A normal price check asks "what is this worth". Quick Upgrade asks the question you actually have while levelling or gearing: "what can I buy that beats it, and what does it cost".
Hover an equipped or dropped piece of gear and press Ctrl+Alt+U (rebind under Overlays → Hotkeys). ePOE copies the item and opens the price panel straight on the Quick Upgrade view. It only makes sense for gear with mods — hover currency or a gem and you get the normal valuation instead.
Two engines, one panel
Which search runs depends on whether you have a build loaded:
- With a Path of Building build loaded in Build → Upgrade Finder, Quick Upgrade runs the Upgrade Finder's own engine for the hovered item's slot: a strictly-better search over instant-buy listings, and — with Path of Building installed — a real DPS and EHP change for every candidate. The status line tells you which build and loadout it ranked against and which piece it is replacing.
- Without a build, it falls back to a weighted search. The mods your weight profile cares about become one weighted group, and your current rolls are the minimum. Results are scored against your item.
Build scoring covers armour and jewellery. For other slots, or when the build can't be read, the panel says so and shows the weighted search instead — with an Open Upgrade Finder link when loading a build would help.
Weight profiles
In weighted mode the Weight profile dropdown picks what "better" means. There are ten bundled archetypes — Auto (from your build), Balanced, Caster, Physical Attack, Elemental Attack, Defence / Tank, Minion / Spirit, Damage over Time / Ailment, Speed / Crit and Rarity. Every one keeps life and resistances in the mix, because an upgrade that drops you off the resistance cap is not an upgrade.
Some stats are marked never-lose (movement speed on boots, for example). They stay hard minimums, so a candidate can't win by throwing them away.
- Export saves the active profile as a JSON file. Import loads one — that is how you add your own profile or share one with a friend.
- Custom profiles are managed under Settings → Price checks → Quick Upgrade profiles: rename, delete, or Make default. The overlay remembers the last profile you used; the default applies until you pick one.
- If the note says the profile doesn't weight any of this item's mods, switch profiles — the search has nothing to compare.
Reading the results
Press Find upgrades to run the search again after changing the profile or the filter rail. Cancel abandons a search that is taking too long.
In weighted mode each row carries badges:
- +N% — the weighted score against your current item. Hover it to see how many weighted mods the listing actually has.
- N/ex — weighted gain per Exalted spent. The Value sort orders by this; Price sorts cheapest first.
- loses N — it rolls lower than your item on a never-lose stat. Usually a pass.
- no instant buy / seller offline — the listing can't be bought from the panel.
If Path of Building is installed you can press Score top 5 with Path of Building to add DPS and EHP badges to the first five rows. In build mode those numbers are already there, and drops N flags a stat your current piece has that the candidate rolls lower or lacks.
Buying
Quick Upgrade never whispers. Every row uses Buy now, the instant-buyout teleport to the seller's hideout, so you only see listings you can act on immediately. View these upgrades on the trade site opens the same search in your browser when you want the site's own filters.
Valuation in the header takes you back to the normal price check for the same item.
Habits that pay off
- Load your build once in the Upgrade Finder. The build-scored numbers are far more honest than any weight profile.
- Use Value sort to find the cheap sidegrade, then check the DPS and EHP badges before you buy.
- A result list full of loses badges means your profile is too greedy. Try a lighter profile before widening filters.