20 Fun Informational Facts About Item Upgrades

Path of Exile Item Upgrades
Upgrades to items 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 can be applied to both armor and weapon items. They boost the performance of the item that they are connected to. Armor upgrades can be found in the world of the game and are available from Blacksmiths on bonfires. Alternatively, they can also be salvaged from items with upgrade components inside them, with a professional or higher salvage kit.
The level of an armor's or weapon's upgrade determines the amount of damage it can absorb. The upgrade of an armor piece to maximum upgrade level will boost its damage absorption. It is important to keep in mind that this will increase the weight of the armor, therefore it must be more heavy.
There are several kinds of armor upgrades available in the game and they all have different effects. For example, some upgrades will grant the armor a certain amount of additional health points, while others will make it lighter and stronger. The type of armor upgrade that an item can get will be indicated by the name of the upgrade, as shown in the table below.
A few upgrades also feature magic or a mix of magic and technology, which is identified by the "Magic" or "Hybrid" entry in the table below. Furthermore, some upgrades require charges to use, which are identified by a "Charges" entry in the table below. The charges associated with these upgrades refresh daily or never expire, dependent on the upgrade.
item upgrade is the cheapest method to improve your armor. You can find it by exploring and looting small loot chests. Titanium is more expensive however it is obtainable from the smelters in Orgrimmar and Stormwind City. Certain upgrades, such as the Reforge or the Hot Potato Books can only be applied on armor pieces that are of high-level. These upgrades can provide significant improvements in performance and are worth the investment, especially for 1-handed weapons.
The player should be aware that upgrading a piece to the maximum upgrade level will boost its defense. However, it can also affect its agility and speed. This is why it is typically not recommended to upgrade armor pieces that are higher than +9 since the defensive boost gained is usually not worth the additional weight and power cost of the upgrades needed.
Weapons
Weapon upgrades allow players to enhance certain aspects of their weapon. Upgrades can improve the accuracy of a rifle, or the damage caused by shotgun shells. Certain firearms also have enhancements that enhance their intrinsic characteristics. Frictionless materials (improves stability, minimizes the possibility of overheating), and Kinetic coils (increases the projectile's velocity to cause more damage) are two examples.
Most weapon upgrades require one of 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.
The process of upgrading a weapon, equipment Set piece, or Whetblade requires visiting the NPC [Armor] Boboko in Central Flarine and paying her an upgrade price of a set number of Bars. The higher the upgrade level, the higher the number of bars are required to complete it. The cost of the upgrades will be lower if you have more than one of the upgrade materials.
In Chapter 2: Season 5, the way you upgrade your weapon and equipment sets changed a little. Prior to Chapter 2: Season 5, you could upgrade your weapon or equipment by paying a specific number of Bars. You could do this until you reached a maximum upgrade level for your weapon or equipment, after which the upgrades would be reset.
You can still do this, but the process is based on RNG and low on agency. Instead, you're much better off going to the stores and buying gear with low upgrade levels but good base scores and stat distributions. These will then have a chance at gaining you the best tier of bonuses and blessings.
Most players will want to make the most of upgrades to weapons they are most likely to use to allow them to progress quicker. Players should also upgrade the weapons that their teammates use to boost their strength. For instance, Shepard should consider upgrading the M92F to unlock the Beretta M93R to make it more useful when paired with experts in biotics like Grunt and Tali.
Jewels
Jewels can be used to boost the effectiveness of a skill or provide additional effects in weapons and armor. Jewelry crafting is a method for making them, in which you combine a gemstone with a number specific reagents on a jewelry table. The higher the grade of the gemstone, the better the secondary effect. These reagents can be obtained around the world from Treasure Goblins, World Bosses and sometimes by salvaging Legendary gear. You can also buy them from The Jeweler for gold and a Scattered Prism.
The Jeweler can enhance the quality of gemstones in stages ranging from Crude up to Royal. Based on the tier of the gem it can provide different stat boost when slotted into weapons, equipment and jewelry.
All kinds of jewels are crafted at the Jeweler however, there are some exceptions to this, such as the rare and legendary jewels that require you to be at a sufficient level to qualify for the privilege of having them. Unlike other upgrade components, jewels can be swapped out with another identical jewel without damaging the original one. You are able to replace the jewel once within an item of equipment.
The use of more jewels in a move can make it feel more comfortable, and is often used to enhance the aesthetics of the movement. Jewels also enhance performance and create an outer layer that is more durable than steel, so that the repeated friction from pivots does not cause damage to the movement.
A Glyphmaster can provide glyphs to enhance the appearance of your shields and weapons. These glyphs give a slight boost and can be freely traded, but they are not guaranteed to appear as loot. Glyphs are upgradeable, as jewelry, by visiting the Jeweler for gold, and also a scattered Crystal. Glyphs are also removed and returned to the inventory. Other upgrade components such as traits or aegis cannot be exchanged and can only be retrieved by using an Upgrade extractor, or salvaging with a Black Lion Salvage Kit or Ascended Salvage.
Trinkets
Trinkets can be used to provide your hero with a variety of small, but valuable, benefits. You can find them in the starter area as rewards for personal stories or loot. They are also available from vendors and by completing road interaction. They can also be crafted by jewelers, and found or purchased at the Trading Post.
The first trinkets a player is able to unlock is the cloak, which gives a small but useful bonus in speed of movement and evasion. After that, they can purchase amulets, rings and necklaces in a similar fashion to how the player can acquire weapons and armor. Each piece of equipment comes with one upgrade slot that can accept either a universal or jewel upgrade. Universal upgrades provide smaller bonuses and can be put into any kind of equipment however, jewelry cannot be replaced or upgraded and is only compatible with specific types of trinkets.
These trinkets also provide additional buffs and skills that remain active when the hero is not fighting. This allows a hero to be more efficient when they are not active. It can also make up for the absence of good team or talent tree slots which would normally be filled by the hero's optimal stats.
A good 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 but less important than the iLevel of the item being upgraded. This is true especially if you're looking to upgrade several stats on an item. It's more beneficial to upgrade a single important stat than two less important ones.
Jungle players will often upgrade their yellow trinket to a red one prior to the start of the game. Mid and top players on the other hand, will choose either a pink or green ward, depending on the game's matchup. These choices will have a major impact on the hero's ability to control his map.
Aside from the items mentioned above, players may also find other trinkets throughout the game in the form of awards and trophies. These can be obtained through completing certain milestones within the story. For example, completing the main quest for a chapter or defeating the boss. You can check them out by selecting the achievement in the reward section of the hero's menu.