Path of Exile Item Upgrades

Item Upgrade upgrades are a common and important way to improve the performance of many items in Path of Exile. They can be a fantastic source of extra damage, more AD or even more affixes.

Often times however upgraded Common and Magic gear is outclassed by Rare-grade gear because of their higher requirements.

Armor

Armor upgrades are a form of upgrade that can be applied to weapon and armor items. They increase the effectiveness of the item level upgrade they are attached to. Armor upgrades can be found in the world of the game and can be purchased from Blacksmiths at bonfires. Additionally, they can be salvaged from items with upgrade components inside them, using an expert or greater salvage kit.

The amount of damage an armored item or weapon is able to absorb is dependent on the level of its upgrades. A piece of armor upgraded to the highest upgrade level will increase the damage it absorbs. However, it's important to be aware that this upgrade will increase its weight, which will cause it to weigh more than it was before.

There are several kinds of armor upgrades that are available in the game and each one has distinct effects. Some upgrades give armor an extra number of health points, while others make it lighter and more powerful. The name of the armor upgrade will indicate the kind of upgrade an item can be given, as illustrated below.

Certain upgrades require magic or a hybrid technology and magic, which is shown by the "Magic" and "Hybrids" entries in the table below. Certain upgrades also require fees for use. These are identified as "Charges" entries in the table. These charges are either constantly updated or never expire depending on the upgrade.

Iron Ore is the cheapest option to improve your armor. It can be found by exploring and looting small treasure chests. Titanium is more expensive but can be found at the smelters in Orgrimmar and Stormwind City. Certain upgrades, like the Reforge or the Hot Potato Books can only be applied on armor pieces of the highest level. These upgrades can give players a significant improvements in stats and are well worth the investment.

The process of upgrading an armor piece to the highest upgrade level will dramatically increase its defense values however, the user must be aware that putting more weight on it can drastically decrease its agility and speed. Therefore, it is not recommended to upgrade armor pieces beyond +9, since the defensive boost gained is typically not worth the extra weight and power costs of the upgrades needed.

Weapons

Weapon upgrades allow players to improve the effectiveness of specific aspects of a weapon. Upgrades can increase the accuracy of a rifle, or the damage caused by shotgun shells. Some weapons have special upgrades that enhance their inherent qualities. They include Frictionless Materials (improves stability and reduces the risk of overheating of the weapon) and Kinetic Coils (increases projectile acceleration for more damage).

The majority of upgrades to weapons require one of three Power Dices, a different amount of Minerals and Erons and a whetblade to apply. 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.

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

In Chapter 2: Season 5, the way you upgrade your weapon and equipment sets has changed a bit. Before you could go to an Upgrade Bench and pay a certain number of Bars to upgrade your weapon or equipment to an increased level of rarity. You could continue to do this until you reach a maximum upgrade level for your weapon or equipment, after which the upgrades would be reset.

It's possible, but it depends heavily on RNG. Instead, you're much better off going to the stores and buying equipment with low upgrade levels, but excellent base scores and stat distributions. These will then have a better chance of bringing you the best tier of perks and blessings.

To level up faster, many players prioritize upgrading their weapons. Additionally players, they should also consider upgrading the weapons they use with their squadmates to increase their power as well. For instance, Shepard should consider upgrading the M92F to unlock the Beretta M93R, which will make it more useful when accompanied by biotic specialists like Grunt and Tali.

Jewels

Jewels can be used to boost the effectiveness of a skill or provide additional effects on weapons and armor. They can be created using an process known as jewelry crafting, in which you combine a gem with various ingredients at a table for jewelry. The higher the grade of the jewel is, the greater its secondary effect. These reagents are obtained in the world through Treasure Goblins, World Bosses and, sometimes, by salvaging Legendary equipment. You can also buy them from The Jeweler for gold and a Scattered Prism.

The Jeweler can boost the quality of the gem in stages that range from Crude up to Royal. Based on the tier of the gem it can provide different stat boosts when inserted into weapons, equipment and jewelry.

All levels of jewels can be made at the Jeweler however, there are some exceptions to this, such as the rare and legendary jewels which require you to be at a certain level to obtain these. Jewels can be replaced by another jewel without destroying the original. You can only replace the jewel only once in a piece of equipment.

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 cause damage as easily.

A Glyphmaster can provide glyphs to enhance the appearance of your weapons and shields. These provide a small bonus and can be swapped freely but aren't guaranteed to drop as loot. Glyphs are like jewelry and can be upgraded at the Jeweler to exchange Scattered Crystals and gold. Glyphs can also be removed and returned to the inventory. Other upgrade components such as aegis or traits cannot be exchanged and can only be recovered by using an Upgrade extractor or salvaging using Black Lion Salvage Kit or Ascended Salvage.

Trinkets

Trinkets can give your character a variety of small, but useful, advantages. They are available in the starting area as loot or personal story rewards. They can also be obtained from vendors as well as through completing road interaction. They can be found on the Trading Post, or crafted by jewelers.

The first trinket that a player can unlock is the cloak. It provides a tiny, but useful bonus in movement speed and the ability to escape. After that, they'll be able to acquire rings, amulets, and necklaces in a similar way to how a player obtains weapons and armor. Every piece of equipment has a slot for an upgrade that can be either universal or jewel. Universal upgrades are smaller and can be used on any device. Jewels cannot be upgraded or replaced and are only compatible with certain trinkets.

These trinkets also grant additional buffs and skills that are active whenever the hero is not fighting. This enables the hero to perform better when they are not active and also helps fill in the void of a strong team or any talent tree slots that would normally be filled with hero's ideal statistics.

A good rule of thumb for trinket upgrades is to prioritize BiS (Best-in-Slot) items that you will not replace soon, followed by any items with desirable stats, but less important than the iLevel of the item upgrader to be upgraded. This is particularly true if an item upgrading has multiple stats you wish to upgrade, since it's generally better to upgrade just one important stat than two sub-optimal ones.

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

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