Legendary Gems

Legendary Gem interface window.

Legendary Gems (or LGems or LeGems) were added to Reaper of Souls in Patch 2.1, after extensive testing on the PTR. There were initially 14 types of Legendary Gems, with 3 more added in Season Two. Legendary Gems have a function only when socketed in rings and amulets, and they are very powerful items, so that a socket in all 3 jewelry items is considered mandatory for end game gear. (The Gem of Ease is the only exception, and it can only be socketed into a weapon.)

LGems drop only from Greater Rift Guardians, and thus can only be obtained by level 70 characters, (the one exception is the Boon of the Hoarder) though LGems have no level req and can be used by any level character, and they make very powerful twinks. To upgrade LGems, players must interact with Urshi, a ghostly NPC who appears after the death of the Greater Rift Guardian.

The value of the bonus increases with each rank the gem is upgraded, with a special special secondary power unlocked at rank 25. These rank 25 powers vary widely in quality, from "makes the gem worth using" to "irrelevant for some builds."

There is no theoretical upper limit to the gem's rank, and all gems improve with every rank. However, the odds are very poor to raise a LGem's level higher than the maximum Grift a player can clear, so for most players their LGems have a practical limit of several levels higher than their highest Greater Rift, and largest possible difference is 7 ranks. When 6 ranks higher than the Grift, there is a 1% chance the LGem will upgrade.

Diablo 2 Jewels: While the developers call these items "legendary gems" these socketables have nothing in common with regular gems in stats or appearance, and are more analogous to the Rainbow Facet unique jewels of Diablo 2.

Rules of Drop and Use

Legendary Gems:

Are dropped only at rank 0 and only by Greater Rift Guardians, the final boss found in a Greater Rift.
- One exception: Boon of the Hoarder drops only from Greed, the boss in The Vault treasure level.
  - After a players has found one Boon of the Hoarder from Greed, that gem is eligible to drop from Greater Rift Guardians.
At least one Legendary Gem should drop from each GR Guardian, until a character + stash has all the gems. Duplicate gems are never dropped.
- To find more than one of the same gem, you need to put the first gem on another character or drop it in town before starting the Greater Rift.
- This is actually a benefit to players seeking a specific gem, since holding the other types means you won't find any duplicates.
LGems can only be socketed into rings and amulets - not any other item types.
- Gem of Ease added in Season Two is the only exception; it sockets into weapons.
LGems only work when equipped by players. They do not function when equipped on followers. (Including Gem of Ease.)
LGems can only be upgraded with Urshi, the NPC who appears only in Greater Rifts after the Guardian is defeated.
- Upgrade odds are entirely based on the level of the Greater Rift and the level of the gem.
- If the level of the Grift is more than 10 higher than the rank of the gem, the odds are 100% for an upgrade. If the Grift is more than 7 levels lower than the gem, the odds are 0%. Full odds listed below.

Upgrade Odds

Upgrade odds are determined entirely by the difference in level between the Greater Rift in which Urshi appears, and the rank of the legendary gem.[1] If the level of the Greater Rift is higher than that of the gem, the odds of the gem gaining a rank are increased. If the level of the Greater Rift is lower than the gem, the odds decrease rapidly.

GRift level vs. Gem Level	+10	+9	+8	+7	+6	+5	+4	+3	+2	+1	0	-1	-2	-3	-4	-5	-6	-7
LGem Upgrade Chance	100%	90%	80%	70%	60%	60%	60%	60%	60%	60%	60%	30%	15%	8%	4%	2%	1%	0%

Examples:

GRift level 17, LGem level 5 = +12 = 100% chance of successful upgrade.
GRift level 22, LGem level 14 = +8 = 80% chance of successful upgrade.
Grift level 22, LGem level 24 = -2 = 15% chance of successful upgrade.

Note that the odds recalculate with each successful upgrade, so a gem rolling successfully could be 100% on the first try, 90% on the second, and 80% on the third.

Urshi allows LGem upgrades any time she appears, even if a player does not complete the GRift within 15 minutes. If completed within that time limit, players can choose 3 tries to upgrade gems, or choose to upgrade their Rift Key to a higher rank. (The Key Rank upgrade is always at least 1 level. If a player completes a GRift with more than 4:30 left, the Rift Key will upgrade an additional level for about every 45 seconds. Players who finish a GRift very quickly can upgrade their Rift Key as much as 9 or 10 ranks.)

Legendary Gems Catalog

These stats changed several times during PTR testing. Here are the Legendary Gem stats as of Patch 2.1, which went live in late August 2014. No changes were made to their stats (though many bugs were fixed) afterwards, up through Patch 2.1.2 in January 2015.

Three new LGems were added in Season Two, beginning in February 2015. The Gem of Ease, Molten Wildebeest’s Gizzard, and Esoteric Alteration.

Bane of the Powerful

Base effect: Gain 20% increased damage for 25 seconds after killing an elite pack.
Increase rank grants: +1 second buff duration.
Rank 25 unlocks: 15% Increased Damage to Elites.

One of the most popular gems, this grants a big damage buff, works with every type of build, and enjoys around 100% up-time in Rifts, where Elites abound.

Bane of the Trapped

Base effect: Increase damage against enemies under control-impairing effects by 15%.
Upgrade rank grants: +0.3% damage.
Rank 25 unlocks: Gain an aura that reduces the movement speed of enemies within 15 yards by 30%.

The Aura at Rank 25 has no visual display, but it does proc the gem itself; so monsters near the hero are slowed and thus take increased damage.

Boon of the Hoarder

Base Effect: 25% chance to cause an explosion of gold when you kill an enemy.
Upgrade rank grants: +1.5% chance on kill.
Rank 25 unlocks: Gain 30% increased movement speed for 2 seconds after picking up gold.

The first time found (on an account) it will only drop from Greed, found in The Vault. This was tweaked in Patch 2.1.1 and now this gem can drop from Greater Rift Guardians, providing it has previously been found from Greed on that account.

Enforcer

Base Effect: Increases the damage of your pets by 15%.
Upgrade rank grants: 0.3% more pet damage per level.
Rank 25 unlocks: Your pets take 25% reduced damage.

The rank 25 bonus is irrelevant for pets that are not targeted and do not take damage, such as Hydras or Sentries.

Esoteric Alteration -- Season Two

Base Effect: Gain 10% non-Physical damage reduction.
Upgrade rank grants: +0.5% non-Physical damage reduction
Rank 25 unlocks: While below half Life, your resistances to Cold, Fire, Lightning, Poison, and Arcane are increased by 75%.

A very powerful defensive gem, added in Season Two.

Gem of Ease -- * Season Two

Base Effect: Monster kills grant +500 experience
Upgrade rank grants: 50 experience per kill
Rank 25 unlocks: Level requirement reduced to 1

The only LGem that sockets into weapons rather than jewelry. This is a very powerful twink item, and with the rank 25 power unlocked it lets a level one character equip any weapon in the game, instantly giving them incredibly-high damage. Testing on the PTR showed a character could hit level 40+ in less than 15 minutes playing solo.

Gem of Efficacious Toxin

Base Effect: Poison all enemies hit for 2000% weapon damage over 10 seconds.
Upgrade rank grants: +50% weapon damage over 10 seconds.
Rank 25 unlocks: All enemies you poison take 10% increased damage from all sources.

A popular gem for big damage over time, but less useful for characters who kill enemies very quickly. This one boasts one of the more powerful Rank 25 properties, as poisoned enemies take extra damage from everything, including other players.

Gogok of Swiftness

Base Effect: 50% chance on hit to gain Swiftness, increasing your Attack Speed 1% for 4 seconds. This effect stacks up to 15 times.
Upgrade rank grants: +1% chance.
Rank 25 unlocks: Gain 1% Cooldown Reduction per stack of Swiftness.

The Attack Speed increase is useful to some builds, but this gem is most valued for the massive CDR granted by the Rank 25 property.

Invigorating Gemstone

Base Effect: While under any control-impairing effects, reduce all damage taken by 30%.
Upgrade rank grants: +0.4% damage reduction.
Rank 25 unlocks: Heal for 20% of maximum life when hit by control-impairing effect.

As with the other original batch of defensive gems, this is one of the least-used gems.

Mirinae, Teardrop of the Starweaver

Base Effect: 15% chance on hit to smite a nearby enemy for 2000% weapon damage as Holy.
Upgrade rank grants: +40% weapon damage.
Rank 25 unlocks: Smite a nearby enemy every 5 seconds.

The smite can hit virtually any enemy on the screen, making the "nearby" description fairly inaccurate. On the whole this adds huge damage to individual targets, but does much less total damage than gems like Toxin or Pain Enhancer, especially when using AoE attacks against screens full of enemies.

Molten Wildebeest's Gizzard -- Season Two

Base Effect: Regenerates 10,000 Life per Second
Upgrade rank grants: +1000 Life per Second
Rank 25 unlocks: After not taking damage for 4 seconds, gain an absorb shield for 200% of your total Life per Second.

Another powerful defensive gem added in Season Two. This gem synergizes very well with defensive buffs that prevent the character from taking damage, and the Rank 25 power can fuel itself, as the 200% absorb shield technically keeps the player from taking damage unless it exceeds 100% of the charcter's life.)

Moratorium

Base Effect: 25% of all damage taken is instead staggered and dealt to you over 3 seconds.
Upgrade rank grants: +0.1 second to the stagger duration.
Rank 25 unlocks: 10% chance on kill to clear all staggered damage.

Another of the initial batch of defensive gems that proved little-used.

Pain Enhancer

Base Effect: Critical hits cause the enemy to bleed for 1200% weapon damage as Physical over 3 seconds.
Upgrade rank grants: +30% weapon damage.
Rank 25 unlocks: Gain Blood Frenzy, granting you 3% increased Attack Speed for each bleeding enemy within 20 yards.

Compared to Toxin, this gem deals much higher damage per second, but with a much shorter duration and only when triggered by a Crit. Best used by characters with high CHC and powerful enough attacks to kill most enemies within 3 seconds, or with AoE attacks that can refresh the proc regularly.

Simplicity’s Strength

Base Effect: Increase the damage of primary skills by 25%.
Upgrade rank grants: +0.5% damage.
Rank 25 unlocks: Primary skills heal you for 2% of maximum health on hit.

Probably the least used offensive gem from the initial batch, as primary skills are so weak compared to Spenders.

Taeguk

Base Effect: Gain 0.5% increased damage for 3 seconds after spending primary resource. This effect stacks up to 20 times.
Upgrade rank grants: +1 max stack.
Rank 25 unlocks: Gain 0.5% increased Armor for every stack.

This gem adds huge damage when fully stacked, but the stacks take quite a while to build up, and any lull of just 3 seconds resets them to zero. The Rank 25 property is a powerful defensive bonus, especially for melee characters who can keep it stacked and active.

Wreath of Lightning

Base Effect: 15% chance on hit to gain a Wreath of Lightning, dealing 600% weapon damage as Lightning every second to nearby enemies. Lasts for 3 seconds.
Upgrade rank grants: +10% weapon damage per second.
Rank 25 unlocks: While under the effect of the Wreath of Lightning, gain 25% increased movement speed.

A mini-Conduit Pylon, this gem zaps all nearby enemies for considerable damage. Best used by melee builds or others in close proximity to lots of enemies (such as Whirlwind or Strafe), since the radius of effect of the lightning strikes is limited.

Zei’s Stone of Vengeance

Base Effect: Damage you deal is increased by 4% for every 10 yards between you and the enemy hit. Maximum 20% increase at 50 yards.
Upgrade rank grants: +0.05% damage +0.25 maximum distance in yards.
Rank 25 unlocks: 20% chance on hit to Stun the enemy for 1 second.

The damage boost calculates from the distance between the shooter (whether a character or a pet such as a Sentry or Hydra) and the target at the time the damage is dealt, thus an enemy who moves closer or further away after the projectile is fired can increase or decrease the damage.

The stats of Legendary Gems changed constantly while they were undergoing development on the PTR. A major revision was created on July 15, 2014 with new or upgraded stats for almost every gem.^[1] More changes came August 5th with a patch that changed the Enforcer gem, and completely reworked the upgrading system, changing legendary gems from 50 to 200 ranks. ^[2] Another patch later in August reduced the total ranks, removed multi-level upgrades, gave 3 chances to upgrade, and changed the secondary property to unlock at rank 25.

See the individual Legendary Gems pages for details on the evolution of their stats over the PTR testing period.

LGem Popularity

Legendary Gems were immediately embraced by players as a powerful new feature in the game, and sockets in jewelry became immediately sought after as mandatory end game affixes. Of all the gems, the offensive ones were the most popular and most used, since killing things faster is almost always the best and most fun strategy in Diablo III.

As for defensive legendary gems, even in Hardcore they were hardly used, which prompted much bigger defensive bonuses on the gems in the second batch, Esoteric Alteration and Molten Wildebeest’s Gizzard, added in Season Two.

The chart below shows the usage rate for all Legendary Gems as of October 2014, and was presented at Blizzcon 2014. All the offensive gems are on the upper half, with the first batch of defensive gems well down at the bottom. Other game features influenced the gem popularity, of course. At that time the initial version of the Demon Hunter's M6 Sentry build was the most popular/powerful, which is why Enforcer was ranked so highly. Changes to that set in Patch 2.1.0 reduced the damage dealt by the Sentries, no doubt dropping Enforcer well down the list of popularity.

Legendary Gem usage pie chart.

Gem Upgrade Development

The system was under construction all throughout the PTR and saw major changes during July and August, 2014.

Gems initially had 50 ranks, with the odds to upgrade[2] increasing on higher Greater Rift levels. This was reworked after a few weeks, and a patch on August 5, 2014 changed the maximum level from 50 to 200 and greatly increased the odds for multiple rank boosts per upgrade, as well as granting multiple upgrade opportunities on higher level greater rifts. ^[3]

Legendary gems now start at rank 0

Changes have been made to the frequency at which Legendary gems are upgraded
- Note: Because of this change the power of each upgrade has been reduced, but the overall rate at which gem power is gained through upgrades should remain roughly the same

That system was changed again late in the PTR, with the ranks cut from 200 to 25, and a whole new system of upgrade odds implemented, based on the difference in level between the gem and the Grift. Those odds were the final system which went live a few weeks later.

Legendary Gem Design Theory

Legendary Gem upgrade interface.

Blizzard's John Yang explained the design theory behind Legendary Gems while they were being tested on the PTR, July 15, 2014. ^[4]

Hi everyone. I wanted to pop in here while discussion on Legendary gems is ongoing.

First off, our philosophy on Legendary gems is that, when you pick one up for the first time, you should immediately want to use it, assuming it’s for your build, since some gems don’t apply to all builds/needs. This puts a minimum bar on the starting power level. After that, the power increase per upgrade is directly related to the frequency of upgrading, which is closely tied to the Greater Rift reward scheme and is still being iterated on. In the end, we’d like gems to be infinitely upgradeable when it makes sense, but not be outrageous.

Additionally, all Legendary gems have been disabled for followers. These powers were not designed for followers in mind, and this way we can ensure the gems are of a high power level because you can only have 3 equipped. In the future, if followers need avenues of advancement we would likely make Legendary gems specifically designed for them.

Now for the details. The existing stats you see on Legendary gems on the PTR today are somewhat placeholder. So, to steer further discussion in a direction that’s more in line with the next PTR build, here are the freshly tuned numbers (with some of my notes) for each gem.

Official Reveal

Legendary Gems were first revealed in June 2014 and the first official info came from Blizzard's Patch 2.1 preview blog. ^[5]

Legendary Gems are still undergoing significant iteration at this time, so you won’t see them available on the PTR right away. The gist is that these gems are infinitely upgradeable, and provide special Legendary powers when socketed into the appropriate gear slot. They can only be socketed into Rings and Amulets, and can be upgraded by completing additional Greater Rifts. The higher you place in a Greater Rift, the more likely your gem will be successfully upgraded. We’ll have more details in the future as we continue development on these powerful baubles, so stay tuned!