Guide To Item Upgrades: The Intermediate Guide The Steps To Item Upgra…

Path of Exile Item Upgrades

Item upgrades are a common and important way to improve the performance of a variety of items in Path of Exile. They can provide extra damage, AD or even affixes.

Sometimes, however, upgraded Common and Magic gear is beaten out by Rare-grade gear due to their requirements.

Armor

Armor upgrades can be applied to both weapon and armor items. They boost the stats of whatever Item Upgrade they are attached to. Upgrades to armor are available in the game's world and can be purchased from Blacksmiths at any bonfire. They can also be salvaged using a specialist or higher salvage kits to retrieve upgrades from the items.

The level of an armor's or weapon's upgrade determines the amount of damage it will take on. The ability to absorb damage of an armor piece will increase as it is upgraded to its maximum upgrade level. But, it's important to be aware that this upgrade will raise its weight, requiring it to be heavier than before.

There are a few different types of armor upgrades available in the game and they all have different effects. Some upgrades give armor an extra amount of health points while others make it lighter and more powerful. The type of armor upgrade that an item can get is indicated by the name of the upgrade as shown in the table below.

A few upgrades also feature magic or a mix of technology and magic which is indicated by a "Magic" or "Hybrid" entry in the table below. Certain upgrades require charges in order to be used. These are indicated as "Charges" entries in the table. These charges are either updated daily or never expire, depending on the upgrade.

The cheapest method to upgrade armor is with Iron Ore, which can be found through exploring the surroundings and looting small loot chests. Titanium is more costly, but can be found at the smelters of 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 provide significant boost to stats and are worth the investment, especially for 1-handed weapons.

Upgrading a piece of armor to max upgrade level will greatly increase its defense values however, the user must be aware that increasing its weight will dramatically reduce its agility and speed. Therefore, it is not recommended to upgrade the majority of armor pieces beyond +9, because the increase in defense is usually not worth the weight and power costs of the upgrades required.

Weapons

Weapon upgrades give players the ability to improve certain aspects of their weapon. Upgrades can increase the accuracy of a rifle or the damage caused by shotgun shells. Certain weapons come with special upgrades to improve their inherent capabilities. Frictionless materials (improves stability, and reduces the possibility of overheating) and Kinetic coils (increases the projectile's speed to cause more damage) are two examples.

The majority of upgrades for weapons require a whetblade. It's one of three Power Dices and a different amount of Minerals and Erons. They can be obtained by completing side quests or by killing a certain amount of bosses and monsters.

Upgrading a Weapon, Equipment Set piece or Whetblade requires visiting the NPC [Armor] Boboko in Central Flarine and paying her an upgrade price of a set number of Bars. The more bars needed to complete an upgrade the more advanced the level. The cost of the upgrades will be lower if have more than one of the relevant upgrade materials.

In Chapter 2: Season 5 the way you upgrade your weapon and sets has changed a bit. Prior to Chapter 2 Season 5 you could upgrade your weapon or equipment by paying a specific amount of Bars. You could do this until the weapon or equipment reached its maximum upgrade item level, at which point the upgrades would be reset.

You can still do this but the process is high on RNG and low on agency. Instead, you're better off going to the stores and purchasing equipment with low upgrade levels but good base scores and stat distributions. These will then have a better chance of bringing you the most prestigious benefits and blessings.

To improve their skills faster, most players will prioritize upgrading their weapons. Additionally, players should consider upgrading the weapons they use with their teammates to make them more powerful as well. Shepard for instance, should upgrade the M92F in order to unlock the Beretta M93R. This will make the weapon more useful when accompanied with biotic specialists like Grunt and Tali.

Jewels

Jewels can be used to improve the stats of a character or to provide additional effects in weapons and armor. Jewelry crafting is a method for creating them. You combine a gemstone with a number specific reagents on a table. The higher the level of the gem is, the greater its secondary effect. These reagents can be gotten from Treasure Goblins and World Bosses around the world, or by salvaging Legendary Gear. You can also buy them from The Jeweler for gold and a Scattered Prism.

The quality of a diamond can be improved at the Jeweler, with stages that range from Crude to Royal. Depending on the tier of the gem it can provide different stat boost when slotted into weapons, equipment and jewelry.

The Jeweler can craft all kinds of gems, except for the rare and legendary ones that you must be at an appropriate level to obtain. Jewels can be replaced with another one without damaging the original. However it is only possible to replace the jewels in a piece of equipment once.

Using more jewels in a move will make it feel smoother, and is often used to enhance the aesthetics of the movement. Apart from improving performance, the diamonds create an area that is stronger than steel, so the repeated friction from pivots doesn't cause damage as easily.

A Glyphmaster can provide glyphs to enhance the appearance of your weapons and shields. These glyphs give a slight boost and can be freely exchanged, however they are not guaranteed to show up as loot. Glyphs can be upgraded as jewelry, by visiting the Jeweler for gold, and also a Scattered Crystal. Glyphs can also be taken out and returned to the inventory. Other upgrade components, such as traits and aegis, are not swappable, and are only recoverable by using an Upgrade Extractor, or by salvaging them using Black Lion Salvage Kit or an Ascended Salvage Tool.

Trinkets

Trinkets are items of equipment that provide a wide range of small but useful advantages to your hero. They are available in the starting area as loot or personal story rewards. They are also available through vendors and after completing road interaction. They can also be crafted by jewelers, and then found or purchased on the Trading Post.

The first trinket players can unlock is the cloak. It provides a tiny but beneficial boost in movement speed and evasion. After that, they'll be able to purchase amulets, rings and necklaces in a similar fashion to how the player can acquire armor and weapons. Each piece of equipment comes with one upgrade slot that can accept either a universal or a jewel upgrade. Universal upgrades are smaller and can be utilized on any equipment. Jewels cannot be upgraded or replaced, and can only be used with certain trinkets.

These trinkets can also grant buffs and skills that remain active whenever the hero is not fighting. This allows the hero to be more effective while inactive, and can also help to compensate for the absence of a solid team or the absence of any slots from the talent tree which would normally be filled with hero's ideal stats.

A good rule of thumb for trinket upgrades is to prioritize BiS (Best-in-Slot) items that you won't be replacing soon, followed by items with desirable stats, but less important than the iLevel of the item upgrader mod being upgraded. This is especially true if you're looking to upgrade several stats on an item upgrading. It's better to upgrade one important stat than two less important ones.

At the beginning of the game players in the jungle are likely to upgrade their yellow trinket into a red one in the middle and top players typically choose a green or pink ward (depending on the game's matchup). These choices will have a significant impact on the hero's ability to control his map.

In addition to the items listed above, players will find other trinkets in the form of trophies and rewards throughout the game. They can be earned by completing certain milestones in the story, like completing a chapter's main quest or killing a particular boss. They can be viewed by selecting the relevant achievement from the reward tab of the hero menu.