"The Item Upgrades Awards: The Best, Worst And The Most Bizarre Things We've Seen

Path of Exile Item Upgrades

Upgrades to items are a common and essential way to boost the performance of a variety of items in Path of Exile. They can be a great source of damage, more AD or even more 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 weapon and armor items. They increase the performance of the item they are connected to. Upgrades to armor can be found in the world of games and can be purchased from Blacksmiths at bonfires. They can also be salvaged using a professional or higher salvage kits to recover upgrade components from items.

The level of an armor's or weapon's upgrade determines the amount of damage it will absorb. Upgrading a piece of armor to its highest upgrade level will increase its ability to absorb damage. It's important to remember that this will increase the weight of the armor, therefore it must be heavier.

There are many different kinds of armor upgrade available in the game. Each has a different impact. For instance, some upgrades will give the armor a certain amount of additional health points, while others make it lighter and stronger. The name of the armor upgrade will indicate the kind of upgrade an item can be given, as illustrated below.

A few upgrades also feature magical or a combination of magic and technology, which is identified by a "Magic" or "Hybrid" entry in the table below. Additionally, some upgrades require charges to use, which are identified by the "Charges" entry in the table below. The charges associated with these upgrades are updated daily or never expire, according to the upgrade.

The cheapest method of upgrading armor is by using Iron Ore, which can be found through exploring the surroundings and looting small loot chests. Titanium is more expensive, however, it is available through smelters in Orgrimmar and Stormwind City. Certain upgrades, like the Reforge or the Hot Potato Books can only be applied to armor pieces of the highest level. These upgrades can provide a significant improvement in stats and are a worthwhile investment, particularly for one-handed weapons.

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 speed and agility. It is not recommended to upgrade armor beyond +9. The added defense usually isn't worth the weight and power costs of the upgrades.

Weapons

Weapon upgrades give players to enhance certain aspects of their weapon. Upgrades can boost the accuracy of a rifle, or the damage that shotgun shells cause. Some weapons also have special upgrades that improve their innate qualities. Frictionless materials (improves stability, minimizes weapon overheating), and Kinetic coils (increases the projectile's acceleration to cause more damage) are two examples.

The majority of upgrades for weapons require a whetblade. It's one of three Power Dices and a different amount of Minerals and Erons. These are obtained through either completing Side Quests, killing a certain number of monsters or bosses, or by contacting the Weapon Upgrade NPC located in Central Flarine.

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 more bars 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 a bit. Prior to Chapter 2 Season 5 you could upgrade your weapon and equipment by paying a specific number of Bars. You could continue doing this until you reach a maximum upgrade level for your equipment or weapon, following which the upgrades would be reset.

You can still do this but the process is based on RNG and low on agency. You should consider buying equipment with low levels of upgrade but with high base scores and stat distributions. These items will have a higher chance of granting you the most prestigious tier of benefits and blessings.

To improve their skills faster, many players prioritize upgrading their weapons. Players should also upgrade the weapons their squadmates use to make them stronger. For instance, Shepard should consider upgrading the M92F to unlock the Beretta M93R to enhance its effectiveness when paired with experts in biotics like Grunt and Tali.

Jewels

Jewels can be used to improve a stat or provide secondary effects in weapons and armor. They can be created through an process known as jewelry crafting, in which you combine a gem with various reagents at a jewelry table. The higher the level of the jewel is, the greater its secondary effect.  item upgrade  are obtained in the world from Treasure Goblins, World Bosses and occasionally by salvaging Legendary gear. You can also purchase them from The Jeweler in exchange for gold and Scattered Prisms.

The quality of a gem can be improved upon by the Jeweler, with stages that range from Crude to Royal. Based on the tier of the gem, it will provide a different stat boosts when inserted into weapons, equipment and jewelry.

All kinds 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 certain level to be able to get them. Jewels can be replaced by another jewel without damaging the original. You can only replace the gem once within an item of equipment.

It is normal to use more gems to enhance the appearance of. Apart from improving performance, the jewels also create an outer layer that is more durable than steel, so the repeated friction from pivots doesn't cause harm as easily.

In addition to the above upgrades players can also acquire glyphs for their shields and weapons from a Glyphmaster. These glyphs give a slight boost and can be freely exchanged, however they're not guaranteed to be available as loot. Glyphs are upgradeable, as jewelry, by visiting the Jeweler for gold, and also scattered Crystal. Glyphs can also be removed from the inventory, and they are returned to the inventory. Other upgrade components, like aegis and traits, are not swappable, and can only be recovered using an Upgrade Extractor or salvaging them using the Black Lion Salvage Kit or an Ascended Salvage Tool.

Trinkets

Trinkets are a great way to give your character a variety of small, but valuable, benefits. They can be obtained in the beginning areas as loot or personal story rewards from vendors, and through performing road interactions. They can be found on the Trading Post, or crafted by jewelers.

The first trinket a player is able to unlock is the cloak. It grants a small, but valuable boost to movement speed and the ability to escape. The player can then collect necklaces, rings, and amulets, in a similar way to how they acquired weapons and armor. Each piece of equipment comes with one upgrade slot that can accept either a universal or jewel upgrade. Universal upgrades offer smaller bonuses and can be placed in any type of equipment, however, jewelry cannot be replaced or upgraded, and is only compatible with specific types of trinkets.

These trinkets can also grant buffs and skills that remain active even when the character is not in combat. This enables the hero to perform better when they are not active and also helps to compensate for the absence of a strong team or any slots from the talent tree that normally are filled with hero's ideal statistics.

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 any items with desirable stats but less important than the iLevel of the item that is being upgraded. This is especially true if an item has multiple stats you'd like to upgrade as it's usually more beneficial to upgrade one crucial stat than two subpar ones.

Jungle players often upgrade their yellow trinkets to a red one prior to the start of the game. Top and mid players however will pick a green or a pink ward, depending on the game's matchup. These choices can affect the ability of a hero to control the map.

In addition to the items listed above, players can also find other trinkets that form trophies and rewards throughout the game. These can be earned by completing certain milestones in the story, like completing a chapter's main quest or killing a certain boss. These can be viewed by selecting the relevant achievement from the reward tab of the hero menu.