Guide To Item Upgrades: The Intermediate Guide On Item Upgrades

Path of Exile Item Upgrades

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

Rare-grade equipment can be superior to upgraded Common or Magic equipment due to their high demands.

Armor

Armor upgrades can be applied to both armor and weapon items. They improve the stats of the item upgrader kit that they are connected to. Armor upgrades can be found in the game's world and can be purchased from Blacksmiths at any bonfire. They can also be salvaged by using a specialist or higher salvage kits to retrieve upgrade components from other items.

The amount of damage that an armored piece or weapon will absorb is contingent on the degree of upgrades. A piece of armor upgraded to its highest upgrade level will boost its damage absorption. It's important to remember that this will increase the weight of the armor, which means it must be more heavy.

There are several different types of armor upgrade available in the game. Each has a different impact. Certain upgrades give armor an additional number of health points while others make it lighter and more powerful. The name of the upgrade will tell you the kind of upgrade an item can receive, as shown below.

A few of the upgrades are also magic or a mix of technology and magic which is indicated by an "Magic" or "Hybrid" entry in the table below. Certain upgrades also require fees for use. These are identified as "Charges" entries in the table. These charges are either constantly updated or never expire, depending on the upgrade.

The cheapest method to upgrade armor is to use Iron Ore, which can be gathered through exploring the surroundings and looting minor loot chests. Titanium is more expensive but can be found at the smelters of Orgrimmar and Stormwind City. Some upgrades, like the Reforge or the Hot Potato Books can only be applied on armor pieces of the highest level. These upgrades can provide significant improvements in stats and are well worth the investment.

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

Weapons

Weapon upgrades give players the ability to improve certain aspects of their weapon. For instance, an upgrade may increase the damage dealt by shotgun shells or the accuracy of a rifle that snipes. Certain firearms have enhancements to enhance their intrinsic characteristics. They include Frictionless Materials (improves stability and reduces the risk of overheating of the weapon) and Kinetic Coils (increases projectile acceleration for more damage).

Most upgrades for weapons require one of three Power Dices, a different amount of Minerals and Erons, and a whetblade to apply. They can be obtained by finishing side quests, taking out a certain number of monsters or bosses or through the Weapon Upgrade NPC located in Central Flarine.

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

In Chapter 2: Season 5, the method of upgrading your weapon and equipment sets was a bit different. Before you could go to an Upgrade Bench and pay a certain number of Bars to upgrade your equipment or weapon to an increased rarity. You could do this until your weapon or equipment reached its maximum upgrade level, at which point the upgrades would reset.

It's still possible, but it depends heavily on RNG. Instead, you're much better off going to the stores and buying gear that has low upgrade levels but excellent base scores and stat distributions. They will also be able to give you the highest tier perks and blessings.

The majority of players will make the most of upgrades to weapons they are most likely to use to help them level up quicker. Players should also upgrade the weapons that their teammates utilize to increase their power. For instance, Shepard should consider upgrading the M92F to unlock the Beretta M93R, which will enhance its effectiveness when paired with biotic specialists like Grunt and Tali.

Jewels

Jewels are placed in the armor's sockets and weapons, increasing the power of a character and bringing about secondary effects. They can be created through the process of jewelry crafting, where you combine a gemstone and several ingredients at a table for jewelry. The higher the tier of the gem is, the greater its secondary effect. These reagents are available from Treasure Goblins and World Bosses around the world, or by collecting Legendary Gear. You can also buy them from The Jeweler in exchange for Scattered Prisms and gold.

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

All tiers of jewels are crafted at the Jeweler, with the exception of the rare and legendary gems that require you to be at a high enough level to be able to get the privilege of having them. Like other upgrade components jewels can be swapped by a different jewel of the same kind without damaging the original one. You can only replace the jewel once in an item upgrader kit of equipment.

The use of more jewels in the movement can make it feel more comfortable and is typically performed for aesthetic reasons. The jewels also improve performance and create a harder surface than steel, so that the repeated friction caused by pivots does not cause damage to them.

A Glyphmaster can provide glyphs to enhance the look of your shields and weapons. These glyphs offer a small boost and can be freely swapped, but they're not guaranteed to show up as loot. Glyphs, just like jewelry, can be upgraded by the Jeweler to exchange Scattered Crystals and gold. Glyphs may also be removed and returned to the inventory. Other upgrade components, such as traits and aegis are not swappable, and can only be recovered using an Upgrade Extractor or salvaging them using the Black Lion Salvage Kit or an Ascended Salvage Tool.

Trinkets

Trinkets are small pieces of equipment that bestow many small but useful benefits to your hero. They are available in the starting area as loot or as personal story rewards. They are also available from vendors as well as through the completion of road interactions. They can also be made by jewelers and later found or purchased on the Trading Post.

The first trinket a player will unlock is the cloak. It gives a small but valuable boost in speed of movement and the ability to evade. The player will then be able to acquire necklaces, amulets, and rings, in a similar way similar to how they obtained weapons and armor. Each piece of equipment comes with a slot for an upgrade that can be either universal or jewel. Universal upgrades are smaller and can be used on any equipment. Jewels cannot be upgraded or replaced and only work with certain trinkets.

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

A good rule of thumb for trinket upgrades is to prioritize BiS (Best-in-Slot) items that you aren't planning to replace soon, followed by any items with desirable stats, but less important than the iLevel of the item to be upgraded. This is especially true when an item upgrader kit has multiple stats that you wish to upgrade, as it's usually more beneficial to upgrade one important stat rather than two sub-optimal ones.

At the beginning of the game, players who are in the jungle will typically want to upgrade their yellow trinket to a red, while top and mid players usually choose either a pink or green ward (depending on the game's matchup). These choices will have a significant impact on the hero's ability to control his map.

In addition to the items listed above, players will discover other trinkets in form of trophies and rewards throughout the game. These can be earned through completing certain milestones within the story. For instance, finishing a chapter’s main quest or beating the boss. You can view them by clicking on the achievement in the reward section of the hero's menu.