Guide To Item Upgrades: The Intermediate Guide For Item Upgrades

Path of Exile item level upgrade Upgrades

item upgrades (image source) are a common and essential way to boost the performance of many items in Path of Exile. They can cause additional damage, AD or even affixes.

In most cases, however upgraded Common and Magic gear is often surpassed by Rare-grade gear because of their requirements.

Armor

Armor upgrades are a type of upgrade that can be applied to armor and weapon items. They boost the performance of the item they are attached to. Armor upgrades are found in the game's world and can be purchased from Blacksmiths at any bonfire. They can also be salvaged by using a specialist or higher salvage kits to retrieve upgrade components from items.

The amount of damage that a piece of armor or weapon can absorb depends on the extent of its upgrades. Upgrading a piece of armor to its highest upgrade level will increase its ability to absorb damage. However, it's important note that this will also raise its weight, requiring it to be heavier than before.

There are a few different kinds of armor upgrades that are available in the game and they all have distinct effects. Certain upgrades give armor an extra number of health points while others make it more powerful and lighter. The name of the armor upgrade will tell you the kind of upgrade that an item will be given, as illustrated below.

Certain upgrades require magic or a hybrid technology and magic, as shown by the "Magic" and "Hybrids" entries in the table. Additionally, some upgrades require charges to use, which are shown by an "Charges" entry in the table below. These charges are continuously updated or never expire depending on the upgrade.

Iron Ore is the cheapest method to improve your armor. It can be found by exploring and looting small chests. Titanium is more expensive however it is obtainable from smelters located in 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 give players a significant boost in stats, and are well worth the cost.

The process of upgrading an armor piece to its maximum upgrade level will significantly increase its defense capabilities however, the user must be aware that increasing its weight will dramatically reduce its agility and speed. It is not recommended to upgrade armor past +9. The boost in defense usually isn't worth the weight and power costs of the upgrades.

Weapons

Weapon upgrades give players the ability to improve certain aspects of their weapon. For example an upgrade could enhance the damage caused by shotgun shells or the accuracy of a sniper rifle. Certain weapons come with special enhancements to enhance their intrinsic characteristics. Frictionless materials (improves stability, reduces the risk of the possibility of overheating), and Kinetic coils (increases the projectile's speed to cause more damage) are two examples.

The majority of weapon upgrades require a whetblade, one of three Power Dices and a different amount of Minerals and Erons. They can be obtained by completing Side Quests or killing a certain amount of bosses and monsters.

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 required to complete it. If you have multiple upgrade materials, the cost of upgrading will be less.

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

You can still do this but the process is based on RNG and low on agency. Instead, you're better off going to the stores and purchasing equipment with low upgrade levels but excellent base scores and stat distributions. These gears have a better chance of granting you the highest level of benefits and blessings.

To increase their level quicker, players usually prioritise upgrading their weapons. Players should also upgrade the weapons their squadmates utilize to increase their power. For instance, Shepard should consider upgrading the M92F to unlock the Beretta M93R, which will enhance its effectiveness when accompanied by biotic specialists like Grunt and Tali.

Jewels

Jewels can be used to increase the effectiveness of a skill or provide additional effects on weapons and armor. Jewelry crafting is a method of making them, where you combine gemstones with specific reagents on a table. The higher the grade of the gem, the greater the secondary effect. These reagents are obtained in the world through Treasure Goblins, World Bosses and occasionally by salvaging Legendary equipment. You can also purchase them from The Jeweler in exchange for Scattered Prisms and gold.

The Jeweler can boost the quality of gemstones in stages ranging from Crude up to Royal. Based on the tier of the jewel it can provide different stat boost when slotted into weapons, gear and jewelry.

All tiers of jewels are crafted at the Jeweler, with the exception of the rare and legendary gems that require you to be at a high enough level to obtain the privilege of having them. Like other upgrade components jewels can be swapped out by a different identical jewel without destroying it. However, you can only replace a jewel in an item of equipment once.

Utilizing more jewels in a move can make it feel more comfortable and is usually performed to enhance the aesthetics of the movement. The jewels also improve performance and create a harder surface than steel, so that the repeated friction caused by pivots does not cause damage to them.

In addition to the above-mentioned upgrades, the player can also get glyphs for their weapons and shields from a Glyphmaster. These are a small perk and can be swapped freely however they aren't guaranteed to drop as loot. Glyphs can be upgraded, as jewelry, by visiting the Jeweler for gold and a scattered Crystal. Glyphs may also be removed and returned to the inventory. Other upgrade components, such as traits and aegis aren't swappable and are only recoverable by using an Upgrade Extractor or salvaging them with Black Lion Salvage Kit or an Ascended Salvage Tool.

Trinkets

Trinkets are small pieces of equipment that provide an array of small but useful advantages to your hero. They are available in the starting area as rewards for personal stories or loot. They can also be obtained from vendors as well as through the completion of road interactions. They can also be made by jewelers, and then found or purchased from the Trading Post.

The first trinkets that a player can unlock is the cloak, which grants a small, but valuable boost in speed of movement and the ability to escape. After that, they can acquire rings, amulets, and necklaces in a similar fashion to how the player acquires weapons and armor. Each piece of equipment comes with one upgrade slot that can accommodate either a universal or a jewel upgrade. Universal upgrades provide smaller bonuses and can be placed in any kind of equipment while jewelry cannot be replaced or upgraded, and is only compatible with certain types of trinkets.

These trinkets also provide additional bonuses and abilities that are active whenever the hero is not fighting. This lets the hero be more effective while inactive and may also help make up for a lack of a solid team or the absence of any talent tree slots which would normally be filled with the hero's Best item upgrader statistics.

As a general rule trinket upgrades should be prioritized over BiS (Best in Slot) items that you aren't likely to replace soon. Next, any items with desirable stats that aren't as significant as the iLevel for the item that is to be upgraded. This is especially true if you want to upgrade multiple stats on an item level upgrade. It is best to upgrade just one crucial stat rather than two suboptimal ones.

Jungle players will often upgrade their yellow trinkets to a red trinket at the beginning of the game. Mid and top players however, will choose a pink or green ward, based on the game's matchup. These choices will have a significant impact on the hero's map control abilities.

Aside from the items listed above, players can also find other items in the form of trophies and awards. These can be obtained through completing certain milestones in the story, for instance completing a chapter's main quest or killing a particular boss. You can see them by clicking on the achievement in the reward section of the hero's menu.