Path of Exile Item Upgrades
The performance of many Path of Exile items can be enhanced by upgrading their performance. They can cause additional damage, AD or even affixes.
Often times however upgraded Common and Magic gear is beaten out by Rare-grade equipment due to their high requirements.
Armor
Armor upgrades are a kind of upgrade that can be used on armor and weapon items. They improve the effectiveness of the item they are attached to. Upgrades to armor can be found in the world of games and are available from Blacksmiths on bonfires. Alternatively, they can also be rescued from items with upgrade components inside them, using a specialist or more powerful salvage kit.
The amount of damage an armored item or weapon can absorb depends on the degree of upgrades. The upgrade of an armor piece to maximum upgrade level will boost the damage it absorbs. But, it's important to keep in mind that this will increase its weight, causing it to weigh more than before.
There are many different kinds of armor upgrades available in the game. Each has a different effect. For example, some upgrades will give the armor a certain amount of additional health points, while others make it stronger and lighter. The kind of armor upgrade an item can receive will be identified by the name of the upgrade as shown in the table below.
A few upgrades also feature magic or a hybrid of magic and technology, which is identified by the "Magic" or "Hybrid" entry in the table below. Furthermore, some upgrades require a charge to use, and are shown by a "Charges" entry in the table below. These charges are either constantly updated or never expire, depending on the upgrade.
Iron Ore is the cheapest way to upgrade your armor. You can locate it by exploring and looting small treasure chests. Titanium is more costly, but is readily available at the smelters of Orgrimmar and Stormwind City. Certain upgrades, such as the Reforge or the Hot Potato Books can only be applied on armor pieces that are of high-level. These upgrades can give significant improvement in stats and are worth the investment, especially for 1-handed weapons.
The player should be aware, however, that upgrading a piece to the max upgrade level will increase its defense value. However, it will also affect its agility and its speed. This is why it is not recommended to upgrade most armor pieces above +9, since the added defense is usually not worth the additional weight and power costs of the upgrades needed.
Weapons
Weapon upgrades give players the ability to improve certain aspects of their weapon. For example, an upgrade may increase the damage dealt by the shells of a shotgun or the accuracy of the sniper rifle. Certain firearms have upgrades to improve their inherent qualities. They include Frictionless Materials (improves stability and decreases the chance of the risk of overheating) and Kinetic Coils (increases the velocity of projectiles for greater damage).
Most upgrades for weapons require one of three Power Dices, a different amount of Minerals and Erons and a whetblade for applying. They can be obtained by finishing side quests, taking out a certain number of monsters or bosses, or by contacting the Weapon Upgrade NPC in Central Flarine.
To upgrade a weapon, equipment set piece or Whetblade, you must visit the NPC [ArmorBoboko. Boboko located in Central Flarine, and pay her an upgrade fee of a specific number of Bars. The more bars needed to complete an upgrade, the more expensive the upgrade. The cost of upgrades will be less if you have more than one of the relevant upgrade materials.
In Chapter 2: Season 5, the ways to upgrade your equipment and weapon sets was a bit different. Before you could search for an Upgrade Bench and pay a certain number of Bars to upgrade your weapon or equipment to an increased quality. You could do this until you reached the max upgrade level of the equipment or weapon, after which upgrades would reset.
You can still do this but the process is high on RNG and low on agency. You're better off buying gear that has minimal upgrade levels and high base scores and stat distributions. These items will have a better likelihood of granting you most prestigious tier of advantages and benefits.
Most players will want to make the most of upgrades to weapons they most often use to help them level up faster. In addition players, they should also consider upgrading the weapons they use with their teammates to increase their power as well. For instance, Shepard should consider upgrading the M92F to unlock the Beretta M93R to increase its utility when paired with biotech specialists such as Grunt and Tali.
Jewels
Jewels are placed in the armor's sockets and weapons, increasing a stat and providing secondary effects. They can be created using a process called jewelry crafting, where you combine a gem and various chemicals at a table. The higher the level of the gem, the greater the secondary effect. These reagents can be found around the world through Treasure Goblins, World Bosses and occasionally by salvaging Legendary equipment. 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 in stages that range from Crude to Royal. Based on the tier of the gem it will give different stat boost when slotted into weapons, equipment and jewelry.
All tiers of jewels are crafted at the Jeweler and Jeweler's Workshop, with the exception of the rare and legendary jewels which require you to be at a certain level to qualify for them. Unlike other upgrade components, jewels can be swapped out with a jewel of the same type without damaging the original one. You are able to replace the jewel once in an item of equipment.
Using more jewels in a movement can make it feel more comfortable and is usually performed to enhance the aesthetics of the movement. In addition to improving performance, the jewels create an outer layer that is more durable 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 glyphs offer a small boost and can be freely traded, but they're not guaranteed to show up as loot. Glyphs are like jewelry and can be upgraded by the Jeweler in exchange for Scattered Crystals and gold. Glyphs can also be removed from the inventory, and they are returned to the inventory. Other upgrade components, such as traits and aegis are not swappable, and can only be retrieved using an Upgrade Extractor, or by salvaging them using Black Lion Salvage Kit or Ascended Salvage Tool.
Trinkets
Trinkets are a great way to give your character various small, but valuable advantages. They are available in the starter area as rewards for personal stories or loot. They are also available from vendors as well as through doing road interaction. They can be found on the Trading Post, or crafted by jewelers.
The first trinket a player will unlock is the cloak. It grants a small but valuable boost in speed of movement and the ability to escape. After that, they'll be able to acquire rings, amulets, and necklaces in the same way to how a player can acquire armor and weapons. Every piece of equipment has an upgrade slot which can be universal or jewel. Universal upgrades are smaller and are able to be used on any equipment. Jewels cannot be upgraded or replaced and are only compatible with certain trinkets.
These trinkets grant additional buffs and abilities that are active even when the hero isn't engaged in combat. This allows the hero to be more effective while inactive, and can also help to compensate for the absence of a solid team or any talent tree slots which would normally be filled with hero's ideal statistics.
A good general 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 being upgraded. This is particularly true if an item has multiple stats you'd like to upgrade as it's often more beneficial to upgrade one important stat than two sub-optimal ones.
Jungle players often upgrade their yellow trinket to a red trinket at the beginning of the game. Top and mid players on the other hand they will select a pink or green ward, based on the game's matchup. These choices will have a major impact on the hero's map control abilities.
In item upgrades Cases gg to the items mentioned above, players can also find other trinkets that form of rewards and trophies throughout the game. They can be obtained through completing certain milestones within the story. For instance, completing a chapter’s main quest or defeating an opponent. These can be viewed by selecting the appropriate achievement in the reward tab of the hero menu.