Path of Exile 2: Skill Gems and Gemcutting guide
Skill Gems are the bread-and-butter of any Path of Exile 2 build. Regardless of class, the Skills (or spells) you cast in battle are sourced Gems slotted in your Gem menu. This is a far more accessible system compared to the first game, where you'd have to find linked sockets on your gear to slot in the Gem. Sockets on your items still exist in this game, but those are for Runes, not Gems.
Although GGG has made the mechanic far more accessible, there's still a handful of things to understand about the Skill Gem system before your first foray into Path of Exile 2.
How to open the Skill Gem menu in Path of Exile 2
If you're playing Path of Exile 2 on PC, the Skill Gem menu can be opened using G (default keybind). Console players will instead have to open their character menu, and head over to the Skills tab.
An alternate way to quickly open it is to right-click a Gem in your inventory. However, it's better to get used to opening the Skill Gems tab manually, as you'll need to revisit it quite a few times during a blind playthrough.
On the left, there are big slots for Skill Gems, next to which there are smaller slots where you can place Support Gems. We'll discuss more on this when highlighting Support Gems.
How to engrave (unlock) Skill Gems in Path of Exile 2
"Engraving" Skill Gems in Path of Exile 2 simply means unlocking it. Rather than purchasing individual Skill Gems from vendors or getting them as monster drops, you only get Uncut Gems in this game. Right-clicking the Uncut Gem opens the Gemcutting menu, where you can select which Skill you want to unlock.
Your selection here will be limited by the level of the Uncut Gem itself, and what weapon type you have equipped when you open the Gemcutting menu. The latter restriction can be removed by unticking "Gemcutting restrictions" in the settings.
There are three types of Uncut Gems in Path of Exile 2:
- Uncut Skill Gems: Unlocks active skills of all types
- Uncut Support Gems: Unlocks Support Gems
- Uncut Spirit Gems: Unlocks Persistent Buff Gems or Metagems
Note that you'll need to bind the skill on your skill hotbar after unlocking and slotting a Skill Gem in Path of Exile 2.
How many Skill Gems can you use at the same time?
There are nine active Skill Gems you can slot into a Path of Exile 2 character.
On the Gems menu, the top Skill will always be either your basic attack (martial weapons) or a Spell granted by your caster gear (wands and staves). If you have a shield equipped on any of your weapon sets, the Raise Shield skill will go after that (this lets you block on any class as long as you bind that Skill).
Then comes the main thing: you'll have nine open Gem slots where you can freely slot in any Skill Gem, or switch them out at any time.
We say "any Skill Gem," except, there are always attribute requirements to equip Gems and use them successfully — which increases with higher Skill Gem Levels.
Understanding Skill Gem levels and breakpoints in Path of Exile 2
Skill Gems have their own levels in Path of Exile 2. Except for Support Gems, all Gems can be upgraded in terms of their level, and specific stats increase when you do. There's some complexity in Skill Gem minimum levels, so let's break it down from the top:
The Skills Gems you get in the very early game unlock from lvl 1 Uncut Gems. The level of the Uncut Gem will always determine the starting level of the Gem you unlock, so the level 1 Uncut Gems will only give you lvl 1 Skill Gems. However, the Skills you unlock later on have a higher minimum base level, so only an Uncut Gem of that level or above can unlock those skills.
This is tiered on the Gemcutting menu row-by-row. The Gems on the second row, for example, can only be unlocked by Uncut Skill Gem lvl 3 or above. The thresholds are the following in Path of Exile 2 Early Access:
- First Row - Lvl 1 Uncut Skill Gems or above
- Second Row - Lvl 3 Uncut Skill Gems or above
- Third Row - Lvl 5 Uncut Skill Gems or above
- Fourth Row - Lvl 7 Uncut Skill Gems or above
- Fifth Row - Lvl 9 Uncut Skill Gems or above
- Sixth Row - Lvl 11 Uncut Skill Gems or above
- Seventh Row - Lvl 13 Uncut Skill Gems or above
For Uncut Spirit Gems, these thresholds are Uncut Spirit Gems of Lvl 4, 8, and 14.
Higher-level Uncut Gems become available as drops when you progress through the game, meant as a way to introduce progression break-points for all classes. To ensure it's not fully RNG-reliant, there are some guaranteed higher-level Gem drop sources throughout the Path of Exile 2 campaign. The Executioner boss, for example, will always drop your very first Lvl 5 Uncut Skill Gem.
You can use Gems stashed by one character on another character to bypass these milestones. However, higher-level Gems also come with higher player-level and attribute requirements (STR/DEX/INT), so you can't fully cheese the system that way.
How to upgrade Skill Gem Level in Path of Exile 2
Each Uncut Gem in Path of Exile 2 can also upgrade any other lower-level Skill Gem to its level. For example, with a Lvl 3 Uncut Skill Gem, you can either unlock a second-row Skill or upgrade a Lvl 1/Lvl 2 Skill Gem to Lvl 3.
As stated earlier, the Uncut Gem level also determines the Skill Gem's starting level. So, for example, if you unlock a first-row Skill Such as Flame Wall with a Lvl 3 Uncut Skill Gem, it will be automatically upgraded to Lvl 3 out of the gate.
While upgrading Skill Gem level, note that their Mana cost and attribute requirements also go up. If you have extra attributes granted by gear, and you fail to meet the attribute requirements when said gear is taken away, a previously slottable Gem might become inactive till you meet the attribute requirements again.
Another way to increase Skill Gem level in Path of Exile 2 is through + Level to Skills affixes on weapons, gloves, and off-hand stat sticks (Shields, Quivers, and Focus). An added benefit is you'll get the benefits of the boosted level of Skill Gem, but its attribute requirements won't go up. This is especially useful for pure casters like Sorceress, as their damage mainly scales with Skill Gem level.
Another way to make Gems better is to improve Gem quality by applying a Gemcutter's Prism on it. In the current version, a Gemcutter's Prism upgrades your Gem quality by +5%. Note that the quality is improved only on that specific copy of that Skill Gem.
How to use Support Gems in Path of Exile 2
Support Gems in Path of Exile 2 can enhance or modify the linked Skill in various ways. There's one big restriction to this: you can only have one active copy of each unique Support Gem. Another aspect is that not all Support Gems work on all Skill Gems. On the Gemcutting menu, untick Show Recommended Gems on the bottom left to see all the Support Gems that can be linked to the Skill selected on the left.
All Support Gems require a flat amount of attribute (+5) of their color in order to slot them. In other words, if you have 10 STR, you can slot up to two Red Support Gems in your entire setup, and you'll need 15 STR if you want to use a third one.
Support Gems do not have Gem Lvl and cannot be upgraded. However, higher-tier Support Gems can be unlocked only with Uncut Support Gem Lvl 2, which you get later on, and Lvl 3, which you get even further into the campaign.
Like Skill Gems themselves, Support Gems can swapped between different slots as long as the Skill is compatible. However, in the beginning, you can only link two Support Gems to a Skill Gem. The Support Gem capacity of a Skill Gem can be increased individually by using Jeweller's Orbs.
Lesser Jeweller's Orbs, the most common variant of this crafting material, can unlock the third slot, and higher tiers unlock more. Note that support Gems can also be linked to basic attack or gear-granted Spells.
How to use Buff Gems in Path of Exile 2
Uncut Spirit Gems in Path of Exile 2 can unlock Buff Gems and Metagems. These require a different mode of activation compared to regular Skill Gems. You still slot them into your setup like other Gems, but instead of binding it to a key, you must manually activate it from the Gem menu. On PC, this is done by right-clicking their skill icon in the Gem menu.
Persistent Buff Gems
Persistent Buff Gems require the Spirit resource to be active, so you can't use them till you have some base Spirit or external Spirit padding via gear affix or a Sceptre. Activating the Buff will then reserve the specified amount of Spirit till you choose to turn it off. The required Spirit amount increases with each Support Gem you link to that Buff Gem.
Metagems (or Triggered Gems)
Metagems lets you link Skill Gems into them as if they were Support Gems. These add an internal stat called Energy. You also get a Maximum Energy threshold that increases depending on the total cast time of the slotted Skills. Meeting specific conditions generates some Energy. Reaching Maximum Energy casts the slotted Skills automatically, and sets the Energy amount back to zero.
The conditions needed to generate Energy are different for each Metagem. For example, Cast on Freeze generates Energy when you freeze enemies with Cold spells.
Metagems also reserve the Spirit resource to be active, but the required amount does not increase with linked Skill Gems or Support Gems.
That's all about the Skill Gem and Gemcutting system in Path of Exile 2. Note that the game's still in Early Access, so some of this may be subject to change in due course. Check out our other guides on Path of Exile 2:
- Path of Exile 2 Class tier list (for beginners)
- Path of Exile 2 Passive Skill Tree guide: How to plan out your build
- Path of Exile 2 beginner tips
- Complete Crafting guide for beginners
- Complete Trial of The Sekhemas guide