Guide To Item Upgrades: The Intermediate Guide On Item Upgrades
Path of Exile Item Upgrades
Item upgrades are a common and important way to improve the performance of many items in Path of Exile. They can cause additional damage, AD or even affixes.
Rare-grade equipment is often superior to the more modernized Common or Magic gear due to their higher requirements.
Armor
Armor upgrades are a form of upgrade that can be applied to armor and weapon items. They improve the stats of the item they are 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 salvaged from items that have upgrade components inside them, using a specialist or more powerful salvage kit.
The amount of damage an armored Item Upgrade or weapon will absorb is contingent on the degree of upgrades. Upgrading a piece of armor to maximum upgrade level will increase its damage absorption. However, it's important to keep in mind that this will raise its weight, requiring it to weigh more than it was before.
There are many different kinds of armor upgrade available in the game. Each one has a distinct impact. Certain upgrades give armor a greater amount of health points while others make it stronger and lighter. The kind of armor upgrade an item upgrader mod can receive will be identified by the name of the upgrade, as indicated in the table below.
Some of the upgrades also require magic or a hybrid technology and magic, which is indicated by the "Magic" and "Hybrids" entries in the table below. Certain upgrades require charges for use. These are identified as "Charges" entries in the table. These charges are updated daily or never expire depending on the upgrade.
The cheapest way to upgrade armor is with Iron Ore, which can be found by exploring the area and looting small loot chests. Titanium is more expensive however it is obtainable from smelters located in Orgrimmar and Stormwind City. Certain upgrades, like the Reforge and the Hot Potato Books, can only be applied to higher level armor pieces. These upgrades can give players a significant increases in stats and are well worth the cost.
The player must be aware that upgrading a piece to its maximum upgrade level can increase its defense values. However, it can also reduce its agility and its speed. For this reason, it is not recommended to upgrade armor pieces above +9, since the added defense is usually not worth the extra weight and power cost of the upgrades needed.
Weapons
Weapon upgrades allow players the ability to improve certain aspects of their weapon. For example, an upgrade may improve the damage that is caused by shotgun shells or the accuracy of a sniper rifle. Some weapons also have special enhancements that enhance their intrinsic qualities. They include Frictionless Materials (improves stability and minimizes weapon overheating) and Kinetic Coils (increases projectile acceleration for more damage).
Most weapon upgrades require three Power Dices, a different amount of Minerals and Erons and a whetblade to apply. These can be obtained by completing side quests or killing a certain amount of bosses and monsters.
To upgrade a weapon, equipment set piece or Whetblade, you must visit the NPC [ArmorBoboko. Boboko located in Central Flarine, and pay her an upgrade fee of a specific amount of Bars. The higher the upgrade level, the more bars you will need to complete the upgrade. The cost of the upgrades will be less if you have more than one of the relevant upgrade materials.
In Chapter 2: Season 5, the ways to upgrade your weapon and equipment sets was a bit different. Prior to Chapter 2: Season 5 you could upgrade your weapon and equipment by paying a specific amount of Bars. You could do this until the weapon or equipment reached its maximum upgrade level and at that point, the upgrades would be reset.
You can still do this however, the process is high on RNG and low on agency. You're better off buying gear that has minimal upgrade levels but with high base scores and stat distributions. These items have a higher chance of giving you the most prestigious tier of blessings and perks.
To level up quicker, players usually prioritize upgrading their weapons. Players should also upgrade the weapons their squadmates use to boost their strength. Shepard for instance, should upgrade the M92F so that he can unlock the Beretta M93R. This will make the weapon more useful when accompanied with biotic specialists like Grunt and Tali.
Jewels
Jewels can be used to boost a stat or provide secondary effects on weapons and armor. They can be created using an process known as jewelry crafting, in which you combine a gem and a number of specific chemicals at a table. The higher the level of the gem has, the more powerful its secondary effect. These reagents can be obtained around the world through Treasure Goblins, World Bosses and, sometimes, by salvaging Legendary gear. You can also purchase them from The Jeweler in exchange for Scattered Prisms and gold.
The Jeweler can improve the quality of a gem in stages ranging from Crude up to Royal. The stat boosts can vary depending on the level the jewel is at when it's slotted into jewelry, weapons or equipment.
The Jeweler can craft all tiers of gems, apart from the rare and legendary ones that you must be at certain levels to gain. Unlike other upgrade components, jewels are able to be swapped by a different jewel of the same kind without damaging the original one. However, you can only replace one jewel in a piece of equipment once.
It is normal to use more gems to enhance the appearance of. In addition to enhancing performance, the jewels create an area that is stronger than metal, so repeated friction with pivots doesn't cause harm as easily.
In addition to the above-mentioned upgrades, the player can also get glyphs for their weapons and shields from a Glyphmaster. They offer a small benefit and are able to be swapped easily but aren't guaranteed to drop as loot. Glyphs are like jewelry and can be upgraded by the Jeweler to exchange Scattered Crystals and gold. Glyphs can also be taken out and returned to the inventory. Other upgrade components like aegis or traits cannot be swapped, and can only be retrieved by using an Upgrade extractor or salvaging with a Black Lion Salvage Kit or an Ascended Salvage tool.
Trinkets
Trinkets are a great way to give your character various small, but beneficial, benefits. They can be acquired starting in the beginning areas as loot, personal story rewards, from vendors, and through doing road interactions. They can be found on the Trading Post, or crafted by jewelers.
The first trinkets that a player can unlock is the cloak, which gives a small, but valuable boost in speed of movement and evasion. Then, they can get amulets, rings, and necklaces in the same manner to the way a player obtains weapons and armor. Each piece of equipment comes with one upgrade slot that can accept either a universal upgrade or a jewel upgrade. Universal upgrades offer fewer benefits and can be put into any type of equipment while jewelry cannot be changed or upgraded and is only compatible with specific types of trinkets.
These trinkets grant additional buffs and abilities that are active when the hero isn't fighting. This allows a hero to be more efficient when they are not active. It also helps compensate for the absence of strong slot in the talent tree or team which would normally be filled by the hero's optimal stats.
As a rule, trinket upgrades should prioritize BiS (Best item upgrader in Slot) items that you will not replace anytime soon. Next, any items with desirable statistics that aren't as important as the iLevel for the item that is to be upgraded. This is especially true when an item upgrading has multiple stats you'd like to upgrade, since it's generally more beneficial to upgrade one important stat than two sub-optimal ones.
At the beginning of the game players who are in the jungle will typically want to upgrade their trinket into a red one in the middle and top players usually choose a green or pink ward (depending on the matchup). These choices will have a significant impact on the hero's abilities to control maps.
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 by completing certain milestones in the story, for instance the main quest of a chapter or killing a certain boss. You can check them out by selecting the achievement from the reward section of the hero's menu.