There are various gems in Path of Exile 2. For example, skill gems, support gems, buff gems and meta gems. What are their usage and how to use those POE 2 Items? Such a complex system is undoubtedly a headache for players.

So in order to give a guide to novice players, the following will introduce the uses of various gems.

Skill Gems

Skill gems have become more important in Path of Exile 2. Players need to rely on skill gems to release skills. In Path of Exile 1, you had to put skill gems into the link sockets of equipment. In PoE 2, what is put into the equipment link sockets has become Runes, and skill gems need to be put into Skill Gem menu.

For PC players, you can use G key to quickly open the skill gem menu, or use the right button of the mouse to click on the skill gem in the inventory. For PS players, you can only transfer to the skill tab through the character menu.

The big slot on the left side of the menu is used to place skill gems. And on the right side, small slots are used to place Support Gems.

How To Use Skill Gems?

Most of the skill gems players get in the game are basically Uncut Skill Gems. Uncut Skill Gems are actually the unlocked state of skill gems. Clicking on an Uncut Skill Gem will bring you to Gemcutting menu, where you can choose the skill you want to unlock.

There are three types of Uncut Gems in the game: Uncut Skill Gems, Uncut Support Gems, and Uncut Spirit Gems.

How Many Skill Gems Can We Use?

On the skill gem menu, the top one is your basic skills, or the spells given to the player by the caster equipment. Below are 9 skill gem slots, where you can put or remove skill gems at will. However, some skill gems have attribute requirements, and if your attributes are not met, you cannot use them.

Skill Gem Levels And Breakpoints

In Path of Exile 2, skill gems have levels. All gems can be upgraded, except for Support gems.

The skill gems that players first obtain are unlocked by level 1 Uncut Skill Gems. The level of Uncut Skill Gems determines the skill gem level. Although skill gems allow players to unlock skills, some skills have an initial level higher than level 1, which means that you must use a higher level skill gem to unlock them. Players can see the row-by-row stratification on Gemcutting menu:

• Row 1 - Level 1 Uncut Skill Gems or above
• Row 2 - Level 3 Uncut Skill Gems or above
• Row 3 - Level 5 Uncut Skill Gems or above
• Row 4 - Level 7 Uncut Skill Gems or above
• Row 5 - Level 9 Uncut Skill Gems or above
• Row 6 - Level 11 Uncut Skill Gems or above
• Row 7 - Level 13 Uncut Skill Gems or above

For Soul Gems, the threshold level of Uncut Spirit Gems is Level 4, Level 8, and Level 14. These high-level Uncut Gems will drop as we progress through the game, and are not completely random. Players will definitely be able to get a higher level of Skill Gems at some stage.

How To Upgrade Gems?

Use Uncut Skill Gems to upgrade Skill Gems. A Level 3 Uncut Skill Gem can upgrade a Level 1 Skill Gem to Level 3. If you directly use a Level 3 Skill Gem to unlock a skill in the first row, then the skill will be upgraded to Level 3.

However, when you upgrade the skill gem level, its attribute requirements will also increase. If your attributes cannot meet its requirements, the upgraded skill gem will not be usable.

Players can also upgrade skill gems by putting +level skill affixes on equipment. In this way, the attribute requirements of the skill gem will not be increased, but the player can enjoy the benefits of the skill level increase. You can replace the affixes you want for the equipment through POE 2 Exalted Orb.

Support Gems

The sockets of support gems are just behind the skill gems. They can enhance or even modify skills. Support gems are mainly divided into Strength Support Gems, Dexterity Support Gems and Intelligence Support Gems.

Support gems have no levels and cannot be upgraded. However, if you want to unlock higher-level support gems, you still need to rely on the dropped level 2 Uncut Skill Gems and level 3 Uncut Skill Gems.

Putting in support gems has requirements for your attributes. For example, the requirement for Intelligence Support Gems is Intelligence (+5), and you have 10 intelligence points, then you can only put in two Intelligence Support Gems. But the combination of support gems and skill gems is not arbitrary, and there is a certain compatibility between them. If you are confused, you can click on the Show Recommended Gems button in the lower left corner of the menu to see how to match.

There are two slots behind the initial skill gems. If you want to put more auxiliary gems, you can add a slot for skill gems through Lesser Jeweler’s Orb.

Buff Gems

Both buff gems and meta gems in Path of Exile 2 need to be unlocked through Uncut Spirit gems. Buff gems can be placed in the setup like other gems, but you need to activate them manually in the gem menu to activate them.

Activating buff gems requires Spirit. If you don’t have enough Spirit resources, you can’t activate them. The more other gems a buff gem is linked to, the more Spirit resources are required. Spirit resources can be obtained through characteristic equipment or equipment affixes.

Meta Gems

Meta gems are also called trigger gems. It also requires a certain amount of Spirit resources to be activated, but Spirit resources it requires are fixed and will not increase with the number of linked gems.

It has a built-in Energy bar in meta gems that can accumulate some energy when you complete certain conditions. When Energy bar is full, it will automatically release the slot skill and reset an Energy bar. This is a good way for players to save resources in battle.

All the above is a basic introduction to all gems in Path of Exile 2. I hope it can be helpful for players who have just started this game. The class system and skill system of POE 2 are very complex, and the equipment matching has a high degree of freedom, which means more possibilities for character construction, which will bring endless fun to players.