The Ultimate Glossary Of Terms For Item Upgrades

Path of Exile Item Upgrades
The performance of many Path of Exile items can be enhanced by upgrading their performance. They can be a good source of damage, more AD or even more attachments.
Rare-grade equipment can be superior to upgraded Common or Magic gear due to their high demands.
Armor
Armor upgrades can be applied to both armor and weapon items. They improve the stats of the item that they are attached to. Upgrades to armor can be found in the world of games and purchased from Blacksmiths on bonfires. Alternately, they can be rescued from items with upgrade components within them by using a specialist or more powerful salvage kit.
The amount of damage an armored piece or weapon can absorb depends on the degree of upgrades. The ability to absorb damage of an armor piece will increase when it is upgraded to its maximum upgrade level. It is important to note that this will increase the weight of the armor, so 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 number of health points while others make it lighter and stronger. The name of the upgrade will tell you the kind of upgrade that an item will receive, as shown below.
Some of the upgrades are also magic or a hybrid of technology and magic, which is identified by the "Magic" or "Hybrid" entry in the table below. Furthermore, some upgrades require charges to use, which are indicated by the "Charges" entry in the table below. These charges are either constantly updated or never expire, depending on the upgrade.
Iron Ore is the cheapest method to improve your armor. It can be found by exploring and looting small chests. Titanium is more expensive but it can be obtained from the smelters in Orgrimmar and Stormwind City. Certain upgrades, such as the Reforge or the Hot Potato Books can only be applied to armor pieces that are of high-level. These upgrades can give a significant increases in stats and are worth the investment.
A piece of armor upgraded to its maximum upgrade level will significantly boost its defense however, the user must be aware that increasing its weight will drastically reduce its agility and speed. It is not recommended to upgrade armor beyond +9. The added defense usually isn't worth the weight and power cost of the upgrades.
Weapons
Weapon upgrades allow players to enhance certain aspects of their weapon. Upgrades can improve the accuracy of a rifle, or the damage that shotgun shells cause. Certain weapons also come with upgrades that enhance their inherent characteristics. Frictionless materials (improves stability, reduces the risk of weapon overheating) and Kinetic coils (increases the projectile's velocity for greater 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. These are obtained through either finishing side quests, killing a certain amount of monsters or bosses or through the Weapon Upgrade NPC located in Central Flarine.
Upgrades to a weapon, equipment Set piece, or Whetblade requires visiting the NPC [Armor] Boboko in Central Flarine and paying her an upgrade fee of a certain number of Bars. The more bars required to complete an upgrade the more advanced the level. If you have multiple upgrade materials the cost of upgrading will be lower.
In Chapter 2: Season 5, the method of upgrading your equipment and weapon sets changed a little. Prior to Chapter 2 Season 5, you could upgrade your weapon and equipment by paying a certain amount of Bars. You could do this until the weapon or equipment reached its maximum upgrade level and at that point, the upgrades would reset.
You can still do this however, the process is high on RNG and low on agency. Instead, you're much better off going to stores and buying equipment with low upgrade levels, but good base scores and stat distributions. These items will have a greater chance of granting you the most prestigious tier of benefits and blessings.
The majority of players will prioritize weapon upgrades for the weapons they are most likely to use to help them level up quicker. Players should also upgrade the weapons their teammates use to make them stronger. Shepard for instance should upgrade his M92F to unlock the Beretta M93R. This will make the weapon more effective when used in conjunction 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. They can be created through an process known as jewelry crafting, where you combine a gem with several reagents at a jewelry table. The higher the level of the gem, the better its secondary effect. These reagents can be found 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 quality of a diamond can be improved at the Jeweler, in stages that vary from Crude to Royal. The boosts to stats will differ according to the tier that the jewel is at when it is inserted into jewelry, weapons or gear.
All tiers of jewels are crafted at the Jeweler and Jeweler's Workshop, with the exception of the rare and legendary jewels which require you to be at a high enough level to be able to get these. 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 the movement will make it feel smoother and is usually performed for aesthetic reasons. item upgrade improve performance and make a harder surface than steel, so that the repeated friction caused by pivots does not cause damage to them.
A Glyphmaster can provide glyphs to enhance the appearance of your weapons and shields. These glyphs give a slight boost in power and can be exchanged, however they're not guaranteed to appear as loot. Glyphs are like jewelry and can be upgraded at the Jeweler in exchange for Scattered Crystals and gold. Glyphs may also be removed and returned to the inventory. Other upgrade components, such as aegis and traits, cannot be swapped out, and can only be retrieved using an Upgrade Extractor, or by salvaging them using the Black Lion Salvage Kit or Ascended Salvage Tool.
Trinkets
Trinkets are pieces of equipment that offer a wide range of small but useful benefits to your hero. You can find them in the start-up area as loot or as personal story rewards. They are also available from vendors as well as through doing road interaction. They can be purchased from the Trading Post, or crafted by jewelers.
The first trinket a player will be able to unlock is the cloak. It provides a tiny but beneficial boost in speed of movement and the ability to escape. Then, they can purchase amulets, rings and necklaces in the same way to how a player obtains armor and weapons. Each piece of equipment comes with one upgrade slot that accepts either a universal or jewel upgrade. Universal upgrades offer fewer benefits and can be placed in any type of equipment, while jewelry cannot be replaced or upgraded, and is only compatible with specific types of trinkets.
These trinkets also grant additional bonuses and abilities that are active even when the character is not in combat. This lets a hero be more efficient when they are not active. It also helps compensate for the lack of a good slot in the talent tree or team that are normally filled by the hero's best stats.
A good general rule of thumb for trinket upgrades is to prioritize BiS (Best-in-Slot) items that you will not replace soon, followed by any items with desirable stats, but less important than the iLevel of the item being upgraded. This is particularly true if an item has multiple stats you'd like to upgrade as it's often better to upgrade a single important stat than two sub-optimal ones.
In the beginning of the game players in the jungle are likely to upgrade their yellow trinket into a red one, while top and middle players will usually opt for a green or pink ward (depending on the matchup). These choices will have a significant impact on the hero's abilities to control maps.
In addition to the items listed above, players will find other trinkets that form trophies and rewards throughout the game. These can be earned by completing certain milestones in the story. For example, completing a chapter’s main quest or beating a boss. These can be viewed by selecting the appropriate achievement from the reward tab of the hero menu.