Path of Exile Item Upgrades
Upgrades to items are a frequent and essential way to boost the performance of numerous items in Path of Exile. They can be a good source of extra damage or more AD or even more attachments.
Rare-grade equipment is often superior to the more modernized Common or Magic gear due to their higher requirements.
Armor
Armor upgrades can be applied to both weapon and armor items. They increase the effectiveness of the item that they are attached to. Armor upgrades are available in the world of the game and purchased from Blacksmiths on bonfires. They can also be salvaged by using a professional or higher salvage kit to salvage upgrade components from items.
The level of an armor's or weapon's upgrade determines the amount of damage it can absorb. The damage absorption of an item of armor will increase when it is upgraded to its maximum upgrade level. However, it's important to be aware that this upgrade will raise its weight, requiring it to weigh more than it was before.
There are many different kinds of armor upgrade available in the game. Each has a different effect. For instance, certain upgrades give the armor a certain amount of health points while others make it lighter and stronger. The name of the upgrade will indicate the kind of upgrade an item can receive, as shown below.
Certain upgrades require magic or a hybrid technology and magic, which is indicated by the "Magic" and "Hybrids" entries in the table below. Some upgrades also require charges to use. They are referred to as "Charges" entries in the table. The charges for these upgrades change daily or never expire according to the upgrade.
The cheapest method of upgrading armor is with Iron Ore, which can be obtained through exploring the surroundings and looting small loot chests. Titanium is more expensive, however, it is available at the smelters in Orgrimmar and Stormwind City. Some upgrades, such as the Reforge and the Hot Potato Books, can only be applied to higher level armor pieces. These upgrades can provide a significant improvement in stats and are worth the investment, especially for 1-handed weapons.
The player should be aware that upgrading a piece to the max upgrade level will boost its defense. However, it will also decrease its agility and its speed. Therefore, it is generally not recommended to upgrade the majority of armor pieces above +9, since the defensive boost gained is typically not worth the additional weight and power cost of the upgrades required.
Weapons
Weapon upgrades allow players to increase the effectiveness of specific aspects of an weapon. For example an upgrade could enhance the damage caused by shotgun shells or the accuracy of a rifle sniper. Some weapons have special upgrades that enhance their inherent qualities. Frictionless materials (improves stability, minimizes the risk of overheating), and Kinetic coils (increases the projectile's acceleration for greater damage) are two examples.
The majority of upgrades to weapons require three Power Dices, a different amount of Minerals and Erons and a whetblade to apply. These are obtained through either completing Side Quests, taking out a certain number of monsters or bosses, or from the Weapon Upgrade NPC located in Central Flarine.
To upgrade a weapon, equipment set piece, or Whetblade you need to 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 required to complete it. 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 weapon and equipment sets has changed a bit. In the past you could search for an Upgrade Bench and pay a set amount of Bars to upgrade your weapon or equipment to an increased quality. You could continue doing this until you reached a maximum upgrade level for your equipment or weapon, after which upgrades would reset.
This is still possible, but it depends heavily on RNG. You're better off buying gear that has low upgrade levels and high base scores and stat distributions. These items have a greater chance of granting you the most prestigious tier of advantages and benefits.
Most players will want to prioritize weapon upgrades for the weapons they are most likely to use to make sure they are able to level up quicker. Players should also upgrade the weapons that their teammates use to boost their strength. For instance, Shepard should consider upgrading the M92F to unlock the Beretta M93R, which will enhance its effectiveness when accompanied by biotech specialists such as Grunt and Tali.
view site… are placed in the armor's sockets and weapons, increasing a stat and providing secondary effects. Jewelry crafting is a method for making them, in which you combine gemstones with specific reagents on a jewelry table. The higher the level of the jewel, the better its secondary effect. These reagents are available from Treasure Goblins and World Bosses in the world, or through collecting Legendary Gear. You can also purchase them from The Jeweler for gold and a Scattered Prism.
The quality of a diamond can be improved by the Jeweler, with stages that vary from Crude to Royal. Based on the level of the gem, it will provide a different stat boosts when inserted into weapons, gear and jewelry.
The Jeweler can craft the highest levels of gems except for the rare and legendary ones which you must attain a certain level to get. In contrast to other upgrade components, jewels can be swapped with a jewel of the same type without destroying it. However, you can only replace the jewels in an equipment piece once.
It is normal to use more jewelry for aesthetic reasons. Jewels also enhance performance and create a surface harder than steel, so that the repeated friction caused by pivots does not cause damage to them.
A Glyphmaster can provide glyphs to enhance the appearance 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, like jewelry, at 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 or aegis cannot be swapped, and can only be recovered with an Upgrade extractor or salvaging with a Black Lion Salvage Kit or an Ascended Salvage.
Trinkets
Trinkets are small pieces of equipment that provide a wide range of small, but beneficial advantages to your hero. You can find them in the starting area as loot or as personal story rewards. They can also be obtained from vendors and by the completion of road interactions. They may also be crafted by jewelers, and found or purchased at the Trading Post.
The first trinket a player can unlock is the cloak. It grants an unimportant but beneficial boost in speed of movement and evasion. The player can then collect necklaces, amulets, and rings, in a similar way to how they acquired weapons and armor. Each piece of gear comes with one upgrade slot that can accept either a universal or a jewel upgrade. Universal upgrades provide smaller bonuses and can be placed in any type of equipment while jewelry cannot be changed or upgraded and only works with certain types of trinkets.
These trinkets also provide additional buffs and skills that remain active even when the character is not in combat. This allows the hero to be more efficient when they are not active. It can also make up for the lack of a excellent slot in the talent tree or team which would normally be filled by a hero's top stats.
A good guideline for trinket upgrades is to prioritize BiS (Best-in-Slot) items that you won't be replacing soon, followed by items with desirable stats but less important than the iLevel of the item to be upgraded. This is especially true when an item has multiple stats you wish to upgrade, as it's usually more beneficial to upgrade one crucial stat than two subpar ones.
Jungle players will often upgrade their yellow trinkets to a red one prior to the beginning of the game. Top and mid players on the other hand, will choose either a pink or green ward, depending on the matchup. These choices will have an impact on the hero's ability to manage the map.
Aside from the items listed above, players can also find other trinkets in the game in the form of awards and trophies. These can be earned by completing certain milestones in the story. For instance, finishing a chapter’s main quest or beating a boss. These achievements can be seen by selecting the relevant achievement from the reward tab of the hero menu.