10 Fundamentals On Item Upgrades You Didnt Learn In School

Path of Exile Item Upgrades
The performance of a variety of Path of Exile items can be enhanced by upgrading their performance. They can cause additional damage, AD or even affixes.
Rare-grade equipment is usually superior to the more modernized Common or Magic equipment due to their higher requirements.
Armor
Armor upgrades can be applied to both armor and weapon items. They improve the stats of the item that they are connected to. Upgrades to armor can be found in the world of games and purchased from Blacksmiths on bonfires. Additionally, they can be salvaged from items with upgrade components inside them, using an expert or greater salvage kit.
The level of an armor's or weapon's upgrade determines the amount of damage it can absorb. The ability to absorb damage of a piece armor will increase as it is upgraded to its maximum upgrade level. It's important to remember that this will increase the weight of the armor, therefore it must be heavier.
There are a variety of armor upgrades that are available in the game. Each one has a distinct impact. Certain upgrades grant armor a greater number of health points, while others make it more powerful and lighter. The type of armor upgrade that an item can receive will be indicated by the name of the upgrade, as illustrated in the table below.
Some upgrades also feature magic or a mix of technology and magic, which is shown by an "Magic" or "Hybrid" entry in the table below. Some upgrades also require charges for use. These are identified as "Charges" entries in the table. The charges for these upgrades refresh every day or never expire, dependent on the upgrade.
item upgrade to upgrade armor is by using Iron Ore, which can be found by exploring the environment and looting minor loot chests. Titanium is more costly, but is readily available at the 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 provide significant boost in stats, and are worth the cost.
A piece of armor upgraded to max upgrade level will significantly increase its defense capabilities however, the user must be aware that putting on weight will drastically reduce its speed and agility. It is not recommended to upgrade armor above +9. The defensive boost gained generally isn't worth the weight and power costs of the upgrades.
Weapons
Weapon upgrades give players the ability to improve certain aspects of their weapon. Upgrades can boost the accuracy of a rifle, or the damage that shotgun shells do. Some weapons also have special upgrades that improve their innate qualities. These include Frictionless Materials (improves stability and minimizes the risk of overheating) and Kinetic Coils (increases the speed of projectiles to cause more damage).
The majority of upgrades to weapons require one of three Power Dices, a different amount of Minerals and Erons, and a whetblade. These can be obtained by finishing side quests, killing a certain amount 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 cost of a certain number of Bars. The higher the upgrade level, the more 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 has changed. Previously you could go to an Upgrade Bench and pay a certain number of Bars to upgrade your weapon or equipment to an increased quality. You could do this until the weapon or equipment reached its maximum upgrade level and at that point, the upgrades would be reset.
You can still do this, but the process is based on RNG and low on agency. You're better off buying gear with minimal upgrade levels, but high base scores and stat distributions. These will be able to give you the best tier of benefits and blessings.
Most players will want to prioritize upgrades to the weapons they are most likely to use to make sure they are able to level up quicker. Players should also upgrade the weapons their teammates utilize to increase their power. Shepard, for example, should upgrade the M92F so that he can unlock the Beretta M93R. This will make the weapon more useful when used in conjunction with biotic specialists such as Grunt and Tali.
Jewels
Jewels can be used to improve the stats of a character or to provide additional effects in armor and weapons. 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 tier of the gemstone is, the greater its secondary effect. These reagents are available from Treasure Goblins and World Bosses in the world, or by finding Legendary Gear. You can also purchase them from The Jeweler in exchange for gold and Scattered Prisms.
The Jeweler can improve the quality of a gem in stages ranging from Crude up to Royal. Based on the level of the jewel it can provide different stat boost when slotted into weapons, equipment and jewelry.
The Jeweler can craft all tiers of gems, with the exception of rare and legendary ones, which you must be at an appropriate level to obtain. Jewels can be replaced by another jewel without damaging the original. You can only replace the jewel only once in a piece of equipment.
The use of more jewels in a movement can make it feel more comfortable and is typically performed for aesthetic reasons. Jewels also enhance performance and create a surface harder than steel, so that the repeated friction from pivots does not cause damage to the movement.
In addition to the above upgrades additionally, players can acquire glyphs for their shields and weapons from a Glyphmaster. These provide a small bonus and are able to be swapped easily, but are not guaranteed to drop as loot. Glyphs, like jewelry, can be upgraded by the Jeweler to exchange gold and Scattered Crystals. Glyphs can also be removed from the inventory, and they are returned to the inventory. Other upgrade components such as traits or aegis cannot be exchanged, and can only be recovered by using an Upgrade extractor or salvaging with a Black Lion Salvage Kit, or Ascended Salvage tool.
Trinkets
Trinkets can give your character many small, but valuable, advantages. They can be acquired starting in the beginning areas as loot or personal story rewards from vendors, and through performing road interactions. They can also be made by jewelers, and found or purchased at the Trading Post.
The first trinket a player is able to unlock is the cloak, which gives a small but useful bonus to movement speed and the ability to escape. After that, they'll be able to acquire rings, amulets, and necklaces in the same manner to the way a player obtains armor and weapons. Each piece of equipment has one upgrade slot that can accept either a universal upgrade or a jewel upgrade. Universal upgrades are smaller and can be used on any device. Jewels are not upgradeable or replaced and only work with certain trinkets.
These trinkets also grant additional bonuses and abilities that are active even when the character is not in combat. This allows the hero to perform better when they are not active and also helps fill in the void of a solid team or any slots in the talent tree which would normally be filled with the hero's ideal statistics.
As a rule, trinket upgrades should prioritize BiS (Best in Slot) items you won't replace in the near future. Next, any items that have desirable statistics aren't as important as the iLevel for the item that is to be upgraded. This is especially true when an item has multiple stats you wish to upgrade, as it's often better to upgrade just one crucial stat than two subpar ones.
At the beginning of the game, players in the jungle are likely to upgrade their trinket into a red one in the middle and top players usually choose either a pink or green ward (depending on the matchup). These choices will have a major impact on the hero's abilities to control maps.
In addition to the things mentioned above, players can also discover a variety of other items in the form of awards and trophies. These can be obtained through completing certain milestones in the story, like finishing a chapter's main quest or killing a certain boss. You can check them out by clicking on the achievement in the reward section of the hero's menu.