10 Things We Were Hate About Item Upgrades
From Shiapedia
Path of Exile item upgrader kit (look at more info) Upgrades
Upgrades to items are a common and important way to improve the performance of many items in Path of Exile. They can be a great source of extra damage and more AD or even more attachments.
Rare-grade equipment is often superior to upgraded Common or Magic equipment because of their high requirements.
Armor
Armor upgrades are a form of upgrade that can be applied to armor and weapon items. They increase the effectiveness of the item that they're connected to. Armor upgrades are found in the world of the game and can be purchased from Blacksmiths at any bonfire. Alternately, they can be rescued from items with upgrade components inside them, with a professional or higher salvage kit.
The amount of damage that a piece of armor or weapon will absorb is contingent on the degree of upgrades. A piece of armor upgraded to its highest upgrade level will boost its damage absorption. But, it's important to be aware that this upgrade will increase its weight, causing it to weigh more than it was before.
There are a variety of armor upgrade available in the game. Each has a different impact. Certain upgrades give armor an additional number of health points while others make it lighter and more powerful. The name of the upgrade will indicate the type of upgrade the item can be given, as illustrated below.
A few upgrades are magical or a combination of magic and technology, which is identified by an "Magic" or "Hybrid" entry in the table below. Some upgrades also require charges to use. These are indicated as "Charges" entries in the table. These charges are constantly updated or never expire based on the upgrade.
The cheapest method to upgrade armor is by using Iron Ore, which can be obtained through exploring the surroundings and looting minor loot chests. Titanium is more expensive, but it can be obtained from smelters located in Orgrimmar and Stormwind City. Certain upgrades, like the Reforge and the Hot Potato Books, can only be applied to high level armor pieces. These upgrades can give players a significant improvements in stats and are well worth the cost.
The player should be aware, however, that upgrading a piece up to the maximum upgrade level can boost its defense. However, it will also affect its agility and its speed. It is not recommended to upgrade armor beyond +9. The boost in defense generally 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. For example an upgrade could improve the damage that is caused by a shotgun's shells or the accuracy of the rifle sniper. Certain weapons also come with enhancements that enhance their intrinsic capabilities. 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 the use of a whetblade, or one of the three Power Dices and a different amount Minerals and Erons. They can be obtained by finishing side quests, killing a certain amount of bosses or monsters, or from the Weapon Upgrade NPC in Central Flarine.
To upgrade the weapon, equipment set piece or Whetblade, you must visit the NPC [Armor] Boboko located in Central Flarine, and pay her an upgrade fee of a certain amount of Bars. The more bars you need to complete an upgrade the more advanced the level. The cost of upgrades will be less if you have more than one of the upgrade materials.
In Chapter 2: Season 5, the way you upgrade your equipment and weapon sets changed a little. Prior to Chapter 2 Season 5 you could upgrade your weapon and 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 visiting stores and buying equipment that has low upgrade levels but good base scores and stat distributions. These items will have a greater chance of granting you the highest tier advantages and benefits.
To improve their skills faster, most players will prioritise upgrading their weapons. Additionally players, they should also consider upgrading the weapons they use with their teammates to make them more powerful and effective. For instance, Shepard should consider upgrading the M92F to unlock the Beretta M93R to make it more useful when accompanied by experts in biotics like Grunt and Tali.
Jewels
Jewels are used in the armor's sockets and weapons, increasing the power of a character and bringing about secondary effects. Jewelry crafting is a method of making them, where you combine the gemstone with specific reagents in a jewelry table. The higher the quality of the jewel the better the secondary effect. These reagents are available from Treasure Goblins and World Bosses around the world, or by salvaging Legendary Gear. You can also purchase them from The Jeweler for gold and a Scattered Prism.
The quality of a diamond can be improved upon by the Jeweler, with stages that vary from Crude to Royal. Depending on the tier of the jewel, it will provide a different stat boost when slotted into gear, weapons and jewelry.
The Jeweler can craft all tiers of gems, with the exception of rare and legendary ones that you must be at an appropriate level to obtain. Jewels can be replaced with another jewel without damaging the original. You are able to replace the jewel once in an item upgrades of equipment.
It is normal to use more jewels to enhance the appearance of. The jewels also improve performance and make a surface harder than metal so that repeated friction caused by pivots does not cause damage to the movement.
In addition to the above-mentioned upgrades, the player can also obtain glyphs for their weapons and shields from a Glyphmaster. These glyphs give a slight boost and can be freely swapped, but they're not guaranteed to show up as loot. Glyphs can be upgraded, as jewelry, by visiting the Jeweler for gold, and also Scattered Crystal. Glyphs can also be removed from the inventory, and they are returned to the inventory. Other upgrade components, like traits and aegis cannot be swapped out, and can only be recovered using an Upgrade Extractor, or by salvaging them using the Black Lion Salvage Kit or Ascended Salvage Tool.
Trinkets
Trinkets can give your character a variety of small, but useful, benefits. They are available in the start-up area as loot or personal story rewards. They are also available through vendors and after doing road interaction. They can be found on the Trading Post, or crafted by jewelers.
The first trinkets a player is able to unlock is the cloak. It 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 way to how a player can acquire weapons and armor. Each piece of gear comes with one upgrade slot that can accommodate either a universal or a jewel upgrade. Universal upgrades offer smaller bonuses and can be used in any type of equipment while jewelry cannot be changed or upgraded, and only works with specific types of trinkets.
These trinkets grant additional buffs and abilities that are active even when the hero isn't fighting. This allows the hero to become more efficient even when not in combat. It can also make up for the absence of strong slots in the team or talent tree that are normally filled by the hero's Best item upgrade 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 upgrader mod that is being upgraded. This is especially true when you're looking to upgrade several statistics on an item. It is more beneficial to upgrade a single important stat than two less important ones.
Jungle players 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 choose a pink or green ward, based on the game's matchup. These choices will have a major impact on the hero's abilities to control maps.
In addition to the items mentioned above, players can find other items in the form of awards and trophies. These can be obtained through completing certain milestones in the story, like completing a chapter's main quest or destroying a boss. These can be viewed by selecting the relevant achievement in the reward tab of the hero menu.