For players that want to achieve more power, knowing how to increase the quality of their gems and understand why it’s important is one of the steps they ought to take.
Gems are extremely important in Path of Exile. With more than 200 distinctive active skill gems to collect and around 119 support skill gems (and more to come in the future) inside the ARPG, players consider them to be the bread and butter that make the game what it is today. That being said though, not all gems in Path of Exile are equal. Players might find gems that are far more superior than others. This can be learned by scrutinizing the base damage, damage effectiveness, area, range, and just its overall usability. But fear not, for there’s a way to even improve even the worst gems, and that’s through upgrading its gem quality. By using PoE currency and all sorts of orbs like ExaltedOrbs or Vaal Orbs, it’s possible to raise the quality or even corrupt the gems. The amount of information concerning gem quality can be a bit tricky to navigate into though, especially for the newer players. Luckily, we’re here to help you with that by giving you a quick and easy guide that almost any Path of Exile will be able to follow.
Just What is Gem Quality?
Gem quality is the percentage on a skill gem that you’d normally see whenever hovering over it on the menu. This adds a whole new line of stats for the said gem or boosting their existing stats. Depending on how high or low the percentage is, the skill gem can be range from being terrible/non-playable to overpowered to the max. To boost those stats, players will have to use Orbs such as Exalted Orbs, Vaal Orbs, and many more to increase their percentage.
But the question is, should players even care about the quality of their gems in the first place? Well, yes and no. It depends on the gem and the build that you’re going for. A prime example would be aura gems. All types of aura gems get an increased range of 1% per quality, however, if you’re not planning on making a support-type character, then the increased range on the aura gems is essentially useless. Players first have to keep in mind what gems they should be using first following their build. It’s no use if they’re upgrading the gem quality of a skill gem that doesn’t necessarily have any use for them, after all.
Gem Quality or Level: Which is More Important?
Even if we’re talking about gem quality here, it’s important to know that the level of a gems plays a more vital role in that aspect–the quality of the gem is merely a supporting character that further enhances a player’s skill gems. This is because levels raise the base damage of a gem and its damage effectiveness. Plus, it further amplifies the effects that an active skill or support gem has. By but by far the biggest benefit that players receive is that it gives them a way to slightly increase their character’s power.
The highest gem quality that a player can attain on a normal gem is 20%, while they’ll be able to get 23% on a corrupted gem. Heck, there are even some gems that have up to 30% quality in the Standard League! Unfortunately, though, the drop locations for the gems that have a high quality have been disabled, much to the dismay of the community, but a debate among the Path of Exile community have sparked speculations that Vorici in the Syndicate’s Transportation safehouse is going to be your best bet when it comes to getting good quality gems.
Turning A Normal Gem Into A Corrupt Gem
For the folks that managed to acquire a 20% quality normal gem, the best way to further increase it is through corruption. While corrupted gems can be found in the game, players can also make it themselves.
To sum up what corrupted gems are, they’re essentially gems that have a modifier that can increase their quality and strength. Keep in mind that when you corrupt a gem, you won’t be able to use crafting orbs to modify it even further. But hey, you’ll be glad to know that corrupted gems are far better than their non-corrupted counterparts!
To create a corrupted gem, players will need a Vaal Orb which is a currency orb that’s able to do the deed of corrupting a normal gem. Vaal Orbs can be found by breaking containers, slaying monsters, or even being given as a dropped item from Strongboxes. In any case, simply use a Vaal orbs onto a gem and in doing so, it’ll transform the normal gem into a corrupted gem.
Conclusion
Depending on how a player mixes and match their gem setup, they’ll be able to create a skill tree that’s in line with what they’re trying to achieve for their character. This leads to them caring more about gem quality and levels as it makes their character more powerful. They can choose to corrupt their normal gems using orbs such as Exalted orbs and Vaal Orbs, but they have to know that corrupting gems is essentially gambling–they can win and lose at the same time. What do you think about the gem quality aspect in Path of Exile? Let us know down below.