Guide To Item Upgrades: The Intermediate Guide For Item Upgrades

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Path of Exile item upgrades - this hyperlink -

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 affixes.

Sometimes, however upgraded Common and Magic gear is outclassed by Rare-grade equipment due to their higher requirements.

Armor

Armor upgrades can be applied to both armor and weapon items. They increase the performance of the item upgrader they are connected to. Armor upgrades are found in the world of the game and can be purchased from Blacksmiths at any bonfire. Alternatively, they can also be salvaged from items that have upgrade components within them by with a professional or higher salvage kit.

The amount of damage an armored item upgrader mod or weapon is able to absorb is dependent on the extent of its upgrades. The damage absorption of an item of armor will increase as it is upgraded to its maximum upgrade level. But, it's important to be aware that this upgrade will increase its weight, causing it to be heavier than it was before.

There are several different types of armor upgrades that are available in the game. Each one has a distinct effect. For instance, some upgrades give the armor a certain amount of additional health points, while others will make it stronger and lighter. The name of the upgrade will indicate the kind of upgrade that an item will receive, as shown below.

A few upgrades are magic or a mix of magic and technology, which is identified by the "Magic" or "Hybrid" entry in the table below. Some upgrades also require a charge to use, and are indicated by an "Charges" entry in the table below. These charges are continuously updated or never expire depending on the upgrade.

The cheapest method of upgrading armor is with Iron Ore, which can be obtained by exploring the environment and looting small loot chests. Titanium is more expensive, however, it is available from smelters located in Orgrimmar and Stormwind City. Certain upgrades, such as the Reforge or the Hot Potato Books can only be applied to high-level armor pieces. These upgrades can give a significant improvements in stats and are worth the investment.

A piece of armor upgraded to the highest upgrade level will greatly boost its defense however, the user must be aware that putting more weight on it will dramatically reduce its speed and agility. Therefore, it is typically not recommended to upgrade the majority of armor pieces beyond +9, since the added defense is usually not worth the weight and power costs of the upgrades needed.

Weapons

Weapon upgrades give players to enhance certain aspects of their weapon. For instance an upgrade could enhance the damage caused by shotgun shells or the accuracy of the rifle sniper. Certain firearms also have enhancements that enhance their intrinsic characteristics. Frictionless materials (improves stability, reduces the risk of 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 a whetblade. It's one of three Power Dices and a different amount Minerals and Erons. These can be obtained by doing side quests, or killing a certain number of monsters or bosses, or through the Weapon Upgrade NPC in Central Flarine.

Upgrading a Weapon, Equipment Set piece, or Whetblade requires visiting the NPC [Armor] Boboko in Central Flarine and paying her an upgrade price of a set number of Bars. The higher the upgrade level, the higher the number of bars you will need to complete the upgrade. If you have multiple upgrade materials, the cost of upgrading will be lower.

In Chapter 2: Season 5 the way you upgrade weapon and equipment sets has changed. Before you could go to an Upgrade Bench and pay a certain amount of Bars to upgrade your weapon or equipment to an increased level of rarity. You could do this until the weapon or equipment reached its maximum upgrade level, at which point the upgrades would reset.

You can still do this but the process is high on RNG and low on agency. It is better to purchase gear that has minimal upgrade levels and high base scores and stat distributions. These items have a higher chance of giving you the highest level of benefits and blessings.

To level up faster, most players will be more inclined to upgrade their weapons. Additionally players, they should also consider upgrading the weapons favored by their squadmates to increase their power as well. Shepard, for example, should upgrade the M92F to unlock the Beretta M93R. This will increase the effectiveness of the weapon when used with biotic specialists such as Grunt and Tali.

Jewels

Jewels are utilized in the armor's sockets and weapons, increasing the stats of a weapon and providing additional effects. They can be created using a process called jewelry crafting, where you combine a gemstone and several ingredients at a table for jewelry. The higher the tier of the gemstone is, the greater its secondary effect. These reagents can be obtained from Treasure Goblins and World Bosses in the world, or by salvaging Legendary Gear. You can also buy them from The Jeweler for gold and a Scattered Prism.

The Jeweler can enhance the quality of a gem in stages ranging from Crude up to Royal. Depending on the tier of the gem it can provide different stat boosts when inserted into gear, weapons and jewelry.

The Jeweler can craft the highest levels of gems with the exception of rare and legendary ones that you must be at a certain level to get. In contrast to other upgrade items components, jewels can be swapped out with another identical jewel without damaging it. However you can only swap out one jewel in a piece of equipment only once.

The use of more jewels in a move will make it more smooth, and is often done for aesthetic reasons. In addition to improving performance, the jewels also create a surface that is harder than steel, so the repeated friction from pivots doesn't cause damage as easily.

In addition to the above upgrades players can also acquire glyphs for their shields and weapons from a Glyphmaster. These glyphs give a slight boost in power and can be exchanged, however they're not guaranteed to be available 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 like traits or aegis cannot be exchanged, and can only be found with an Upgrade extractor or salvaging with Black Lion Salvage Kit or Ascended Salvage tool.

Trinkets

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

The first trinket that a player can unlock is the cloak. It grants a small but beneficial boost in movement speed and evasion. The player will then be able to acquire necklaces, amulets, and rings in a similar manner as they did with weapons and armor. Each piece of equipment has a slot for an upgrade that can be either universal or jewel. Universal upgrades offer smaller bonuses and can be placed in any type of equipment, while jewelry cannot be changed or upgraded, and only works with specific types of trinkets.

These trinkets also grant additional buffs and skills that remain active even when the character is not fighting. This lets the hero perform better when they are not active and may also help fill in the void of a strong team or any talent tree slots that normally are filled with the hero's best stats.

A good guideline for trinket upgrades is to prioritize BiS (Best-in-Slot) items that you will not replace soon, followed by items with desirable stats but less important than the iLevel of the item upgrader being upgraded. This is especially true if an item upgrader kit has multiple stats that you'd like to upgrade as it's usually better to upgrade a single crucial stat than two subpar ones.

Jungle players often upgrade their yellow trinkets to a red one prior to the beginning of the game. Mid and top players, on the other hand will pick either a pink or green ward, depending on the matchup. These choices can impact a hero's ability to control the map.

Aside from the items listed above, players may also find a number of other items in the form of trophies and awards. These can be obtained by completing certain milestones within the story. For example, completing a chapter’s main quest or defeating a boss. They can be viewed by selecting the relevant achievement from the reward tab of the hero menu.