Anyone who has played Path of Exile knows that the skills you learn are all passive skills that raise specific stats or affinities. They also know that active skills, the skills that primarily damage enemies through various means, are obtained by collecting gems. Gems are gained through some different ways, though they might be the other, more supportive kind.

Where Do You Get Gems?

Gems can be received as a quest reward, purchased from vendors, or crafted with a recipe. Otherwise, gems will drop after defeating an enemy, opening chests, or strongboxes. Lastly, anybody can get gems through Vaal Vessels in corrupted areas, and through divination cards. A variant, the Vaal Skill Gems, may be obtained in corrupted areas, or by using a Vaal Orb on an existing skill gem.

Which Ones Should You Get?

Now we go to the most recommended skill gems to obtain. Frankly, it depends on the player. If you want to level up gems for your final build (though not very advisable to do so), then you should obtain those skill gems early on to level them up. However, more experienced players would say that the skills you use going to endgame won’t be the skills you’re going to use in the endgame. Since all classes can use any skill gem, some skill gems have been recommended to use for leveling.

Some of them are Molten Strike, Fire Trap, Leap Slam, and Spectral Throw. These skill gems have good utility and can serve for a long time. There are variations, such as one guide recommending Ice Nova or Freezing Pulse, and they can help since luck plays a prominent role in what skill gem you might get. There is a way to get a specific skill gem which is to buy/trade for it, but the price of the desired skill gem might not be in your budget. Trading might also bring its own set of troubles too, mainly the acquisition of PoE Orbs.

Some Additional Information

Class build guides can also help in choosing your endgame skills. The only reason this article doesn’t write up on any specific skill gem is the fact that not every player gets the same skill gems from the same source. Unless it’s from quests, and even then, some classes don’t get the skill gems other classes do. There’s a lot of flexibility required to think of ways around problems like that.

So, the best thing to do is find two skill gems that synergize with each other. Take as an example a totem skill and one AoE skill. Mobs will become drawn to the totem, and then you can bombard them with your other skill. Of course, if the AoE skill is strong enough, one or two hits are required for defeating your enemies. Maybe a bit more hits for bosses, but that’s how most level-up guides tell it. Efficient leveling up is defeating packs instead of lone stragglers, and going straight for the quest objectives.

Anyway, hope this article helps you in collecting PoE gems. For further information, search the Internet. There are many guides around that will give a more in-depth explanation.