Path of Exile Item Upgrades
Upgrades to items are a frequent and important way to improve the performance of a variety of items in Path of Exile. They can be a great source of damage, more AD or even more attachments.
Rare-grade equipment is usually superior to modernized Common or Magic gear due to their higher requirements.
Armor
Armor upgrades are a kind of upgrade that can be used on armor and weapon items. They improve the stats of the item they're attached to. Armor upgrades can be found in the game's world and can be purchased from Blacksmiths at any bonfire. Alternatively, they can also be rescued from items with upgrade components inside them, using a specialist or more powerful salvage kit.
The amount of damage a piece of armor or weapon can absorb depends on the extent of its upgrades. The upgrade of an armor piece to its highest upgrade level will boost the damage it absorbs. It is important to note that this will increase the weight of the armor, which means it must be heavier.
There are several kinds of armor upgrades that are available in the game and they all have distinct effects. For instance, some upgrades give the armor a certain number of additional health points, while others will make it lighter and stronger. The kind of armor upgrade an item can get will be identified by the name of the upgrade as indicated in the table below.
Some upgrades are magical or a combination of technology and magic which is shown by a "Magic" or "Hybrid" entry in the table below. Certain upgrades require charges to use. These are indicated as "Charges" entries in the table. These charges are constantly updated or never expire depending on the upgrade.
Iron Ore is the cheapest method to improve your armor. It can be found by exploring and looting small treasure chests. Titanium is more costly, but can be found at the smelters in Orgrimmar and Stormwind City. Some upgrades, like the Reforge or the Hot Potato Books can only be applied on armor pieces that are of high-level. These upgrades can give players a significant boost in stats, and are definitely worth the investment.
Upgrading a piece of armor to the highest upgrade level will significantly increase its defense capabilities but the wearer must be aware that putting more weight on it can drastically decrease its agility and speed. It is not recommended to upgrade armor beyond +9. The added defense typically isn't worth the weight and power expenses of the upgrades.
Weapons
Weapon upgrades let players increase the effectiveness of specific aspects of the weapon. For example an upgrade can increase the damage dealt by the shells of a shotgun or the accuracy of a rifle sniper. Certain firearms have upgrades to improve their inherent characteristics. They include Frictionless Materials (improves stability and decreases the chance of the risk of overheating) and Kinetic Coils (increases projectile acceleration for more damage).
The majority of upgrades to weapons require a whetblade. It's one of three Power Dices and a different amount of Minerals and Erons. They can be obtained by completing Side Quests or killing a certain amount of bosses and monsters.
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 set number of Bars. The more bars required to complete an upgrade, the higher the level. If item upgrade have multiple upgrade materials, the cost of upgrading will be less.
In Chapter 2: Season 5, the method of upgrading your equipment and weapon sets was a bit different. Prior to Chapter 2: Season 5, you could upgrade your weapon or equipment by paying a certain amount of Bars. You could continue doing this until you reached the maximum upgrade level for your equipment or weapon, after which the upgrades would be reset.
It's possible, but it relies heavily on RNG. You should consider buying equipment that has low levels of upgrade and high base scores and stat distributions. These items have a higher likelihood of granting you most prestigious tier of advantages and benefits.
To improve their skills faster, most players will prioritize upgrading their weapons. Additionally, players should consider upgrading the weapons favored by their squadmates to increase their power as well. For instance, Shepard should consider upgrading the M92F to unlock the Beretta M93R to make it more useful when accompanied by experts in biotics like Grunt and Tali.
Jewels
Jewels are placed in the armor's sockets and weapons, enhancing a stat and providing secondary effects. They can be created using an process known as jewelry crafting, where you combine a gem with several ingredients at a table for jewelry. The higher the grade of the jewel the better the secondary effect. These reagents can be obtained around the world through Treasure Goblins, World Bosses and occasionally by salvaging Legendary equipment. You can also purchase them from The Jeweler in exchange for Scattered Prisms and gold.
The quality of a gem can be improved upon by the Jeweler, in stages that range from Crude to Royal. The stat boosts will vary depending on the tier the jewel is at when it's inserted into jewelry, weapons, or equipment.
The Jeweler can craft all kinds of gems, with the exception of rare and legendary ones, which require certain levels to gain. Jewels can be replaced by another jewel without destroying the original. However it is only possible to replace the jewels in a piece of equipment only once.
Utilizing more jewels in the movement will make it feel smoother, and is often used to enhance the aesthetics of the movement. Apart from improving performance, the jewels also create an area that is stronger than steel, so the repeated friction from pivots doesn't damage them as easily.
In addition to the above-mentioned upgrades, the player can also get glyphs for their shields and weapons from a Glyphmaster. They offer a small benefit and can be swapped freely however they aren't guaranteed to drop as loot. Glyphs are upgradeable, as jewelry, by visiting the Jeweler for gold and Scattered Crystal. Glyphs are also removed from the inventory, and they are returned to the inventory. Other upgrade components, like traits and aegis aren't swappable and can only be retrieved using an Upgrade Extractor or salvaging them using a Black Lion Salvage Kit or Ascended Salvage Tool.
Trinkets
Trinkets are items of equipment that offer many small but useful advantages to your hero. They are available in the starter area as rewards for personal stories or loot. 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 trinkets that a player can unlock is the cloak. It grants a small but useful bonus to speed of movement and the ability to escape. The player can then acquire necklaces, amulets, and rings in a similar fashion similar to how they obtained weapons and armor. Each piece of equipment has a slot for an upgrade that is either universal or jewel. Universal upgrades offer fewer benefits and can be put into any type of equipment while jewelry cannot be changed or upgraded and is only compatible with certain kinds of trinkets.
These trinkets also grant additional buffs and skills that remain active even when the character is not fighting. This allows the hero to be more efficient when they are not active. It can also compensate for the absence of excellent slots in the team or talent tree that are normally filled by a hero's top stats.
As a rule trinket upgrades should be a priority BiS (Best in Slot) items that you will not replace anytime soon. Next, any items that have desirable statistics aren't as important as the iLevel of the item to be upgraded. This is especially true if you want to upgrade multiple statistics on an item. It is better to upgrade one important stat rather than two suboptimal ones.
Jungle players usually upgrade their yellow trinkets to a red trinket at the start of the game. Top and mid players on the other hand will pick a pink or green ward, based 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 discover other trinkets in form of trophies and rewards throughout the game. These can be obtained by completing certain milestones in the story. For instance, completing the main quest of a chapter or beating an opponent. They can be viewed by selecting the appropriate achievement from the reward tab of the hero menu.