level requirement of upgraded items

[dta]

D2 v1.10 introduced "upgrading" of rare and unique weapons/armors to their exceptional and/or elite item types.

I'm wondering, in the case of rares and uniques, how do you calculate the new level requirement of the item?

Of course, the new item would have at least the level requirement of the higher item type's base level requirement, but by how much?

Eg. if you upgrade Rixot's Keen (unique short sword: requires Lvl 2) into gladius (base item's lvlreq=18), what would be the level requirement of the Rixot's Keen gladius? I only tried using Adeyke's Weapon Upgrade Calculator (is that page still updated and entirely correct?) and it seems many of the items would become something like (base item lvlreq + 5). So Rixot's Keen gladius becomes lvlreq=23 (to use).

[Baajikiil]

EDIT: For clarity. Cleaned up to match what Adyeke posted.

I only tried using Adeyke's Weapon Upgrade Calculator

Then that is all you need. AFAIK, it is entirely accurate an will yeild the correct values.

(base item lvlreq + 5)

For uniques, you pretty much have it. You take the highest level requirement of the base item, the unique, or anything socketed, and simply +5 if the upgrade is to exceptional, or +7 if the upgrade is to elite. So, going from normal to elite would be a total of +12.

An example of having to use the lvl for the unique would be the unique great sword. Exec swords only require lvl 25 to use, but the patriarch requires lvl 29 to use. So, the Exec sword upgrade would require lvl 34 to use.

[adeyke]

For uniques, you pretty much have it. You take the level requirement of the base item(or the level requirement of the unique if it is higher), and simply +5 if the upgrade is to exceptional, or +12 if the upgrade is to elite.

Not exactly. You do add 5 if it's to exceptional, but you [again] add 7 if it's to elite. That is, if it was exceptional to start, you just add 7, but if it was originally normal, you do add 12.

To be more precise, the level requirement is whichever is highest of the unique level requirement, the new base item level requirement, or the highest socket level requirement, plus the +5/+7/+12.

[dta]

So the +5/+7/+12 applies not only to unique weapon and armor upgrades but the same level requirement rule applies to rare upgrades (both weapons and armors)?

Also, could you clarify the meaning of "socket level requirement"?

[adeyke]

So the +5/+7/+12 applies not only to unique weapon and armor upgrades but the same level requirement rule applies to rare upgrades (both weapons and armors)?

Yes.

Also, could you clarify the meaning of "socket level requirement"?

Suppose you had a Rixot's Keen, upgraded to elite, socketed with a Zod.

The unique has a level requirement of 2. The new base item has a level requirement of 42. The Zod has a level requirement of 69. Because you upgraded it from normal to elite, you add 12 to the level requirement.

That means the final level requirement is max(2, 42, 69) + 12. That is, 81. Without the Zod, it'd require just max(2, 42) + 12 = 54. So, while one might think that adding a 69 level requirement rune in an item would increase the level requirement to 69, this is not the case for upgraded items, since the +5/+7/+12 is added after everything.

[dta]

Say I found a rare large axe which had level 19 requirement (to use). It also had 2 sockets (via rare "mechanic's" prefix).

If I upgrade it to exceptional (military axe: base item lvlreq=22), then the rare large axe will be 22+5=27. It will require level 27 to use, is this correct?

Now if I socket it with perfect skull (L18) or Ral rune (L19) or Ort rune (L21), the level 27 requirement wouldn't change, won't it (since L18 or L19 or L21 is less than the L22 military axe base lvlreq)?

However, if I had socketed the resulting L27 upgraded to rare military axe with an Thul rune (L23), then the resulting rare large axe (miltary axe) would become L28 to use, is this also correct?

[adeyke]

Yes, that's all correct.

[dta]

Is it possible that the level requirement of an upgraded item (either rare or unique) doesn't follow the +5/+7/+12 rule?

I'm thinking that a possible exception might occur for items that have +skills (like wands/staves/scepters), say you got a rare scepter that had level 30 requirement because it had +1 fist of the heavens (a level 30 skill). However the modifiers on that rare scepter are pretty low level only (so if it hadn't the +1 fist of the heavens auto-skill mod), then it would require, say, only level 15 to use. Now if you upgrade that scepter into a rune scepter, it would still stay at level required=30, would it?

Are there any other possible exceptions?

[adeyke]

That's no exception. I tried it out and got the expected 30/35/58 progression.

The way the +5/+7/+12 works is that it adds the property "levelreq" to an item. This is a hidden property, so it won't be listed in the item description. However, it will add the +5/+7/+12 to the final level requirement of the item, whatever it may be.