Diablo 3 Gems List
In Diablo 3, gems are items that can be placed into slots (called sockets) on your equipment for extra stat bonuses. These are a lot like gems from Diablo 2 but in D3 gems have many more grades and are a lot more powerful.
If you did not play Diablo 2 or want to know more about Diablo 3 gems here is how they work:
- Gems are found as drops from enemies and jars just like any other item in D3.
- Gems come in different types (ruby, amethyst, topaz, emerald) and different grades (chipped, flawed, etc).
- Gems of the same type have the same stats but in larger quantities as the grade improves. For example, all Topaz offers +magic find, but chipped Topaz offer less magic find than regular Topaz.
- Gems of the same type and grade can be combined and upgraded through the Jeweler, provided you have the prerequisite training. It requires 3 grades of one gem of the same grade and type to produce 1 gem 1 grade higher than the combined gems.
- For example, for a fee the Jeweler will convert 3 chipped Topaz (grade 1) will be converted into 1 flawed Topaz.
Gem Levels
There are 14 levels of gems, but even in Inferno mode you only find gems that are level 6-8. This means you can only get level 9-14 gems through Jeweler upgrades.
If we actually look at the math, you need 3 level 8s to get 1 level 9, 9 level 8s to get 1 level 10, 27 for 11, 81 for 12, 243 for level 13, and 700+ just to make a level 14 gem. When you consider level 8s are not common drops and the upgrading process costs a lot of gold at the Jeweler and that these gems have to be the same type, you can expect level 14 gems to be very valuable.
The first set of level 14 gems will definitely sell for at least $100 on the real money auction house. Gems will definitely become more valuable for a few months in D3 as more gold and cash enter the system, but will lose value after about a year as gem quantity exceeds demand.
Since upgrading your gems is not free, the first few grades of gems will become worthless pretty quickly. Level 4+ gems however should hold value for awhile though, particularly if you combine them to level 6 or so before you sell.
Here is a list of the 14 grades of gems:
- Rank 1 – Chipped
- Rank 2 – Flawed
- Rank 3 – Regular
- Rank 4 – Flawless
- Rank 5 – Perfect
- Rank 6 – Radiant
- Rank 7 – Square
- Rank 8 – Flawless Square
- Rank 9 – Perfect Square
- Rank 10 – Radiant Square
- Rank 11 - Star
- Rank 12 – Flawless Star
- Rank 13 – Perfect Star
- Rank 14 – Radiant Star
Diablo 3 Gem Types
For the final portion of our D3 gems guide, we will go over just exactly what each gems does:
- Amethyst: Helm: +5% Life for Grade 1, increasing 1% per grade until +18% at Rank 14. Weapon: +2 Life per hit, increasing up to +600 Life per hit at rank 14.
- Emerald: Helm: +5% Gold Find for Grade 1, increasing 2% per grade until +31% at Rank 14. Weapon: Increases your critical damage percent chance
- Ruby: Helm: +5% Experience Points earned for Grade 1, increasing 2% per grade until 31% at Rank 14. Weapon: +Weapon Damage, increasing from 2-4 damage at rank 1 to 20-40 damage at Rank 2.
- Topaz: Helm: +5% Magic Find for Grade 1, increasing 2% per grade until +31% at Rank 14. Weapon: Melee attackers take damage when striking you, starting at 2 at rank 1 and increasing up to 1800 at rank 14.