Path of Exile Item Upgrades
Item upgrades are a common and crucial method to enhance the performance of many items in Path of Exile. They can also provide additional damage, AD or even affixes.
Often times however upgraded Common and Magic gear is beaten out by Rare-grade gear because of their higher requirements.
Armor
Armor upgrades can be applied to both weapon and armor items. They improve the effectiveness of the item they are attached to. Upgrades to armor can be found in the world of the game and are available from Blacksmiths on bonfires. They can also be salvaged using a professional or higher salvage kits to salvage upgrades from the items.
The amount of damage an armored item or weapon can absorb depends on the level of its upgrades. The ability to absorb damage of an armor piece will increase as it is upgraded to the maximum upgrade level. It is important to note that this will increase the weight of the armor, so it must be more heavy.
There are several kinds of armor upgrades available in the game, and each one has distinct effects. Certain upgrades grant armor a greater number of health points, while others make it more powerful and lighter. The type of armor upgrade that an item can receive will be indicated by the name of the upgrade, as illustrated in the table below.
Some of the upgrades are also magical or a combination of magic and technology, which is indicated by the "Magic" or "Hybrid" entry in the table below. Some upgrades also require charges in order to be used. They are referred to as "Charges" entries in the table. The charges associated with these upgrades change daily or never expire according to the upgrade.
The cheapest way to upgrade armor is with Iron Ore, which can be obtained by exploring the environment and looting minor loot chests. Titanium is more expensive but it can be obtained from smelters located in Orgrimmar and Stormwind City. Some upgrades, like the Reforge or the Hot Potato Books can only be used on armor pieces of the highest level. These upgrades can provide a significant boost to stats and are worth the investment, especially for 1-handed weapons.
Upgrading a piece of armor to its maximum upgrade level will greatly increase its defense capabilities but the wearer must be aware that putting more weight on it can drastically decrease its agility and speed. Therefore, it is not recommended to upgrade most armor pieces beyond +9, because the increase in defense is typically not worth the additional weight and power cost of the upgrades needed.
Weapons
Weapon upgrades allow players to improve the effectiveness of specific aspects of an weapon. For instance an upgrade can increase the damage dealt by shotgun shells or the accuracy of a rifle sniper. Certain firearms also have enhancements that enhance their intrinsic capabilities. Frictionless materials (improves stability, and reduces the possibility of overheating), and Kinetic coils (increases the projectile's speed 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 to apply. They can be obtained by completing Side Quests or by killing a certain number of bosses and monsters.
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 certain amount of Bars. The more bars required to complete an upgrade the more expensive the upgrade. The cost of upgrading will be lower if have more than one of the relevant upgrade materials.
In Chapter 2: Season 5, the method of upgrading your weapon and equipment sets has changed a bit. Prior to item upgrading , you could upgrade your weapon and equipment by paying a certain number of Bars. You could continue to do this until you reached the maximum upgrade level for your equipment or weapon, following which the upgrades would be reset.
You can still do this, but the process is based on RNG and low on agency. Instead, you're better off going to stores and purchasing equipment that has low upgrade levels but good base scores and stat distributions. These gears have a greater chance of giving you the most prestigious tier of benefits and blessings.
To level up faster, many players be more inclined to upgrade their weapons. Players should also upgrade the weapons their squadmates use to make them stronger. Shepard for instance should upgrade his M92F so that he can unlock the Beretta M93R. This will make the weapon more useful when accompanied with biotic specialists like Grunt and Tali.
Jewels
Jewels can be used to boost the effectiveness of a skill or provide additional effects in weapons and armor. Jewelry crafting is the process of making them, where you combine gemstones with specific reagents on a jewelry table. The higher the grade of the gemstone has, the more powerful its secondary effect. These reagents are available from Treasure Goblins and World Bosses around the world, or by 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 range from Crude to Royal. Depending on the tier of the gem it can provide different stat boosts when it is inserted into gear, weapons and jewelry.
All kinds of jewels are crafted at the Jeweler however, there are some exceptions to this, such as the rare and legendary gems that require you to be at a sufficient level to be able to get the privilege of having them. Jewels can be replaced by another jewel without destroying the original. You can only replace the gem once in an item of equipment.
Using more jewels in a move will make it more smooth and is usually used to enhance the aesthetics of the movement. Jewels also enhance performance and create an outer layer that is more durable than metal so that repeated friction from pivots do not cause damage to them.
A Glyphmaster can offer glyphs to improve the look of your shields and weapons. These glyphs give a slight boost in power and can be exchanged, however they are not guaranteed to be available as loot. Glyphs can be upgraded, like jewelry, at the Jeweler for gold, and also a scattered Crystal. Glyphs can also be removed and returned to the inventory. Other upgrade components, like traits and aegis are not swappable, and are only recoverable by using an Upgrade Extractor or salvaging them with the Black Lion Salvage Kit or Ascended Salvage Tool.
Trinkets
Trinkets are pieces of equipment that provide many small, but beneficial benefits to your hero. They can be obtained in the starter areas as loot or personal story rewards from vendors, and through doing road interactions. They can also be found on the Trading Post, or crafted by jewelers.
The first trinket a player can unlock is the cloak. It provides a tiny, but useful bonus in movement speed and the ability to escape. After that, they can purchase amulets, rings and necklaces in a similar manner to the way a player acquires weapons and armor. Each piece of equipment comes with one upgrade slot that accepts either a universal upgrade or a jewel upgrade. Universal upgrades are smaller and can be utilized on any equipment. Jewels cannot be upgraded or replaced and only work with certain trinkets.
These trinkets grant additional buffs and abilities that are active when the hero isn't engaged in combat. This allows the hero to be more efficient while inactive. It also helps compensate for the absence of strong slot in the talent tree or team which are usually filled by a hero's top stats.
As a general rule trinket upgrades should be prioritized over BiS (Best in Slot) items you won't replace soon. Also, consider items with desirable statistics that are less significant than the iLevel for the item that is to be upgraded. This is especially true when an item has multiple stats you'd like to upgrade, since it's generally more beneficial to upgrade one important stat than two sub-optimal ones.
In the beginning of the game, players in the jungle are likely to upgrade their yellow trinket into a red one in the middle and top players typically choose a green or pink ward (depending on the matchup). These choices will have an impact on the hero's ability to manage the map.
In addition to the items listed above, players can discover a variety of other trinkets in the game in the form of awards and trophies. They can be obtained by completing certain milestones within the story. For instance, completing the main quest for a chapter or defeating a boss. These achievements can be seen by selecting the relevant achievement from the reward tab of the hero menu.