Guide To Item Upgrades: The Intermediate Guide To Item Upgrades

Path of Exile Item Upgrade Upgrades

Item upgrades are a common and essential way to boost the performance of numerous items in Path of Exile. They can cause additional damage, AD or even affixes.

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

Armor

Armor upgrades are a type of upgrade that can be used on armor and weapon items. They improve the effectiveness of the Best item upgrade they are connected to. Armor upgrades are found in the game's world and can be purchased from Blacksmiths at any bonfire. They can also be salvaged using a professional or higher salvage kit to retrieve upgrade components from items.

The amount of damage that an armored piece or weapon is able to absorb is dependent on the level of its upgrades. The absorption of damage by a piece armor will increase when it's upgraded to the highest upgrade level. It is important to keep in mind that this will increase the weight of the armor, so it must be heavier.

There are many different kinds of armor upgrades available in the game. Each one has a distinct impact. For instance, certain upgrades will give the armor a certain number of health points while others make it stronger and lighter. The name of the upgrade will indicate the kind of upgrade the item can be given, as illustrated below.

A few of the upgrades are also magical or a combination of technology and magic which is identified by the "Magic" or "Hybrid" entry in the table below. Additionally, some upgrades require a fee to use, and are shown by the "Charges" entry in the table below. These charges are updated daily or never expire depending on the upgrade.

Iron Ore is the cheapest option to upgrade your armor. It can be found by exploring and looting small treasure chests. Titanium is more expensive, but it can be obtained 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 give a significant improvements in stats and are worth the investment.

Upgrading a piece of armor to its maximum upgrade level will dramatically increase its defense capabilities but the wearer must be aware that putting on weight will drastically reduce its speed and agility. For this reason, it is not recommended to upgrade the majority of armor pieces that are higher than +9 since the added defense is typically not worth the extra weight and power cost of the upgrades needed.

Weapons

Weapon upgrades let players increase the effectiveness of certain aspects of an weapon. Upgrades can improve the accuracy of a rifle or the damage that shotgun shells cause. Some weapons also have special upgrades that improve their innate capabilities. They include Frictionless Materials (improves stability and reduces the risk of overheating of the weapon) 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 for applying. They can be obtained by finishing side quests, killing a certain number of monsters or bosses, or through the Weapon Upgrade NPC located 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 price of a certain number of Bars. The more bars you need to complete an upgrade the more advanced the level. If you have multiple upgrade materials The cost of upgrading will be lower.

In Chapter 2: Season 5, the method of upgrading your equipment and weapon sets has changed a bit. Previously, you could seek out an Upgrade Bench and pay a set amount of Bars to upgrade your weapon or equipment to an increased rarity. You could do this until the weapon or equipment reached its maximum upgrade level at which point the upgrades would be reset.

You can still do this, but the process is based on RNG and low on agency. It is better to purchase gear that has minimal upgrade levels, but high base scores and stat distributions. These will be able to give you the most prestigious perks and blessings.

To level up faster, many players prioritise upgrading their weapons. In addition to these, players should consider upgrading the weapons that are most popular with their squadmates to make them more powerful and effective. For instance, Shepard should consider upgrading the M92F to unlock the Beretta M93R to make it more useful when accompanied by biotech specialists such as Grunt and Tali.

Jewels

Jewels can be used to boost the effectiveness of a skill or provide additional effects in armor and weapons. They can be created using the process of jewelry crafting, in which you combine a gem with a number of specific reagents at a jewelry table. The higher the level of the gemstone, the better its secondary effect. These reagents can be gotten from Treasure Goblins and World Bosses all over the world, or through collecting Legendary Gear. You can also purchase them from The Jeweler for gold and a Scattered Prism.

The quality of a gem can be improved by the Jeweler, in stages that range from Crude to Royal. The stat boosts can vary depending on the tier the jewel is at when it's inserted into jewelry, weapons or other gear.

The Jeweler is able to create the highest levels of gems except for the rare and legendary ones, which require a certain level to get. Unlike other upgrade components, jewels are able to be swapped by a different identical jewel without destroying the original one. However you can only swap out the jewels in an equipment piece only once.

It is normal to use more jewels to enhance the appearance of. In addition to enhancing performance, the jewels create an area that is stronger than steel, so the repeated friction with pivots doesn't damage them as easily.

In addition to the upgrades mentioned above players can also acquire glyphs for their weapons and shields from a Glyphmaster. These provide a small bonus and are able to be swapped easily however they aren't guaranteed to drop as loot. Glyphs can be upgraded like jewelry, at the Jeweler for gold and Scattered Crystal. Glyphs can also be removed and returned to the inventory. Other upgrade components like traits or aegis cannot be swapped, and can only be found through an upgrade extractor, or salvaging with the Black Lion Salvage Kit, or Ascended Salvage.

Trinkets

Trinkets are pieces of equipment that provide many small but useful advantages to your hero. You can find them in the starter area as loot or personal story rewards. They are also available from vendors and by the completion of road interactions. They can be purchased from the Trading Post, or crafted by jewelers.

The first trinkets a player unlocks will be the cloak. It grants an unimportant but beneficial boost to movement speed and evasion. The player will then be able to acquire rings, amulets and necklaces in a similar fashion to how they acquired weapons and armor. Every piece of equipment has a slot for an upgrade which can be universal or jewel. Universal upgrades are smaller and can be utilized on any equipment. Jewels are not upgradeable or replaced, and can only be used with certain trinkets.

These trinkets can also grant buffs and skills that remain active even when the character is not in combat. This allows the hero to be more effective when not active and may also help fill in the void of a strong team or the absence of any talent tree slots which would normally be filled with the hero's ideal stats.

As a rule trinket upgrades should be a priority BiS (Best item upgrade in Slot) items that you aren't likely to replace in the near future. Next, any items with desirable statistics that are less significant than the iLevel for the item upgrader that is to be upgraded. This is especially true if an item has multiple stats that you'd like to upgrade as it's usually more beneficial to upgrade one important stat rather than two sub-optimal ones.

Jungle players will often upgrade their yellow trinkets to a red one prior to the start of the game. Top and mid players on the other hand will pick a green or a pink ward, based on the matchup. These choices can impact the hero's ability to manage the map.

In addition to the items mentioned above, players will discover other trinkets in form trophies and rewards throughout the game. These can be earned through completing certain milestones within the story. For instance, finishing the main quest for a chapter or beating a boss. You can view them by clicking on the achievement in the reward section of the hero's menu.