Path of Exile Item Upgrades
The performance of many Path of Exile items can be improved by upgrading them. They can be a fantastic source of damage and more AD or even more attachments.
In most cases, however upgraded Common and Magic gear is beaten out by Rare-grade gear due to their high requirements.
Armor
Armor upgrades are a type of upgrade that can be used on weapons 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 purchased from Blacksmiths on bonfires. They can also be salvaged by using a professional or higher salvage kits to retrieve upgrade components from items.
The amount of damage that an armored piece or weapon can absorb depends on the degree of upgrades. The upgrade of an armor piece to its highest upgrade level will boost its damage absorption. It's important to remember that this will increase the weight of the armor, which means it should be heavier.
There are a few different types of armor upgrades available in the game and they all have distinct effects. Certain upgrades give armor an extra amount of health points while others make it lighter and more powerful. The kind of armor upgrade an item can receive will be identified by the name of the upgrade, as illustrated in the table below.
Some of the upgrades also require magic or a hybrid technology and magic, as shown by the "Magic" and "Hybrids" entries in the table below. Additionally, some upgrades require a charge to use, which is indicated by an "Charges" entry in the table below. The charges for these upgrades refresh daily or never expire, according to the upgrade.
Iron Ore is the cheapest method to upgrade your armor. You can find it by exploring and looting small loot chests. Titanium is more costly, but can be found at 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 provide a significant improvements in stats and are a worthwhile cost, especially for single-handed weapons.
The player must be aware that upgrading a piece to its maximum upgrade level will boost its defense. However, it can also reduce its agility and speed. This is why it is generally not recommended to upgrade armor pieces that are higher than +9 since the defensive boost gained is typically not worth the additional weight and power costs of the improvements required.
Weapons
Weapon upgrades give players the ability to improve certain aspects of their weapon. For example an upgrade could improve the damage that is caused by the shells of a shotgun or the accuracy of the rifle sniper. Certain weapons come with special upgrades to improve their inherent capabilities. These include Frictionless Materials (improves stability and minimizes weapon overheating) 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 can be gained by completing Side Quests or killing a certain amount of bosses and monsters.
To upgrade the 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 are required to complete it. The cost of upgrading will be lower if have more than one of the upgrade materials.
In Chapter 2: Season 5, the method of upgrading your weapon and equipment sets changed a little. Prior to Chapter 2 Season 5, you could upgrade your weapon or equipment by paying a certain number of Bars. You could do this until your weapon or equipment reached its maximum upgrade level and at that point, the upgrades would reset.
You can still do this, but the process is high on RNG and low on agency. Instead, you're better off going to stores and purchasing equipment with low upgrade levels, but good base scores and stat distributions. These will be able to give you the most prestigious perks and blessings.
To improve their skills faster, many players prioritise upgrading their weapons. Players should also upgrade the weapons that their squadmates use to make them stronger. Shepard, for example, should upgrade the M92F in order to unlock the Beretta M93R. This will make the weapon more effective 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 in armor and weapons. They can be created using an process known as jewelry crafting, in which you combine a gem and several reagents at a jewelry table. The higher the quality of the jewel the better the secondary effect. item upgrading can be gotten from Treasure Goblins and World Bosses around the world, or by finding Legendary Gear. You can also buy them from The Jeweler in exchange for Scattered Prisms and gold.
The quality of a gem can be improved upon by the Jeweler, in stages that vary from Crude to Royal. Depending on the tier of the gem, it will provide a different stat boost when slotted into weapons, equipment and jewelry.
All levels of jewels can be made at the Jeweler, with the exception of the rare and legendary jewels which require you to be at a sufficient level to obtain the privilege of having them. In contrast to other upgrade components, jewels can be swapped out by a different identical jewel without destroying it. However it is only possible to replace one jewel in an equipment piece only once.
The use of more jewels in a movement will make it feel smoother, and is often done to enhance the aesthetics of the movement. The jewels can 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 the movement.
A Glyphmaster can offer glyphs to improve the appearance of your shields and weapons. These glyphs provide a small boost in power and can be swapped, but they're not guaranteed to show up as loot. Glyphs are like jewelry and can be upgraded at the Jeweler to exchange Scattered Crystals and gold. Glyphs can also be taken out and returned to the inventory. Other upgrade components, such as traits or aegis can't be exchanged and can only be retrieved by using an Upgrade extractor or salvaging with the Black Lion Salvage Kit or an Ascended Salvage.
Trinkets
Trinkets can give your character many small, but valuable, benefits. They can be obtained in the beginning areas as loot or personal story rewards from vendors, and through doing road interactions. They may also be crafted by jewelers, and found or purchased on the Trading Post.
The first trinkets that a player is able to unlock is the cloak. It grants an unimportant but beneficial boost to movement speed and evasion. The player can then acquire necklaces, rings, and amulets, in a similar way as they did with weapons and armor. Each piece of equipment has an upgrade slot that is either universal or jewel. Universal upgrades are smaller and can be used on any device. Jewels are not upgradeable or replaced and only work with certain trinkets.
These trinkets can provide additional bonuses and abilities that are active even when the hero isn't in combat. This lets a hero be more efficient while inactive. It can also make up for the absence of excellent slot in the talent tree or team which would normally be filled by the hero's optimal stats.
A good rule of thumb for trinket upgrades is to prioritize BiS (Best-in-Slot) items that you won't be replacing soon, followed by any items with desirable stats that are less important than the iLevel of the item being upgraded. This is especially true when an item has multiple stats that you'd like to upgrade as it's often better to upgrade just one important stat rather than two sub-optimal ones.
Jungle players often upgrade their yellow trinket to a red trinket at the start of the game. Mid and top players, on the other hand, will choose either a pink or green ward, based on the matchup. These choices can impact the ability of a hero to control the map.
In addition to the items listed above, players will also find other trinkets in the form trophies and rewards throughout the game. These can be obtained by completing certain milestones within the story, such as the main quest of a chapter or killing a certain boss. You can view them by selecting the achievement from the reward section of the hero's menu.