Guide To Item Upgrades: The Intermediate Guide On Item Upgrades

Path of Exile Item Upgrades

Item upgrades are a common and crucial method to enhance the performance of a variety of items in Path of Exile. They can be a great source of extra damage or more AD or even more attaches.

Often times however upgraded Common and Magic gear is often surpassed by Rare-grade gear due to their high requirements.

Armor

Armor upgrades can be applied to both armor and weapon items. They increase the performance of the item upgrade they are connected to. Armor upgrades are available in the world of the game and can be purchased from Blacksmiths at bonfires. Alternately, they can be salvaged from items with upgrade components within them by using a specialist or more powerful salvage kit.

The amount of damage an armored piece or weapon can absorb depends on the extent of its upgrades. The ability to absorb damage of an item of armor will increase as it is upgraded to its maximum upgrade level. It is important to keep in mind that this will increase the weight of the armor, which means it must be heavier.

There are several different types of armor upgrades that are available in the game. Each one has a distinct impact. Some upgrades give armor an additional amount of health points while others make it more powerful and lighter. The kind of armor upgrade an item upgrade will receive will be identified by the name of the upgrade as illustrated in the table below.

Certain upgrades require magic or a hybrid technology and magic, which is indicated by the "Magic" and "Hybrids" entries in the table. Additionally, some upgrades require charges to use, which is shown by a "Charges" entry in the table below. The charges for these upgrades are updated daily or never expire, according to the upgrade.

Iron Ore is the cheapest way to improve your armor. You can find it by exploring and looting small chests. Titanium is more expensive but it can be obtained from the smelters in Orgrimmar and Stormwind City. Certain upgrades, like the Reforge and the Hot Potato Books, can only be applied to higher level armor pieces. These upgrades can provide a significant improvements in performance and are worth the investment, particularly for one-handed weapons.

The process of upgrading an armor piece to max upgrade level will dramatically increase its defense values, but the player should be aware that putting more weight on it can drastically decrease its speed and agility. Therefore, it is not recommended to upgrade most armor pieces that are higher than +9 since the defensive boost gained is usually not worth the weight and power costs of the upgrades needed.

Weapons

Weapon upgrades allow players to increase the effectiveness of certain aspects of the weapon. Upgrades can improve the accuracy of a rifle or the damage caused by shotgun shells. Certain firearms have upgrades to improve their inherent capabilities. Frictionless materials (improves stability, reduces the risk of weapon overheating), and Kinetic coils (increases the projectile's velocity for greater damage) are two examples.

Most weapon upgrades require one of three Power Dices, a different amount of Minerals and Erons, and a whetblade. They can be obtained by completing side quests or by killing a certain amount of bosses and monsters.

Upgrading a Weapon, Equipment Set piece or Whetblade requires visiting the NPC [Armor] Boboko in Central Flarine and paying her an upgrade price that is based on a specific number of Bars. The higher the upgrade level, the more bars are required to complete it. The cost of upgrades will be lower if have more than one of the upgrade materials.

In Chapter 2: Season 5, the method of upgrading your equipment and weapon sets was a bit different. Prior to Chapter 2: Season 5 you could upgrade your weapon or equipment by paying a certain number of Bars. 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 high on RNG and low on agency. Instead, you're better off visiting stores and buying equipment that has low upgrade levels but good base scores and stat distributions. These items have a higher chance of granting you the most prestigious tier of advantages and benefits.

Most players will want to prioritize upgrades to the weapons they use most frequently to help them level up quicker. Players should also upgrade the weapons that their teammates use to boost their strength. Shepard, for example should upgrade his M92F in order to unlock the Beretta M93R. This will increase the effectiveness of the weapon when accompanied with biotic specialists like Grunt and Tali.

Jewels

Jewels can be used to increase a stat or provide secondary effects in armor and weapons. Jewelry crafting is the process of making them, where you combine a gemstone with a number specific reagents in a jewelry table. The higher the quality of the gem, the greater the secondary effect. These reagents are available from Treasure Goblins and World Bosses in the world, or by collecting 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 by the Jeweler, with stages that range from Crude to Royal. The stat boosts will vary according to the tier that the jewel is at when it's inserted into jewelry, weapons or gear.

All tiers of jewels can be crafted at the Jeweler, with the exception of the rare and legendary jewels which require you to be at a high enough level to qualify for these. Unlike other upgrade components, jewels are able to be swapped with a jewel of the same kind without destroying it. You are able to replace the jewel once in an item of equipment.

It is common to use more jewels for aesthetic reasons. The jewels can also enhance performance and make an outer layer that is more durable than metal so that repeated friction caused by pivots does not cause damage to the movement.

A Glyphmaster can provide glyphs to enhance the look of your shields and weapons. These glyphs offer a small boost and can be freely traded, but they're not guaranteed to show up as loot. Glyphs can be upgraded, like jewelry, at the Jeweler for gold and a Scattered Crystal. Glyphs may also be removed and returned to the inventory. Other upgrade components, such as aegis and traits, cannot be swapped out, and can only be retrieved using an Upgrade Extractor, or by salvaging them using the Black Lion Salvage Kit or an Ascended Salvage Tool.

Trinkets

Trinkets are small pieces of equipment that bestow a wide range of small, but beneficial advantages to your hero. They can be acquired starting in the beginning areas as loot or personal story rewards from vendors, or by completing road interactions. They can also 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 speed of movement and the ability to evade. The player can then acquire necklaces, rings, and amulets in a similar manner to how they acquired weapons and armor. Each piece of equipment has one upgrade slot that can accommodate either a universal or jewel upgrade. Universal upgrades provide smaller bonuses and can be used in any type of equipment while jewelry cannot be changed or upgraded, and is only compatible with certain types of trinkets.

These trinkets provide additional buffs and abilities that are active even when the hero isn't in combat. This allows the hero to be more efficient while inactive. It can also make up for the absence of good slot in the talent tree or team which would normally be filled by the hero's optimal stats.

A good general rule of thumb for trinket upgrades is to prioritize BiS (Best item upgrade-in-Slot) items that you will not replace soon, followed by any items with desirable stats that are less important than the iLevel of the item to be upgraded. This is especially true if an item has multiple stats you wish to upgrade, as it's often more beneficial to upgrade one crucial stat than two subpar ones.

At the beginning of the game junglers will usually want to upgrade their yellow trinket into a red one, while top and middle players typically choose either a pink or green ward (depending on the game's matchup). These choices will have a major impact on the hero's abilities to control maps.

In addition to the items listed above, players will find other trinkets in the form of trophies and rewards throughout the game. These can be obtained through completing certain milestones within the story. For instance, completing the main quest of a chapter or defeating a boss. These can be viewed by selecting the appropriate achievement in the reward tab of the hero menu.