Collect and insert Diablo 4 gems into your weapons, armor, and jewelry to give yourself extra buffs and stat boosts that further perfect your build. These gem buffs can be really useful too, ranging from increased Basic Skill damage to gaining health with kills and improved elemental resistances. However, with seven gem types, each offering three different Diablo 4 buffs, and five different gem qualities changing the strength of these buffs, it can be tricky to keep track of all these gems and know which ones are best. Here's a full breakdown of all the Diablo 4 gems, how to find and socket gems in Diablo 4, and how to unlock Jewelers and use their services.
All Diablo 4 gems and how to get them
Gems in Diablo 4 are random loot drops that start appearing around Level 15. That means you can get them by defeating enemies, opening chests, and generally interacting with or smashing up objects around Sanctuary. There are seven gem types that you can collect and store in your inventory in Diablo 4. Each one offers a different benefit depending on whether you socket them into a weapon, armor piece, or jewelry item – more on socketing gems further down. Here are the seven gem types and the buffs they offer:
| Gem | Weapon socket effect | Armor socket effect | Jewelry socket effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| Amethyst | Increases damage of your damage over time effects | Reduces damage taken from enemy damage over time effects | Increases Shadow resistance |
| Diamond | Increases Ultimate Skill damage | Increases Barrier generation | Increases resistance to all elements |
| Emerald | Increases Critical Strike damage to Vulnerable enemies | Adds Thorns | Increases Poison resistance |
| Ruby | Increases Overpower damage | Increasese maximum health | Increases Fire resistance |
| Sapphire | Increases Critical Strike damage to crowd controlled enemies | Increases damage reduction while Fortified | Increases Cold resistance |
| Skull | Gain health with each kill | Increases healing received | Adds Armor therefore increasing resistance to all damage, primarily Physical damage and Bleed damage over time. |
| Topaz | Increases Basic Skill damage | Reduces damage taken while affected by crowd control effects | Increases Lightning resistance |
As well as the seven Diablo 4 gem types, there are also five different gem qualities which determine the potency of the buffs they provide with superior gems offering much better buffs. From worst to best, these are:
- Crude
- Chipped
- Regular (this is just the name of the gem, e.g “Amethyst”)
- Flawless
- Royal
There are two ways to improve the quality of Diablo 4 gems you find. Firstly, levelling up will allow you to find better gems – for example, at around Level 15 you’ll be finding Crude gems, but by Level 20 you should start getting Chipped gems and so on. The second way is to visit a Jeweler to combine three gems of the same type and quality to craft a gem of a higher quality, although you won’t have access to Jewelers until you’ve completed a specific priority quest.
If you’re wondering how to store all your gems, make sure you visit your Stash in a city – you can easily fast travel back to your storage to collect any too. However, developer Blizzard has confirmed that gems will be moving to the Materials tab, taking them out of your inventory altogether. This update is expected to arrive towards the end of this year around Season 2.
How to unlock Jewelers in Diablo 4 and combine gems
Once you reach Level 20, visit a Diablo 4 Jeweler in a town and complete the ‘Gem Crafting’ priority quest. This walks you through the Jeweler’s ‘Craft Gems’ service to combine three gems of the same type and quality into one higher-rarity gem with better stats in exchange for Gold. For example, three Chipped Amethysts could be combined into one Amethyst or three Flawless Rubies could be combined into one Royal Ruby.
After completing the quest, you can freely combine gems at any Jeweler. This process also takes into account any gems you've stored in your Stash so you don't need to fetch them all first. Now that you’ve collected some gems and hopefully have combined them into better ones, you need to socket them into your gear to improve it.
How to socket gems in Diablo 4 and add more sockets
To socket a gem into a piece of gear with empty gem sockets - there should be a black circle over the gear item's icon - click on the gem in your inventory you want to socket, then highlight the gear item you want to receive the gem and select it. This will insert the gem and provide you with its extra buff. Socketing Diablo 4 gems is free and an important part of perfecting your class builds, so make sure you gather up the gems you need and slot them as soon as possible.
Once a gem has been socketed you can't remove it yourself, but a Jeweler can for a cost. Furthermore, if you salvage gear with gems socketed at a blacksmith, those gems will also be destroyed permanently, so make sure you remove gems before salvaging unwanted gear.
Another service offered by a Jeweler is to add extra sockets to your gear in Diablo 4, meaning you can prep equipment to receive a gem when it couldn't before or create a second socket – most gear pieces can only hold one gem but some, such as two-handed weapons, can have up to two gem sockets. Navigate to the ‘Add Socket’ tab from the Jeweler menu, then choose the gear item you want to receive an additional slot, though bear in mind you'll need a Scattered Prism (get these from World Bosses like the Diablo 4 Ashava boss) as well as gold to complete this transaction.
© GamesRadar+. Not to be reproduced without permission.
