This Most Common Item Upgrades Debate Isn't As Black Or White As You Might Think
Path of Exile Item Upgrades
The performance of many Path of Exile items can be enhanced by upgrading their performance. They can be a great source of extra damage, more AD or even more affixes.
Rare-grade equipment is often superior to upgraded Common or Magic gear due to their higher requirements.
Armor
Armor upgrades can be applied to both armor and weapon items. They increase the effectiveness of the item they're connected to. Upgrades to armor are available in the world of the game and can be purchased from Blacksmiths at any bonfire. Alternately, they can be salvaged from items with upgrade components in them using a specialist or more powerful salvage kit.
The amount of damage that an armored piece or weapon is able to absorb is dependent on the level of its upgrades. Upgrading a piece of armor to maximum upgrade level will boost the damage it absorbs. But, it's important to be aware that this upgrade will increase its weight, causing it to weigh more than it was before.
There are several kinds of armor upgrades that are available in the game and they all have distinct effects. For instance, some upgrades will grant the armor a certain number of health points while others will make it lighter and stronger. The type of armor upgrade that an item will receive will be identified by the name of the upgrade as illustrated in the table below.
A few upgrades also feature magic or a hybrid of technology and magic which is shown by an "Magic" or "Hybrid" entry in the table below. Some upgrades also require charges in order to be used. These are identified as "Charges" entries in the table. The charges associated with these upgrades change every day or never expire, according to the upgrade.
Iron Ore is the cheapest way to improve your armor. You can locate it by exploring and looting small loot chests. Titanium is more expensive but it can be obtained through smelters in Orgrimmar and Stormwind City. Certain upgrades, like the Reforge or the Hot Potato Books can only be applied to high-level armor pieces. These upgrades can provide significant boost in stats, and are well worth the investment.
A piece of armor upgraded to the highest upgrade level will greatly increase its defense values however, the user must be aware that putting on weight will drastically reduce its agility and speed. For this reason, it is generally not recommended to upgrade most armor pieces that are higher than +9 since the defensive boost gained is generally not worth the additional weight and power cost of the upgrades required.
Weapons
Weapon upgrades allow players to increase the effectiveness of certain aspects of the weapon. For example an upgrade can increase the damage dealt by the shells of a shotgun or the accuracy of the sniper rifle. Certain weapons also come with upgrades that improve their innate qualities. These include Frictionless Materials (improves stability and decreases the chance of overheating of the weapon) and Kinetic Coils (increases the velocity of projectiles for greater damage).
The majority of weapon upgrades require a whetblade. It's one of three Power Dices and a different amount of Minerals and Erons. These 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 must 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 required to complete it. If you have multiple upgrade materials The cost of upgrading will be lower.
In Chapter 2: Season 5 the way you upgrade your weapon and equipment sets has changed a bit. In the past you could go to an Upgrade Bench and pay a set amount of Bars to upgrade your equipment or weapon to a higher quality. item upgrader could continue to do this until you reach a maximum upgrade level for your equipment or weapon, following which the upgrades would be reset.
It's possible, but it relies heavily on RNG. You should consider buying equipment with low upgrade levels but with high base scores and stat distributions. These items will have a better chance of granting you the most prestigious tier of advantages and benefits.
Most players will want to prioritize weapon upgrades for the weapons they most often use to allow them to progress faster. Players should also upgrade the weapons that their squadmates use to make them stronger. Shepard, for example, should upgrade the M92F so that he can unlock the Beretta M93R. This will make the weapon more useful when used with biotic specialists like Grunt and Tali.
Jewels
Jewels can be used to improve a stat or provide secondary effects on weapons and armor. Jewelry crafting is a method of creating them. You combine the gemstone with specific reagents on a table. The higher the grade of the gem, the greater the secondary effect. These reagents are available from Treasure Goblins and World Bosses all over the world, or through finding Legendary Gear. You can also purchase them from The Jeweler for gold and a Scattered Prism.
The quality of a jewel can be improved by the Jeweler, in stages that vary from Crude to Royal. Depending on the tier of the jewel, it will provide a different stat boosts when it is inserted into weapons, equipment and jewelry.
item upgrader is able to create all kinds of gems, apart from the rare and legendary ones that you must be at certain levels to gain. Jewels can be replaced with another jewel without damaging the original. You can only replace the jewel once within an item of equipment.
Utilizing more jewels in a movement will make it more smooth and is typically done for aesthetic reasons. Apart from improving performance, the jewels create an area that is stronger than metal, so repeated friction with pivots doesn't cause harm as easily.
A Glyphmaster can provide glyphs that can enhance the look of your weapons and shields. These glyphs give a slight boost in power and can be exchanged, however they are not guaranteed to be available as loot. Glyphs, like jewelry, can be upgraded at the Jeweler to exchange gold and Scattered Crystals. Glyphs are also removed, which returns them to the inventory. Other upgrade components, like aegis and traits, cannot be swapped out, and can only be recovered using an Upgrade Extractor, or by salvaging them using the Black Lion Salvage Kit or Ascended Salvage Tool.
Trinkets
Trinkets can give your character many small, but useful advantages. You can find them in the start-up area as rewards for personal stories or loot. They are also available from vendors and by completing road interaction. They can also be made by jewelers, and found or purchased from the Trading Post.
The first trinket that a player will be able to unlock is the cloak. It gives a small, but useful bonus in movement speed and the ability to evade. The player can then acquire necklaces, rings, and amulets, in a similar way as they did with weapons and armor. Each piece of gear comes with one upgrade slot that accepts either a universal or a jewel upgrade. Universal upgrades are smaller and can be used on any equipment. Jewels cannot be upgraded or replaced, and can only be used with certain trinkets.
These trinkets can provide additional bonuses and abilities that are active even when the hero isn't in combat. This allows a hero to be more efficient while inactive. It also helps compensate for the lack of a good slots in the team or talent tree which are usually filled by a hero's top stats.
As item upgrade should be prioritized over BiS (Best in Slot) items you won't replace soon. Then, you should consider any items with desirable statistics that are less significant than the iLevel for the item that is to be upgraded. This is especially true when an item has multiple stats you'd like to upgrade since it's generally better to upgrade just one important stat rather than two sub-optimal ones.
At 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 typically choose a green or pink ward (depending on the matchup). These choices will have a significant impact on the hero's abilities to control maps.
Aside from the things mentioned above, players can discover a variety of other items in the form of awards and trophies. These can be earned by completing certain milestones within the story, for instance completing a chapter's main quest or killing a certain boss. You can view them by selecting the achievement in the reward section of the hero's menu.