Guide To Item Upgrades: The Intermediate Guide Towards Item Upgrades

Path of Exile Item Upgrades

item upgrader kit upgrades are a common and essential way to boost the performance of a variety of items in Path of Exile. They can be a great source of damage or more AD or even more affixes.

In most cases, however, upgraded Common and Magic gear is often surpassed by Rare-grade gear due to their higher requirements.

Armor

Armor upgrades can be applied to both weapon and armor items. They increase the performance of the item level upgrade they are connected to. Armor upgrades can be found in the world of the game and are available from Blacksmiths on bonfires. They can also be salvaged by using an expert or higher salvage kits to recover upgrade components from items.

The amount of damage an armored item upgrade or weapon can absorb depends on the extent of its upgrades. The absorption of damage by an armor piece will increase when it is upgraded to its maximum upgrade level. However, it's important to note that this will also raise its weight, requiring it to weigh more than it was before.

There are many different kinds of armor upgrades available in the game. Each one has a distinct effect. For instance, some upgrades will grant the armor a certain number of additional health points, while others make it lighter and stronger. The name of the armor upgrade will indicate the type of upgrade an item can receive, as shown below.

Some of the upgrades also require magic or a combination of technology and magic, which is shown by the "Magic" and "Hybrids" entries in the table below. Some upgrades also require a charge to use, and are identified by a "Charges" entry in the table below. These charges are either constantly updated or never expire based on the upgrade.

Iron Ore is the cheapest method to improve your armor. It can be found by exploring 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 or the Hot Potato Books can only be applied to armor pieces that are of high-level. These upgrades can provide significant increases in stats and are worth the cost.

A piece of armor upgraded to its maximum upgrade level will greatly increase its defense capabilities, but the player should be aware that putting on weight will dramatically reduce its speed and agility. This is why it is generally not recommended to upgrade most armor pieces beyond +9, since the added defense is typically not worth the additional weight and power costs of the improvements required.

Weapons

Weapon upgrades allow players to improve the effectiveness of specific aspects of a weapon. Upgrades can improve the accuracy of a rifle or the damage that shotgun shells cause. Some weapons also have special upgrades that improve their innate capabilities. Frictionless materials (improves stability, reduces the risk of weapon overheating) and Kinetic coils (increases the projectile's acceleration to cause more damage) are two examples.

Most upgrades for weapons require one of three Power Dices, a different amount of Minerals and Erons and a whetblade. These are obtained through either doing side quests, or taking out a certain number of monsters or bosses, or from the Weapon Upgrade NPC in Central Flarine.

Upgrading 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 advanced the level. The cost of upgrading will be less if you have more than one of the relevant upgrade materials.

In Chapter 2: Season 5, the way you upgrade your equipment and weapon sets was a bit different. Prior to Chapter 2: Season 5 you could upgrade your weapon and equipment by paying a certain number of Bars. You could continue to do this until you reached a maximum upgrade level for your weapon or equipment, after which the upgrades would reset.

It's possible, but it depends heavily on RNG. You should consider buying equipment that has minimal upgrade levels, but high base scores and stat distributions. These items have a higher chance of granting you the highest level of blessings and perks.

To level up faster, many players prioritise upgrading their weapons. In addition players, they should also consider upgrading the weapons they use with their teammates to make them more powerful and effective. Shepard for instance should upgrade his M92F so that he can unlock the Beretta M93R. This will make the weapon more effective when used in conjunction by biotic specialists like Grunt and Tali.

Jewels

Jewels are used in the armor's sockets and weapons, enhancing the stats of a weapon and providing additional effects. Jewelry crafting is a method of making them, in which you combine a gemstone with a number specific reagents on a table. The higher the tier of the gemstone has, the more powerful its secondary effect. These reagents can be obtained from Treasure Goblins and World Bosses all over the world, or by finding Legendary Gear. You can also purchase them from The Jeweler in exchange for gold and Scattered Prisms.

The Jeweler can enhance the quality of the gem in stages that range from Crude up to Royal. Based on the level of the jewel it can provide different stat boosts when inserted into weapons, equipment and jewelry.

All kinds of jewels can be made at the Jeweler however, there are some exceptions to this, such as the rare and legendary jewels that require you to be at a certain level to be able to get the privilege of having them. Like other upgrade components jewels are able to be swapped with another identical jewel without damaging the original one. However, you can only replace the jewels in an equipment piece once.

It is normal to use more jewels for aesthetic reasons. The jewels also improve performance and make a harder surface than metal so that repeated friction caused by pivots does not damage them.

A Glyphmaster can offer glyphs to improve the look of your shields and weapons. These are a small perk and are able to be swapped easily but aren't guaranteed to drop as loot. Glyphs can be upgraded, as jewelry, by visiting the Jeweler for gold and a scattered Crystal. Glyphs are also removed from the inventory, and they are returned to the inventory. Other upgrade components, such as traits or aegis cannot be swapped, and can only be recovered by using an Upgrade extractor or salvaging with Black Lion Salvage Kit or an Ascended Salvage.

Trinkets

Trinkets are items of equipment that bestow a wide range of small, but beneficial benefits to your hero. They can be obtained in the areas of starting as loot or personal story rewards from vendors, or by performing road interactions. They can be found on the Trading Post, or crafted by jewelers.

The first trinket a player will unlock is the cloak. It grants a small but valuable boost in speed of movement and the ability to escape. The player can then acquire necklaces, amulets, and rings in a similar manner to how they acquired weapons and armor. Every piece of equipment has a slot for an upgrade which can be universal or jewel. Universal upgrades are smaller and can be utilized on any device. Jewels cannot be upgraded or replaced and are only compatible with certain trinkets.

These trinkets also provide additional buffs and skills that remain active even when the character is not fighting. This allows the hero to be more effective when not active and also helps fill in the void of a strong team or the absence of any slots from the talent tree which would normally be filled with hero's ideal statistics.

As a rule trinket upgrades should be a priority BiS (Best item upgrade in Slot) items that you will not replace in the near future. Also, consider items that have desirable statistics aren't as important as the iLevel for the item upgrade that is to be upgraded. This is particularly true if an item has multiple stats that you wish to upgrade, as it's usually better to upgrade just one important stat than two sub-optimal ones.

Jungle players often upgrade their yellow trinkets to a red one at the start of the game. Top and mid players on the other hand they will select either a pink or green ward, depending on the matchup. These choices can affect the ability of a hero to control the map.

Apart from the items listed above, players may also find a number of other items in the form of trophies and awards. They can be earned by completing certain milestones in the story, like the main quest of a chapter or killing a certain boss. You can see them by clicking on the achievement in the reward section of the hero's menu.