New Mage & Priest Card Reveals - Forbidden Flame, Forbidden Shaping; New Feature: Search Tags

Lost Cavern Revealed

Warcraft Movie TV Spot

Blizzard released a blog post with insight on Legendary Gems: their initial intended roles and mechanics, and upcoming mechanic updates to some of them. Read it below!

Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Introduced in Patch 2.1.0, Legendary Gems are one of the many methods by which players can vastly improve their character’s strength through perseverance and dedication. Obtained by defeating Greater Rift Guardians, these socketable facets of raw power grow alongside your nephalem with each new tier of difficulty you conquer.

In Patch 2.4.1, we’ll be making notable changes to a handful of Legendary Gems. Before we get into those changes and the reasoning behind them, we want to take a deep dive into the design structure behind Legendary Gems.

Gems and Their Purposes

Some gems have much more broadly defined roles than others. For example, gems like Esoteric Alteration or Molten Wildebeest’s Gizzard are meant to buff up your defensive capabilities. These gems might serve the same role, but they each do so in a different way. Overlap isn’t always a bad thing, as we want players to have choices that can suit different needs.

Others serve particular playstyle niches rather than generalized purposes. Enforcer, Boyarsky’s Chip or Zei’s Stone of Vengeance are all gems with clearly defined specializations. These are the gems you think of first when you are pursuing a particular playstyle. If you’re exploring a Thorns build, Boyarsky’s Chip should be a no-brainer. If you like the kite-and-fight style, then Zei’s Stone of Vengeance should be a go-to. Builds should have some reliable choices that reinforce their general gameplay.

Some gems are less focused on overall character power and more on enhancing different gameplay activities.Boon of the Hoarder and Gem of Ease support specific goals, farming gold and leveling characters, respectively. While these aren’t the kinds of gems you’re likely to find on a build that’s pushing high level Greater Rifts, they serve their purposes well.

We also have gems that are considered more utility oriented. These types of gems often provide multiple types of benefits or focus on specific stats, though perhaps at lower values than a gem that is more specialized for damage or defense. Which gems filled these roles was a little muddier in the past than we liked, so in Patch 2.4.1 we’re creating more that fall into this category and making their utility shine through more clearly.