11 "Faux Pas" That Are Actually Okay To Make With Your Item Upgrades
Path of Exile Item Upgrades
Item upgrades are a common and important way to improve the performance of a variety of items in Path of Exile. They can cause additional damage, AD or even affixes.
Sometimes, however, upgraded Common and Magic gear is often surpassed by Rare-grade equipment due to their higher requirements.
Armor
Armor upgrades are a kind of upgrade that can be used on weapon and armor items. They improve the stats of whatever item they are attached to. Upgrades to armor are available in the world of the game and can be purchased from Blacksmiths at any bonfire. They can also be salvaged by using an expert or higher salvage kit to retrieve upgrade components from other items.
The level of an armor's or weapon's upgrade determines the amount of damage it can take on. The damage absorption of an armor piece will increase when it's upgraded to the highest upgrade level. It is important to note that this will increase the weight of the armor, which means it should be heavier.
There are a variety of armor upgrades available in the game. Each has a different effect. Certain upgrades give armor a greater number of health points while others make it lighter and more powerful. The kind of armor upgrade an item will receive is indicated by the name of the upgrade as illustrated in the table below.
Some upgrades also feature magical or a combination of technology and magic which is identified by the "Magic" or "Hybrid" entry in the table below. Certain upgrades also require fees in order to be used. They are referred to as "Charges" entries in the table. The charges for these upgrades are updated every day or never expire, depending on the upgrade.
Iron Ore is the cheapest way to upgrade your armor. You can locate it by exploring and looting small chests. Titanium is more expensive, however, it is available through smelters in Orgrimmar and Stormwind City. Certain upgrades, such as 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 worth the cost, especially for single-handed weapons.
The player must be aware, however, that upgrading a piece to the max upgrade level will boost its defense. However, it can also affect the speed and agility of the piece. It is not recommended to upgrade armor beyond +9. The boost in defense typically isn't worth the weight and power cost of the upgrades.
Weapons
Weapon upgrades allow players to improve the effectiveness of specific aspects of the weapon. Upgrades can improve the accuracy of a rifle, or the damage that shotgun shells cause. Certain weapons also come with upgrades that improve their innate qualities. Frictionless materials (improves stability, and reduces the risk of overheating), and Kinetic coils (increases the projectile's speed to cause more damage) are two examples.
The majority of upgrades to weapons require a whetblade, one of three Power Dices and a different amount Minerals and Erons. These are obtained through either finishing side quests, killing a certain number of monsters or bosses or through the Weapon Upgrade NPC located in Central Flarine.
Upgrading a Weapon, Equipment Set piece or Whetblade requires visiting the NPC [Armor] Boboko in Central Flarine and paying her an upgrade fee that is based on a specific number 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. Prior to Chapter 2: Season 5, you could upgrade your weapon or equipment by paying a certain amount of Bars. You could do this until you reached the maximum upgrade level for the equipment or weapon, following which upgrades would reset.
item upgrade is still possible, but it relies heavily on RNG. Instead, you're better off going to stores and buying gear with low upgrade levels, but good base scores and stat distributions. These will then be able to give you the highest tier bonuses and blessings.
Most players will want to prioritize upgrades to the weapons they most often use to allow them to progress faster. Players should also upgrade the weapons their teammates utilize to increase their power. Shepard for instance should upgrade his M92F so that he can unlock the Beretta M93R. This will make the weapon more effective when used in conjunction with biotic specialists like Grunt and Tali.
Jewels
Jewels can be used to boost the stats of a character or to provide additional effects on weapons and armor. Jewelry crafting is a method for making them, in which you combine gemstones with specific reagents on a jewelry table. The higher the grade of the gem, the greater the secondary effect. These reagents can be gotten from Treasure Goblins and World Bosses all over the world, or by finding Legendary Gear. You can also purchase them from The Jeweler in exchange for Scattered Prisms and gold.
The quality of a jewel can be improved at the Jeweler in stages that range from Crude to Royal. The boosts to stats will differ depending on the level the jewel is in when it's slotted into weapons, jewelry, or equipment.
All kinds of jewels are crafted at the Jeweler, with the exception of the rare and legendary jewels that require you to be at a sufficient level to qualify for the privilege of having them. In contrast to other upgrade components, jewels are able to be swapped by a different jewel of the same kind without damaging the original one. However you can only swap out a jewel in a piece of equipment once.
It is normal to use more gems for aesthetic reasons. Apart from improving performance, the jewels create an area that is stronger than metal, so repeated friction from pivots won't cause damage as easily.
A Glyphmaster can offer glyphs to improve the appearance of your weapons and shields. These glyphs give a slight boost and can be freely traded, but they're not guaranteed to appear as loot. Glyphs can be upgraded, like jewelry, at 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 cannot be swapped, and can only be recovered with an Upgrade extractor or salvaging with the Black Lion Salvage Kit or an Ascended Salvage.
Trinkets
Trinkets are items of equipment that provide an array of small but useful benefits to your hero. They can be acquired starting in the areas of starting as loot, personal story rewards, from vendors, and by completing road interactions. They can also be made by jewelers and later found or purchased from the Trading Post.
The first trinkets that a player can unlock is the cloak, which grants a small but useful bonus in speed of movement and the ability to escape. The player will then be able to acquire rings, amulets and necklaces in a similar manner as they did with weapons and armor. Each piece of equipment has one upgrade slot that can accept either a universal upgrade or a jewel upgrade. Universal upgrades offer fewer benefits and can be put into any kind of equipment however, jewelry cannot be replaced or upgraded, and only works with certain kinds of trinkets.
These trinkets also grant additional buffs and skills that remain active even when the character is not fighting. This lets the hero be more effective when not active and also helps fill in the void of a solid team or the absence of any slots from the talent tree which would normally be filled with the hero's ideal stats.
A good general rule of thumb for trinket upgrades is to prioritize BiS (Best-in-Slot) items that you won't be replacing in the near future, then any items with desirable stats, but less important than the iLevel of the item to be upgraded. This is especially true if you are looking to upgrade multiple statistics on an item. It's more beneficial to upgrade a single important stat instead of two subpar ones.
Jungle players usually upgrade their yellow trinkets to a red one at the start of the game. Mid and top players, on the other hand will pick a green or a pink ward, based on the matchup. These choices will have a significant impact on the hero's ability to control his map.
Aside from the items listed above, players may also find other trinkets in the game in the form of trophies and awards. These can be earned by completing certain milestones in the story. For instance, completing the main quest of a chapter or defeating an opponent. They can be viewed by selecting the relevant achievement from the reward tab of the hero menu.