Guide To Item Upgrades: The Intermediate Guide In 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.

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

Armor

Armor upgrades can be applied to both weapon and armor items. They increase the effectiveness of the item they're attached to. Armor upgrades can be found 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 is able to take on. A piece of armor upgraded to maximum upgrade level will boost its ability to absorb damage. But, it's important to keep in mind that this will increase its weight, which will cause it to weigh more than before.

There are several kinds of armor upgrades available in the game and they all have distinct effects. For instance, some upgrades will give the armor a certain amount of additional health points, while others will make it stronger and lighter. The kind of armor upgrade an item can receive will be indicated by the name of the upgrade, as illustrated in the table below.

Some of the upgrades also require magic or a hybrid technology and magic, which is identified by the "Magic" and "Hybrids" entries in the table. Certain upgrades also require fees for use. They are referred to as "Charges" entries in the table. The charges for these upgrades are updated every day or never expire, according to the upgrade.

The cheapest way to upgrade armor is by using Iron Ore, which can be gathered by exploring the environment and looting small loot chests. Titanium is more expensive, however, it is available from the smelters in Orgrimmar and Stormwind City. Some upgrades, such as the Reforge and the Hot Potato Books, can only be applied to higher level armor pieces. These upgrades can give significant improvements in stats and are worth the cost, especially for single-handed weapons.

The player should be aware that upgrading a piece to the maximum upgrade level will increase its defense value. However, it will also decrease the speed and agility of the piece. This is why it is generally not recommended to upgrade armor pieces beyond +9, since the added defense is usually not worth the extra weight and power cost of the upgrades needed.

Weapons

Weapon upgrades allow players to increase the effectiveness of certain aspects of an weapon. For instance an upgrade can increase the damage dealt by a shotgun's shells or the accuracy of the rifle sniper. Certain weapons come with special enhancements to enhance their intrinsic qualities. These include Frictionless Materials (improves stability and minimizes overheating of the weapon) and Kinetic Coils (increases the speed of projectiles to cause more damage).

The majority of upgrades for weapons require the use of a whetblade, or one of the three Power Dices and a different amount Minerals and Erons. They can be obtained by completing Side Quests or killing a certain amount of monsters and bosses.

To upgrade an equipment set, weapon 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 more bars required to complete an upgrade the higher the level. The cost of upgrades will be less if you have more than one of the upgrade materials.

In Chapter 2: Season 5, the method of upgrading your weapon and equipment sets changed a little. Before you could go to an Upgrade Bench and pay a set amount of Bars to upgrade your equipment or weapon to an increased level of rarity. You could do this until you reached the maximum upgrade level for the equipment or weapon, following which the upgrades would reset.

You can still do this, however, the process is high on RNG and low on agency. Instead, you're much better off visiting stores and buying equipment with low upgrade levels but excellent base scores and stat distributions. These items will have a better chance of granting you the highest level of advantages and benefits.

To increase their level faster, many players prioritize upgrading their weapons. In addition players, they should also consider upgrading the weapons they use with their teammates to increase their power as well. For instance, Shepard should consider upgrading the M92F to unlock the Beretta M93R to enhance its effectiveness when accompanied by experts in biotics like Grunt and Tali.

Jewels

Jewels can be used to increase the effectiveness of a skill or provide additional effects in armor and weapons. Jewelry crafting is a method of creating them. You combine gemstones with specific reagents on a table. The higher the grade of the jewel has, the more powerful its secondary effect. These reagents can be obtained from Treasure Goblins and World Bosses around the world, or by salvaging Legendary Gear. You can also purchase them from The Jeweler in exchange for Scattered Prisms and gold.

The quality of a diamond can be improved upon by the Jeweler in stages that range from Crude to Royal. Based on the level of the gem, it will provide a different stat boosts when it is inserted into weapons, equipment and jewelry.

The Jeweler can create all tiers of gems, apart from the rare and legendary ones, which you must be at a certain level to get. Jewels can be replaced by another one without damaging the original. You can only replace the gem only once in a piece of equipment.

Using more jewels in a movement can make it feel more comfortable, and is often performed to enhance the aesthetics of the movement. Apart from improving performance, the jewels also create a surface that is harder than metal, which means that repeated friction from pivots doesn't cause harm as easily.

In addition to the above upgrades players can also obtain glyphs for their weapons and shields from a Glyphmaster. These glyphs provide a small boost and can be freely traded, but they're not guaranteed to be available as loot. Glyphs are like jewelry and can be upgraded by the Jeweler to exchange Scattered Crystals and gold. Glyphs can also be taken out and returned to the inventory. Other upgrade components, such as traits or aegis can't be exchanged, and can only be found by using an Upgrade extractor, or salvaging with a Black Lion Salvage Kit or Ascended Salvage.

Trinkets

Trinkets are 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 doing road interaction. They can be found on the Trading Post, or crafted by jewelers.

The first trinket a player can unlock is the cloak. It grants a small but useful bonus in speed of movement and evasion. After that, they can purchase amulets, rings and necklaces in the same fashion to how the player obtains armor and weapons. Each piece of equipment comes with a slot for an upgrade that is either universal or jewel. Universal upgrades are smaller and can be used on any piece of equipment. Jewels cannot be upgraded or replaced and are only compatible with certain trinkets.

These trinkets provide additional buffs and abilities that are active when the hero isn't in combat. This lets a hero become more efficient even when not in combat. It can also make up for the lack of a good slots in the team or talent tree that are normally filled by the hero's optimal stats.

A good rule of thumb for trinket upgrades is to prioritize BiS (Best item upgrade-in-Slot) items that you won't be replacing in the near future, then any items with desirable stats that are less important than the iLevel of the item to be upgraded. This is especially true if an item upgrader kit has multiple stats you'd like to upgrade as it's often better to upgrade a single important stat than two sub-optimal ones.

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

Apart from the items listed above, players can find a number of other items in the form of trophies and awards. These can be earned by completing certain milestones in the story, like completing a chapter's main quest or killing a certain boss. They can be viewed by selecting the appropriate achievement in the reward tab of the hero menu.