Path of Exile Item Upgrades
The performance of a variety of Path of Exile items can be improved by upgrading their performance. They can provide extra damage, AD or even affixes.
Rare-grade equipment is often superior to the more modernized Common or Magic equipment due to their high demands.
Armor
Armor upgrades are a type of upgrade that can be applied to weapon and armor items. They increase the performance of the item they are connected to. Armor upgrades can be found in the world of the game and are available from Blacksmiths on bonfires. Additionally, they can be salvaged from items with upgrade components within them by using an expert or greater salvage kit.
The amount of damage that an armored item or weapon is able to absorb is dependent on the level of its upgrades. The ability to absorb damage of an armor piece will increase when it is upgraded to its maximum upgrade level. However, it's important be aware that this upgrade will increase its weight, which will cause it to be heavier than before.
There are many different kinds of armor upgrades available in the game. Each has a different effect. Certain upgrades grant armor an extra amount of health points while others make it more powerful 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 of the upgrades are also magic or a hybrid of magic and technology, which is shown by an "Magic" or "Hybrid" entry in the table below. Additionally, some upgrades require a fee to use, and are shown by a "Charges" entry in the table below. The charges for these upgrades refresh daily or never expire depending on the upgrade.
Iron Ore is the cheapest way to upgrade your armor. You can find it by exploring and looting small chests. Titanium is more expensive, however, it is available from the smelters in Orgrimmar and Stormwind City. Certain upgrades, such as the Reforge and the Hot Potato Books, can only be applied to higher level armor pieces. These upgrades can provide significant boost to stats and are a worthwhile investment, especially for 1-handed weapons.
The player should be aware, however, that upgrading a piece to its maximum upgrade level will increase its defense values. However, it can also reduce the speed and agility of the piece. For this reason, it is typically not recommended to upgrade most armor pieces that are higher than +9 since the defensive boost gained is usually not worth the additional weight and power cost of the upgrades required.
Weapons
Weapon upgrades allow players to enhance certain aspects of their weapon. For instance, an upgrade may improve the damage that is caused by a shotgun's shells or the accuracy of a sniper rifle. Some weapons also have special upgrades that enhance their inherent qualities. They include Frictionless Materials (improves stability and minimizes weapon overheating) and Kinetic Coils (increases the velocity of projectiles for greater damage).
Most weapon upgrades require one of three Power Dices, a different amount of Minerals and Erons, and a whetblade. They can be obtained by completing Side Quests, killing a certain amount of monsters or bosses, or through the Weapon Upgrade NPC located in Central Flarine.
Upgrades to a weapon, equipment Set piece, or Whetblade requires visiting the NPC [Armor] Boboko in Central Flarine and paying her an upgrade fee that is based on a specific number of Bars. The more bars required to complete an upgrade, the more advanced the level. The cost of upgrades will be lower if have more than one of the relevant upgrade materials.
In Chapter 2: Season 5, the method of upgrading your equipment and weapon sets has changed a bit. Before you could search for an Upgrade Bench and pay for a specific number of Bars to upgrade your equipment or weapon to a higher rarity. You could do this until your weapon or equipment reached its maximum upgrade level, at which point the upgrades would reset.
get more info is still possible, but it relies heavily on RNG. Instead, you're much better off visiting stores and buying equipment with low upgrade levels but excellent base scores and stat distributions. These items will have a greater likelihood of granting you highest tier advantages and benefits.
To level up quicker, players usually be more inclined to upgrade their weapons. Players should also upgrade the weapons their teammates use to make them stronger. Shepard, for example should upgrade his M92F in order to unlock the Beretta M93R. This will make the weapon more effective when accompanied with biotic specialists like Grunt and Tali.
Jewels
Jewels can be used to improve a stat or provide secondary effects in armor and weapons. They can be created through a process called jewelry crafting, in which you combine a gemstone and several reagents at a jewelry table. The higher the tier of the gem is, the greater its secondary effect. These reagents can be obtained from Treasure Goblins and World Bosses in the world, or by salvaging Legendary Gear. You can also purchase them from The Jeweler for gold and a Scattered Prism.
The Jeweler can improve the quality of a gem in stages ranging from Crude up to Royal. Depending on the tier of the gem it can provide different stat boost when slotted into weapons, equipment and jewelry.
The Jeweler is able to create all tiers of gems, except for the rare and legendary ones, which you must be at a certain level to get. Jewels can be replaced with another one without damaging the original. However it is only possible to replace the jewels in an equipment piece once.
The use of more jewels in the movement will make it feel smoother, and is often used for aesthetic reasons. In addition to enhancing performance, the jewels create an area that is stronger than metal, so repeated friction from pivots won'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 swapped, but they are not guaranteed to show up as loot. Glyphs are like jewelry and can be upgraded at the Jeweler to exchange gold and Scattered Crystals. Glyphs can also be removed and returned to the inventory. Other upgrade components, like 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 a great way to provide your hero with various small, but useful, benefits. They can be acquired starting in the starter areas as loot or personal story rewards from vendors, and by doing road interactions. They can also be made by jewelers, and found or purchased at the Trading Post.
The first trinket a player is able to unlock is the cloak, which grants a small, but valuable boost in speed of movement and the ability to escape. The player will then be able to acquire necklaces, rings, and amulets, in a similar way to how they acquired weapons and armor. Every piece of equipment has a slot for an upgrade that can be either universal or jewel. Universal upgrades provide smaller bonuses and can be used in any type of equipment while jewelry cannot be replaced or upgraded and only works with certain kinds of trinkets.
These trinkets can provide additional bonuses and abilities that are active even when the hero isn't engaged in combat. This lets the hero be more effective when not active, and can also help fill in the void of a solid team or any talent tree slots that normally are filled with the hero's ideal stats.
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 items with desirable stats but less important than the iLevel of the item being upgraded. This is especially true when you are looking to upgrade multiple statistics on an item. It is best to upgrade just one crucial stat than two less important ones.
Jungle players often upgrade their yellow trinket to a red one prior to the start of the game. Mid and top players on the other hand they will select a green or a pink ward, depending on the matchup. These choices can impact the ability of a hero to control the map.
In addition to the items mentioned above, players can also discover other trinkets in form trophies and rewards throughout the game. These can be earned through completing certain milestones in the story, like completing a chapter's main quest or killing a certain boss. You can view them by selecting the achievement from the reward section of the hero's menu.