20 Fun Details About Item Upgrades
Path of Exile Item Upgrades Upgrades to items are a common and important way to improve the performance of numerous items in Path of Exile. They can provide extra damage, AD or even affixes. Rare-grade equipment is usually superior to upgraded Common or Magic equipment because of their high requirements. Armor Armor upgrades can be applied to both armor and weapon items. They increase the effectiveness of the item they are attached to. Armor upgrades can be found in the game's world and can be purchased from Blacksmiths at any bonfire. Alternately, they can be salvaged from items with upgrade components within them by using an expert or greater salvage kit. The level of an armor's or weapon's upgrade determines the amount of damage it can absorb. Upgrading a piece of armor to its highest upgrade level will increase the damage it absorbs. It's important to remember that this will increase the weight of the armor, so it must be more heavy. There are a variety of armor upgrades available in the game. Each one has a distinct effect. Certain upgrades grant armor a greater amount of health points while others make it stronger and lighter. The name of the upgrade will indicate the type of upgrade that an item will be given, as illustrated below. Certain upgrades require magic or a combination of technology and magic, which is shown by the “Magic” and “Hybrids” entries in the table. Some upgrades also require charges to use, which is identified by a “Charges” entry in the table below. The charges associated with these upgrades refresh every day or never expire, depending on the upgrade. The cheapest way to upgrade armor is to use Iron Ore, which can be found through exploring the surroundings and looting chests of minor loot. Titanium is more costly, but is readily available at the smelters of Orgrimmar and Stormwind City. Certain upgrades, like the Reforge and the Hot Potato Books, can only be applied to high level armor pieces. These upgrades can provide significant improvements in stats and are definitely worth the cost. Upgrading a piece of armor to its maximum upgrade level will greatly increase its defense capabilities, but the player should be aware that putting more weight on it will dramatically reduce its speed and agility. Therefore, it is typically not recommended to upgrade armor pieces beyond +9, since the added defense is usually not worth the extra weight and power costs of the improvements required. Weapons Weapon upgrades allow players to enhance certain aspects of their weapon. For example an upgrade could enhance the damage caused by a shotgun's shells or the accuracy of the sniper rifle. Some weapons also have special upgrades that enhance their inherent capabilities. Frictionless materials (improves stability, and reduces weapon overheating), and Kinetic coils (increases the projectile's velocity for greater damage) are two examples. The majority of upgrades to weapons require three Power Dices, a different amount of Minerals and Erons and a whetblade for applying. They can be obtained by completing side quests or by killing a certain number of monsters and bosses. To upgrade the weapon, equipment set piece, or Whetblade you need to visit the NPC [ArmorBoboko. Boboko located in Central Flarine, and pay her an upgrade fee that is a certain amount of Bars. The higher the upgrade level, the more bars are required to complete it. If you have multiple upgrade materials, the cost of upgrading will be less. In Chapter 2: Season 5 the way you upgrade your weapon and equipment sets has changed a bit. Previously you could go to an Upgrade Bench and pay a set amount of Bars to upgrade your equipment or weapon to an increased level of rarity. You could continue doing this until you reached the maximum upgrade level for the weapon or equipment, after which the upgrades would be reset. This is still possible, but it is dependent heavily on RNG. You're better off buying gear that has low levels of upgrade, but high base scores and stat distributions. They will also be able to give you the highest tier benefits and blessings. To increase their level quicker, players usually prioritize upgrading their weapons. Players should also upgrade the weapons that their teammates utilize to increase their power. Shepard, for example, should upgrade the M92F in order to unlock the Beretta M93R. This will make the weapon more useful when accompanied with biotic specialists such as Grunt and Tali. Jewels Jewels are utilized in the sockets of armor and weapons, increasing a stat and providing secondary effects. They can be created using a process called jewelry crafting, in which you combine a gemstone and various chemicals at a table. The higher the tier of the gem is, the greater its secondary effect. These reagents are available from Treasure Goblins and World Bosses in the world, or by salvaging Legendary Gear. item upgrading can also buy them from The Jeweler for gold and a Scattered Prism. The quality of a gem can be improved at the Jeweler, with stages that range from Crude to Royal. The stat boosts can vary according to the tier that the jewel is at when it's inserted into jewelry, weapons, or equipment. The Jeweler can craft the highest levels of gems with the exception of rare and legendary ones that you must attain an appropriate level to obtain. Unlike other upgrade components, jewels can be swapped out by a different identical jewel without damaging the original one. However you can only swap out one jewel in a piece of equipment once. Using more jewels in the movement will make it more smooth and is usually used for aesthetic reasons. The jewels can also enhance performance and make a surface harder than steel, so that the repeated friction from pivots do not cause damage to 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 freely swapped, but they are not guaranteed to show up as loot. Glyphs can be upgraded as jewelry, by visiting the Jeweler for gold, and also Scattered Crystal. Glyphs are also removed from the inventory, and they are returned to the inventory. Other upgrade components such as traits or aegis can't be swapped, and can only be recovered through an upgrade extractor, or salvaging with the Black Lion Salvage Kit or Ascended Salvage tool. Trinkets Trinkets are a great way to provide your hero with a variety of small, but useful benefits. They can be obtained in the starter areas as loot, personal story rewards, from vendors, and by completing road interactions. They can be found on the Trading Post, or crafted by jewelers. The first trinket a player unlocks will be the cloak, which gives an unimportant but beneficial boost in speed of movement and evasion. After that, they'll be able to purchase amulets, rings and necklaces in a similar way to how a player obtains weapons and armor. Every piece of equipment has an upgrade slot which can be universal or jewel. Universal upgrades provide smaller bonuses and can be placed in any type of equipment while jewelry cannot be changed or upgraded, and only works with certain kinds of trinkets. These trinkets provide additional buffs and abilities that are active even when the hero isn't fighting. This lets a hero be more efficient when they are not active. It can also make up for the absence of excellent slots in the team or talent tree which are usually filled by a hero's top stats. In general, trinket upgrades should prioritize BiS (Best in Slot) items that you aren't likely to replace anytime soon. Also, consider items with desirable stats that are less significant than the iLevel of the item to be upgraded. This is particularly true if an item has multiple stats that you'd like to upgrade as it's often more beneficial to upgrade one important stat than two sub-optimal ones. In the beginning of the game, players in the jungle are likely to upgrade their yellow trinket into a red one, while top and middle players usually choose either a pink or green ward (depending on the matchup). These choices can affect the ability of a hero to control the map. In addition to the items mentioned above, players can also find other trinkets that form trophies and rewards throughout the game. These can be earned through completing certain milestones within the story. For instance, finishing the main quest for a chapter or beating an opponent. These achievements can be seen by selecting the relevant achievement from the reward tab of the hero menu.