Why You Should Focus On Improving Item Upgrades
Path of Exile Item Upgrades
The performance of many Path of Exile items can be enhanced by upgrading their performance. They can provide extra damage, AD or even affixes.
In most cases, however, upgraded Common and Magic gear is often surpassed by Rare-grade gear because of their high requirements.
Armor
Armor upgrades can be applied to both armor and weapon items. They boost the performance of the item they are attached to. Armor upgrades are available in the world of games and can be purchased from Blacksmiths at bonfires. They can also be salvaged by using an expert or higher salvage kit to salvage upgrade components from items.
The level of an armor's or weapon's upgrade determines the amount of damage it can absorb. A piece of armor upgraded to its highest upgrade level will increase its ability to absorb damage. However, it's important keep in mind that this will increase its weight, which will cause it to weigh more than before.
There are several kinds of armor upgrades available in the game, and they all have different effects. Some upgrades give armor a greater number of health points while others make it stronger and lighter. The type of armor upgrade that an item level upgrade will receive is indicated by the name of the upgrade as illustrated in the table below.
Some upgrades also feature magic or a hybrid of magic and technology, which is shown by an "Magic" or "Hybrid" entry in the table below. Some upgrades also require charges in order to be used. They are referred to as "Charges" entries in the table. The charges associated with these upgrades change every day or never expire, dependent on the upgrade.
Iron Ore is the cheapest way to upgrade your armor. You can locate it by exploring and looting small loot chests. Titanium is more expensive however, it is available from the smelters 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 a significant boost in stats, and are definitely worth the investment.
A piece of armor upgraded to its maximum upgrade level will dramatically boost its defense however, the user must be aware that putting on weight can drastically decrease its speed and agility. It is not recommended to upgrade items armor beyond +9. The added defense generally isn't worth the weight and power costs of the upgrades.
Weapons
Weapon upgrades let players increase the effectiveness of certain aspects of a weapon. For example, an upgrade may increase the damage dealt by a shotgun's shells or the accuracy of the rifle that snipes. Some weapons also have special upgrades that improve their innate characteristics. They include Frictionless Materials (improves stability and decreases the chance of overheating of the weapon) and Kinetic Coils (increases the speed of projectiles to cause more damage).
Most upgrades for weapons require three Power Dices, a different amount of Minerals and Erons and a whetblade. They can be obtained by completing Side Quests or by killing a certain amount of bosses and monsters.
To upgrade an equipment set, weapon piece or Whetblade You must go to the NPC [ArmorBoboko. Boboko located in Central Flarine, and pay her an upgrade fee of a certain 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 changed a little. In the past you could search for an Upgrade Bench and pay for a specific amount of Bars to upgrade your weapon or equipment to an increased quality. You could do this until you reached a maximum upgrade level for the weapon or equipment, after which the upgrades would be reset.
It's possible, but it relies heavily on RNG. Instead, you're much better off going to the stores and buying gear that has low upgrade levels but excellent base scores and stat distributions. These will then have a chance at gaining you the highest tier bonuses and blessings.
Most players will want to make the most of upgrades to weapons they use most frequently to allow them to progress quicker. Additionally players, they should also consider upgrading the weapons they use with their squadmates to make them more powerful as well. Shepard, for example should upgrade his M92F in order to unlock the Beretta M93R. This will increase the effectiveness of the weapon when accompanied with biotic specialists like Grunt and Tali.
Jewels
Jewels are placed in the armor's sockets and weapons, increasing a stat and providing secondary effects. Jewelry crafting is a method for creating them. You combine a gemstone with a number specific reagents on a jewelry table. The higher the tier of the gemstone has, the more powerful its secondary effect. These reagents can be obtained around the world through Treasure Goblins, World Bosses and occasionally by salvaging Legendary equipment. You can also purchase them from The Jeweler for gold and a Scattered Prism.
The Jeweler can improve the quality of a gem in stages ranging from Crude up to Royal. The stat boosts can vary according to the tier that the jewel is in when it is inserted into jewelry, weapons, or equipment.
All levels of jewels can be made at the Jeweler however, there are some exceptions to this, such as the rare and legendary jewels which require you to be at a high enough level to qualify for these. Jewels can be replaced with another jewel without destroying the original. You can only replace the jewel once within an Item Upgrader Mod of equipment.
It is common to use more jewels for aesthetic reasons. In addition to improving performance, the jewels create an outer layer that is more durable than metal, so repeated friction from pivots doesn't cause damage as easily.
A Glyphmaster can offer glyphs to improve the appearance of your weapons and shields. These glyphs offer a small boost and can be freely swapped, but they're not guaranteed to appear as loot. Glyphs are like jewelry and can be upgraded by the Jeweler to exchange gold and Scattered Crystals. Glyphs can also be taken out and returned to the inventory. Other upgrade components such as aegis or traits cannot be swapped, and can only be recovered by using an Upgrade extractor or salvaging using the Black Lion Salvage Kit or an Ascended Salvage tool.
Trinkets
Trinkets are items of equipment that bestow an array of small, but beneficial advantages to your hero. They can be acquired starting in the starter areas as loot or personal story rewards from vendors, or by doing road interactions. They can also be found on the Trading Post, or crafted by jewelers.
The first trinket players can unlock is the cloak. It grants a small but valuable boost in movement speed and the ability to escape. After that, they can get amulets, rings, and necklaces in the same manner to the way a player can acquire weapons and armor. Each piece of gear comes with one upgrade slot that can accommodate either a universal or a jewel upgrade. Universal upgrades are smaller and can be utilized on any device. Jewels are not upgradeable or replaced and are only compatible with certain trinkets.
These trinkets grant additional buffs and abilities that are active even when the hero isn't engaged in combat. This allows the hero to become more efficient even when not in combat. It can also compensate for the lack of a excellent slot in the talent tree or team which would normally be filled by the hero's Best item upgrader stats.
A good guideline 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 being upgraded. This is particularly true if an item has multiple stats that you'd like to upgrade, as it's usually better to upgrade just one crucial stat than two subpar ones.
Jungle players often upgrade their yellow trinkets to a red one at the start of the game. Mid and top players however will pick either a pink or green ward, depending on the game's 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 will also discover other trinkets in form trophies and rewards throughout the game. These can be obtained by completing certain milestones in the story, for instance completing a chapter's main quest or destroying a boss. These achievements can be seen by selecting the relevant achievement in the reward tab of the hero menu.