Path of Exile Item Upgrades
The performance of a variety of Path of Exile items can be improved by upgrading them. They can cause additional damage, AD or even affixes.
Sometimes, however upgraded Common and Magic gear is beaten out by Rare-grade gear because of their high requirements.
Armor
Armor upgrades are a kind of upgrade that can be applied to armor and weapon items. They improve the stats of the item that they are attached to. Armor upgrades are found in the world of the game and can be purchased from Blacksmiths at any bonfire. They can also be salvaged by using a professional or higher salvage kits to retrieve upgrades from the items.
The amount of damage that an armored item or weapon can absorb depends on the extent of its upgrades. The upgrade of an armor piece to its highest upgrade level will increase the damage it absorbs. But, it's important to note that this will also raise its weight, requiring it to weigh more than it was before.
There are many different kinds of armor upgrades available in the game. Each has a different effect. Some upgrades give armor a greater number of health points while others make it more powerful and lighter. The name of the armor upgrade will tell you the kind of upgrade that an item will be given, as illustrated below.
Some of the upgrades also require magic or a combination of technology and magic, which are indicated by the "Magic" and "Hybrids" entries in the table. Furthermore, some upgrades require a fee to use, and are shown by the "Charges" entry in the table below. These charges are updated daily or never expire, depending on the upgrade.
The cheapest method to upgrade armor is by using Iron Ore, which can be gathered by exploring the environment and looting small loot chests. Titanium is more expensive, but it can be obtained from smelters located in Orgrimmar and Stormwind City. Some upgrades, like the Reforge or the Hot Potato Books can only be used on armor pieces of the highest level. These upgrades can give a significant boost in stats, and are definitely worth the investment.
The player must be aware that upgrading a piece to the max upgrade level will boost its defense. However, it will also reduce the speed and agility of the piece. It is not recommended to upgrade armor beyond +9. The defensive boost gained generally isn't worth the weight and power costs of the upgrades.
Weapons
Weapon upgrades let players increase the effectiveness of certain aspects of an weapon. For instance an upgrade could enhance the damage caused by shotgun shells or the accuracy of a rifle sniper. Some weapons also have special upgrades that enhance their inherent characteristics. They include Frictionless Materials (improves stability and reduces the risk of weapon overheating) and Kinetic Coils (increases the speed of projectiles to cause more damage).
Most upgrades for weapons require one of three Power Dices, a different amount of Minerals and Erons and a whetblade. These can be obtained by completing Side Quests or by killing a certain amount of monsters and bosses.
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 of a certain number of Bars. The higher the upgrade level, the higher the number of bars are required to complete it. The cost of upgrading will be less if you have more than one of the upgrade materials.
In Chapter 2: Season 5, the method of upgrading your equipment and weapon sets has changed a bit. Previously you could go to an Upgrade Bench and pay a certain amount of Bars to upgrade your equipment or weapon to an increased rarity. You could continue to do this until you reached a maximum upgrade level for the equipment or weapon, following which upgrades would reset.
You can still do this but the process is high on RNG and low on agency. Instead, you're better off visiting stores and buying equipment that has low upgrade levels but excellent base scores and stat distributions. These items will have a higher chance of giving you the most prestigious tier of blessings and perks.
Most players will want to prioritize weapon upgrades for the weapons they are most likely to use to allow them to progress 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. Shepard for instance, should upgrade the M92F to unlock the Beretta M93R. This will increase the effectiveness of the weapon when used in conjunction by biotic specialists like Grunt and Tali.
Jewels
Jewels can be used to increase a stat or provide secondary effects on weapons and armor. item upgrade is the process of creating them. You combine a gemstone with a number specific reagents on a table. The higher the level of the gemstone, the better the secondary effect. These reagents can be obtained around the world from Treasure Goblins, World Bosses and sometimes by salvaging Legendary equipment. You can also buy them from The Jeweler for gold and a Scattered Prism.
The Jeweler can improve 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 boost when slotted into weapons, gear and jewelry.
The Jeweler can create the highest levels of gems with the exception of rare and legendary ones, which you must be at a certain level to get. Jewels can be substituted with another jewel without damaging the original. You are able to replace the jewel once within an item of equipment.
Using more jewels in a move will make it feel smoother, and is often done for aesthetic reasons. Apart from improving performance, the jewels also create a surface that is harder than metal, so repeated friction from pivots doesn't cause harm as easily.
A Glyphmaster can provide glyphs that can enhance the appearance of your shields and weapons. These glyphs provide a small boost in power and can be swapped, but they're not guaranteed to be available as loot. Glyphs can be upgraded, as jewelry, by visiting the Jeweler for gold and a Scattered Crystal. Glyphs can also be removed and returned to the inventory. Other upgrade components, like traits and aegis aren't swappable and are only recoverable by using an Upgrade Extractor or salvaging them with Black Lion Salvage Kit or Ascended Salvage Tool.
Trinkets
Trinkets can be used to provide your hero with various small, but valuable, benefits. They can be obtained in the starter areas as loot, personal story rewards, from vendors, and through doing road interactions. They can also be found on the Trading Post, or crafted by jewelers.
The first trinket players can unlock is the cloak. It provides a tiny but valuable boost in movement speed and the ability to escape. After that, they can purchase amulets, rings and necklaces in the same way to how a player acquires weapons and armor. Each piece of equipment comes with one upgrade slot that accepts either a universal or a jewel upgrade. Universal upgrades are smaller and are able to be used on any equipment. Jewels cannot be upgraded or replaced, and can only be used with certain trinkets.
These trinkets can also grant buffs and skills that are active whenever the hero is not in combat. This allows the hero to be more efficient while inactive. It can also make up for the absence of strong slot in the talent tree or team which would normally be filled by the hero's optimal stats.
In general trinket upgrades should be a priority BiS (Best in Slot) items that you will not replace anytime soon. Also, consider items that have desirable statistics are less significant than the iLevel for the item to be upgraded. This is especially true if an item has multiple stats that you'd like to upgrade, as it's often better to upgrade just one important stat rather than two sub-optimal ones.
In the beginning of the game junglers will usually want to upgrade their yellow trinket to a red in the middle and top players usually choose the pink or green ward (depending on the matchup). These choices will have a significant impact on the hero's map control abilities.
In addition to the items mentioned above, players will find other trinkets in the form of trophies and rewards throughout the game. These can be obtained by completing certain milestones in the story, like completing a chapter's main quest or killing a certain boss. These achievements can be seen by selecting the appropriate achievement in the reward tab of the hero menu.