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.
In most cases, however upgraded Common and Magic gear is often surpassed by Rare-grade gear because of their high requirements.
Armor
Armor upgrades are a kind of upgrade that can be used on armor and weapon items. They increase the effectiveness of the item they are connected to. Armor upgrades are available in the world of the game and purchased from Blacksmiths on bonfires. They can also be salvaged by using an expert or higher salvage kits to recover upgrade components from other items.
The level of an armor's or weapon's upgrade determines the amount of damage it is able to take on. Upgrading a piece of armor to maximum upgrade level will boost the damage it absorbs. It's important to remember that this will increase the weight of the armor, so it should be heavier.
There are a variety of armor upgrade available in the game. Each one has a distinct impact. For example, some upgrades give the armor a certain number of health points while others make it stronger and lighter. The type of armor upgrade that an item upgrader mod can receive will be indicated by the name of the upgrade, as illustrated in the table below.
Certain upgrades require magic or a combination of technology and magic, which are indicated by the "Magic" and "Hybrids" entries in the table below. Some upgrades also require charges for use. These are identified as "Charges" entries in the table. The charges for these upgrades change daily or never expire, dependent on the upgrade.
The cheapest method of upgrading armor is with Iron Ore, which can be obtained by exploring the environment and looting chests of minor loot. Titanium is more expensive, however it is obtainable from the smelters in Orgrimmar and Stormwind City. Certain upgrades, like the Reforge and the Hot Potato Books, can only be applied to high level armor pieces. These upgrades can provide significant improvement in performance and are worth the investment, particularly for one-handed weapons.
The player should be aware that upgrading a piece to the max upgrade level will increase its defense value. However, it will also decrease its agility and speed. It is not recommended to upgrade armor beyond +9. The boost in defense typically isn't worth the weight and power expenses of the upgrades.
Weapons
Weapon upgrades let players increase the effectiveness of certain aspects of an weapon. For example an upgrade could improve the damage that is caused by a shotgun's shells or the accuracy of a rifle that snipes. Certain firearms also have upgrades that enhance their inherent qualities. Frictionless materials (improves stability, reduces the risk of weapon overheating) and Kinetic coils (increases the projectile's acceleration for greater damage) are two examples.
Most upgrades for weapons require three Power Dices, a different amount of Minerals and Erons, and a whetblade for applying. These are obtained through either completing Side Quests, killing a certain amount of bosses or monsters, or by contacting the Weapon Upgrade NPC 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 fee that is based on a specific number of Bars. The more bars required to complete an upgrade the more expensive the upgrade. If you have multiple upgrade materials the cost of upgrading will be less.
In Chapter 2: Season 5 the way you upgrade your weapon and sets has changed. Before, you could seek out an Upgrade Bench and pay a set number of Bars to upgrade your equipment or weapon to an increased level of rarity. You could continue to do this until you reached the maximum upgrade level for your equipment or weapon, after which the upgrades would reset.
You can still do this but the process is high on RNG and low on agency. Instead, you're much better off visiting stores and buying gear that has low upgrade levels but excellent base scores and stat distributions. They will also have a chance at gaining you the highest tier benefits and blessings.
Most players will want to prioritize weapon upgrades for the weapons they use most frequently to help them level up faster. Players should also upgrade the weapons their teammates use to make them stronger. 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 utilized in the sockets of armor and weapons, increasing the power of a character and bringing about secondary effects. Jewelry crafting is a method for making them, where you combine a gemstone with a number specific reagents in a jewelry table. The higher the tier of the gemstone is, the greater its secondary effect. These reagents can be obtained around the world through Treasure Goblins, World Bosses and, sometimes, by salvaging Legendary equipment. You can also purchase them from The Jeweler for gold and a Scattered Prism.
The quality of a jewel can be improved by the Jeweler, with stages that range from Crude to Royal. Based on the tier of the jewel, it will provide a different stat boost when slotted into weapons, equipment and jewelry.
The Jeweler can craft all tiers of gems, with the exception of rare and legendary ones, which you must be at an appropriate level to obtain. Unlike other upgrade components, jewels can be swapped with a jewel of the same type without destroying the original one. You are able to replace the jewel once within an item upgrading of equipment.
It is typical to use more jewelry for aesthetic reasons. In addition to enhancing performance, the jewels also create a surface that is harder than metal, so repeated friction from pivots doesn't cause harm as easily.
A Glyphmaster can offer glyphs to improve the look of your weapons and shields. These provide a small bonus and can be swapped freely however they aren't guaranteed to drop as loot. Glyphs are like jewelry and can be upgraded by the Jeweler in exchange for gold and Scattered Crystals. Glyphs can also be removed and returned to the inventory. Other upgrade item components such as traits or aegis can't be exchanged and can only be retrieved with an Upgrade extractor, or salvaging with Black Lion Salvage Kit or an Ascended Salvage.
Trinkets
Trinkets are small pieces of equipment that offer many small but useful advantages to your hero. They can be obtained in the beginning areas as loot, personal story rewards, from vendors, and by completing road interactions. They can also be made by jewelers, and then found or purchased from the Trading Post.
The first trinkets a player is able to unlock is the cloak, which grants a small but useful bonus to speed of movement and evasion. After that, they can acquire rings, amulets, and necklaces in a similar manner to the way a player obtains weapons and armor. Each piece of gear comes with one upgrade slot that can accommodate either a universal upgrade or a jewel upgrade. Universal upgrades offer smaller bonuses and can be placed in any kind of equipment while jewelry cannot be changed or upgraded and is only compatible with certain kinds of trinkets.
These trinkets can also grant buffs and skills that remain active whenever the hero is not in combat. This allows the hero to be more efficient while inactive. It can also compensate for the lack of a good slots in the team or talent tree which are usually filled by the hero's optimal stats.
A good general rule of thumb for trinket upgrades is to prioritize BiS (Best item upgrader-in-Slot) items that you will not replace soon, followed by any items with desirable stats but less important than the iLevel of the item that is being upgraded. This is especially true when you are looking to upgrade multiple statistics on an item. It is better to upgrade one important stat rather than two suboptimal ones.
At the beginning of the game, junglers will usually want to upgrade their yellow trinket into a red one, while top and middle players will usually opt for either a pink or green ward (depending on the matchup). These choices will have a major impact on the hero's map control abilities.
In addition to the items listed above, players will also find other trinkets in the form of trophies and rewards throughout the game. These can be obtained by completing certain milestones within the story. For example, completing the main quest for a chapter or beating a boss. You can see them by selecting the achievement in the reward section of the hero's menu.