Best Gem Combos for Each Build in Diablo 4

Throughout your journey in Diablo 4, you'll come across many gems that will either be socketed into your gear or stored in your stash for later use. Like all Diablo games, gems are very important, so here's a look at where they'll be best used.

What do Gems do in Diablo 4?

Before we dive into what gems work best with certain classes or builds, let's take a look at what the gems do. You can use any gem you want with any class, but there are definitely ways to optimize it.

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• Emerald
  • Weapon: Critical strike damage to vulnerable enemies
  • Armor: Thorns
  • Jewelry: Poison resistance
• Sapphire
  • Weapon: Critical strike damage to crowd-controlled enemies
  • Armor: Damage reduction while Fortified
  • Jewelry: Cold resistance
• Ruby
  • Weapon: Overpower damage
  • Armor: Maximum life
  • Jewelry: Fire resistance
• Diamond
  • Weapon: Ultimate skill damage
  • Armor: Barrier generation
  • Jewelry: Resistance to all elements
• Topaz
  • Weapon: Basic skill damage
  • Armor: Damage reduction while control impaired
  • Jewelry: Lightning resistance
• Amethyst
  • Weapon: Damage over time
  • Armor: Damage over time reduction
  • Jewelry: Shadow resistance

With all that out of the way, you might have a decent idea of where to put gems, but let's break it down further, starting with the Barbarian.

Best Gems for Barbarians

Barbarians are typically going for as much damage as possible, and many builds will focus on Vulnerable damage (e.g. Whirlwind, Rend, and even Frenzied Hammer). That means Barbarians will want to usually focus on the following gems:

• Weapon: Emerald
• Armor: Ruby
• Jewelry: Diamond

Emeralds will maximize your damage while the Ruby will make it so you have more health; more health means being in battle longer, and that's always a good thing for Barbarians. The Diamond gives some blanket resistances, so that's nice to have too.

Best Gems for Druids

Druids will be different than Barbarians in that your build will dictate what gems you'll be using. Druids are pump and dump heavy with their building ability and spending abilities, so many of them will focus on using Topaz for the weapon, but the rest of the slots might be up for debate.

• Weapon: Topaz
• Armor: Ruby/Sapphire
• Jewelry: Diamond

The Armor slot is where you'll make the toughest decision. If you're using a Landslide build or something that uses Fortification, the Sapphire will be the choice for you. Outside of that, using a Ruby for more health is a good choice.

Best Gems for Necromancers

Necromancers are going to be a lot like the Barbarians, with their gem slots across their viable builds. Bone Spear builds will use the same setup, but things will change up if you're running something considered to be non-meta (e.g. Thorns).

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• Weapon: Emerald
• Armor: Ruby/Emerald
• Jewelry: Diamond

For a Thorns build, you'd swap out the Ruby for Emerald. The same can be said for a Summoning build because the Thorns will spread out to your minions. In that case, you can use a Golem that increases your Thorns even more.

Best Gems for Rogues

Things take a turn when it comes to Rogues: you'll be mixing up the gems a lot more than you've previously been. Rogues going for Traps or Poison builds will rely on Amethyst for their weapons because of the damage over time effects, while builds going for combo points will want Topaz. Here's the breakdown:

• Weapon: Amethyst/Topaz
• Armor: Ruby
• Jewelry: Diamond

Rubies and Diamonds round out the armor and jewelry slots, and you'll notice they've been largely the same across every build and class. These are just gems that work for everybody, but you can mix it up if you want. Topaz going in the armor slot can help you stay alive while being crowd controlled— something that could come in handy for a squishy Rogue.

Best Gems for Sorcerers

Sorcerers are another class that varies on gem usage. Crowd control builds will want Sapphire in their weapon, obviously, but you can get away with using an Amethyst if you want.

• Weapon: Sapphire/Amethyst
• Armor: Ruby/Diamond
• Jewelry: Diamond

Armor is an interesting one because Sorcerers are among the squishiest classes in the game, so using a Ruby or Diamond is a must. The Diamond might actually edge out the Ruby here as Barriers can really be handy for a Sorcerer. For Jewelry, having the resistance offered by a Diamond is best in slot, as is the case for every other class.

For more Diablo 4 news and guides, check out Diablo Story Timeline, Explained – When does D4 take place? on Pro Game Guides.