Path of Exile Item Upgrades
The performance of a variety of Path of Exile items can be enhanced by upgrading them. They can be a good source of additional damage or more AD or even more attachments.
Often times however upgraded Common and Magic gear is often surpassed by Rare-grade equipment due to their higher requirements.
Armor
Armor upgrades can be applied to both weapon and armor items. They increase the effectiveness of the item they're connected to. Armor upgrades are found in the game's world and can be purchased from Blacksmiths at any bonfire. They can also be salvaged using an expert or higher salvage kit to recover upgrades from the items.
The level of an armor's or weapon's upgrade determines the amount of damage it will absorb. The damage absorption of an armor piece will increase when it is upgraded to the maximum upgrade level. However, it's important note that this will also increase its weight, which will cause it to be heavier than it was before.
There are many different kinds of armor upgrades available in the game. Each has a different impact. For example, some upgrades will grant the armor a certain amount of health points while others make it lighter and stronger. The name of the upgrade will indicate the type of upgrade that an item will 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 in order to be used. These are identified as "Charges" entries in the table. The charges for these upgrades refresh daily or never expire depending on the upgrade.
Iron Ore is the cheapest way to upgrade your armor. You can find it by exploring and looting small treasure chests. Titanium is more expensive, however, it is available from the smelters in Orgrimmar and Stormwind City. Certain upgrades, such as the Reforge or the Hot Potato Books can only be applied on armor pieces of the highest level. These upgrades can give significant improvements in performance and are worth the investment, particularly for one-handed weapons.
The player must be aware that upgrading a piece up to the max upgrade level will boost its defense. However, it can also decrease its agility and its speed. This is why it is typically not recommended to upgrade armor pieces that are higher than +9 since the added defense is generally not worth the additional weight and power cost of the upgrades needed.
Weapons
Weapon upgrades allow players to increase the effectiveness of certain aspects of an weapon. Upgrades can improve the accuracy of a rifle, or the damage that shotgun shells do. Some weapons also have special enhancements that enhance their intrinsic characteristics. Frictionless materials (improves stability, reduces the risk of weapon overheating) and Kinetic coils (increases the projectile's velocity to cause more damage) are two examples.
The majority of upgrades to weapons require a whetblade. It's one of three Power Dices and a different amount Minerals and Erons. These are obtained through either completing Side Quests, killing a certain amount of monsters or bosses or through the Weapon Upgrade NPC located in Central Flarine.
Upgrades to a weapon, equipment Set piece or Whetblade requires visiting the NPC [Armor] Boboko in Central Flarine and paying her an upgrade fee of a certain number of Bars. The more bars you need to complete an upgrade, the higher the level. The cost of upgrades will be lower if have more than one of the relevant upgrade materials.
In Chapter 2: Season 5 the way you upgrade your weapon and sets has changed. Prior to Chapter 2 Season 5 you could upgrade your weapon and equipment by paying a specific amount of Bars. You could continue doing this until you reached the maximum upgrade level for your weapon or equipment, after which upgrades would reset.
You can still do this, but the process is based on RNG and low on agency. You're better off buying gear that has minimal upgrade levels and high base scores and stat distributions. These will then have a chance at gaining you the most prestigious bonuses and blessings.
The majority of players will make the most of upgrades to weapons they are most likely to use to help them level up quicker. In addition players, they should think about upgrading the weapons that are most popular with their squadmates to make them more powerful and effective. For instance, Shepard should consider upgrading the M92F to unlock the Beretta M93R, which will increase its utility when accompanied by biotech specialists such as Grunt and Tali.
Jewels
Jewels are used in the sockets of armor and weapons, increasing the stats of a weapon and providing additional effects. They can be created using a process called jewelry crafting, where you combine a gem with a number of specific chemicals at a table. The higher the grade of the gemstone, the better its secondary effect. These reagents can be obtained from Treasure Goblins and World Bosses in the world, or by salvaging Legendary Gear. You can also buy them from The Jeweler for gold and a Scattered Prism.
upgrade item of a jewel can be improved by the Jeweler in stages that vary from Crude to Royal. The stat boosts will vary depending on the tier the jewel is in when it's slotted into weapons, jewelry, or equipment.
The Jeweler is able to create all kinds of gems, apart from the rare and legendary ones, which you must be at certain levels to gain. Jewels can be replaced with another jewel without destroying the original. You can only replace the jewel only once in a piece of equipment.
It is normal to use more jewelry for aesthetic reasons. The jewels can also enhance performance and make a surface harder than metal 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 exchanged, however they're not guaranteed to appear as loot. Glyphs, like jewelry, can be upgraded by the Jeweler in exchange for Scattered Crystals and gold. Glyphs can also be taken out and returned to the inventory. Other upgrade components, such as traits and aegis are not swappable, and can only be retrieved using an Upgrade Extractor, or by salvaging them using Black Lion Salvage Kit or an Ascended Salvage Tool.
Trinkets
Trinkets are pieces of equipment that provide many small, but beneficial benefits to your hero. They are available in the starting area as loot or personal story rewards. They are also available through vendors and after completing road interaction. They can be found on the Trading Post, or crafted by jewelers.
The first trinkets that a player is able to unlock is the cloak, which gives a small, but valuable boost to movement speed and evasion. The player can then collect rings, amulets and necklaces in a similar fashion similar to how they obtained weapons and armor. Each piece of equipment comes with an upgrade slot that can be either universal or jewel. Universal upgrades are smaller and are able to be used on any piece of equipment. Jewels cannot be upgraded or replaced and only work with certain trinkets.
These trinkets also grant additional buffs and skills that remain active even when the character is not fighting. This lets a hero be more efficient when they are not active. It can also compensate for the absence of excellent slot in the talent tree or team that are normally filled by the hero's best stats.
A good guideline 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 that are less important than the iLevel of the item being upgraded. This is especially true when an item has multiple stats that you'd like to upgrade, since it's generally better to upgrade a single important stat than two sub-optimal ones.
In the beginning of the game players who are in the jungle will typically want to upgrade their yellow trinket to a red, while top and middle players will usually opt for a green or pink ward (depending on the game's matchup). These choices can affect a hero's ability to control the map.
In addition to the items mentioned above, players may also find a number of other trinkets throughout the game in the form of awards and trophies. These can be obtained through completing certain milestones in the story, like finishing a chapter's main quest or destroying a boss. You can check them out by selecting the achievement in the reward section of the hero's menu.