Guide To Item Upgrades: The Intermediate Guide For Item Upgrades

Path of Exile Item Upgrades

Item upgrades are a common and important way to improve the performance of many items in Path of Exile. They can also provide additional damage, AD or even affixes.

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

Armor

Armor upgrades are a type of upgrade that can be used on armor and weapon items. They boost the performance of the item upgrade they are attached to. Upgrades to armor can be found in the world of games and can be purchased from Blacksmiths at bonfires. Alternately, they can be salvaged from items with upgrade components within them by with a professional or higher salvage kit.

The level of an armor's or weapon's upgrade determines the amount of damage it can take on. 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 types of armor upgrades available in the game and they all have different effects. For example, some upgrades will give the armor a certain number of additional health points, while others will make it stronger and lighter. The name of the upgrade will indicate the type of upgrade that an item will be given, as illustrated below.

Some of the upgrades also require magic or a combination of technology and magic, as identified by the "Magic" and "Hybrids" entries in the table. Some upgrades also require a fee to use, which is identified by the "Charges" entry in the table below. The charges associated with these upgrades change daily or never expire, according to the upgrade.

The cheapest method to upgrade armor is to use Iron Ore, which can be gathered by exploring the environment and looting small loot chests. Titanium is more expensive, however, it is available through smelters 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 improvements in performance and are worth the cost, especially for single-handed weapons.

The process of upgrading an armor piece to the highest upgrade level will dramatically increase its defense capabilities but the wearer must be aware that increasing its weight will dramatically reduce its agility and speed. It is not recommended to upgrade armor beyond +9. The defensive boost gained usually isn't worth the weight and power cost of the upgrades.

Weapons

Weapon upgrades allow players to enhance certain aspects of their weapon. Upgrades can boost the accuracy of a rifle or the damage that shotgun shells cause. Certain weapons also come with enhancements that enhance their intrinsic capabilities. They include Frictionless Materials (improves stability and reduces the risk of weapon overheating) and Kinetic Coils (increases the speed of projectiles to cause more damage).

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

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 that is a certain amount of Bars. The higher the upgrade level, the more bars are required to complete it. The cost of upgrades will be less if you have more than one of the upgrade materials.

In Chapter 2: Season 5, the ways to upgrade your weapon and equipment sets was a bit different. In the past you could go to an Upgrade Bench and pay for a specific number of Bars to upgrade your weapon or equipment to a higher rarity. You could do this until the weapon or equipment reached its maximum upgrade level at which point the upgrades would reset.

This is still possible, but it depends heavily on RNG. Instead, you're better off visiting stores and buying equipment with low upgrade levels, but excellent base scores and stat distributions. These will have a better chance of bringing you the most prestigious bonuses and blessings.

Most players will want to prioritize weapon upgrades for the weapons they are most likely to use to make sure they are able to level up faster. Additionally, players should consider upgrading the weapons they use with their teammates to increase their power 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 with biotic specialists like Grunt and Tali.

Jewels

Jewels can be used to improve the effectiveness of a skill or provide additional effects on weapons and armor. Jewelry crafting is a method of making them, in which you combine gemstones with specific reagents on a jewelry table. The higher the level of the gemstone is, the greater its secondary effect. These reagents are available from Treasure Goblins and World Bosses around the world, or by collecting Legendary Gear. You can also buy them from The Jeweler in exchange for gold and Scattered Prisms.

The quality of a diamond can be improved at the Jeweler, in stages that vary from Crude to Royal. Based on the tier of the gem it can provide different stat boost when slotted into weapons, gear and jewelry.

The Jeweler can craft all tiers of gems, except for the rare and legendary ones, which require certain levels to gain. Like other upgrade components jewels are able to be swapped by a different jewel of the same type without destroying it. You can only replace the gem once in an item of equipment.

Utilizing more jewels in the movement will make it feel smoother and is usually performed to enhance the aesthetics of the movement. In addition to enhancing performance, the jewels create a surface that is harder than metal, so repeated friction with pivots doesn't cause damage as easily.

A Glyphmaster can provide glyphs to enhance the appearance of your weapons and shields. These glyphs give a slight boost and can be exchanged, however they are not guaranteed to appear as loot. Glyphs are upgradeable, as jewelry, by visiting the Jeweler for gold and a scattered Crystal. Glyphs are also removed from the inventory, and they are 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 using a Black Lion Salvage Kit, or Ascended Salvage.

Trinkets

Trinkets are items of equipment that offer a wide range of small, but beneficial benefits to your hero. They are available in the starter area as loot or as personal story rewards. They can also be obtained through vendors and after completing road interaction. They can also be crafted by jewelers and later found or purchased from the Trading Post.

The first trinket a player is able to unlock is the cloak. It grants a small, but valuable boost to speed of movement and the ability to escape. The player can then acquire necklaces, amulets, and rings in a similar manner to how they acquired weapons and armor. Each piece of gear comes with one upgrade slot that can accept either a universal or a jewel upgrade. Universal upgrades are smaller and are able to be used on any piece of equipment. Jewels cannot be upgraded or replaced and only work with certain trinkets.

These trinkets provide additional buffs and abilities that are active when the hero isn't fighting. This lets the hero be more effective when not active and also helps to compensate for the absence of a strong team or the absence of any slots from the talent tree that would normally be filled with hero's ideal statistics.

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

Jungle players will often upgrade their yellow trinkets to a red trinket at the beginning of the game. Top and mid players however will pick either a pink or green ward, depending on the game's matchup. These choices will have a significant impact on the hero's map control abilities.

In addition to the items listed above, players will find other trinkets in the form trophies and rewards throughout the game. These can be earned by completing certain milestones in the story, like finishing a chapter's main quest or killing a certain boss. These achievements can be seen by selecting the appropriate achievement in the reward tab of the hero menu.