Path of Exile Item Upgrades

Upgrades to items are a frequent 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 applied to weapons and armor items. They improve the stats of the item upgrader mod they're attached to. Upgrades to armor Item Upgrader Kit can be found in the world of the game and are available from Blacksmiths on bonfires. They can also be salvaged using a professional or higher salvage kit to recover upgrade components from other items.

The amount of damage that an armored item upgrader kit or weapon is able to absorb is dependent on the level of its upgrades. The ability to absorb damage of an armor piece will increase as it is upgraded to the highest upgrade level. It's important to remember that this will increase the weight of the armor, so it should be heavier.

There are a few different types of armor upgrades that are available in the game and they all have different effects. Some upgrades give armor an additional number of health points, while others make it more powerful and lighter. The kind of armor upgrade an Item Upgrader Kit will receive is indicated by the name of the upgrade as shown in the table below.

Certain upgrades require magic or a combination of technology and magic, which is indicated by the "Magic" and "Hybrids" entries in the table. Certain upgrades also require fees in order to be used. These are identified as "Charges" entries in the table. These charges are either 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 chests. Titanium is more expensive, however it is obtainable from smelters located in Orgrimmar and Stormwind City. Certain upgrades, such as the Reforge and the Hot Potato Books, can only be applied to higher level armor pieces. These upgrades can give significant boost to stats and are a worthwhile investment, especially for 1-handed weapons.

The player should be aware, however, that upgrading a piece up to the 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 the majority of armor pieces that are higher than +9 because the increase in defense is typically not worth the additional weight and power costs of the upgrades needed.

Weapons

Weapon upgrades let players increase the effectiveness of specific aspects of the weapon. For instance, an upgrade may improve the damage that is caused by a shotgun's shells or the accuracy of a rifle sniper. Certain firearms have enhancements to enhance their intrinsic qualities. Frictionless materials (improves stability, minimizes weapon overheating) and Kinetic coils (increases the projectile's velocity for greater damage) are two examples.

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

To upgrade the weapon, equipment set piece, or Whetblade, you must visit the NPC [Armor] Boboko located in Central Flarine, and pay her an upgrade fee of a certain amount of Bars. The more bars required to complete an upgrade the higher the level. The cost of upgrading will be lower if have more than one of the relevant upgrade materials.

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 equipment or weapon to a higher quality. You could continue to do this until you reach a max upgrade level of the equipment or weapon, after which upgrades would reset.

This is still possible, but it depends heavily on RNG. You're better off buying gear that has minimal upgrade levels, but high base scores and stat distributions. These will have a better chance of bringing you the highest tier benefits and blessings.

To improve their skills faster, most players will prioritise upgrading their weapons. Additionally players, they should also consider upgrading the weapons favored by their teammates to increase their power and effective. Shepard for instance, should upgrade item the M92F to unlock the Beretta M93R. This will make the weapon more effective when used by biotic specialists like Grunt and Tali.

Jewels

Jewels can be used to increase the effectiveness of a skill or provide additional effects in weapons and armor. Jewelry crafting is the process of making them, where you combine gemstones with specific reagents on a jewelry table. The higher the level of the gemstone, the better the secondary effect. These reagents can be obtained around the world from Treasure Goblins, World Bosses and occasionally by salvaging Legendary gear. You can also purchase them from The Jeweler in exchange for Scattered Prisms and gold.

The quality of a diamond can be improved at the Jeweler, item upgrader kit with stages that range from Crude to Royal. Depending on the tier of the jewel it can provide different stat boosts when inserted into gear, weapons and jewelry.

The Jeweler can craft all kinds of gems, with the exception of rare and legendary ones which you must attain a certain level to get. Jewels can be substituted with another jewel without destroying the original. You can only replace the gem once in an item level upgrade of equipment.

Using more jewels in a move can make it feel more comfortable, and is often performed for aesthetic reasons. In addition to improving performance, the jewels also create a surface that is harder than metal, so repeated friction with pivots doesn't cause damage as easily.

In addition to the above-mentioned upgrades additionally, players can obtain glyphs for their shields and weapons from a Glyphmaster. They offer a small benefit and are able to be swapped easily however they aren't guaranteed to drop as loot. Glyphs are upgradeable, as jewelry, by visiting the Jeweler for gold, and also a Scattered Crystal. Glyphs may also be removed and returned to the inventory. Other upgrade components, like traits and aegis, aren't swappable and can only be recovered using an Upgrade Extractor or salvaging them using a Black Lion Salvage Kit or Ascended Salvage Tool.

Trinkets

Trinkets are pieces of equipment that provide a wide range of small but useful benefits to your hero. You can find them in the start-up area as loot or as personal story rewards. They can also be obtained from vendors and by the completion of road interactions. They can also be made by jewelers and later found or purchased from the Trading Post.

The first trinket a player unlocks will be the cloak, which grants an unimportant but beneficial boost to movement speed and evasion. Then, they can get amulets, rings, and necklaces in the same way to how a player can acquire armor and weapons. Every piece of equipment has an upgrade slot that can be either universal or jewel. Universal upgrades are smaller and can be utilized on any equipment. Jewels cannot be upgraded or replaced, and can only be used with certain trinkets.

These trinkets grant additional buffs and abilities that are active when the hero isn't fighting. This enables the hero to be more effective when not active and also helps fill in the void of a solid team or any slots in the talent tree which would normally be filled with the hero's best statistics.

A good general rule of thumb for trinket upgrades is to prioritize BiS (Best-in-Slot) items that you won't be replacing in the near future, then any items with desirable stats, but less important than the iLevel of the item to be upgraded. This is especially true if an item has multiple stats that you wish to upgrade, as it's usually better to upgrade just one important stat than two sub-optimal ones.

Jungle players will often upgrade their yellow trinket to a red one at the start of the game. Top and mid players however, will choose either a pink or green ward, depending on the matchup. These choices can affect a hero's ability to control the map.

In addition to the items mentioned above, players will also find other trinkets in the form of trophies and rewards throughout the game. They can be earned by completing certain milestones within the story, such as finishing a chapter's main quest or killing a particular boss. You can view them by selecting the achievement in the reward section of the hero's menu.