What to do with socketed gear in Path of Exile 2?
If you've played even halfway through Act 1 in Path of Exile 2, you've probably come across at least one socketed item. In the first game, sockets meant you could slot Skill Gems in there to use that skill, but that's not the case here. So what can you do with these gear sockets in Path of Exile 2? Simple: you use that for Runes, a new type of loose upgrade material.
In this guide, we'll briefly explain how and why you'd want to use socketed gear and Runes in-game.
How to put Runes in socketed gear in Path of Exile 2
In Path of Exile 2, Runes can be placed into socketed gear by simply clicking on one and then clicking on the intended socket. They can also be extracted from sockets (similar to Gems in the first game) freely at will.
There are four types of Runes we've found so far in-game, which grant different bonuses based on what kind of equipment it is placed on. Except for caster weapons (Staves, Wands, Scepters), Belts, and trinkets (Charms, Amulets, Rings), any gear can drop as a socketed variant.
While placed in weapons, Runes generally add extra elemental or physical damage, whereas, on armor items, they can add elemental resistances, additional max Life, or additional max Mana.
Generally, Runes are your cheapest build-agnostic means of rounding out your build with more elemental resistances. Chest pieces can have up to two sockets, meaning you can get +20% to an elemental resistance just from Runes in that gear.
How to create gear sockets in Path of Exile 2
If you want to put a socket into a choice item, it can be done by using an Artificer's Orb on it. In turn, you can also farm Artificer Orbs from socketed gears that drop in the world: each socketed gear will give you one or two Artificer's Chisels if you take it to the Salvaging Workbench, and 10x Artificer's Chisels automatically form an Artificer's Orb.
Another use for socketed gear: Soul Cores
As you close in on the endgame, you start obtaining Soul Cores from Trials of Chaos. These are almost identical to Runes, except they can roll with a much wider variety of stat boosts you can place into your socket to further cement a build possibility. The affix pool also contains the affixes provided by Runes, except the Soul Cores will present larger numbers with those same modifiers.
Check out our other guides on the game:
- All Path of Exile 2 Ascendancies and their passives
- Path of Exile 2 Atlas system, explained
- Will Path of Exile 2 have crossplay and cross-save?
- Path of Exile 2 platforms: Will Early Access be on consoles?