Don't Make This Mistake When It Comes To Your Item Upgrades
Path of Exile Item Upgrades
Upgrades to items are a common and crucial method to enhance the performance of many items in Path of Exile. They can be a fantastic source of extra damage, more AD or even more affixes.
Rare-grade equipment is often superior to the more modernized Common or Magic equipment due to their high demands.
Armor
Armor upgrades can be applied to both armor and weapon items. They increase the effectiveness of the item they are attached to. Armor upgrades are found in the world of the game and can be purchased from Blacksmiths at any bonfire. They can also be salvaged using a specialist or higher salvage kit to retrieve upgrade components from items.
The level of an armor's or weapon's upgrade determines the amount of damage it will take on. The upgrade of an armor piece to maximum upgrade level will increase its damage absorption. It is important to note that this will increase the weight of the armor, so it must be more heavy.
There are several different types of armor upgrades available in the game. Each one has a distinct impact. upgrade item give armor an additional number of health points while others make it more powerful and lighter. The kind of armor upgrade an item can receive will be indicated by the name of the upgrade as shown in the table below.
Some of the upgrades also require magic or a combination of technology and magic, which are shown by the "Magic" and "Hybrids" entries in the table. Furthermore, some upgrades require a charge to use, and are indicated by the "Charges" entry in the table below. These charges are continuously updated or never expire depending on the upgrade.
The cheapest method of upgrading armor is with Iron Ore, which can be found by exploring the area and looting chests of minor loot. Titanium is more costly, however, it is available at the smelters of Orgrimmar and Stormwind City. Some upgrades, like the Reforge or the Hot Potato Books can only be applied on armor pieces that are of high-level. These upgrades can provide a significant improvements in stats and are a worthwhile investment, particularly for one-handed weapons.
The process of upgrading an armor piece to its maximum upgrade level will dramatically increase its defense capabilities but the wearer must be aware that putting more weight on it will drastically reduce its speed and agility. It is not recommended to upgrade armor beyond +9. The added defense generally isn't worth the weight and power expenses of the upgrades.
Weapons
Weapon upgrades allow players to improve the effectiveness of certain aspects of a weapon. Upgrades can improve the accuracy of a rifle, or the damage that shotgun shells cause. Certain firearms have upgrades that enhance their inherent qualities. Frictionless materials (improves stability, minimizes weapon overheating), and Kinetic coils (increases the projectile's speed for greater damage) are two examples.
The majority of upgrades to weapons require the use of a whetblade, or one of the three Power Dices and a different amount Minerals and Erons. They can be gained by completing Side Quests or by killing a certain amount of monsters and bosses.
Upgrades to 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 higher the upgrade level, the more bars you will need to complete the upgrade. The cost of upgrading will be less if you have more than one of the relevant upgrade materials.
In Chapter 2: Season 5 the way you upgrade weapon and equipment sets has changed. In the past you could search for an Upgrade Bench and pay a certain number of Bars to upgrade your weapon or equipment to a higher quality. You could do this until your weapon or equipment reached its maximum upgrade level and at that point, the upgrades would be reset.
This is still possible, but it relies heavily on RNG. Instead, you're much better off going to the stores and purchasing equipment with low upgrade levels but good base scores and stat distributions. They will also have a chance at gaining you the best tier of bonuses and blessings.
To level up faster, most players will prioritize upgrading their weapons. In addition to these players, they should think about upgrading the weapons they use with their squadmates to make them more powerful and effective. Shepard for instance should upgrade his M92F in order to unlock the Beretta M93R. This will make the weapon more effective when accompanied with biotic specialists such as Grunt and Tali.
Jewels
Jewels are utilized in the armor's sockets and weapons, enhancing the power of a character and bringing about secondary effects. They can be created using a process called jewelry crafting, where you combine a gemstone and various chemicals at a table. The higher the grade of the jewel has, the more powerful its secondary effect. These reagents can be gotten from Treasure Goblins and World Bosses in the world, or through finding Legendary Gear. You can also purchase them from The Jeweler for gold and a Scattered Prism.
item upgrades of a jewel can be improved by the Jeweler, with stages that vary from Crude to Royal. The stat boosts can vary depending on the level the jewel is in when it's inserted into jewelry, weapons or other gear.
The Jeweler is able to create the highest levels of gems with the exception of rare and legendary ones which you must attain an appropriate level to obtain. Jewels can be replaced by another jewel without destroying the original. However it is only possible to replace one jewel in an equipment piece only once.
Utilizing more jewels in a move will make it more smooth, and is often used for aesthetic reasons. The jewels also improve performance and make an outer layer that is more durable than steel so that repeated friction caused by pivots does not damage them.
A Glyphmaster can offer glyphs to improve the appearance of your shields and weapons. These glyphs provide a small boost in power and can be traded, but they are not guaranteed to appear as loot. Glyphs, like jewelry, can be upgraded by the Jeweler to exchange Scattered Crystals and gold. Glyphs can also be removed and returned to the inventory. Other upgrade components such as traits or aegis can't be exchanged, and can only be retrieved by using an Upgrade extractor or salvaging with the Black Lion Salvage Kit or Ascended Salvage.
Trinkets
Trinkets are small pieces of equipment that offer many small, but beneficial advantages to your hero. They can be obtained in the starter areas as loot, personal story rewards, from vendors, or by performing road interactions. They can be found on the Trading Post, or crafted by jewelers.
The first trinket a player can unlock is the cloak. It gives a small, but useful bonus in movement speed and the ability to escape. The player can then collect necklaces, rings, and amulets in a similar manner to how they acquired weapons and armor. Each piece of equipment has a slot for an upgrade which can be universal or jewel. Universal upgrades are smaller and are able to be used on any equipment. Jewels are not upgradeable or replaced and are only compatible with certain trinkets.
These trinkets also grant additional buffs and skills that remain active when the hero is not fighting. This enables the hero to be more effective when not active and may also help to compensate for the absence of a strong team or any talent tree slots 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 that is being upgraded. This is especially true when you want to upgrade multiple statistics on an item. It is better to upgrade one important stat than two less important ones.
Jungle players will often upgrade their yellow trinket to a red one prior to the start of the game. Top and mid players, on the other hand will pick either a pink or green ward, depending on the matchup. These choices will have a major impact on the hero's map control abilities.
In addition to the items mentioned above, players can also find other trinkets in the form trophies and rewards throughout the game. They can be obtained through completing certain milestones within the story. For instance, completing a chapter’s main quest or beating an opponent. You can view them by selecting the achievement in the reward section of the hero's menu.