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.

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

Armor

Armor upgrades are a form of upgrade that can be used on weapon and armor items. They boost the performance of the item they're attached to. Upgrades to armor can be found in the world of the game and are available from Blacksmiths on bonfires. They can also be salvaged by using an expert or higher salvage kit to recover upgrades from the items.

The amount of damage that an armored item upgrader mod or weapon will absorb is contingent on the level of its upgrades. The absorption of damage by an armor piece will increase when it's upgraded to its maximum upgrade level. It is important to keep in mind that this will increase the weight of the armor, so it must be more heavy.

There are a variety of armor upgrades available in the game. Each one has a distinct effect. For example, some upgrades give the armor a certain number of health points while others will make it lighter and stronger. The name of the upgrade item will indicate the kind of upgrade an item can be given, as illustrated below.

Some of the upgrades also require magic or a combination of technology and magic, which are indicated by the "Magic" and "Hybrids" entries in the table. Some upgrades also require charges for use. These are identified as "Charges" entries in the table. These charges are updated daily or never expire based on the upgrade.

Iron Ore is the cheapest method to improve your armor. It can be found by exploring and looting small treasure chests. Titanium is more expensive however, it is available from smelters located in Orgrimmar and Stormwind City. Certain upgrades, such as the Reforge and the Hot Potato Books, can only be applied to high-level armor pieces. These upgrades can give significant improvement in stats and are a worthwhile investment, especially for 1-handed weapons.

The player must be aware that upgrading a piece to the max upgrade level will boost its defense. However, it can also reduce its agility and its speed. For this reason, it is typically not recommended to upgrade items armor pieces beyond +9, since the added defense is generally not worth the weight and power cost of the upgrades needed.

Weapons

Weapon upgrades allow players to enhance certain aspects of their weapon. Upgrades can improve the accuracy of a rifle, or the damage that shotgun shells cause. Certain weapons come with special upgrades to improve their inherent qualities. These 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 the use of a whetblade, or one of the three Power Dices and a different amount of Minerals and Erons. These are obtained through either completing 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 go to the NPC [Armor] Boboko located in Central Flarine, and pay her an upgrade fee that is a certain number of Bars. The more bars required to complete an upgrade, the more expensive the upgrade. If you have multiple upgrade materials the cost of upgrading will be lower.

In Chapter 2: Season 5, the method of upgrading your weapon and equipment sets changed a little. In the past you could go to an Upgrade Bench and pay a certain number of Bars to upgrade your equipment or weapon to a higher rarity. You could do this until the weapon or equipment reached its maximum upgrade level at which point the upgrades would reset.

This is still possible, but it is dependent heavily on RNG. You're better off buying gear that has low upgrade levels but with high base scores and stat distributions. These gears have a higher likelihood of granting you highest tier blessings and perks.

Most players will want to prioritize weapon upgrades for the weapons they use most frequently to help them level up quicker. Additionally players, they should also consider upgrading the weapons favored by their teammates to increase their power as well. Shepard, for example should upgrade his M92F in order to unlock the Beretta M93R. This will make the weapon more useful when used in conjunction with biotic specialists such as Grunt and Tali.

Jewels

Jewels can be used to improve a stat or provide secondary effects on weapons and armor. Jewelry crafting is a method of making them, where you combine a gemstone with a number specific reagents on a table. The higher the level of the gemstone has, the more powerful its secondary effect. These reagents can be obtained around the world through Treasure Goblins, World Bosses and sometimes by salvaging Legendary equipment. You can also purchase them from The Jeweler for gold and a Scattered Prism.

The Jeweler can boost the quality of a gem in stages ranging from Crude up to Royal. Based on the tier of the jewel it will give different stat boosts when inserted into weapons, gear and jewelry.

The Jeweler can craft all tiers of gems, apart from the rare and legendary ones which you must attain certain levels to gain. Jewels can be substituted with another jewel without destroying the original. However you can only swap out the jewels in an equipment piece only once.

It is normal to use more jewels to enhance the appearance of. Jewels also enhance performance and create a surface harder than metal so that repeated friction from pivots does not cause damage to them.

A Glyphmaster can provide glyphs that can enhance the look of your weapons and shields. These are a small perk and are able to be swapped easily but aren't guaranteed to drop 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 and returned to the inventory. Other upgrade components, such as traits and aegis aren't swappable and can only be recovered using an Upgrade Extractor, or by salvaging them using the Black Lion Salvage Kit or an Ascended Salvage Tool.

Trinkets

Trinkets can be used to give your character a variety of small, but beneficial advantages. They can be acquired starting in the beginning areas as loot, personal story rewards, from vendors, and through completing road interactions. They can also be crafted by jewelers, and found or purchased from the Trading Post.

The first trinket a player will unlock is the cloak. It gives a small but beneficial boost in movement speed and evasion. After that, they can purchase amulets, rings and necklaces in a similar manner to the way a player obtains weapons and armor. Each piece of equipment has one upgrade slot that can accept either a universal or a jewel upgrade. Universal upgrades are smaller and are able to be used on any piece of equipment. Jewels are not upgradeable or replaced, and can only be used with certain trinkets.

These trinkets also grant additional buffs and skills that remain active when the hero is not fighting. This allows the hero to perform better when they are not active, and can also help to compensate for the absence of a strong team or any talent tree slots that normally are filled with the hero's best stats.

As a general rule, trinket upgrades should prioritize BiS (Best in Slot) items that you will not replace in the near future. Then, you should consider any items with desirable stats that aren't as important as the iLevel of the item to be upgraded. This is especially true when you're looking to upgrade several statistics on an item upgrader mod. It's best to upgrade just one crucial stat instead of two subpar ones.

In 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 will usually opt for either a pink or green ward (depending on the matchup). These choices can impact the ability of a hero to control the map.

Apart from the items listed above, players can also find a number of other trinkets in the game in the form of trophies and awards. They can be obtained by completing certain milestones within the story. For instance, finishing the main quest for a chapter or defeating an opponent. These achievements can be seen by selecting the relevant achievement in the reward tab of the hero menu.