Path of Exile Item Upgrades

Item upgrades are a common and essential way to boost the performance of a variety of items in Path of Exile. They can also provide additional damage, AD or even affixes.

Rare-grade equipment is often superior to the more modernized Common or Magic gear because of their high requirements.

Armor

Armor upgrades are a form of upgrade that can be applied to weapon and armor items. They boost the performance of the item upgrade (Google published an article) they are connected to. Armor upgrades can be found in the world of games and purchased from Blacksmiths on bonfires. Additionally, they can be salvaged from items that have upgrade components within them by using an expert or greater salvage kit.

The amount of damage that an armored item or weapon is able to absorb is dependent on the level of its upgrades. The damage absorption of an armor piece will increase when it is upgraded to the maximum upgrade level. However, it's important keep in mind that this will increase its weight, causing it to be heavier than before.

There are several different types of armor upgrade available in the game. Each has a different impact. Some upgrades give armor a greater number of health points while others make it lighter and more powerful. The name of the upgrade will indicate the type of upgrade that an item will receive, as shown below.

Some upgrades also feature magical or a combination of technology and magic which is identified 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. These charges are either updated daily or never expire depending on the upgrade.

The cheapest method to upgrade item armor is by using Iron Ore, which can be gathered by exploring the environment 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 used on armor pieces of the highest level. These upgrades can give a significant increases in stats and are definitely worth the cost.

Upgrading a piece of armor to its maximum upgrade level will greatly increase its defense values, but the player should be aware that putting more weight on it can drastically decrease its agility and speed. For this reason, it is generally not recommended to upgrade the majority of armor pieces beyond +9, since the defensive boost gained is usually not worth the extra weight and power cost of the improvements required.

Weapons

Weapon upgrades give players to enhance certain aspects of their weapon. Upgrades can boost the accuracy of a rifle or the damage that shotgun shells do. Certain weapons also come with enhancements that enhance their intrinsic capabilities. These include Frictionless Materials (improves stability and minimizes the risk of overheating) and Kinetic Coils (increases the speed of projectiles to cause more damage).

The majority of upgrades to weapons require three Power Dices, a different amount of Minerals and Erons and a whetblade for applying. These can be obtained by doing side quests, or killing a certain amount of monsters or bosses, or from the Weapon Upgrade NPC located in Central Flarine.

To upgrade the weapon, equipment set piece, or Whetblade You must go to the NPC [ArmorBoboko. Boboko located in Central Flarine, and pay her an upgrade fee of a specific number of Bars. The higher the upgrade level, the more bars are required to complete it. The cost of upgrades will be lower if you have more than one of the upgrade materials.

In Chapter 2: Season 5 the way you upgrade your weapon and sets has changed. Before you could go to an Upgrade Bench and pay a set amount of Bars to upgrade your weapon or equipment to an increased rarity. You could continue doing this until you reach a max upgrade level of the weapon or equipment, after which the upgrades would be reset.

You can still do this, however, the process is high on RNG and low on agency. Instead, you're better off visiting stores and buying gear with low upgrade levels, but good base scores and stat distributions. They will also be able to give you the most prestigious bonuses and blessings.

To increase their level quicker, players usually be more inclined to upgrade their weapons. Additionally, players should consider upgrading the weapons that are most popular with their squadmates to make them more powerful and effective. Shepard, for example, should upgrade the M92F so that he can unlock the Beretta M93R. This will increase the effectiveness of the weapon when accompanied with biotic specialists like Grunt and Tali.

Jewels

Jewels are used in the armor's sockets and weapons, enhancing the power of a character and bringing about secondary effects. Jewelry crafting is a method of making them, in which you combine the gemstone with specific reagents in a jewelry table. The higher the quality of the gemstone, the better the secondary effect. These reagents are obtained in the world from Treasure Goblins, World Bosses and sometimes by salvaging Legendary gear. You can also buy them from The Jeweler for gold and a Scattered Prism.

The Jeweler can enhance the quality of gemstones in stages ranging from Crude up to Royal. Based on the tier of the jewel it will give different stat boosts when inserted into weapons, equipment and jewelry.

All levels of jewels can be made at the Jeweler and Jeweler's Workshop, with the exception of the rare and legendary gems that require you to be at a sufficient level to obtain them. Unlike other upgrade components, jewels are able to be swapped with a identical jewel without destroying the original one. However, you can only replace a jewel in a piece of equipment only once.

Using more jewels in the movement will make it more smooth and is usually done for aesthetic reasons. Jewels also enhance 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 offer glyphs to improve the look of your shields and weapons. These provide a small bonus and can be swapped freely, but are not guaranteed to drop as loot. Glyphs are upgradeable, like jewelry, at the Jeweler for gold, and also scattered Crystal. Glyphs can also be removed, which returns them to the inventory. Other upgrade components such as traits or aegis can't be exchanged and can only be retrieved by using an Upgrade extractor, or salvaging with a Black Lion Salvage Kit or an 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 start-up area as loot or as personal story rewards. They can also be obtained from vendors and by the completion of road interactions. 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 grants an unimportant but beneficial boost in speed of movement and the ability to escape. After that, they'll be able to acquire rings, amulets, and necklaces in the same fashion to how the player can acquire armor and weapons. Each piece of equipment comes with an upgrade slot that can be either universal or jewel. Universal upgrades are smaller and are able to be used on any piece of equipment. Jewels are not upgradeable or replaced and only work with certain trinkets.

These trinkets can also grant buffs and skills that are active when the hero is not fighting. This lets the hero be more effective when not active and also helps to compensate for the absence of a solid team or the absence of any talent tree slots that would normally be filled with hero's ideal stats.

In general trinket upgrades should be a priority BiS (Best item upgrader in Slot) items you won't replace soon. Then, you should consider any items with desirable statistics that aren't as important as the iLevel of the item that is to be upgraded. This is especially true if an item upgrader has multiple stats that you wish 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 their yellow trinket into a red one, while top and middle players typically choose either a pink or green ward (depending on the matchup). These choices can impact the hero's ability to manage the map.

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