Guide To Item Upgrades: The Intermediate Guide On Item Upgrades

Path of Exile item upgrades (navigate here)

Item upgrades are a common and crucial method to enhance the performance of many items in Path of Exile. They can be a good source of extra damage, more AD or even more attachments.

Often times however, upgraded Common and Magic gear is beaten out by Rare-grade equipment due to their requirements.

Armor

Armor upgrades can be applied to both armor and weapon items. They increase the effectiveness of the item that they are attached to. Armor upgrades can be found in the world of games and can be purchased from Blacksmiths at bonfires. They can also be salvaged by using a professional or higher salvage kits to salvage upgrade components from items.

The level of an armor's or weapon's upgrade determines the amount of damage it can take on. Upgrading a piece of armor to its highest upgrade level will increase its damage absorption. But, it's important to note that this will also increase its weight, which will cause it to weigh more than before.

There are several different types of armor upgrades available in the game. Each has a different effect. For instance, certain upgrades give the armor a certain amount of additional health points, while others will make it lighter and stronger. The type of armor upgrade that an item upgrader mod will receive is indicated by the name of the upgrade as shown in the table below.

Some of the upgrades also require magic or a hybrid technology and magic, which is indicated by the "Magic" and "Hybrids" entries in the table. Furthermore, some upgrades require a fee to use, and are shown by an "Charges" entry in the table below. These charges are either continuously updated or never expire depending on the upgrade.

Iron Ore is the cheapest method to improve your armor. You can find it by exploring and looting small loot chests. Titanium is more expensive, however, it is available in the smelters of Orgrimmar and Stormwind City. Some upgrades, such as the Reforge and the Hot Potato Books, can only be applied to high-level armor pieces. These upgrades can give significant improvement in stats and are a worthwhile investment, particularly for one-handed weapons.

Upgrading a piece of armor to max upgrade level will dramatically increase its defense capabilities but the wearer must be aware that putting more weight on it will drastically reduce its agility and speed. It is not recommended to upgrade armor above +9. The boost in defense usually isn't worth the weight and power expenses of the upgrades.

Weapons

Weapon upgrades give players the ability to improve certain aspects of their weapon. For example an upgrade could enhance the damage caused by shotgun shells or the accuracy of the rifle that snipes. Certain firearms have enhancements to enhance their intrinsic qualities. These include Frictionless Materials (improves stability and minimizes overheating of the weapon) and Kinetic Coils (increases the velocity of projectiles for greater damage).

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

To upgrade a weapon, equipment set 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 more bars needed to complete an upgrade, the higher the level. If you have multiple upgrade materials, the cost of upgrading will be lower.

In Chapter 2: Season 5 the way you upgrade your weapon and sets has changed a bit. Prior to Chapter 2: Season 5 you could upgrade your weapon or equipment by paying a certain amount of Bars. You could continue to do this until you reach a maximum upgrade level for the equipment or weapon, following which the upgrades would be reset.

It's possible, but it is dependent heavily on RNG. You should consider buying equipment with minimal upgrade levels, but high base scores and stat distributions. They will also have a chance at gaining you the Best item upgrade tier of benefits and blessings.

To level up faster, most players will prioritize upgrading their weapons. In addition to these players, they should also consider upgrading the weapons they use with their squadmates to make them more powerful as well. Shepard, for example should upgrade his M92F so that he can unlock the Beretta M93R. This will make the weapon more effective when accompanied by biotic specialists like Grunt and Tali.

Jewels

Jewels are placed in the armor's sockets and weapons, increasing the stats of a weapon and providing additional effects. Jewelry crafting is a method for making them, where you combine a gemstone with a number specific reagents on a jewelry table. The higher the tier of the gem has, the more powerful its secondary effect. These reagents can be obtained from Treasure Goblins and World Bosses all over the world, or through collecting Legendary Gear. You can also buy them from The Jeweler for gold and a Scattered Prism.

The Jeweler can enhance the quality of gemstones in stages ranging from Crude up to Royal. The stat boosts will vary depending on the level the jewel is at when it is inserted into jewelry, weapons or equipment.

All kinds of jewels are crafted at the Jeweler, with the exception of the rare and legendary jewels which require you to be at a certain level to obtain these. Jewels can be substituted with another jewel without damaging the original. However you can only swap out the jewels in an item of equipment once.

Using more jewels in a movement can make it feel more comfortable, and is often performed for aesthetic reasons. Jewels also enhance performance and make a harder surface than metal so that repeated friction caused by pivots does not damage them.

A Glyphmaster can provide glyphs to enhance the look of your shields and weapons. These provide a small bonus 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 may also be removed and returned to the inventory. Other upgrade components such as aegis or traits cannot be exchanged and can only be retrieved with an Upgrade extractor, or salvaging with a Black Lion Salvage Kit or an Ascended Salvage tool.

Trinkets

Trinkets are pieces of equipment that provide many tiny but valuable advantages to your hero. They can be acquired starting in the areas of starting as loot, personal story rewards, from vendors, or by performing road interactions. They can also be crafted by jewelers, and found or purchased at the Trading Post.

The first trinkets a player unlocks will be the cloak. It grants an unimportant but beneficial boost to speed of movement and the ability to escape. After that, they'll be able to purchase amulets, rings and necklaces in a similar manner to the way a player can acquire armor and weapons. Each piece of equipment comes with a slot for an upgrade that is either universal or jewel. Universal upgrades are smaller and can be used on any piece of equipment. Jewels cannot be upgraded or replaced and only work with certain trinkets.

These trinkets also grant additional buffs and skills that remain active when the hero 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 which are usually filled by a hero's top stats.

In general trinket upgrades should be prioritized over BiS (Best in Slot) items you won't replace in the near future. Then, you should consider any items with desirable statistics that are less significant than the iLevel for the item to be upgraded. This is especially true if you are looking to upgrade multiple statistics on an item. It is Best item upgrader to upgrade just one crucial stat instead of two subpar ones.

In the beginning of the game, junglers will usually want to upgrade their yellow trinket into a red one in the middle and top players usually choose either a pink or green ward (depending on the game's matchup). These choices will have an impact on the hero's ability to manage the map.

In addition to the items listed above, players will discover other trinkets in form of rewards and trophies throughout the game. They can be obtained through completing certain milestones within the story. For example, completing the main quest of a chapter or defeating the boss. These can be viewed by selecting the relevant achievement in the reward tab of the hero menu.