10 Fundamentals To Know Item Upgrades You Didn't Learn In The Classroom
Path of Exile Item Upgrades
The performance of a variety of Path of Exile items can be improved by upgrading the performance of them. They can provide extra damage, AD or even affixes.
Rare-grade equipment is usually superior to modernized Common or Magic equipment due to their high demands.
item upgrade can be applied to both armor and weapon items. They improve 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. Additionally, they can be salvaged from items that have upgrade components in them with a professional or higher salvage kit.
The amount of damage that an armored item or weapon will absorb is contingent on the level of its upgrades. A piece of armor upgraded to maximum upgrade level will boost its damage absorption. It's important to remember that this will increase the weight of the armor, therefore it must be more heavy.
There are several different types of armor upgrade available in the game. Each has a different impact. For instance, certain upgrades will give the armor a certain amount of additional health points, while others make it stronger and lighter. The name of the armor upgrade will indicate the type of upgrade an item can receive, as shown below.
Certain upgrades require magic or a combination of technology and magic, which are identified by the "Magic" and "Hybrids" entries in the table. Some upgrades also require charges in order to be used. They are referred to as "Charges" entries in the table. These charges are either continuously updated or never expire based on the upgrade.
Iron Ore is the cheapest option to upgrade your armor. It can be found by exploring and looting small treasure 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 significant improvements in stats and are a worthwhile investment, especially for 1-handed weapons.
The process of upgrading an armor piece to its maximum upgrade level will significantly boost its defense but the wearer must be aware that increasing its weight will drastically reduce its agility and speed. This is why it is generally not recommended to upgrade armor pieces beyond +9, because the increase in defense is typically not worth the extra weight and power cost of the improvements required.
Weapons
Weapon upgrades allow players the ability to improve certain aspects of their weapon. Upgrades can improve the accuracy of a rifle, or the damage caused by shotgun shells. Some weapons have special enhancements to enhance their intrinsic characteristics. These include Frictionless Materials (improves stability and minimizes the risk of overheating) and Kinetic Coils (increases the velocity of projectiles for greater damage).
The majority of upgrades to weapons require a whetblade. It's one of three Power Dices and a different amount Minerals and Erons. They can be obtained by completing Side Quests or killing a certain amount of bosses and monsters.
To upgrade the 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 amount of bars. The higher the upgrade level, the more bars you will need to complete the upgrade. If you have multiple upgrade materials the cost of upgrading will be lower.
In Chapter 2: Season 5, the ways to upgrade your equipment and weapon sets has changed a bit. Before you could search for an Upgrade Bench and pay a set number of Bars to upgrade your weapon or equipment to an increased rarity. You could continue to do this until you reach a maximum upgrade level for your equipment or weapon, following which upgrades would reset.
It's possible, but it depends heavily on RNG. You're better off buying gear with low upgrade levels, but high base scores and stat distributions. These items will have a better chance of giving you the highest tier blessings and perks.
To level up faster, most players will prioritise upgrading their weapons. Players should also upgrade the weapons their squadmates use to boost their strength. Shepard, for example should upgrade his M92F to unlock the Beretta M93R. This will make the weapon more useful when accompanied by biotic specialists like Grunt and Tali.
Jewels
Jewels are utilized in the sockets of armor and weapons, enhancing a stat and providing secondary effects. Jewelry crafting is the process of making them, where you combine the gemstone with specific reagents in a jewelry table. The higher the grade of the gemstone, the better the secondary effect. These reagents can be gotten from Treasure Goblins and World Bosses around the world, or by finding Legendary Gear. You can also buy them from The Jeweler in exchange for Scattered Prisms and gold.
The quality of a jewel can be improved by the Jeweler, in stages that range from Crude to Royal. Depending on the tier of the jewel it can provide different stat boosts when it is inserted into weapons, equipment and jewelry.
The Jeweler is able to create all tiers of gems, except for the rare and legendary ones that require certain levels to gain. Jewels can be substituted with another jewel without damaging the original. You can only replace the jewel once within an item of equipment.
The use of more jewels in a movement will make it more smooth, and is often used for aesthetic reasons. Apart from improving performance, the diamonds create an area that is stronger than steel, so the repeated friction with pivots doesn't cause damage as easily.
In addition to the above-mentioned upgrades, the player can also acquire glyphs for their shields and weapons from a Glyphmaster. These provide a small bonus and can be swapped freely but aren't guaranteed to drop as loot. Glyphs are like jewelry and can be upgraded by the Jeweler in exchange for gold and Scattered Crystals. Glyphs can also be removed and returned to the inventory. Other upgrade components such as traits or aegis cannot be exchanged and can only be recovered through an upgrade extractor or salvaging using a Black Lion Salvage Kit or an Ascended Salvage tool.
Trinkets
Trinkets are small pieces of equipment that provide a wide range of small but useful advantages to your hero. You can find them in the start-up area as loot or as personal story rewards. They can also be obtained through vendors and after the completion of road interactions. They can also be found on the Trading Post, or crafted by jewelers.
The first trinket that a player will be able to unlock is the cloak. It provides a tiny but beneficial boost in movement speed and the ability to escape. Then, they can get amulets, rings, and necklaces in the same manner to the way a player can acquire armor and weapons. Each piece of gear comes with one upgrade slot that accepts either a universal upgrade or a jewel upgrade. Universal upgrades offer fewer benefits and can be used in any type of equipment, however, jewelry cannot be replaced or upgraded, and is only compatible with certain types of trinkets.
These trinkets can provide additional bonuses and abilities that are active even when the hero isn't fighting. This enables the hero to be more effective while inactive and may also help fill in the void of a solid team or the absence of any slots in the talent tree that normally are filled with the hero's best stats.

A good general rule of thumb for trinket upgrades is to prioritize BiS (Best-in-Slot) items that you aren't planning to replace soon, followed by items with desirable stats that are less important than the iLevel of the item that is being upgraded. This is particularly true if an item has multiple stats you'd like to upgrade as it's often more beneficial to upgrade one important stat rather than two sub-optimal ones.
In the beginning of the game, players who are in the jungle will typically want to upgrade their trinket to a red 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 ability to control his map.
In addition to the items mentioned above, players can also find other trinkets in the form of rewards and trophies throughout the game. They can be obtained through completing certain milestones within the story. For instance, completing the main quest of a chapter or beating an opponent. You can check them out by selecting the achievement from the reward section of the hero's menu.