Quality

Quality applies to armor, weapons, flasks, and gems; in short, all equipment aside from belts and jewelry. It always varies from 0% (at which point it is not displayed on the item) to +20%, and each item type has a currency item associated with it to increase its quality. Quality can be an extremely important method of improving items, as it does not affect the requirements for using an item or the mana cost of skills.

Armour

On armour (helm, chest piece, gloves, boots, and shield), quality increases the Armour, Evasion, or Energy Shield rating by the listed percentage, and also improves the Blocking rate of shields. Thus, a piece of armour that naturally gives 100 Armour and 50 Energy Shield, would, with +20% quality, give 120 Armour and 60 Energy Shield.

The quality of pieces of armour may be improved with an Armour Shard. Armour Shards improve plain (white) items by 5% each, magic (blue) items by 2%, and rare (yellow) and unique (brown) items by 1%, and cannot improve an item's quality beyond +20%.

Weapons

Quality weapons have their minimum and maximum damages improved by the listed percentage. Thus, a weapon that normally does 50-100 damage would, with +20% quality, deal 60-120 damage.

The quality of weapons may be improved with a Whetstone. Whetstones improve plain (white) items by 5% each, magic (blue) items by 2%, and rare (yellow) and unique (brown) items by 1%, and cannot improve an item's quality beyond +20%.

Flasks or Vials

The amount of health and/or mana restored by a flask or vial is improved by the quality percentage. Therefore, a vial which normally restores 100 Life and 50 Mana instead restores 120 Life and 60 Mana if it has +20% quality.

The quality of flasks and vials may be improved with a Flask Quality Upgrade. Flask Quality Upgrades improve plain (white) items by 5%, magic (blue) items by 2%, and rare (yellow) and unique (brown) items by 1%, and cannot improve an item's quality beyond +20%.

Skill Gems

Both active and support skill gems may have quality. Every skill is affected by quality differently, but frequently it somehow improves the damage dealt with the skill. Buffs and curses, obviously, do not have their damage improved. Even those that do have their damage improved will see different rates of improvement for a given amount of quality. See individual skill descriptions for more information on how each is affected by quality.

The quality of skill gems may be improved with a Gem Quality Upgrade. Gem Quality Upgrades always improve a skill's quality by 1%, and cannot improve it beyond +20%.