Guide To Item Upgrades: The Intermediate Guide For Item Upgrades
From Shiapedia
Path of Exile item level upgrade Upgrades
Item upgrades are a common and important way to improve the performance of a variety of items in Path of Exile. They can be a great source of additional damage and more AD or even more affixes.
Sometimes, however, upgraded Common and Magic gear is often surpassed by Rare-grade gear because of their requirements.
Armor
Armor upgrades can be applied to both weapon and armor items. They increase the effectiveness of the item that they are connected to. Armor upgrades can be found in the world of the game and can be purchased from Blacksmiths at any bonfire. Alternately, they can be salvaged from items that have upgrade components in them with a professional or higher salvage kit.
The level of an armor's or weapon's upgrade determines the amount of damage it will take on. The ability to absorb damage of an item of armor will increase when it's upgraded to the maximum upgrade level. But, it's important to note that this will also increase its weight, which will cause it to weigh more than it was before.
There are a few different kinds of armor upgrades that are available in the game, and each one has distinct effects. For example, some upgrades give the armor a certain number of additional health points, while others make it stronger and lighter. The kind of armor upgrade an item upgrader mod will receive will be identified by the name of the upgrade, as illustrated in the table below.
Certain upgrades require magic or a combination of technology and magic, as indicated by the "Magic" and "Hybrids" entries in the table. Certain upgrades require charges to use. These are indicated as "Charges" entries in the table. The charges for these upgrades are updated daily or never expire, depending on the upgrade.
Iron Ore is the cheapest method to improve your armor. You can locate it by exploring and looting small treasure chests. Titanium is more expensive, however, it is available from smelters located in 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 give a significant improvements in stats and are definitely worth the investment.
The process of upgrading an armor piece to the highest upgrade level will greatly boost its defense however, the user must be aware that increasing its weight will drastically reduce its speed and agility. For this reason, it is typically not recommended to upgrade armor pieces beyond +9, since the defensive boost gained is typically not worth the extra weight and power cost of the upgrades required.
Weapons
Weapon upgrades give players the ability to improve certain aspects of their weapon. Upgrades can boost the accuracy of a rifle, or the damage that shotgun shells cause. Some weapons also have special enhancements that enhance their intrinsic qualities. Frictionless materials (improves stability, minimizes the possibility of overheating), and Kinetic coils (increases the projectile's speed to cause more damage) are two examples.
Most weapon upgrades require three Power Dices, a different amount of Minerals and Erons and a whetblade. These can be obtained by doing side quests, or killing a certain number of bosses or monsters, or through the Weapon upgrade items NPC in Central Flarine.
To upgrade a weapon, equipment set 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 higher the upgrade level, the more bars are required to complete it. If you have multiple upgrade materials, the cost of upgrading will be lower.
In Chapter 2: Season 5, the method of upgrading your weapon and equipment sets changed a little. Prior to Chapter 2 Season 5, you could upgrade your weapon or equipment by paying a certain amount of Bars. You could do this until your weapon or equipment reached its maximum upgrade level and at that point, the upgrades would be reset.
You can still do this, but the process is high on RNG and low on agency. You're better off buying gear with low levels of upgrade but with high base scores and stat distributions. These items will have a higher likelihood of granting you highest level of benefits 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 example, should upgrade the M92F in order to unlock the Beretta M93R. This will make the weapon more effective when used by biotic specialists like Grunt and Tali.
Jewels
Jewels can be used to improve the stats of a character or to provide additional effects in armor and weapons. Jewelry crafting is the process of making them, in which you combine gemstones with specific reagents in a jewelry table. The higher the tier 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 salvaging Legendary Gear. You can also buy them from The Jeweler for gold and a Scattered Prism.
The quality of a jewel can be improved at the Jeweler in stages that range from Crude to Royal. Based on the level of the gem, it will provide a different stat boosts when it is inserted into gear, weapons and jewelry.
The Jeweler can craft all kinds of gems, apart from the rare and legendary ones that you must be at an appropriate level to obtain. Like other upgrade components jewels can be swapped with another identical jewel without damaging it. However, you can only replace a jewel in an item of equipment only once.
The use of more jewels in a movement will make it feel smoother and is typically performed for aesthetic reasons. The jewels can also enhance performance and create a surface harder than metal so that repeated friction from pivots do not damage them.
In addition to the above-mentioned upgrades players can also obtain glyphs for their weapons and shields from a Glyphmaster. These glyphs provide a small boost and can be freely swapped, but they are not guaranteed to be available as loot. Glyphs can be upgraded, like jewelry, at the Jeweler for gold and Scattered Crystal. Glyphs can also be removed, which returns them to the inventory. Other upgrade components, such as traits and aegis, are not swappable, and can only be retrieved using an Upgrade Extractor or salvaging them with Black Lion Salvage Kit or an Ascended Salvage Tool.
Trinkets
Trinkets are pieces of equipment that provide an array of tiny but valuable benefits to your hero. They are available in the start-up area as loot or as personal story rewards. They can also be obtained through vendors and after the completion of road interactions. They can also be made by jewelers and later found or purchased from the Trading Post.
The first trinket a player will unlock is the cloak. It gives a small but beneficial boost in speed of movement and evasion. Then, they can purchase amulets, rings and necklaces in a similar way to how a player can acquire armor and weapons. 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 is only compatible with specific types of trinkets.
These trinkets also provide additional buffs and skills that remain active when the hero is not fighting. This allows the hero to be more efficient while inactive. It also helps compensate for the absence of excellent slots in the team or talent tree that are normally filled by a hero's top stats.
A good rule of thumb for trinket upgrades is to prioritize BiS (Best-in-Slot) items that you won't be replacing soon, followed by any items with desirable stats but less important than the iLevel of the item that is being upgraded. This is especially true if you are looking to upgrade multiple statistics on an Item upgrade (Mybookmark.stream). It is Best item upgrader to upgrade just one crucial stat than two less important ones.
Jungle players often upgrade their yellow trinket to a red trinket at the start of the game. Mid and top players however, will choose a pink or green ward, based on the matchup. These choices can affect the ability of a hero to control the map.
In addition to the items mentioned above, players can also find other trinkets in the form trophies and rewards throughout the game. They can be obtained through completing certain milestones within the story. For instance, completing the main quest of a chapter or defeating an opponent. They can be viewed by selecting the relevant achievement in the reward tab of the hero menu.