Path of Exile Item Upgrades

Item upgrades are a common and important way to improve the performance of numerous items in Path of Exile. They can be a fantastic source of extra damage and more AD or even more affixes.

Often times however, upgraded Common and Magic gear is often surpassed by Rare-grade equipment due to their higher requirements.

Armor

Armor upgrades are a kind of upgrade that can be used on armor and weapon items. They boost the performance of the item they are connected to. Armor upgrades can be found in the world of games and can be purchased from Blacksmiths at bonfires. They can also be salvaged by using an expert or higher salvage kits 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. The upgrade of an armor piece to maximum upgrade level will boost the damage it absorbs. It is important to keep in mind that this will increase the weight of the armor, so it must be more heavy.

There are many different kinds of armor upgrades available in the game. Each one has a distinct effect. Some upgrades give armor an additional number of health points while others make it more powerful and lighter. The name of the upgrade will tell you the kind of upgrade an item level upgrade can receive, as shown below.

Some of the upgrades also require magic or a hybrid technology and magic, as indicated by the “Magic” and “Hybrids” entries in the table below. Additionally, some upgrades require a charge to use, and are shown by an “Charges” entry in the table below. These charges are either continuously updated or never expire depending on the upgrade.

The cheapest method to upgrade armor is with Iron Ore, which can be obtained by exploring the environment and looting minor loot chests. Titanium is more expensive, however it is obtainable from smelters located in Orgrimmar and Stormwind City. Some upgrades, such as the Reforge and the Hot Potato Books, can only be applied to high-level armor pieces. These upgrades can provide significant improvement in stats and are worth the investment, especially for 1-handed weapons.

The process of upgrading an armor piece to its maximum upgrade level will dramatically increase its defense capabilities however, the user must be aware that increasing its weight will drastically reduce its agility and speed. Therefore, it is typically not recommended to upgrade the majority of armor pieces beyond +9, because the increase in defense is generally not worth the weight and power costs of the upgrades needed.

Weapons

Weapon upgrades allow players to improve the effectiveness of specific aspects of an weapon. For instance an upgrade item can enhance the damage caused by a shotgun’s shells or the accuracy of the sniper rifle. Certain weapons also come with upgrades that improve their innate capabilities. Frictionless materials (improves stability, and reduces the risk of overheating), and Kinetic coils (increases the projectile’s acceleration to cause more damage) are two examples.

The majority of weapon upgrades require a whetblade. It’s one of three Power Dices and a different amount of Minerals and Erons. These can be obtained by completing Side Quests or by killing a certain number of bosses and monsters.

The process of upgrading a weapon, equipment Set piece or Whetblade requires visiting the NPC [Armor] Boboko in Central Flarine and paying her an upgrade fee of a certain number of Bars. The higher the upgrade level, the higher the number of bars you will need to complete the upgrade. The cost of the upgrades will be less if you have more than one of the relevant upgrade materials.

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 or equipment by paying a specific amount of Bars. You could do this until your weapon or equipment reached its maximum upgrade level at which point the upgrades would reset.

You can still do this but the process is based on RNG and low on agency. It is better to purchase gear with minimal upgrade levels but with high base scores and stat distributions. These gears have a higher likelihood of granting you highest tier blessings and perks.

Most players will want to make the most of upgrades to weapons they are most likely to use to make sure they are able to level up faster. In addition, players should consider upgrading the weapons they use with their teammates to make them more powerful as well. Shepard for instance should upgrade his M92F in order to unlock the Beretta M93R. This will increase the effectiveness of the weapon when used in conjunction by biotic specialists like Grunt and Tali.

Jewels

Jewels can be used to improve the effectiveness of a skill or provide additional effects on weapons and armor. Jewelry crafting is the process of creating them. You combine a gemstone with a number specific reagents on a jewelry table. The higher the grade of the jewel 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 a gem in stages ranging from Crude up to Royal. Based on the tier of the gem it will give different stat boosts when it is inserted into weapons, equipment and jewelry.

The Jeweler is able to create the highest levels of gems with the exception of rare and legendary ones, which you must be at a certain level to get. Unlike other upgrade components, jewels can be swapped with another jewel of the same kind without damaging it. You can only replace the gem once within an item upgrader kit of equipment.

It is common to use more jewels to enhance the appearance of. In addition to enhancing performance, the jewels create an area that is stronger than metal, so repeated friction from pivots won’t cause harm as easily.

In addition to the above upgrades players can also acquire glyphs for their shields and weapons from a Glyphmaster. These glyphs offer a small boost and can be freely swapped, but they’re not guaranteed to appear as loot. Glyphs are like jewelry and can be upgraded at the Jeweler in exchange for Scattered Crystals and gold. Glyphs can also be taken out and returned to the inventory. Other upgrade components like aegis or traits cannot be exchanged, and can only be retrieved with an Upgrade extractor or salvaging using a Black Lion Salvage Kit or Ascended Salvage.

Trinkets

Trinkets are small pieces of equipment that offer an array of small but useful advantages to your hero. They are available in the start-up area as rewards for personal stories or loot. They are also available through vendors and after doing road interaction. They can also be found on the Trading Post, or crafted by jewelers.

The first trinket a player will be able to unlock is the cloak. It gives a small but valuable boost in speed of movement and the ability to escape. Then, they can get amulets, rings, and necklaces in a similar manner to the way a player acquires armor and weapons. Each piece of equipment comes with a slot for an upgrade which can be universal or jewel. Universal upgrades offer smaller bonuses and can be placed in any kind of equipment however, jewelry cannot be replaced or upgraded, and is only compatible with certain kinds of trinkets.

These trinkets provide additional buffs and abilities that are active even when the hero isn’t in combat. This lets the hero be more effective when not active and may also help fill in the void of a solid team or any slots from the talent tree that normally are filled with the hero’s ideal statistics.

As a general rule trinket upgrades should be a priority BiS (Best item upgrade in Slot) items you won’t replace in the near future. Then, you should consider any items that have desirable statistics aren’t as significant as the iLevel of the Best item upgrader upgrade (3.13.251.167) that is to be upgraded. This is particularly true if an item has multiple stats you wish to upgrade, since it’s generally more beneficial to upgrade one important stat rather 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 to a red, while top and middle players will usually opt for the 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 may also find a number of other trinkets throughout the game in the form of awards and trophies. They can be earned by completing certain milestones in the story, for instance the main quest of a chapter or killing a certain boss. You can view them by clicking on the achievement in the reward section of the hero’s menu.