Path of Exile Item Upgrades

Upgrades to items are a frequent and essential way to boost the performance of numerous items in Path of Exile. They can cause additional damage, AD or even affixes.

Rare-grade equipment is often superior to modernized Common or Magic gear due to their high demands.

Armor

Armor upgrades can be applied to both weapon and armor items. They improve the stats of the item level upgrade that they are attached to. Upgrades to armor can be found in the world of games and are available from Blacksmiths on bonfires. They can also be salvaged using a specialist or higher salvage kits to salvage upgrade components from other items.

The amount of damage that a piece of armor or weapon can absorb depends on the level of its upgrades. The ability to absorb damage of a piece armor will increase when it's upgraded to the maximum upgrade level. However, it's important to keep in mind that this will increase its weight, causing it to be heavier than it was before.

There are a variety of armor upgrade available in the game. Each has a different effect. For example, some upgrades will give the armor a certain number of health points while others will make it stronger and lighter. The name of the armor upgrade will indicate the kind of upgrade an item upgrades can receive, as shown below.

Some of the upgrades also require magic or a combination of technology and magic, as identified by the "Magic" and "Hybrids" entries in the table below. Certain upgrades also require fees for use. They are referred to as "Charges" entries in the table. These charges are either continuously updated or never expire depending on the upgrade.

The cheapest method to upgrade armor is to use Iron Ore, which can be found by exploring the area and looting chests of minor loot. Titanium is more expensive, but is readily available 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 a significant improvements in stats and are worth the cost, especially for single-handed weapons.

The player must be aware, however, that upgrading a piece to its max upgrade level will increase its defense values. However, it can also affect the speed and agility of the piece. It is not recommended to upgrade armor past +9. The defensive boost gained usually isn't worth the weight and power expenses of the upgrades.

Weapons

Weapon upgrades give players the ability to improve certain aspects of their weapon. Upgrades can improve the accuracy of a rifle, or the damage that shotgun shells cause. Certain firearms have upgrades that enhance their inherent characteristics. These include Frictionless Materials (improves stability and decreases the chance of weapon overheating) and Kinetic Coils (increases projectile acceleration for more damage).

The majority of upgrades to weapons require a whetblade. It's one of three Power Dices and a different amount of Minerals and Erons. They can be obtained by finishing side quests, killing a certain number of monsters or bosses or through the Weapon Upgrade NPC located 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 that is a certain number of Bars. The more bars required to complete an upgrade, the more expensive the upgrade. The cost of the upgrades will be lower if you have more than one of the relevant upgrade materials.

In Chapter 2: Season 5, the ways to upgrade your equipment and weapon sets has changed a bit. Previously you could search for an Upgrade Bench and pay a set amount of Bars to upgrade your equipment or weapon to an increased rarity. You could do this until the weapon or equipment reached its maximum upgrade level at which point the upgrades would reset.

It's possible, but it depends heavily on RNG. Instead, you're better off going to stores and buying gear that has low upgrade levels but good base scores and stat distributions. They will also be able to give you the highest tier perks and blessings.

To level up quicker, players usually prioritise upgrading their weapons. Players should also upgrade the weapons their teammates use to make them stronger. Shepard for instance should upgrade his M92F so that he can unlock the Beretta M93R. This will make the weapon more useful when used in conjunction by biotic specialists like 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 making them, where you combine the gemstone with specific reagents in a jewelry table. The higher the grade of the gem, the greater the secondary effect. These reagents can be obtained from Treasure Goblins and World Bosses all over the world, or through salvaging Legendary Gear. You can also purchase them from The Jeweler for gold and a Scattered Prism.

The Jeweler can boost the quality of gemstones in stages ranging from Crude up to Royal. Depending on the tier of the gem it will give different stat boosts when it is inserted into gear, weapons and jewelry.

The Jeweler is able to create all kinds of gems, apart from the rare and legendary ones which you must attain certain levels to gain. Like other upgrade components jewels can be swapped out by a different jewel of the same kind without destroying the original one. However you can only swap out the jewels in an equipment piece once.

It is normal to use more jewels to enhance the appearance of. Apart from improving performance, the jewels create an outer layer that is more durable than metal, which means that repeated friction from pivots doesn't cause harm as easily.

In addition to the upgrades mentioned above players can also obtain glyphs for their shields and weapons from a Glyphmaster. These provide a small bonus and can be swapped freely but aren't guaranteed to drop as loot. Glyphs, just like jewelry, can be upgraded at the Jeweler in exchange for gold and Scattered Crystals. Glyphs can also be removed and returned to the inventory. Other upgrade components, such as traits and aegis, cannot be swapped out, and are only recoverable by using an Upgrade Extractor or salvaging them with a Black Lion Salvage Kit or Ascended Salvage Tool.

Trinkets

Trinkets can provide your hero with a variety of small, but valuable, advantages. They are available in the starter area as loot or personal story rewards. They can also be obtained from vendors as well as through doing road interaction. They can also be found on the Trading Post, or crafted by jewelers.

The first trinket a player can unlock is the cloak, which grants a small, but valuable boost to movement speed and evasion. After that, they'll be able to get amulets, rings, and necklaces in the same manner to the way a player can acquire weapons and armor. Every piece of equipment has a slot for an upgrade which can be universal or jewel. Universal upgrades offer smaller bonuses and can be placed in any type of equipment, while jewelry cannot be changed or upgraded, and is only compatible with certain kinds of trinkets.

These trinkets can provide additional bonuses and abilities that are active when the hero isn't in combat. This lets a hero become more efficient even when not in combat. It can also make up for the lack of a strong slots in the team or talent tree which are usually filled by a hero's top stats.

As a rule, trinket upgrades should prioritize BiS (Best item upgrader in Slot) items that you will not replace anytime soon. Next, any items that have desirable statistics aren't as significant as the iLevel of the item upgrader mod to be upgraded. This is especially true when an item has multiple stats you wish to upgrade, since it's generally better to upgrade just one important stat than two sub-optimal ones.

At the beginning of the game, junglers will usually want to upgrade their yellow trinket into a red one in the middle and top players typically choose either a pink or green ward (depending on the matchup). These choices can impact a hero's ability to control the map.

Aside from the items mentioned above, players can find a number of other items in the form of awards and trophies. They can be earned through completing certain milestones in the story, for instance finishing a chapter's main quest or killing a certain boss. You can check them out by clicking on the achievement in the reward section of the hero's menu.