Guide To Item Upgrades: The Intermediate Guide On Item Upgrades
Path of Exile Item Upgrades
Best item upgrade upgrades are a common and crucial method to enhance the performance of a variety of items in Path of Exile. They can be a fantastic source of damage, more AD or even more affixes.
Often times however upgraded Common and Magic gear is beaten out by Rare-grade gear because of their requirements.
Armor
Armor upgrades are a kind of upgrade that can be used on weapons and armor items. They boost the stats of whatever item upgrader mod they are connected 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 can take on. The upgrade of an armor piece to maximum upgrade level will boost its ability to absorb damage. It's important to remember that this will increase the weight of the armor, which means it should be heavier.
There are a few different types of armor upgrades available in the game, and each one has distinct effects. For instance, certain upgrades give the armor a certain amount of additional health points, while others make it lighter and stronger. The name of the upgrade will indicate the kind of upgrade item that an item will receive, as shown below.
Some upgrades are magical or a combination of technology and magic, which is shown by a "Magic" or "Hybrid" entry in the table below. Some upgrades also require charges for use. They are referred to as "Charges" entries in the table. These charges are updated daily or never expire based 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 costly, but is readily available at the smelters in Orgrimmar and Stormwind City. Certain upgrades, like the Reforge or the Hot Potato Books can only be applied to armor pieces of the highest level. These upgrades can provide significant improvement in stats and are a worthwhile cost, especially for single-handed weapons.
The player should be aware that upgrading a piece to the max upgrade level will increase its defense values. However, it can also affect its agility and speed. For this reason, it is typically not recommended to upgrade armor pieces above +9, since the added defense is typically not worth the weight and power cost of the improvements required.
Weapons
Weapon upgrades give players the ability to improve certain aspects of their weapon. For example an upgrade can increase the damage dealt by a shotgun's shells or the accuracy of a rifle that snipes. Certain weapons come with special upgrades that enhance their inherent capabilities. Frictionless materials (improves stability, and reduces the possibility of overheating), and Kinetic coils (increases the projectile's acceleration to cause more damage) are two examples.
Most weapon upgrades require one of three Power Dices, a different amount of Minerals and Erons and a whetblade to apply. These are obtained through either finishing side quests, taking out a certain number of monsters or bosses or by contacting the Weapon Upgrade NPC in Central Flarine.
To upgrade the weapon, equipment set piece or Whetblade you need to visit the NPC [Armor] Boboko located in Central Flarine, and pay her an upgrade fee of a specific amount of Bars. The higher the upgrade level, the higher the number of bars are required to complete it. The cost of upgrades 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 a bit. Prior to Chapter 2 Season 5, you could upgrade your weapon or equipment by paying a certain number of Bars. You could continue to do this until you reached a maximum upgrade level for the weapon or equipment, after which upgrades would reset.
It's possible, but it is dependent heavily on RNG. It is better to purchase gear with low levels of upgrade, but high base scores and stat distributions. These gears have a better chance of granting you the highest level of advantages and benefits.
To improve their skills faster, most players will be more inclined to upgrade their weapons. Players should also upgrade the weapons that their teammates use to make them stronger. Shepard, for example should upgrade his M92F so that he can unlock the Beretta M93R. This will make the weapon more effective when used in conjunction with biotic specialists such as Grunt and Tali.
Jewels
Jewels are placed in the sockets of armor and weapons, increasing a stat and providing secondary effects. They can be created through an process known as jewelry crafting, which is where you combine a gemstone and several 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 all over the world, or by collecting Legendary Gear. You can also buy them from The Jeweler for gold and a Scattered Prism.
The quality of a gem can be improved at the Jeweler, with stages that range from Crude to Royal. Depending on the tier of the gem it will give different stat boost when slotted into weapons, gear and jewelry.
The Jeweler can craft all kinds of gems, with the exception of rare and legendary ones which you must attain a certain level to get. In contrast to 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 item of equipment once.
The use of more jewels in a move can make it feel more comfortable and is typically 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 provide glyphs that can enhance the appearance of your weapons and shields. These glyphs offer a small boost and can be traded, but they're not guaranteed to appear as loot. Glyphs can be upgraded, like jewelry, at the Jeweler for gold and Scattered Crystal. Glyphs can also be removed 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 salvaging them with a Black Lion Salvage Kit or Ascended Salvage Tool.
Trinkets
Trinkets are pieces of equipment that bestow a wide range 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 and by doing road interaction. They may also be crafted by jewelers and later found or purchased at the Trading Post.
The first trinkets that a player can unlock is the cloak, which gives a small, but valuable boost to movement speed and the ability to escape. The player will then be able to acquire necklaces, rings, and amulets, in a similar way to how they acquired weapons and armor. Each piece of equipment has an upgrade slot which can be universal or jewel. Universal upgrades offer smaller bonuses and can be placed in any kind of equipment however, jewelry cannot be replaced or upgraded and is only compatible with certain types of trinkets.
These trinkets also grant additional buffs and skills that are active when the hero is not in combat. This allows the hero to be more efficient while inactive. It can also make up for the absence of excellent slot in the talent tree or team that are normally filled by the hero's optimal stats.
A good general rule of thumb for trinket upgrades is to prioritize BiS (Best item upgrade-in-Slot) items that you will not replace soon, followed by items with desirable stats that are less important than the iLevel of the item to be upgraded. This is especially true if an item has multiple stats that you wish to upgrade, as it's often more beneficial to upgrade one crucial stat than two subpar ones.
In the beginning of the game, players who are in the jungle will typically want to upgrade item their trinket into a red one in the middle and top players usually choose the pink or green ward (depending on the matchup). These choices will have a major impact on the hero's abilities to control maps.
In addition to the items mentioned above, players will discover other trinkets in form trophies and rewards throughout the game. These can be earned by completing certain milestones in the story. For example, completing the main quest of a chapter or defeating the boss. You can see them by selecting the achievement in the reward section of the hero's menu.