Path of Exile item upgrade Upgrades

Item upgrades are a common and essential way to boost the performance of a variety of items in Path of Exile. They can be a great source of additional damage and more AD or even more attaches.

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

Armor

Armor upgrades can be applied to both weapon and armor items. They increase the effectiveness of the Item upgrade they're attached 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 by using an expert or higher salvage kit to recover upgrade components from items.

The amount of damage an armored piece or weapon can absorb depends on the extent of its upgrades. A piece of armor upgraded to the highest upgrade level will boost the damage it absorbs. But, it's important to note that this will also raise its weight, requiring it to be heavier than it was before.

There are several different types of armor upgrades available in the game. Each has a different impact. For example, some upgrades will grant the armor a certain amount of additional health points, while others make it lighter and stronger. The kind of armor upgrade item an item will receive will be indicated by the name of the upgrade, as shown in the table below.

A few upgrades also feature magical or a combination of technology and magic which is identified by an "Magic" or "Hybrid" entry in the table below. Some upgrades also require charges to use. These are indicated as "Charges" entries in the table. These charges are either constantly updated or never expire depending on the upgrade.

The cheapest method to upgrade armor is with Iron Ore, which can be obtained through exploring the surroundings and looting minor loot chests. Titanium is more expensive however it is obtainable from the smelters in Orgrimmar and Stormwind City. Certain upgrades, like the Reforge or the Hot Potato Books can only be used on armor pieces of the highest level. These upgrades can provide a significant improvement in stats and are a worthwhile cost, especially for single-handed weapons.

A piece of armor upgraded to max upgrade level will dramatically increase its defense values however, the user must be aware that putting more weight on it will drastically reduce its speed and agility. It is not recommended to upgrade armor past +9. The defensive boost gained usually isn't worth the weight and power cost of the upgrades.

Weapons

Weapon upgrades let players increase the effectiveness of certain aspects of the weapon. Upgrades can increase the accuracy of a rifle or the damage that shotgun shells do. Some weapons have special upgrades to improve their inherent characteristics. Frictionless materials (improves stability, minimizes the risk of overheating), and Kinetic coils (increases the projectile's velocity for greater damage) are two examples.

The majority of upgrades to weapons require a whetblade. It's one of three Power Dices and a different amount of Minerals and Erons. 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.

The process of upgrading a weapon, equipment Set piece or Whetblade requires visiting the NPC [Armor] Boboko in Central Flarine and paying her an upgrade fee of a certain 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 less if you have more than one of the upgrade materials.

In Chapter 2: Season 5 the way you upgrade weapon and equipment sets has changed. Before, you could seek out an Upgrade Bench and pay a set number of Bars to upgrade your weapon or equipment to a higher level of rarity. You could do this until you reach a maximum upgrade level for the equipment or weapon, following which the upgrades would reset.

You can still do this however, the process is high on RNG and low on agency. You're better off buying gear with low upgrade levels and high base scores and stat distributions. These will have a better chance of bringing you the most prestigious bonuses and blessings.

To level up quicker, players usually be more inclined to upgrade their weapons. Players should also upgrade the weapons that their teammates use to make them stronger. Shepard for instance, should upgrade the M92F so that he can unlock the Beretta M93R. This will make the weapon more useful when used in conjunction by biotic specialists like Grunt and Tali.

Jewels

Jewels can be used to boost a stat or provide secondary effects in weapons and armor. Jewelry crafting is a method of making them, where you combine a gemstone with a number specific reagents on a jewelry table. The higher the quality of the gemstone, the better the secondary effect. These reagents can be found around the world through Treasure Goblins, World Bosses and, sometimes, by salvaging Legendary gear. You can also buy them from The Jeweler in exchange for Scattered Prisms and gold.

The Jeweler can boost the quality of a gem in stages ranging from Crude up to Royal. Depending on the tier of the jewel it can provide different stat boost when slotted into weapons, gear and jewelry.

The Jeweler can craft the highest levels of gems except for the rare and legendary ones that you must attain an appropriate level to obtain. Like other upgrade components jewels can be swapped with another jewel of the same type without destroying the original one. However it is only possible to replace a jewel in an equipment piece only once.

Using more jewels in a move will make it feel smoother and is usually used for aesthetic reasons. In addition to improving performance, the diamonds create an area that is stronger 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. They offer a small benefit and can be swapped freely, but are not guaranteed to drop as loot. Glyphs can be upgraded 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, such as traits and aegis cannot be swapped out, and can only be retrieved using an Upgrade Extractor, or by salvaging them using a Black Lion Salvage Kit or Ascended Salvage Tool.

Trinkets

Trinkets are items of equipment that bestow a wide range of small but useful advantages to your hero. They are available in the start-up area as loot or personal story rewards. They are also available through vendors and after completing road interaction. They can also be crafted by jewelers, and found or purchased on the Trading Post.

The first trinkets a player can unlock is the cloak, which grants a small but useful bonus in speed of movement and evasion. After that, they can acquire rings, amulets, and necklaces in a similar manner to the way a player can acquire weapons and armor. Each piece of equipment has an upgrade slot which can be universal or jewel. Universal upgrades provide smaller bonuses and can be used in any type of equipment while jewelry cannot be changed or upgraded and only works with certain kinds of trinkets.

These trinkets also provide additional buffs and skills that remain active whenever the hero is not fighting. This enables the hero to perform better when they are not active and also helps make up for a lack of a solid team or the absence of any slots in the talent tree which would normally be filled with hero's ideal stats.

A good rule of thumb for trinket upgrades is to prioritize BiS (Best item upgrade-in-Slot) items that you aren't planning to replace in the near future, then any items with desirable stats but less important than the iLevel of the item to be upgraded. This is particularly true if an item upgrade has multiple stats that you'd like to upgrade, since it's generally better to upgrade a single important stat than two sub-optimal ones.

At the beginning of the game players in the jungle are likely to upgrade their trinket into a red one in the middle and top players usually choose the pink or green ward (depending on the game's matchup). These choices will have an impact on a hero's ability to control the map.

Apart from the items mentioned above, players may also find other trinkets in the game in the form of trophies and awards. They can be earned by completing certain milestones within the story, such as finishing a chapter's main quest or destroying a boss. These can be viewed by selecting the relevant achievement from the reward tab of the hero menu.