Path of Exile 2 Gemcutter's Prism Wiki & Tips

The Path of Exile 2 Gemcutter's Prism Wiki provides detailed information about this currency item, which is used to improve the quality of skill gems and increase their effectiveness in combat. Each Gemcutter's Prism boosts a gem's quality by 5%, up to a maximum of 20%, offering better performance for core skills. This guide covers the best ways to use, farm, and trade Gemcutter's Prisms, as well as how they interact with specific skill gems to help players get the most out of their builds in Path of Exile 2.

What is Gemcutter's Prism in Path of Exile 2?

In Path of Exile 2, the Gemcutter's Prism is a currency item used to improve the quality of skill gems, increasing their effectiveness in combat. Each application of a Gemcutter's Prism raises a gem's quality by 1%, up to a maximum of 20%. Players can obtain Gemcutter's Prisms as drops from enemies or through trading with others. They are widely sought after for optimizing skill gems and are a valuable resource for enhancing builds and preparing for endgame challenges.

What is the Best Use of Gemcutter's Prism in Path of Exile 2?

The best use of a Gemcutter's Prism in Path of Exile 2 is to improve the quality of skill gems that are central to your build or intended for endgame content. Focus on upgrading gems that provide core damage, support, or utility to maximize their impact in combat. Since quality increases a gem's base effects—such as boosting damage or reducing mana cost—it’s wise to reserve Gemcutter’s Prisms for skills that heavily influence your performance against tougher enemies and bosses. Additionally, you can use them on high-demand gems to increase their trade value or combine them with other crafting methods to optimize your gear and overall build efficiency. Properly allocating Gemcutter’s Prisms ensures better results for your character's progression.

Practical Tips for Gemcutter's Prism Use

• Focus on Core Skills: Use Gemcutter's Prism on skills that you rely on heavily in your build. For example, if your build uses Spark as the primary damage source, improving its quality will directly increase your effectiveness.

• Check Secondary Effects: Gems like Blade Vortex that scale with secondary effects (e.g., stacking blades) benefit more from quality, as the bonuses compound over time.

• Prioritize Gems With Unique Interactions: Skills like Spark or Fireball are excellent candidates because their quality bonuses go beyond basic improvements and directly affect how the skill behaves in combat.

What is the Change of Gemcutter's Prism in Path of Exile 2?

A single Gemcutter's Prism now improves the quality of a skill gem by +5% (previously it was +1% in PoE 1). This adjustment means that players can achieve higher quality levels more efficiently, enhancing the effectiveness of their skill gems more rapidly.

How & Where To Get Gemcutter's Prism Fastest in PoE 2?

To get Gemcutter's Prisms as quickly as possible in Path of Exile 2, focus on a mix of farming, vendor recipes, and trading. Farming specific areas like the Temple of Copic in Act 3 and the Molten Vault is highly effective, as these locations contain numerous chests and elite enemies that can drop valuable currency, including Gemcutter's Prisms. Always open Artisan's Strongboxes when you encounter them, as they can also contain these prisms. Use vendor recipes by selling a single gem with 20% quality or multiple gems with a combined quality of at least 40% to receive one Gemcutter's Prism. Collect divination cards like The Gemcutter or The Union, which can be turned in for additional prisms. Lastly, utilize the in-game trade system to exchange other valuable currency items, such as Chaos Orbs or Exalted Orbs, for Gemcutter's Prisms. Combining these methods ensures a steady supply of prisms for your build.

What is the Drop Rate (Rarity) of Gemcutter's Prism in Path of Exile 2?

The drop rate of Gemcutter's Prisms has been significantly increased. This change aims to make the item more accessible to players, allowing for more frequent enhancements of skill gems during gameplay. The drop rate for Gemcutter's Prism is approximately 0.275% from monsters. This means players can expect to find one after defeating around 364 monsters on average.

How Gemcutter's Prism Effect on Arctic Armour in PoE 2?

In Path of Exile 2, increasing the quality of Arctic Armour to 20% using Gemcutter's Prisms grants an additional stage, raising it from 3 to 4 stages. Each stage adds cold damage dealt to melee attackers when they hit you, effectively boosting the skill's damage by 25% with the extra stage. While it may seem like a low-priority use for Gemcutter's Prisms compared to other gems, the one-time cost of four prisms for this improvement can be worthwhile for builds that use Arctic Armour heavily, as the added stage directly increases its defensive and offensive utility.

What are the Best Skill Gems to Use Gemcutter's Prism in PoE 2?

In Path of Exile, Gemcutter's Prism is used to improve the quality of skill gems, which can provide unique bonuses depending on the gem. Some gems have special interactions with quality, offering additional effects that can significantly change how they function. Below are skill gems with interesting quality-based enhancements that are worth considering:

• Spark: Each point of quality increases the number of projectiles. At max quality, Spark can shoot more bolts, making it far more effective for clearing and single-target damage.

• Vaal Ice Spear: Quality improves projectile speed, which can help the spears reach their second form faster and deal more damage over longer distances.

• Fireball: Quality boosts both ignite chance and area of effect. This makes it a strong choice for builds focused on burn mechanics or large AoE damage setups.

• Blade Vortex: Quality increases duration, letting you maintain more blades without constant re-casting. This helps builds that rely on stacking high numbers of blades for damage.

• Temporal Chains: Quality boosts the effect of the slowing debuff, making it more effective at controlling enemies in fights or during boss encounters.

• Lightning Warp: Quality reduces the cast time, improving mobility and making it smoother to use in fast-paced situations.

• Tornado Shot: Quality adds more projectile damage, which is especially useful for scaling with additional arrows created by the secondary effects of the skill.

Some gems gain simple bonuses like extra damage or duration from quality, but others like Spark or Fireball benefit from mechanics that improve their overall playstyle. For example, Spark becomes a far better clearing tool with additional bolts, while Temporal Chains becomes a stronger defensive option through enhanced slowing. These interactions can provide more utility or effectiveness beyond just raw numbers.

Should You Always Use Gemcutter's Prism On Main Skill Gems To Upgrade Quality?

You don't always need to use Gemcutter's Prisms on your main skill gems immediately. It's worth checking what quality bonuses the gem provides before applying them, as some gems offer more valuable benefits for specific builds than others. For example, upgrading quality on a gem that improves damage, area of effect, or duration might align better with your playstyle. Additionally, since quality carries over when you level up or resocket a gem, you don't need to worry about losing that investment. However, if you're planning to replace your gem with a higher-quality version or a specific variant later in the game, it may be wise to stockpile your prisms until you're certain about your final setup. You can inspect a gem's quality bonuses by pressing the designated key (e.g., Alt on keyboard or right thumbstick on a controller).

Gemcutter's Prism Not Working and Bugged in PoE 2?

If using a Gemcutter's Prism on a skill like Earthshatter doesn’t seem to change anything, it’s likely because the quality bonus hasn’t reached the threshold where the effect becomes noticeable. For Earthshatter, quality bonuses increase the maximum number of spikes, but this happens incrementally as you add more quality. A single prism only adds 5% quality, and certain effects may require higher thresholds, such as 6-10% or even the full 20% quality, to take effect. If the gem’s tooltip still shows no change, this isn’t a bug but rather how quality scaling works. It’s always important to check the gem’s quality description and understand how it interacts with quality levels to gauge when bonuses will appear.