Guide To Item Upgrades: The Intermediate Guide Towards Item Upgrades

Path of Exile Item Upgrades

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

Rare-grade equipment is usually superior to upgraded Common or Magic gear because of their high requirements.

Armor

Armor upgrades can be applied to both armor and weapon items. They increase the effectiveness of the item they are attached to. Armor upgrades are available in the world of the game and can be purchased from Blacksmiths at bonfires. Additionally, they can be salvaged from items with upgrade components within them by using a specialist or more powerful salvage kit.

The amount of damage that an armored item upgrade or weapon is able to absorb is dependent on the degree of upgrades. The upgrade of an armor piece to the highest upgrade level will increase its damage absorption. It is important to keep in mind that this will increase the weight of the armor, therefore it must be heavier.

There are many different kinds of armor upgrades available in the game. Each one has a distinct effect. Some upgrades give armor a greater amount of health points while others make it more powerful and lighter. The type of armor upgrade that an item level upgrade will receive is indicated by the name of the upgrade as illustrated in the table below.

Some of the upgrades are also magic or a mix of technology and magic, which is shown by a "Magic" or "Hybrid" entry in the table below. Certain upgrades require charges in order to be used. These are identified as "Charges" entries in the table. The charges associated with these upgrades are updated daily or never expire according to the upgrade.

The cheapest method to upgrade armor is to use Iron Ore, which can be found by exploring the area and looting small loot chests. Titanium is more expensive but it can be obtained through 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 give significant boost to stats and are a worthwhile investment, especially for 1-handed weapons.

The player must be aware that upgrading a piece to the maximum upgrade level can boost its defense. However, it will also decrease its agility and speed. Therefore, it is not recommended to upgrade most armor pieces above +9, since the defensive boost gained is typically not worth the weight and power costs of the upgrades needed.

Weapons

Weapon upgrades allow players to improve the effectiveness of certain aspects of an weapon. For example an upgrade can improve the damage that is caused by a shotgun's shells or the accuracy of the rifle that snipes. Some weapons also have special upgrades that enhance their inherent qualities. Frictionless materials (improves stability, and reduces the possibility of overheating) and Kinetic coils (increases the projectile's acceleration to cause more damage) are two examples.

The majority of upgrades to weapons require one of three Power Dices, a different amount of Minerals and Erons, and a whetblade. These are obtained through either completing Side Quests, taking out a certain number of monsters or bosses or through the Weapon Upgrade NPC in Central Flarine.

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 higher the upgrade level, the higher the number of bars are required to complete it. 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 equipment sets has changed. Previously, you could seek out an Upgrade Bench and pay a set number of Bars to upgrade your weapon or equipment to a higher level of rarity. You could do this until you reached the maximum upgrade level for your weapon or equipment, after which the upgrades would reset.

You can still do this, however, the process is high on RNG and low on agency. You should consider buying equipment with low levels of upgrade but with high base scores and stat distributions. These will then have a chance at gaining you the most prestigious perks and blessings.

To level up faster, most players will prioritise upgrading their weapons. Players should also upgrade the weapons their squadmates utilize to increase their power. Shepard for instance should upgrade his M92F in order to unlock the Beretta M93R. This will increase the effectiveness of the weapon when used with biotic specialists such as 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 the gemstone with specific reagents on a table. The higher the level of the jewel, the better its secondary effect. These reagents can be gotten from Treasure Goblins and World Bosses all over the world, or through salvaging Legendary Gear. You can also buy them from The Jeweler for gold and a Scattered Prism.

The quality of a gem can be improved at the Jeweler, with stages that vary from Crude to Royal. The stat boosts can vary depending on the tier the jewel is in when it is inserted into jewelry, weapons or gear.

All tiers of jewels can be crafted at the Jeweler, with the exception of the rare and legendary jewels which require you to be at a certain level to be able to get the privilege of having them. Jewels can be replaced with another jewel without destroying the original. You can only replace the jewel once within an item of equipment.

It is common to use more gems for aesthetic reasons. The jewels also improve performance and make a surface harder than metal so that repeated friction from pivots do not cause damage to them.

A Glyphmaster can provide glyphs to enhance the appearance of your weapons and shields. These glyphs give a slight boost and can be traded, but they are not guaranteed to be available as loot. Glyphs are upgradeable, as jewelry, by visiting the Jeweler for gold, and also Scattered Crystal. Glyphs can also be taken out and returned to the inventory. Other upgrade components, such as traits and aegis aren't swappable and can only be recovered using an Upgrade Extractor or salvaging them using a Black Lion Salvage Kit or an Ascended Salvage Tool.

Trinkets

Trinkets can provide your hero with many small, but useful, advantages. They can be obtained in the areas of starting as loot or personal story rewards from vendors, or by completing road interactions. They can be found on the Trading Post, or crafted by jewelers.

The first trinkets a player unlocks will be the cloak, which gives a small, but valuable boost to movement speed and evasion. After that, they'll be able to get amulets, rings, and necklaces in a similar manner to the way a player can acquire weapons and armor. Each piece of equipment comes with one upgrade slot that can accommodate either a universal or a jewel upgrade. Universal upgrades are smaller and can be used on any equipment. Jewels cannot be upgraded or replaced, and can only be used with certain trinkets.

These trinkets grant additional buffs and abilities that are active even when the hero isn't in combat. This enables the hero to be more effective when not active, and can also help to compensate for the absence of a solid team or any talent tree slots that would normally be filled with the hero's ideal stats.

A good guideline for trinket upgrades is to prioritize BiS (Best-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 upgrade that is being upgraded. This is especially true when you want to upgrade multiple stats on an item. It is better to upgrade one important stat rather than two suboptimal ones.

Jungle players often upgrade their yellow trinket to a red one at the start of the game. Top and mid players however, will choose either a pink or green ward, based on the game's matchup. These choices can impact the hero's ability to manage the map.

In addition to the items mentioned 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, such as finishing 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.