Path of Exile Item Upgrades

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

In most cases, however upgraded Common and Magic gear is beaten out by Rare-grade gear because of their requirements.

Armor

Armor upgrades are a type of upgrade that can be used on weapons and armor items. They improve the stats of the item they're connected to. Armor upgrades are found in the world of the game and can be purchased from Blacksmiths at any bonfire. They can also be salvaged using a specialist or higher salvage kit to recover upgrade components from other items.

The level of an armor's or weapon's upgrade determines the amount of damage it will absorb. The absorption of damage by an armor piece will increase as it is upgraded to the highest upgrade level. It is important to note that this will increase the weight of the armor, therefore it must be heavier.

There are many different kinds of armor upgrade available in the game. Each one has a distinct impact. Some upgrades give armor a greater amount of health points while others make it stronger and lighter. The type of armor upgrade that an Item Upgrade can get will be indicated by the name of the upgrade items, as indicated in the table below.

Some of the upgrades also require magic or a combination of technology and magic, as shown by the "Magic" and "Hybrids" entries in the table below. Certain upgrades require charges in order to be used. They are referred to as "Charges" entries in the table. These charges are either constantly updated or never expire depending on the upgrade.

The cheapest way to upgrade armor is with Iron Ore, which can be obtained by exploring the area and looting minor loot chests. Titanium is more expensive however, it is available at the smelters of 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 significant improvements in stats and are worth the investment, especially for 1-handed weapons.

The player should be aware that upgrading a piece up to the max upgrade level will increase its defense value. However, it can also reduce the speed and agility of the piece. For this reason, it is generally not recommended to upgrade the majority of armor pieces that are higher than +9 since the defensive boost gained is usually not worth the additional weight and power cost of the improvements required.

Weapons

Weapon upgrades allow players to improve the effectiveness of certain aspects of a weapon. For example an upgrade could increase the damage dealt by shotgun shells or the accuracy of a sniper rifle. Certain firearms have enhancements to enhance their intrinsic characteristics. They include Frictionless Materials (improves stability and minimizes overheating of the weapon) and Kinetic Coils (increases the velocity of projectiles for greater damage).

The majority of weapon upgrades require a whetblade. It's one of three Power Dices and a different amount Minerals and Erons. These can be gained by completing Side Quests or killing a certain amount of monsters and bosses.

To upgrade a weapon, equipment set piece, or Whetblade You must go to the NPC [Armor] Boboko located in Central Flarine, and pay her an upgrade fee of a specific number of Bars. The higher the upgrade level, the higher the number of bars required to complete it. The cost of the upgrades will be lower if have more than one of the relevant upgrade item materials.

In Chapter 2: Season 5 the way you upgrade weapon and equipment sets has changed. Prior to Chapter 2 Season 5 you could upgrade your weapon or equipment by paying a specific amount 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 based on RNG and low on agency. Instead, you're much better off visiting stores and buying gear with low upgrade levels but excellent base scores and stat distributions. These will be able to give you the highest tier benefits and blessings.

To improve their skills faster, most players will prioritize upgrading their weapons. 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 make the weapon more effective when accompanied with biotic specialists such as Grunt and Tali.

Jewels

Jewels can be used to improve the stats of a character or to provide additional effects on weapons and armor. Jewelry crafting is the process of making them, where you combine the gemstone with specific reagents on 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 salvaging Legendary Gear. You can also purchase them from The Jeweler for gold and a Scattered Prism.

The Jeweler can enhance the quality of gemstones in stages ranging from Crude up to Royal. The boosts to stats will differ depending on the level the jewel is in when it is inserted into weapons, jewelry, or other gear.

The Jeweler can craft all tiers of gems, except for the rare and legendary ones that you must attain an appropriate level to obtain. Like other upgrade components jewels are able to be swapped with a jewel of the same type without damaging it. However, you can only replace a jewel in an item of equipment only once.

It is normal to use more jewels for aesthetic reasons. Jewels also enhance performance and make a harder surface than metal so that repeated friction caused by pivots does not cause damage to the movement.

In addition to the upgrades mentioned above players can also obtain glyphs for their shields and weapons from a Glyphmaster. They offer a small benefit and can be swapped out at any time however they aren't guaranteed to drop as loot. Glyphs can be upgraded as jewelry, by visiting the Jeweler for gold, and also Scattered Crystal. Glyphs can also be removed and returned to the inventory. Other upgrade components like aegis or traits cannot be exchanged and can only be recovered through an upgrade extractor or salvaging using the Black Lion Salvage Kit, or Ascended Salvage tool.

Trinkets

Trinkets are pieces of equipment that bestow a wide range of small, but beneficial benefits to your hero. They can be acquired starting in the starter areas as loot, personal story rewards, from vendors, or by doing road interactions. They can also be made by jewelers, and found or purchased from the Trading Post.

The first trinket that a player will be able to unlock is the cloak. It provides a tiny but valuable boost in movement speed and the ability to evade. Then, they can acquire rings, amulets, and necklaces in a similar manner to the way a player can acquire armor and weapons. Each piece of gear comes with one upgrade slot that can accept either a universal or jewel upgrade. Universal upgrades offer smaller bonuses and can be used in any kind of equipment while jewelry cannot be changed or upgraded, and only works with specific types of trinkets.

These trinkets can also grant buffs and skills that remain active whenever the hero is not fighting. This allows the hero to be more efficient when they are not active. It can also compensate for the absence of excellent team or talent tree slots that are normally filled by a hero's top stats.

As a general rule, trinket upgrades should prioritize BiS (Best item upgrader in Slot) items that you aren't likely to replace anytime soon. Then, you should consider any items with desirable stats that aren't as significant as the iLevel for the item that is to be upgraded. This is especially true when an item has multiple stats that you'd like to upgrade, as it's often better to upgrade a single important stat than two sub-optimal ones.

Jungle players will often upgrade their yellow trinkets to a red one at the beginning of the game. Top and mid players however they will select a pink or green ward, based on the matchup. These choices will have a major impact on the hero's map control abilities.

Aside from the items listed above, players may also find other trinkets in the game in the form of trophies and awards. These can be earned by completing certain milestones within the story. For example, completing a chapter’s main quest or defeating an opponent. You can view them by selecting the achievement in the reward section of the hero's menu.