In Path of Exile 2, gems have undergone some major changes in comparison with the game’s predecessor, PoE1. In PoE2 you no longer buy skills through vendors, but instead you use these new items called Uncut Gems to craft skill gems through Gemcutting. There are a couple of different Uncut gems in PoE2 including Uncut Support Gems which you can use to craft support skill gems, and Uncut Spirit gems which instead of a normal skill, will let the player choose a Persistent Skill Buff. This guide will look further into how to acquire these different Uncut Gems.
Uncut Skill Gems
In Path of Exile 2, you get Skill Gems by defeating enemies. They drop randomly as you play through the game. You can't directly find or buy Uncut Skill Gems, but you have a better chance of finding them when you fight stronger enemies. Big bosses and unique monsters are more likely to drop these useful items.
Even though stronger enemies are more likely to drop them, it’s still a good idea to pay attention when fighting regular enemies too. They can sometimes drop Uncut Skill Gems as well. Besides getting them from enemies, you can also get Uncut Skill Gems as rewards for finishing certain quests from non-player characters (NPCs). A good example is the "Treasures of Utzaal" quest, which Oswald gives you in Act 3. Doing extra side quests is usually a good idea because they give you different valuable items and can even unlock important parts of the game, like Ascendancies, and crafting places like the Reforging and Salvage Benches.
Using an Uncut Skill Gem is easy. Just right-click on the Uncut Skill Gem in your inventory to use it. This will let you choose exactly which Skill Gem you want to make. After it's done, right clicking the new Skill Gem will put it on your character, so you can use the skill it gives you.
Uncut Support Gems
In Path of Exile 2, Support Gems are crucial for improving the power and effects of your Skill Gems. After using an Uncut Support Gem, players will access the Gemcutting menu for Support Gems. Here, they can create various powerful Support Gems to add new abilities to existing Skills.
After receiving their first Support Gem from an Act 1 quest, many players find it challenging to acquire more. There are essentially two ways to obtain Support Gems in Path of Exile 2: completing quests that reward Uncut Support Gems or finding Uncut Support Gems as loot from defeating Rare and Boss enemies.
Finding Uncut Support Gems
The most reliable way to find these Uncut Gems is by farming rare enemies and named Bosses.
Rare enemies, with yellow names, are much stronger than normal and Magic enemies, and they have random abilities that buff themselves and debuff you. They can appear anywhere and are more likely to drop valuable items like rare equipment, currency, and both Skill and Support Gems.
Throughout the main story and in various side quests and map objectives, you'll encounter named Bosses. These enemies have huge health bars that fill the screen and usually appear in a special Boss Arena near a Checkpoint. Since they spawn in specific locations, remember the map where you found an easy boss so you can farm it later.
By shift-clicking on a location, you create a new instance of that map, which generates a fresh layout, new rare enemies, and respawns Bosses. Repeatedly farming these zones, especially in later Acts, is a great way to get Uncut Support Gems, as the chance of finding useful items like high-tier currency and Support Gems increases in higher-level areas.
Besides farming, you can also get Support Gems as quest rewards. You'll likely get your first one from an Act 1 quest, but many other quests offer them too. When accepting a quest, look under the NPC's portrait in the bottom left of the dialogue box. This preview shows the quest rewards. If an Uncut Support Gem is listed, you'll get it upon completion. You can also check your Quest Log on the World Map; all rewards for active quests are shown below the quest description.
Uncut Spirit Gems
In Path of Exile 2, Uncut Spirit Gems work a lot like regular Uncut Skill Gems, but they give you something different. Instead of skills, they let you pick from ongoing buffs that affect your character all the time. These buffs use a new resource called Spirit, which you can permanently set aside to keep these buffs active—and even summon minions that stay with you.
But getting Uncut Spirit Gems and unlocking these permanent buffs isn't easy; you only have a few ways to do it. To find more Uncut Spirit Gems in PoE 2, you need to finish special challenges in each Act or fight lots of Rare and Boss enemies in the later Acts and the Cruel difficulty. It's important to know that Uncut Spirit Gems are very hard to find. However, as you get better at clearing maps quickly and take on harder challenges, you'll find more Uncut Spirit Gems, and they'll usually be at higher levels.
Finding Uncut Spirit Gems
In Path of Exile 2, there are three reliable ways to get Uncut Spirit Gems: the Act 1 and 3 Spirit-boosting bosses, and the Golden Tomb in Act 2. These locations each contain an item that increases your maximum Spirit by 30 and also drop an Uncut Spirit Gem, giving you something to use that extra Spirit on.
The King in the Mists, the final boss of the Act 1 side quest "Ominous Altars," is where many players will drop their first Uncut Spirit Gem. This boss is guaranteed to drop a gem the first time you defeat it. In Act 2, you can find a secret area with a Golden Tomb within The Lost City zone. In Act 3, defeating Igdanduk, The Bog Witch, will grant you more maximum Spirit and another Uncut Spirit Gem. While the Bog Witch doesn't always drop a gem, the chance is higher than with other bosses. The King in the Mists and the Golden Tomb always give an Uncut Spirit Gem along with their one-time Spirit bonus when you first discover them.
Besides these guaranteed sources, you can also find Uncut Spirit Gems rarely from Rare and Boss enemies. While any enemy has a small chance to drop them, Rare and Boss enemies have a much higher chance than normal or magic enemies. To efficiently farm these enemies, try areas two to four levels below your current level. This lets you move through the area quickly, defeat Rare and Boss enemies more easily, and clear the zone faster. Going more than four levels below your level will significantly reduce the experience and item rewards, although you might technically find Uncut Spirit Gems a little faster.
Don't forget to loot all chests and containers you find, as they also have a chance to contain Uncut Spirit Gems. In Acts 1 and 2, Uncut Spirit Gems rarely drop from anything other than the mentioned bosses and Golden Tomb. However, in Act 3, Cruel difficulty (Act 6), and the Path of Exile 2 endgame, they'll drop more often from other sources.
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