more jewels in a movement can make it feel more comfortable and is usually used for aesthetic reasons. In addition to enhancing performance, the jewels create an area that is stronger than steel, so the repeated friction from pivots doesn't damage them as easily.

A Glyphmaster can offer glyphs to improve the look of your weapons and shields. These provide a small bonus and are able to be swapped easily but aren't guaranteed to drop as loot. Glyphs, just like jewelry, can be upgraded at the Jeweler to exchange Scattered Crystals and gold. Glyphs can also be taken out from the inventory, and they are returned to the inventory. Other upgrade components, such as aegis or traits cannot be exchanged and can only be recovered with an Upgrade extractor, or salvaging with a Black Lion Salvage Kit, or Ascended Salvage tool.

Trinkets

Trinkets are small pieces of equipment that offer an array of small but useful benefits to your hero. They can be obtained in the areas of starting as loot, personal story rewards, from vendors, or by performing road interactions. They can also be made by jewelers, and found or purchased on the Trading Post.

The first trinket a player will unlock is the cloak. It gives a small, but useful bonus in speed of movement and evasion. The player can then collect rings, amulets and necklaces in a similar fashion to how they acquired weapons and armor. Each piece of equipment comes with one upgrade slot that can accept either a universal or a jewel upgrade. Universal upgrades provide smaller bonuses and can be placed in any type of equipment while jewelry cannot be replaced or upgraded, and only works with certain kinds of trinkets.

These trinkets grant additional buffs and abilities that are active even when the hero isn't in combat. This allows a hero to be more efficient while inactive. It also helps compensate for the absence of strong team or talent tree slots that are normally filled by the hero's best stats.

As a general rule, trinket upgrades should prioritize BiS (Best in Slot) items that you aren't likely to replace soon. Also, consider items that have desirable statistics aren't as significant as the iLevel for the item to be upgraded. This is particularly true if an item upgrade has multiple stats that you'd like to upgrade, as it's often better to upgrade a single crucial stat than two subpar ones.

In the beginning of the game junglers will usually want to upgrade items their yellow trinket to a red, while top and middle players typically choose either a pink or green ward (depending on the game's matchup). These choices will have a major impact on the hero's ability to control his map.

In addition to the items listed above, players will find other trinkets that form of rewards and trophies throughout the game. These can be obtained by completing certain milestones within the story. For example, completing the main quest for a chapter or defeating the boss. You can see them by selecting the achievement in the reward section of the hero's menu.