Path of Exile Item Upgrades
The performance of many Path of Exile items can be enhanced by upgrading the performance of them. They can also provide additional damage, AD or even affixes.
Rare-grade equipment is often superior to upgraded Common or Magic gear due to their high demands.
Armor
Armor upgrades are a form of upgrade that can be applied to weapons and armor items. They boost the performance of the item they are attached to. Armor upgrades are available in the world of the game and can be purchased from Blacksmiths at bonfires. They can also be salvaged using an expert or higher salvage kits to recover upgrade components from items.
The level of an armor's or weapon's upgrade determines the amount of damage it is able to absorb. The absorption of damage by an item of armor will increase when it's upgraded to the highest upgrade level. However, it's important to keep in mind that this will raise its weight, requiring it to be heavier than it was before.
There are a few different types of armor upgrades available in the game and they all have different effects. Certain upgrades give armor an extra amount of health points while others make it more powerful and lighter. The type of armor upgrade that an item can receive will be identified by the name of the upgrade as shown in the table below.
Some upgrades also feature magic or a hybrid of technology and magic which is identified by an "Magic" or "Hybrid" entry in the table below. Some upgrades also require a fee to use, which is identified by the "Charges" entry in the table below. The charges for these upgrades change daily or never expire according to the upgrade.
Iron Ore is the cheapest way to upgrade your armor. It can be found by exploring and looting small loot chests. Titanium is more expensive but can be found at the smelters in Orgrimmar and Stormwind City. Certain upgrades, like the Reforge and the Hot Potato Books, can only be applied to high-level armor pieces. These upgrades can provide significant improvements in stats and are worth the investment.
The player should be aware, however, that upgrading a piece to the maximum upgrade level can increase its defense value. However, it will also reduce its agility and its speed. For item upgrading , it is typically not recommended to upgrade the majority of armor pieces above +9, because the increase in defense is usually not worth the extra weight and power costs of the improvements required.
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. Some weapons also have special upgrades that improve their innate qualities. They include Frictionless Materials (improves stability and reduces the risk of overheating of the weapon) and Kinetic Coils (increases the speed of projectiles to cause more damage).
The majority of upgrades to weapons require a whetblade, one of three Power Dices and a different amount of Minerals and Erons. They can be obtained by finishing side quests, taking out a certain number of monsters or bosses or by contacting 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 that is a certain amount of bars. The more bars needed 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 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 certain amount of Bars. You could do this until your weapon or equipment reached its maximum upgrade level, at which point the upgrades would reset.
This is still possible, but it relies heavily on RNG. You're better off buying gear that has minimal upgrade levels and high base scores and stat distributions. These will be able to give you the most prestigious benefits and blessings.
To increase their level faster, most players will be more inclined to upgrade their weapons. Players should also upgrade the weapons that their squadmates utilize to increase their power. Shepard, for example should upgrade his M92F in order to unlock the Beretta M93R. This will increase the effectiveness of the weapon when used with biotic specialists such as Grunt and Tali.
Jewels
Jewels are used in the sockets of armor and weapons, enhancing the stats of a weapon and providing additional effects. Jewelry crafting is the process of creating them. You combine the gemstone with specific reagents on a table. The higher the level of the gemstone, the better the secondary effect. These reagents can be gotten from Treasure Goblins and World Bosses around the world, or through salvaging Legendary Gear. You can also purchase them from The Jeweler in exchange for Scattered Prisms and gold.
The quality of a jewel can be improved at the Jeweler, with stages that vary from Crude to Royal. The stat boosts will vary depending on the level the jewel is at when it's inserted into jewelry, weapons or equipment.
The Jeweler is able to create the highest levels of gems with the exception of rare and legendary ones which you must be at an appropriate level to obtain. Jewels can be replaced with another jewel without destroying the original. You are able to replace the jewel once in an item of equipment.
The use of more jewels in the movement will make it feel smoother, and is often performed to enhance the aesthetics of the movement. In addition to improving performance, the diamonds create an area that is stronger than metal, which means that repeated friction from pivots doesn't cause harm as easily.
A Glyphmaster can provide glyphs to enhance the look of your shields and weapons. These glyphs offer a small boost and can be freely traded, but they're not guaranteed to show up as loot. Glyphs, just like jewelry, can be upgraded by the Jeweler in exchange for gold and Scattered Crystals. Glyphs are also removed, which returns them to the inventory. Other upgrade components, such as aegis and traits, are not swappable, and can only be retrieved using an Upgrade Extractor or salvaging them with Black Lion Salvage Kit or Ascended Salvage Tool.
Trinkets
Trinkets are a great way to give your character a variety of small, but useful, advantages. item upgrades can be acquired starting in the areas of starting as loot or personal story rewards from vendors, and by completing road interactions. They can be purchased from the Trading Post, or crafted by jewelers.
The first trinkets a player can unlock is the cloak. It grants a small but useful bonus to movement speed and evasion. Then, they can acquire rings, amulets, and necklaces in a similar way to how a player obtains weapons and armor. Each piece of equipment has one upgrade slot that can accept either a universal upgrade or a jewel upgrade. Universal upgrades provide smaller bonuses and can be used in any kind of equipment while jewelry cannot be changed or upgraded, and only works with certain kinds of trinkets.
These trinkets can also grant bonuses and abilities that are active when the hero is not fighting. This allows a hero to be more efficient when they are not active. It also helps compensate for the absence of good slots in the team or talent tree which would normally be filled by the hero's best stats.
A good general rule of thumb for trinket upgrades is to prioritize BiS (Best-in-Slot) items that you aren't planning to replace soon, followed by any items with desirable stats, but less important than the iLevel of the item being upgraded. This is especially true if you are looking to upgrade multiple statistics on an item. It is better to upgrade one important stat instead of two subpar ones.
Jungle players usually upgrade their yellow trinkets to a red trinket at the start of the game. Mid and top players on the other hand, will choose a pink or green ward, depending on the game's matchup. These choices will have a significant impact on the hero's map control abilities.
In addition to the items mentioned above, players will also discover other trinkets in form of trophies and rewards throughout the game. These can be earned by completing certain milestones within the story. For instance, completing the main quest for a chapter or beating an opponent. These achievements can be seen by selecting the relevant achievement in the reward tab of the hero menu.