Active Skill Gems
Active Skill Gems grant a usable ability when equipped in a gear socket. When you left-click an active skill gem in your gear, it appears in your skill bar for use in combat. Every active skill has a mana cost, a level requirement, and an attribute requirement.
Common active skill gems include:
- Fireball: A projectile that explodes on impact, dealing fire damage in an area
- Lightning Arrow: A bow attack that fires an arrow generating lightning beams on hit
- Reaper: A powerful physical slam with a large area
- Spark: Fires multiple sparks in random directions that bounce off terrain
Support Skill Gems
Support Gems modify the behavior of Active Skills they are linked to. They do not grant abilities by themselves. When linked to an active skill, they add or change effects:
- Added Fire Damage Support: The linked skill deals additional fire damage
- Chain Support: The linked projectile skill chains to additional nearby enemies
- Concentrated Effect Support: Reduces the area of effect but increases damage
- Faster Attacks Support: Increases attack speed for the linked attack skill
A key rule: support gems must be linked to the active skill they modify. Being in the same item is not enough. The gems must be in sockets that are connected by a visual link.
Gems In Path of Exile: Sockets And Links
How Sockets Work In Path Of Exile 1
In Path of Exile 1, gear items contain sockets of three colors matching the three primary attributes:
| Socket Color | Attribute | Gem Types |
| Red | Strength | Physical, fire, melee |
| Green | Dexterity | Projectile, trap, evasion |
| Blue | Intelligence | Spell, lightning, cold |
| White | Any | All gem types |
To socket a gem, the gem's color must match the socket color. White sockets accept all gem colors.
The Link System In Path Of Exile 1
Links are the connections between sockets in the same gear item. A gem in a socket only modifies a linked gem if their sockets are connected by a visible chain link.
The maximum socket configurations by gear type are:
- Body Armour and Two-Handed Weapons: Up to 6 sockets, up to 6 links (a 6-link)
- Helmets, Gloves, Boots: Up to 4 sockets and 4 links
- One-Handed Weapons and Shields: Up to 3 sockets and 3 links
A 6-link (six sockets all connected in a chain) is the endgame goal for most builds. It allows one active skill to have five support gems, providing the maximum possible enhancement. Six-linked items are rare and valuable.
How The Gem System Changed In Path Of Exile 2
Path of Exile 2 completely redesigned the gem system to remove the gear dependency:
- Gems are no longer socketed into gear
- Instead, gems attach to each other directly in a dedicated gem panel
- Each active skill gem can have up to five support gems attached
- The color restriction system is removed: any support gem can modify any active skill
- Gear sockets in Path of Exile 2 are for Runes (different system, similar slot concept)
This change eliminates the need to chase specific gear with matching socket colors and link counts, which was a major barrier to entry in Path of Exile 1.
How To Level Gems In Path of Exile
Gem Experience And Leveling
Gems gain experience from monster kills while equipped in your gear. Once a gem accumulates enough experience to level up, a level-up icon appears on the right side of your screen and in your inventory.
Key leveling rules:
- Click the level-up icon to immediately apply the level increase
- You can intentionally not level a gem by right-clicking the level-up notification. Some builds require gems at specific low levels.
- Gems in inactive weapon swap slots still gain experience
- Maximum gem level in Path of Exile 1 is Level 20 for most gems (plus bonus levels from gear or Ascendancy)
Why Gem Level Matters
Higher gem levels increase the active skill's damage, area of effect, or other core stats. The difference between a Level 1 gem and a Level 20 gem is often 200-400% more damage for damage skills.
Furthermore, the most impactful single upgrade many endgame players can make is corrupting a Level 20 gem for a chance to become Level 21. A Level 21 gem provides a larger damage increase than many expensive gear upgrades.
How To Get Specific Gems
There are several methods to acquire specific gems:
- Quest rewards: Each class receives a specific set of gem rewards for completing campaign quests
- Siosa (Act 3 Library vendor): Sells most gems available up to Act 3
- Lily Roth (Act 6 vendor): Sells every standard gem in the game
- Monster drops: Gems drop randomly from monsters throughout all content
- Trade site: The fastest method for endgame gems at specific levels and quality values
Best Support Gems In Path Of Exile
Universal High-Value Support Gems
These support gems provide strong benefits to a wide variety of active skill types:
- Awakened Added Fire/Lightning/Cold Damage Support: Awakened versions provide higher damage bonuses than standard counterparts and are available from endgame bosses
- Empower Support: Adds additional gem levels to the linked active skill, multiplicatively increasing its level-scaling bonuses
- Enlighten Support: Reduces the mana reservation of linked aura gems, allowing more auras to be active simultaneously
- Increased Critical Strikes Support: Substantially improves critical strike chance for any skill that can crit
Build-Specific High-Value Support Gems
| Build Type | Best Support Gems |
| Projectile Builds | Chain Support, Fork Support, Greater Multiple Projectiles |
| Spell Builds | Spell Echo Support, Controlled Destruction Support, Fire/Cold/Lightning Penetration |
| Melee Builds | Melee Physical Damage Support, Brutality Support, Fortify Support |
| DoT Builds | Deadly Ailments Support, Void Manipulation Support, Swift Affliction Support |
| Trap Builds | Multiple Traps Support, Trap and Mine Damage Support, Advanced Traps Support |
Gems In Path Of Exile: Quality System
What Gem Quality Does
Gems in Path of Exile 1 have a Quality stat ranging from 0% to 20%. Quality adds a secondary bonus specific to each gem:
- Active skill gems: Quality typically adds a damage percentage or increases a secondary stat (e.g., "Fireball" at 20% quality adds 10% more fire damage)
- Support gems: Quality improves the support's core effect (e.g., "Added Fire Damage Support" at 20% quality provides additional fire damage percentage)
How To Increase Gem Quality
- Gemcutter's Prisms (GCP): Each Gemcutter's Prism increases a gem's quality by 1%. Bringing a gem from 0% to 20% quality requires 20 GCPs.
- Vendor recipe: Trading a Level 20 gem plus a Gemcutter's Prism to a vendor returns a Level 1 version of the same gem at 20% quality. This is the standard method for preparing gems for Level 20 corruption attempts.
- Alternate Quality Gems: Special currency called Catalysts, obtained through Metamorph content, can modify which bonus the quality value applies to.
Pro Tips: Gems In Path Of Exile
- Always keep leveling your main skill gem. A gem at Level 19 deals significantly less damage than the same gem at Level 20. Do not delay leveling your active skill gems unless your build specifically requires a low level.
- Level a backup copy of your main gem separately. Before corrupting your Level 20 main gem, level an identical gem to Level 20 as a replacement. Then corrupt your primary gem. If the corruption is negative, you have an immediate backup ready.
- Use the trade site to find specific support gems at appropriate levels. Budget builds often use Level 1 support gems because they are cheap. Endgame builds upgrade to Level 20 support gems for the scaling bonus. Always check whether the level difference is worth the cost for your specific build.
- Check gem requirements before increasing your gem level. As gems level, their attribute requirements increase. A Level 19 gem may work fine but a Level 20 version might require 10 more Intelligence than you have. Check your stats before leveling.
- In Path of Exile 2, prioritize support gems that match your damage tag. The new gem panel system makes it easier to attach any support to any skill, but mismatched tags still provide zero benefit. Fire supports on lightning skills waste a slot entirely.
Common Mistakes With Gems In Path Of Exile
- Linking support gems that do not match the active skill's damage type. A fire damage support gem linked to a physical skill provides no benefit because the skill does not deal fire damage. Fix: check the active skill's damage tags (shown in the tooltip) and only use supports that interact with those specific tags.
- Not leveling support gems alongside the active skill. Many players focus on leveling their main skill but ignore the support gems. Fix: periodically check all gems in your main skill link and level any that have pending level-ups. Support gem levels increase their effectiveness almost as significantly as active skill gem levels.
- Socketing the wrong color gem into gear sockets (Path of Exile 1). Trying to put a red skill gem in a blue socket is not possible. Fix: use currency to change socket colors (Chromatic Orbs reroll socket colors randomly, with weighted probabilities toward the gear's primary attribute) or trade for gear with the socket colors your build needs.
How ExitLag Improves Your Gem-Building Sessions
Long trading sessions on the Path of Exile trade site and rapid map runs for testing new gem configurations require consistent server connections. A lag spike during a high-investment map run while testing a new gem setup can waste both the Waystone and the time invested in the test.
ExitLag is not a VPN. It is a game connection optimizer that maintains a stable, low-latency connection to Path of Exile's servers throughout testing, farming, and boss-progression sessions. Whether you are farming Gemcutter's Prisms for quality upgrades or testing new support gem combinations in endgame maps, a stable connection keeps your results accurate.
Download ExitLag atexitlag.com/download and optimize your build testing sessions.
Gems in Path of Exile are the foundation of every build. Understanding how active skills, support gems, sockets, and links interact gives you the tools to build any archetype the game can support. Level your main skill gem consistently, match your support gems to your active skill's damage tags, and work toward a 6-link chest or two-handed weapon as your primary endgame gear goal. Mastering the gem system is the single most impactful skill you can develop as a Path of Exile player.
All game images used in this blog post belong to Grinding Gear Games. They are used for informational and educational purposes only and do not imply endorsement or affiliation with the rights holders.
