Path of Exile Item Upgrades
The performance of many Path of Exile items can be enhanced by upgrading them. They can also provide additional damage, AD or even affixes.
Rare-grade equipment can be superior to upgraded Common or Magic gear because of their high requirements.
Armor
Armor upgrades can be applied to both weapon and armor items. They boost the performance of the item that they're attached to. Armor upgrades can be found in the game's world and can be purchased from Blacksmiths at any bonfire. They can also be salvaged using a specialist or higher salvage kits to recover upgrade components from items.
The amount of damage a piece of armor or weapon can absorb depends on the degree of upgrades. The damage absorption of a piece armor will increase as it is upgraded to the highest upgrade level. But, it's important to keep in mind that this will increase its weight, causing it to be heavier than before.
There are several types of armor upgrades available in the game, and each one has distinct effects. For example, some upgrades will give the armor a certain amount of additional health points, while others will make it lighter and stronger. The name of the upgrade will indicate the type of upgrade an item can be given, as illustrated 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. Additionally, some upgrades require a fee to use, and are shown by a "Charges" entry in the table below. The charges for these upgrades change every day or never expire, dependent on the upgrade.
The cheapest way to upgrade armor is by using Iron Ore, which can be found through exploring the surroundings and looting chests of minor loot. Titanium is more expensive however, it is available at 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 provide significant improvements in stats and are well worth the cost.
The process of upgrading an armor piece to max upgrade level will significantly increase its defense capabilities but the wearer must be aware that putting more weight on it can drastically decrease its agility and speed. It is not recommended to upgrade armor above +9. The defensive boost gained generally isn't worth the weight and power costs of the upgrades.
Weapons
Weapon upgrades give players to enhance certain aspects of their weapon. For example an upgrade could enhance the damage caused by shotgun shells or the accuracy of the sniper rifle. Certain weapons also come with enhancements that enhance their intrinsic capabilities. Frictionless materials (improves stability, minimizes weapon overheating) and Kinetic coils (increases the projectile's acceleration to cause more damage) are two examples.
The majority of upgrades for weapons require a whetblade. It's one of three Power Dices and a different amount Minerals and Erons. These can be obtained by doing side quests, or taking out a certain number of monsters or bosses, or through the Weapon Upgrade NPC 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 required to complete it. The cost of upgrades will be lower if have more than one of the upgrade materials.
In Chapter 2: Season 5, the ways to upgrade your weapon and equipment sets has changed a bit. Prior to Chapter 2 Season 5, you could upgrade your weapon or equipment by paying a specific number of Bars. You could do this until you reach a maximum upgrade level for the equipment or weapon, following which upgrades would reset.
This is still possible, but it depends heavily on RNG. Instead, you're better off going to the stores and buying gear that has low upgrade levels but excellent base scores and stat distributions. These gears have a higher chance of giving you the highest level of benefits and blessings.
Most players will want to make the most of upgrades to weapons they are most likely to use to help them level up quicker. Players should also upgrade the weapons that their squadmates utilize to increase their power. For instance, Shepard should consider upgrading the M92F to unlock the Beretta M93R to enhance its effectiveness when paired with biotech specialists such as Grunt and Tali.
Jewels
Jewels are placed in the sockets of armor and weapons, enhancing the stats of a weapon and providing additional effects. Jewelry crafting is a method for making them, where you combine the gemstone with specific reagents in a jewelry table. The higher the grade of the jewel has, the more powerful its 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 quality of a gem can be improved by the Jeweler, in stages that range from Crude to Royal. Depending on the tier of the jewel, it will provide a different stat boost when slotted into weapons, equipment and jewelry.
All kinds of jewels can be made at the Jeweler however, there are some exceptions to this, such as the rare and legendary gems that require you to be at a sufficient level to be able to get these. Jewels can be replaced by another jewel without destroying the original. You are able to replace the jewel only once in a piece of equipment.
It is normal to use more jewelry to enhance the appearance of. Apart from improving performance, the diamonds create a surface that is harder than metal, so repeated friction from pivots won't damage them as easily.
A Glyphmaster can provide glyphs to enhance the look of your shields and weapons. These glyphs offer a small boost and can be exchanged, however they are not guaranteed to show up as loot. Glyphs can be upgraded like jewelry, at the Jeweler for gold and Scattered Crystal. Glyphs can also be taken out and returned to the inventory. Other upgrade components, such as traits and aegis, cannot be swapped out, and can only be retrieved using an Upgrade Extractor or salvaging them using Black Lion Salvage Kit or an Ascended Salvage Tool.
Trinkets
Trinkets are a great way to provide your hero with a variety of small, but beneficial advantages. They can be obtained in the beginning areas as loot or personal story rewards from vendors, and through doing road interactions. They can be found on the Trading Post, or crafted by jewelers.
The first trinket a player is able to unlock is the cloak, which gives a small but useful bonus in speed of movement and the ability to escape. After that, they can acquire rings, amulets, and necklaces in the same fashion to how the player can acquire armor and weapons. Each piece of equipment comes with one upgrade slot that can accept either a universal or jewel upgrade. Universal upgrades are smaller and can be used on any equipment. official website cannot be upgraded or replaced and are only compatible with certain trinkets.
These trinkets also grant additional buffs and skills that remain active when the hero is not fighting. This lets the hero be more effective while inactive, and can also help make up for a lack of a solid team or the absence of any slots from the talent tree which would normally be filled with the hero's best statistics.
A good guideline for trinket upgrades is to prioritize BiS (Best-in-Slot) items that you aren't planning to replace soon, followed by any items with desirable stats but less important than the iLevel of the item that is being upgraded. This is particularly 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.
At the beginning of the game junglers will usually want to upgrade their yellow trinket into a red one, while top and mid players will usually opt for a green or pink ward (depending on the game's matchup). These choices will have an impact on a hero's ability to control the map.
In addition to the things mentioned above, players can also find other trinkets in the game in the form of awards and trophies. These can be obtained by completing certain milestones in the story, such as completing a chapter's main quest or killing a particular boss. These can be viewed by selecting the relevant achievement in the reward tab of the hero menu.