Guide To Item Upgrades: The Intermediate Guide To Item Upgrades

Path of Exile Item Upgrades

Item 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 extra damage, more AD or even more attachments.

In most cases, however upgraded Common and Magic gear is outclassed by Rare-grade equipment due to their high requirements.

Armor

Armor upgrades can be applied to both armor and weapon items. They boost the performance of the item upgrader mod they are attached to. Upgrades to armor are available in the game's world and can be purchased from Blacksmiths at any bonfire. They can also be salvaged by using a specialist or higher salvage kit to recover upgrade components from items.

The amount of damage an armored item level upgrade or weapon can absorb depends on the extent of its upgrades. Upgrading a piece of armor to the highest upgrade level will increase its damage absorption. However, it's important note that this will also increase its weight, causing it to be heavier than before.

There are a variety of armor upgrades that are available in the game. Each one has a distinct effect. Certain upgrades give armor an additional number of health points while others make it stronger and lighter. The kind of armor upgrade an item can get is indicated by the name of the upgrade as illustrated in the table below.

Some upgrades also feature magic or a hybrid of technology and magic which is identified by an "Magic" or "Hybrid" entry in the table below. Some upgrades also require charges to use, which is indicated by an "Charges" entry in the table below. The charges associated with these upgrades are updated daily or never expire, depending on the upgrade.

Iron Ore is the cheapest option to upgrade your armor. You can locate it by exploring and looting small chests. Titanium is more expensive, however it is obtainable from smelters located in 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 boost to stats and are a worthwhile investment, especially for 1-handed weapons.

Upgrading a piece of armor to the highest upgrade level will dramatically increase its defense capabilities however, the user must be aware that increasing its weight can drastically decrease its agility and speed. This is why it is generally not recommended to upgrade most armor pieces that are higher than +9 because the increase in defense is usually not worth the extra weight and power costs of the upgrades required.

Weapons

Weapon upgrades let players increase the effectiveness of specific aspects of the weapon. For instance, an upgrade may enhance the damage caused by shotgun shells or the accuracy of the sniper rifle. Certain firearms also have enhancements that enhance their intrinsic capabilities. These include Frictionless Materials (improves stability and decreases the chance of the risk of overheating) and Kinetic Coils (increases the velocity of projectiles for greater damage).

The majority of upgrades to weapons require a whetblade, one of three Power Dices and a different amount Minerals and Erons. These are obtained through either completing Side Quests, killing a certain amount of monsters or bosses, or by contacting the Weapon Upgrade NPC in Central Flarine.

Upgrades to 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 higher the upgrade level, the more bars are required to complete it. If you have multiple upgrade materials The cost of upgrading will be lower.

In Chapter 2: Season 5, the way you upgrade your equipment and weapon sets was a bit different. Previously, you could seek out an Upgrade Bench and pay a certain amount of Bars to upgrade your weapon or equipment to a higher quality. You could do this until your weapon or equipment reached its maximum upgrade level at which point the upgrades would reset.

It's possible, but it relies heavily on RNG. Instead, you're better off going to stores and purchasing equipment with low upgrade levels but good base scores and stat distributions. These will then be able to give you the highest tier benefits and blessings.

The majority of players will prioritize weapon upgrades for the weapons they are most likely to use to make sure they are able to level up faster. Additionally players, they should also consider upgrading the weapons that are most popular with their squadmates to make them more powerful as well. For instance, Shepard should consider upgrading the M92F to unlock the Beretta M93R to make it more useful when accompanied by experts in biotics like Grunt and Tali.

Jewels

Jewels are used in the sockets of armor and weapons, enhancing the power of a character and bringing about secondary 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 grade of the gem, the better its secondary effect. These reagents are obtained in the world through Treasure Goblins, World Bosses and, sometimes, by salvaging Legendary gear. You can also buy them from The Jeweler for gold and a Scattered Prism.

The quality of a jewel can be improved at the Jeweler, in stages that vary from Crude to Royal. The boosts to stats will differ according to the tier that the jewel is in when it's inserted into weapons, jewelry, or gear.

The Jeweler can craft the highest levels of gems except for the rare and legendary ones that you must attain an appropriate level to obtain. Jewels can be replaced with another jewel without destroying the original. You can only replace the gem only once in a piece of equipment.

It is normal to use more jewels to enhance the appearance of. Apart from improving performance, the jewels create an area that is stronger than metal, which means that repeated friction from pivots doesn't cause damage as easily.

A Glyphmaster can provide glyphs that can enhance the appearance of your weapons and shields. These provide a small bonus and can be swapped out at any time, but are not guaranteed to drop as loot. Glyphs, like jewelry, can be upgraded by the Jeweler to exchange gold and Scattered Crystals. Glyphs are also removed and returned to the inventory. Other upgrade components such as traits or aegis cannot be swapped, and can only be found by using an Upgrade extractor, or salvaging with a Black Lion Salvage Kit or an Ascended Salvage.

Trinkets

Trinkets are items of equipment that offer an array of tiny but valuable benefits to your hero. You can find them in the start-up area as loot or personal story rewards. They can also be obtained through vendors and after doing road interaction. They can also be made by jewelers, and found or purchased from the Trading Post.

The first trinket a player is able to unlock is the cloak, which gives a small but useful bonus to speed of movement and the ability to escape. The player will then be able to acquire necklaces, rings, and amulets, in a similar way as they did with weapons and armor. Each piece of equipment comes with one upgrade slot that can accept either a universal or jewel upgrade. Universal upgrades are smaller and can be utilized on any piece of equipment. Jewels are not upgradeable or replaced and are only compatible with certain trinkets.

These trinkets can provide additional bonuses and abilities that are active even when the hero isn't fighting. This lets a hero be more efficient when they are not active. It can also compensate for the lack of a strong team or talent tree slots that are normally filled by the hero's optimal stats.

A good general rule of thumb for trinket upgrades is to prioritize BiS (Best-in-Slot) items that you aren't planning to replace soon, followed by any items with desirable stats that are less important than the iLevel of the item upgrader being upgraded. This is especially true when you're looking to upgrade several stats on an item upgrader mod. It is better to upgrade one important stat rather than two suboptimal ones.

At the beginning of the game players in the jungle are likely to upgrade their yellow trinket to a red in the middle and top players usually choose a green or pink ward (depending 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 that form of rewards and trophies throughout the game. These can be earned by completing certain milestones in the story, like the main quest of a chapter or killing a particular boss. They can be viewed by selecting the appropriate achievement from the reward tab of the hero menu.