Watch Out: What Item Upgrades Is Taking Over And What To Do About It

Path of Exile Item Upgrades

Upgrades to items are a frequent and important way to improve the performance of many items in Path of Exile. They can also provide additional damage, AD or even affixes.

Often times however, upgraded Common and Magic gear is beaten out by Rare-grade gear because of their higher requirements.

Armor

Armor upgrades can be applied to both weapon and armor items. They boost the performance of the item they're connected to. Upgrades to armor are available in the game's world and can be purchased from Blacksmiths at any bonfire. Alternately, they can be salvaged from items that have upgrade components within them by using an expert or greater salvage kit.

The amount of damage that an armored item or weapon will absorb is contingent on the level of its upgrades. The ability to absorb damage of a piece armor will increase when it is upgraded to the highest upgrade level. It is important to keep in mind that this will increase the weight of the armor, therefore it should be heavier.

There are several types of armor upgrades available in the game and they all have different effects. For example, some upgrades will 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 the item can receive, as shown below.

Some upgrades also feature magic or a mix of magic and technology, which is indicated by the "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 either constantly updated or never expire based on the upgrade.

The cheapest method to upgrade armor is by using Iron Ore, which can be found by exploring the area and looting small loot chests. Titanium is more expensive but it can be obtained 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 boost in stats, and are worth the cost.

The player must be aware that upgrading a piece up to the maximum upgrade level can boost its defense. However, it can also reduce its agility and speed. It is not recommended to upgrade armor past +9. The added defense generally isn't worth the weight and power costs of the upgrades.

Weapons

Weapon upgrades allow players to improve the effectiveness of certain aspects of the weapon. Upgrades can improve the accuracy of a rifle or the damage that shotgun shells do. Certain firearms have upgrades that enhance their inherent capabilities. They include Frictionless Materials (improves stability and decreases the chance of the risk of overheating) and Kinetic Coils (increases the speed of projectiles to cause more damage).

Most weapon upgrades require three Power Dices, a different amount of Minerals and Erons, and a whetblade. These are obtained through either finishing side quests, killing a certain amount of monsters or bosses or from 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 price of a set number of Bars. The higher the upgrade level, the more bars you will need to complete the upgrade. The cost of upgrades will be lower if you have more than one of the upgrade materials.

In Chapter 2: Season 5 the way you upgrade your weapon and equipment sets has changed. Previously you could go to an Upgrade Bench and pay for a specific number of Bars to upgrade your weapon or equipment to a higher quality. You could continue to do this until you reached a max upgrade level of the weapon or equipment, after which upgrades would reset.

You can still do this however, the process is high on RNG and low on agency. Instead, you're much better off visiting stores and buying gear that has low upgrade levels but excellent base scores and stat distributions. These items will have a better chance of giving you the most prestigious tier of blessings and perks.

Most players will want to prioritize upgrades to the weapons they most often use to help them level up faster. Players should also upgrade the weapons that their squadmates use to boost their strength. For instance, Shepard should consider upgrading the M92F to unlock the Beretta M93R to increase its utility when accompanied by biotech specialists such as Grunt and Tali.

Jewels

Jewels can be used to improve the effectiveness of a skill or provide additional effects on weapons and armor. They can be created through an process known as jewelry crafting, where you combine a gemstone and a number of specific ingredients at a table for jewelry. The higher the grade of the gem, the greater the secondary effect. These reagents can be obtained 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 Jeweler can boost the quality of the gem in stages that range from Crude up to Royal. Depending on the tier of the jewel it can provide different stat boosts when inserted into weapons, gear and jewelry.

item upgrader  of jewels are crafted at the Jeweler however, there are some exceptions to this, such as the rare and legendary gems that require you to be at a certain level to obtain these. Jewels can be replaced by another one without damaging the original. However you can only swap out the jewels in a piece of equipment once.

The use of more jewels in the movement will make it feel smoother, and is often performed to enhance the aesthetics of the movement. In addition to enhancing performance, the diamonds create an area that is stronger than metal, which means that repeated friction with pivots doesn't cause damage as easily.

A Glyphmaster can offer glyphs to improve the appearance of your shields and weapons. These glyphs give a slight boost and can be freely swapped, but they are not guaranteed to show up as loot. Glyphs, like jewelry, can be upgraded by the Jeweler in exchange for gold and Scattered Crystals.  item upgrading  may also be removed 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 a Black Lion Salvage Kit or Ascended Salvage Tool.

Trinkets

Trinkets are items of equipment that offer many tiny but valuable benefits to your hero. They can be obtained in the starter areas as loot or personal story rewards from vendors, or by doing road interactions. They can also be crafted by jewelers, and then found or purchased on the Trading Post.

The first trinket a player will unlock is the cloak. It grants a small, but useful bonus in movement speed and the ability to escape. After that, they'll be able to get amulets, rings, and necklaces in the same manner to the way a player can acquire weapons and armor. Every piece of equipment has an upgrade slot which can be universal or jewel. Universal upgrades are smaller and can be utilized on any piece of equipment. Jewels cannot be upgraded or replaced and are only compatible with certain trinkets.

These trinkets grant additional buffs and abilities that are active when the hero isn't engaged in combat. This lets the hero be more effective when not active and also helps make up for a lack of a solid team or any slots in the talent tree that would normally be filled with the hero's best statistics.

As a rule trinket upgrades should be prioritized over BiS (Best in Slot) items you won't replace in the near future. Then, you should consider any items that have desirable statistics aren't as significant as the iLevel for the item that is to be upgraded. This is especially true if you want to upgrade multiple stats on an item. It's more beneficial to upgrade a single important stat than two less important ones.

Jungle players will often upgrade their yellow trinkets to a red trinket at the start of the game. Mid and top players, on the other hand they will select either a pink or green ward, depending on the game's matchup. These choices will have a significant impact on the hero's abilities to control maps.

In addition to the items listed above, players can also discover other trinkets in form of trophies and rewards throughout the game. They can be obtained by completing certain milestones within the story. For example, completing a chapter’s main quest or beating a boss. You can check them out by selecting the achievement from the reward section of the hero's menu.