Watch Out: What Item Upgrades Is Taking Over And What You Can Do About It

Path of Exile Item Upgrades

The performance of a variety of Path of Exile items can be improved by upgrading the performance of them. They can be a great source of additional damage, more AD or even more attaches.

Rare-grade equipment can be superior to modernized Common or Magic equipment due to their high demands.

Armor

Armor upgrades can be applied to both weapon and armor items. They improve the stats of whatever item they are connected to. Upgrades to armor are available in the world of the game and can be purchased from Blacksmiths at any bonfire. Alternatively, they can also be salvaged from items that have upgrade components in them using a specialist or more powerful salvage kit.

The amount of damage an armored piece or weapon can absorb depends on the level of its upgrades. Upgrading a piece of armor to maximum upgrade level will boost its ability to absorb damage. But, it's important to note that this will also increase its weight, which will cause it to be heavier than it was before.

There are many different kinds of armor upgrades that are available in the game. Each has a different impact. For example, some upgrades give the armor a certain number of health points while others make it stronger and lighter. The kind of armor upgrade an item can receive will be identified by the name of the upgrade, as indicated in the table below.

Some of the upgrades also require magic or a hybrid technology and magic, which are identified by the "Magic" and "Hybrids" entries in the table below. Furthermore, some upgrades require a fee to use, which is identified by the "Charges" entry in the table below. These charges are either updated daily or never expire depending on the upgrade.

Iron Ore is the cheapest option to upgrade your armor. You can find it by exploring and looting small treasure chests. Titanium is more expensive, but can be found in the smelters of Orgrimmar and Stormwind City. Some 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 performance and are worth the investment, particularly for one-handed weapons.

A piece of armor upgraded to the highest upgrade level will dramatically increase its defense capabilities however, the user must be aware that putting on weight will drastically reduce its speed and agility. It is not recommended to upgrade armor beyond +9. The defensive boost gained typically isn't worth the weight and power expenses of the upgrades.

Weapons

Weapon upgrades let players increase the effectiveness of certain aspects of the weapon. For instance, an upgrade may increase the damage dealt by shotgun shells or the accuracy of the rifle sniper. Certain firearms also have upgrades that enhance their inherent capabilities. Frictionless materials (improves stability, and reduces weapon overheating) and Kinetic coils (increases the projectile's speed to cause more damage) are two examples.

Most upgrades for weapons require three Power Dices, a different amount of Minerals and Erons and a whetblade for applying. They can be obtained by completing Side Quests, killing a certain amount of monsters or bosses, or from the Weapon Upgrade NPC in Central Flarine.

To upgrade an equipment set, weapon piece or Whetblade, you must visit the NPC [Armor] Boboko located in Central Flarine, and pay her an upgrade fee of a specific number of Bars. The higher the upgrade level, the higher the number of bars you will need to complete the upgrade. The cost of upgrades will be lower if you have more than one of the upgrade materials.

In Chapter 2: Season 5, the way you upgrade your weapon and equipment sets was a bit different. Prior to Chapter 2: Season 5 you could upgrade your weapon and 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 be reset.

It's possible, but it is dependent heavily on RNG. Instead,  upgrade item  off visiting stores and buying equipment that has low upgrade levels but excellent base scores and stat distributions. These items will have a better likelihood of granting you highest tier advantages and benefits.

The majority of players will prioritize weapon upgrades for the weapons they are most likely to use to allow them to progress faster. Players should also upgrade the weapons that their teammates use to make them stronger. For instance, Shepard should consider upgrading the M92F to unlock the Beretta M93R, which will increase its utility when paired with experts in biotics like Grunt and Tali.

Jewels

Jewels are placed in the sockets of armor and weapons, enhancing a stat and providing secondary effects. Jewelry crafting is a method for making them, in which you combine a gemstone with a number specific reagents on a jewelry table. The higher the grade of the gemstone, the better the secondary effect. These reagents are obtained in the world from 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 improve the quality of gemstones in stages ranging from Crude up to Royal. The boosts to stats will differ depending on the tier the jewel is in when it's inserted into jewelry, weapons or gear.

All kinds of jewels are crafted at the Jeweler and Jeweler's Workshop, with the exception of the rare and legendary jewels which require you to be at a high enough level to be able to get the privilege of having them. In contrast to other upgrade components, jewels can be swapped with a jewel of the same type without destroying it. You can only replace the jewel once within an item of equipment.

It is common to use more jewelry for aesthetic reasons. The jewels also improve performance and make an outer layer that is more durable than steel so that repeated friction from pivots do not damage them.

A Glyphmaster can provide glyphs to enhance the appearance of your shields and weapons. They offer a small benefit and can be swapped out at any time but aren't guaranteed to drop as loot. Glyphs can be upgraded, like jewelry, at the Jeweler for gold and a Scattered Crystal. Glyphs are also removed, which returns them to the inventory. Other upgrade components such as traits or aegis can't be exchanged and can only be retrieved through an upgrade extractor or salvaging with a Black Lion Salvage Kit or an Ascended Salvage.

Trinkets

Trinkets are a great way to give your character a variety of small, but useful, advantages. They can be acquired starting in the beginning areas as loot, personal story rewards, from vendors, and through performing road interactions. They can be found on the Trading Post, or crafted by jewelers.

The first trinket that a player will be able to unlock is the cloak. It provides a tiny but beneficial boost in speed of movement and the ability to evade. The player can then acquire necklaces, rings, and amulets in a similar manner as they did with weapons and armor. Each piece of equipment has one upgrade slot that can accommodate either a universal or a jewel upgrade. Universal upgrades provide smaller bonuses and can be placed in any type of equipment however, jewelry cannot be replaced or upgraded and is only compatible with certain kinds of trinkets.

These trinkets also grant additional buffs and skills that remain active whenever the hero is not fighting. This allows the hero to be more effective while inactive and may also help fill in the void of a strong team or the absence of any slots in the talent tree that normally are filled with hero's ideal statistics.

In general trinket upgrades should be a priority BiS (Best in Slot) items you won't replace in the near future. Next, any items that have desirable statistics aren't as important as the iLevel of the item to be upgraded. This is especially true when an item has multiple stats you'd like to upgrade, since it's generally better to upgrade a single important stat rather than two sub-optimal ones.

At the beginning of the game players in the jungle are likely to upgrade their trinket to a red, while top and mid players usually choose either a pink or green ward (depending on the game's 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 that form of rewards and trophies throughout the game. These can be earned by completing certain milestones within the story. For example, completing the main quest of a chapter or defeating an opponent. These achievements can be seen by selecting the appropriate achievement from the reward tab of the hero menu.