Gem Feedback Megathread

18 Dec, '25
Jonny Panic

Highlighted comment

I've found VERY few gems that are worth using at all, and all the best ones are common, uncommon, or rare at best; the rest have VERY specific and niche conditions to use.

The worst crime is that our main enemy faction is *completely immune* to a common damage type; Shroud enemies immune to Shroud damage. That's not unreasonable, but makes me disregard Shroud damage sources entirely... legendary Winged Shadow bow and Dark Morningstar effectively only have three modifiers, and Gem of Corruption does something very close to nothing at all.

My favorite so far has been the humble, common Gem of Burning; the delay is irksome, but the application is consistent with a bow like Ignited, it can be applied AOE with an Explosion arrow, and burning enemies also lights them up... a blessing in the Shroud or at night, especially.

Ultimately, however, almost none off the gems really shine at all.

22 Nov, '25
Jason Merged

the gem system is completely worthless in this game. However the assets can be reused to make a worthwhile system as follows. The essence is still collected except now its not used to slot gems but rather to power "flame abilities" that have finite resources ( based on how much essense you have). Using the gem stations to charge the flame gives you access to new specific powers that eat away at the essence as they are used up. For instance you can teleport out of the shroud if you have that gem/ability and the essence to power it. Or a super jump gem. A number of other actually inteesting abilities could be put in with a similar theme. So the gem itself isnt slotted anymore its just used as an extra ability like a potion that draws on the essence you charged it with. This is far superior to weak conditional abilities that are not worth collecting. As these abilities are actually useful shroud lairs would be worth going into again.

01 Dec, '25
Momo Merged

Gems
-Currently, gems don’t feel worth using. Their perks are too niche, and the conditions required rarely occur in normal gameplay. More generic, universally useful gem effects would help.
-Suggested Gem Idea: 1–5% chance to stun an enemy on hit.
-Gem upgrades feel pointless due to high cost and minimal benefit.
-Add a system to combine lower-tier essence into higher-tier essence.
-Allow players to use higher-tier essence on lower-tier gems.
-Consider limiting gem acquisition to activities like Shroud Layers, so those activities feel meaningful.
-Gem Forges feel more like something that should be crafted or placed at a player base.

Weapons
-Weapon diversity is lacking. Most feel like variations of the same item.
-Introduce legendaries or “exotics” with unique abilities, similar to systems in Destiny or Borderlands.
-Greatswords swing too slowly and are not worth using; attack speed also displays incorrectly.

01 Dec, '25
Momo Merged

Gems feel too niche and hard to trigger in normal gameplay. They should provide more generic, universally valuable effects.

Example: A gem with a 1–5% chance to stun an enemy on hit.

01 Dec, '25
Momo Merged

The cost-to-reward ratio on gem upgrades is too low and should be adjusted.

01 Dec, '25
Momo Merged

Gems should only drop from activities like Shroud Layers so the activity has clear purpose and reward.

03 Dec, '25
Vapok System

"Gems Need More Generic, Useful Effects" (suggested by <Hidden> on 2025-12-01), including upvotes (1) and comments (0), was merged into this suggestion.

03 Dec, '25
Vapok System

"Restrict Gem Drops to Defined Activities" (suggested by <Hidden> on 2025-12-01), including upvotes (1) and comments (0), was merged into this suggestion.

03 Dec, '25
Vapok System

"Gem Upgrades Are Too Expensive for the Benefit" (suggested by <Hidden> on 2025-12-01), including upvotes (1) and comments (0), was merged into this suggestion.

03 Dec, '25
Vapok System

"Overall Game Feedback - Gems & Weapons" (suggested by <Hidden> on 2025-12-01), including upvotes (1) and comments (0), was merged into this suggestion.

04 Dec, '25
Frank D.

I think GEMs are currently not worth it. Also, I have a problem (maybe it's only me) to find out exactly what the gem does before I put it into a weapon. Their short descriptions are short and often sound interesting, but after I use them I'm usually disappointed.

I think devs could create much more interesting system around gems if they took inspiration for example from Path of exile, or even something like Diablo II (just add fire damage, shroud damage to weapons etc.)

04 Dec, '25
DragonsDusk

Increase chance for high level weapons to have gem slot. Too often I'll finally get a new good bow or dagger only for them NOT to have a slot.

Allow combining low level essence for higher essence. Remind that gems can be recycled in gem text.

Specify in gem text if it will provide the listed elemental effect or only enhance the effect if you can already wield it. (Gem of currents, I can't do show with my bow or any arrows so it was useless).

04 Dec, '25
Vapok System

"overhaul the gem system" (suggested by <Hidden> on 2025-11-22), including upvotes (1) and comments (0), was merged into this suggestion.

05 Dec, '25
AonGreyFox

I suggest try rule of awesome first, then slowly balance it later. Some good session of TTRPG will do. Adding thing that didn't make player feel fun, cool or rewarding is a waste of development time and bloat the game content.

- Add a way to add gem socket to weapon by spending resource instead. (Reduce unnecessary grind)
- Make them more versatile, not strictly condition. (dev seem to enjoy punish player by FORCE to make a choice instead of giving a choice.)
--- Remove condition on some gem are better than adding more gem.
- Make them feel rewarding to use and trigger, not a barely meh at best when trigger... even on early. Specially the condition one should make them feel cool,
- Scale dmg gem formula with power of weapon along the gem level to keep it up to date with new drops gear.

05 Dec, '25
Shellque

My main issue with gems is the frustration of having to go to the gem forges. It makes it really hard just to try one out and see how well it works when you have to have such a trek to get both the essence (shroud lairs are insanely boring - at least add some lore there) and get to the place (and out again) where you do the socketing.

Otherwise I like the concept of them and several now are really fun and even occasionally useful.

05 Dec, '25
Cristiane

The idea of the twins is very cool, but their effects aren't that interesting, and having to go far to place them based on levels didn't appeal to me much. My suggestion would be to place them through the blacksmith or alchemist, or craft a jewelry workbench to apply them, and go to the forges to create them with more interesting unique effects. It would be good to have gems that we could assign not only to our weapons but also to our armor, and perhaps have specific gems for our combat abilities, which would allow for more variation in character building.

Here are some suggested abilities for gems:

For weapons:

- Increased attack speed for melee weapons
- Recover a small percentage of HP/Mana on attacks
- Reduced stamina cost on attacks
- Chance to not consume the arrow or spell when casting

For armor:

- Increased maximum HP, mana, stamina
- Regeneration of stamina, mana, and HP
- Reduced stamina cost when gliding
- Increased movement speed

05 Dec, '25
Edragor

I dont mind that gems exist with a very niche-use case, but putting them into epic or legendary category while having a drop rate of "common" - does confuse a little.
Having to change/switch essences (and equipment for that matter) roughly every 5 to 10 levels doesnt work out with the overall fast leveling speed. So the whole trip to the forge for some minor enhancement gets annoying very fast, especially if your a few essences short...but still have stacks form lower lvl essences...
...and it dampens the fun in just to try them out or to re-visit the "lower-lvl" broodnests, which is kinda sad cuz i like their challenge and overall vibe/design.
In addition archaic essences have no additional crafting use, thus in essence its just a "token"-farm system and not really part of the overall crafting complex.

06 Dec, '25
spacefiddle

Gem of Currents applying its own requirement was too easy, i agree - it basically just negates the requirement.

Why not solve the problem with an opportunity to expand the magic system, tho?

https://enshrouded.featureupvote.com/suggestions/681774/yes-currents-adding-its-own-requirement-was-too-easy-so-why-not-add-water-spells

07 Dec, '25
Jason

even if the gems were improved they would still not be worth getting. Give that the shroud lairs, and gem stations are a signifigant amount of content they need to do more with that content. The stations need to do more than slot gems. The essence should have massive utility to make it worthwhile to collect. In this regard impressive collectable but essence limited flame abilities is the proper choice but the weapon gems could be kept as well with just no cost to slot since their effects are minor. Gem forges should also be able to upgrade weapons to legendary through the flame(level) and essence and slot armor as well. More gameplay needs to be wound around this system. Hallowed halls should also drop essence and essence should not regenerate. You get what you get. You should also be able to make certain essence fueled consumables to speed up timers or farminf and things like that. That makes it worthwhile. Shroud lairs should also be much harder than what they are.

07 Dec, '25
Jeremy

Not being able to combine gem essences into higher level essence is in itself a deal-breaker for this system. I don't even bother socketing the good gems and this loot just clogs my chests.

07 Dec, '25
KRogers

Diablo games perfected socketed gems and runes. Those would have been great examples to follow. But in particular, take a look at the rune mechanics in Diablo 4: There's a trigger rune which links with an effect rune (in two separate sockets). It's obvious what the trigger condition is, and the player has the freedom to link different effects with different triggers.

The Enshrouded gem implementation is very weak to being with, not a lot of options. But to make it worse, there is no immediate, clear explanation of a gem's trigger condition. The player must travel all the way to a gem forge to finally get a full description of the gem, only to discover that the trigger condition will probably never happen. Wasted time and effort.

So, at the very least: display full gem descriptions in inventory. At the very most, throw out the current implementation completely; do something more like Diablo 4: gems add bonuses, runes add triggered effects.

08 Dec, '25
Anne

Gems do not seem worth the effort. They are a pain to get to and the archaic essence system is not intuitive and I inevitably showed up with the wrong level. I also think they would benefit from better decriptions.

Also please please get rid of the requirement to remove gems at the forge! I stopped using gems once I realized I had to go back with the correct archaic essense to remove it before I could salvage my item.

09 Dec, '25
Geminiocean

I agree with everyone saying the reward vs the effort of the gems is too much. A gem forge in the base would be a good way to balance this. Making the effects of the gems more transparent is also a great idea. As is KRogers idea of a trigger-effect condition. It would add more customization to the system and allow us to choose the effect we want. An example being swapping out damage types for different situations (blunt for hollow halls, piercing or slashing for shroud wells) This would let us keep favorite weapons instead of having to change them out for the different situations.

09 Dec, '25
Empasm

Gem of Focused Light on a bow requires you to keep near melee range and switches too easily to other targets even if crosshair remains solely on the intended target.

Also, too expensive for what they do, and while I want to try them, I feel like even if they were cheaper they wouldn't be worth much in their current state.

09 Dec, '25
TLT

Besides the obvious high cost and maintenance vs low reward feedback, archaic essences not being backwards compatible or upgrade-able is a nuisance. I sometimes spent more time in shrouds in higher area and has infinitely more high level essences (talking in hundreds) that I cannot use to slot lower level gems/ trade for lower level essences, and vice versa. Besides reworking gems entirely, please make the resources backwards or upwards compatible, and higher tier essence crafting unlocks with levels in terms of upgrading.

09 Dec, '25
rick Merged

Either do the thing the other 2 posts mention or put the level of Archaic essence on the map for each Gem forge.
I can't believe this is an oversight to know beforehand which Archaic essence you need on the gem forge.

since 2 posts are already made meaning this game type is quite flawed and i can't believe this is an oversight and not inplented correctly?!

10 Dec, '25
Vapok System

"Archaic Essence level ?" (suggested by <Hidden> on 2025-12-09), including upvotes (1) and comments (0), was merged into this suggestion.

10 Dec, '25
PaulJ

Mostly agreed with the other comments. That said, perhaps the designers don't wish to simply copy other games' implementations.

1) Archaic essences need to be one combined "currency", not multiple non-interchangeable ones.

2) Gem effects need to be game-changing, not piddling tiny little +bonus%es. If I can merely pick up an upgraded weapon that beats the bonus from a gem, that bonus is a failure.

3) Costs are still way too high. The world sliders are complicating player feedback. Yank everything down to minimum and then brace yourselves for the player complaints.

4) One slot is a start, but it's so low and many weapons don't even HAVE a slot. Worse, gems are so rare they might as well not exist, not to mention the costs. Do you want players to use this mechanic or not??

Overall, it's not simply the gem feature that has fundamental issues. Look at all the affixes on gear. Look at the recipes.

10 Dec, '25
nu

Gems should give some unique abilities Like Special attacks for example. That would be so awesome.

10 Dec, '25
VoidIndigo

First off, I like the Gem system. It's creative and allows for some unique things, even cosmetic unique things can be fun and worthwhile (Meteoric Impact, I'm looking at you... lots of fun to watch, not much use in practice). With the addition of things like Gem of Lycanthropy we get some unique buff effects (weird that it's in a food slot... but I guess that's more unique) and the existing Gem of Necromancy gives a "proc-pet".

Some problems I see:
- Many gems are useful only in the endgame, where weapon replacement / upgrade is impossible.
- Gems are highly common in Hollow Halls, but Hollow Halls is not commonly used by solo players until they are well above level for the rewards therein.
- The existing Archaic Essence system is overly complex, if I move into areas with gems at higher levels, the low-level essence are nearly useless
- Essence cannot be combined ( eg: Runes )
- Crafted weapons ( including Lore ) don't have Gem slots
- Armor / shields do not have Gem slots

11 Dec, '25
Jaylax

Some gems effects don't proc often enough to matter or notice, and some proc conditions are too niche and make the gem not worthwhile.
Other proc affects are quite strong. I forget the name, but the gem that drops a 'crypt' potion that floats in the air...then the potion is broken by the player, the heal is 1300 hitpoints from each potion. That is honestly much stronger than I expected, and it makes me want to farm and use that same gem on all my weapons (ignoring all other gem types).
Gems need a strong balance pass for proc effects, and some proc conditions need to be adjusted to be less restrictive and happen in a greater variety of combat scenarios. I'll offer more feedback when I'm done testing all of them.

11 Dec, '25
Mitch ALPS

Gems - Not described well enough and not general enough. Who really pulls out their glider mid fight to get a +25 Fire explosion? Why not just have a +5 fire dmg that can be added to a bow, a sword, a wand? Currently the only reliable gem is the gem of piercing (Bows) and gem of lightning (mage) and gem of bleeding (melee). All the rest really are not utilized or are under powered for the amount of effort to upgrade etc.

Make current gems have abilities that apply to all weapons and clear who they are best for
Melee gem, Archer gem, Mage gem
Make upgrade worth it +1 +2 +3 etc...
Describe them better
Gems + Essence (Teir 1 - Teir 2 - Teir 3) Not lvl of essence

Add Gems to Armor for better customization and more reason to keep playing.

Essence at higher level gem forges should utilize low lvl essence for low lvl activities. Example: Gem lvl 13 insert should cost lvl 13 essence regardless of where it is put in. Then take lvl 13 essence to upgrade (at any gem forge lvl 13 up)

12 Dec, '25
Buzzkill

So an example of a poor designed gem. Gem of Skulls

The problems:
1. These companions do not last long. They have a short duration timer and low hp. This is context for the following problems.
2. Visceral attack is not defined in game. Official Discord says this should read "Merciless attack" or something. That is the name of the skill yes?
3. This is not Dark Souls. In DS a parry gives you iframes. Merciless attack does not. So this isn't useful for boss fights because the boss is already dead when you MA. You don't want to MA adds while dodging the Boss. MA are used most on the last enemy. So spawning a skull after the last enemy is dead is not helpful.
4. The main people who will want the ability to spawn skulls are staff or wand users with the necromancer skill who can't do visceral attacks.

Make skull last longer a lot, or make spawn on first attack, or increase chance by enemy count. Also, let it spawn on normal attacks, or magic attacks adjust spawn as appropriate.

13 Dec, '25
HexDot

Armor gems with a vastly wide range of applications and effects (examples : +[x][Stat or combat stat] // gem set bonus // special effects)
Cursed/Corrupted gems (both weapons and armor) that give boons and debuffs depending on the gems (example: [x]% chance to call in a lightning bolt on hit, +[x] seconds of wet time)

14 Dec, '25
Kaelbourne

I would like to emphasize one comment that VoidIndigo made.

It was disappointing to see. But I understood why crafted lore weapons would cap out at rare. It makes sense given their role as a transitional weapon until a better one is found.

But I do not understand at all why crafted lore weapons do not automatically have a gem slot. It would seem to me that if you were transitioning from a weapon with a gem slot (likely) and will eventually replace a crafted lore weapon with a better weapon (likely also having a gem slot), why would you not think of having a gem slot on a crafted weapon you intended to be transitional?

17 Dec, '25
HazelThyme

Please consolidate archaic essence. There are way too many variants
Maybe make it something like low level upgrades need less, scaling up as you go.
And low level zones also provide less essence that scale up as you go.

Next can we have a gem forge at home. It's a PITA to go to a gem forge and then come back because they all seem to be in the shroud. I'm in a multiplayer session with 5 friends, and after unlocking the mechanic we all quickly realized none of us wanted to engage with the mechanic at this point (we are around lvl ~25 right now) and are all waiting to hit max level before we bother with trying it out. There is no consideration of leveling weapons having gems socketed once we found out you also can't scrap them unless you go back to the gem forge to take it out.

21 Dec, '25
Ghaleon281

What if gems were divided into different categories - something for interesting situational effects (like Meteoric Strike), and something for more straight-forward effects. Could even divide them into three categories so gems like Agility (which will come up a lot for evasive play styles) go in a category for 'common' situations, and then add some gems for straight-forward passive effects like attack speed (as Christiane suggests), or flat/percentage damage gains. Basically, the goal is categories based on how often the gem helps. Then, different weapons can have different types of slots - maybe even multiple.

This would also help the issue of weapons with damage increase perks often being the 'go to' option. Those could have fewer (or no) straight-forward gem slots - only situational ones. If a weapon with few/no damage perks has 1 to 3 slots for attack speed or damage gems, it is suddenly viable compared to a weapon with 3 attack perks but only slots for highly situational effects.

23 Dec, '25
Lydia

The frozen gem specifically seems fun but I currently have it on by bow, perhaps not the best weapon for it, however when it triggers the animations mean I can't see hardly anything around me! They've very cool to look at I will say, but when I'm aiming with clouds of ice I struggle to see the enemies and it gets in the way

26 Dec, '25
Peter Flindt

The whole system is okay for me. That they give only a little bonus too.

But the descriptions could be better.
"visceral attack"?
But the worst text is:
"Killing an enemy with no allied unarmored Hollow active has a chance to spawn an allied level X unarmored Hollow."
This means I can get one or more skeletons?
If I can get multiple skeletons and this skeleton is allied with an enemy, the ghost of them, this is my interpretation, how can I kill an enemy who is a skeleton already?

30 Dec, '25
leilar

+1 on feeling conned that I can't proc the skull gem while being a mage with the skull trait

It feels like this game kinda hates magic.

Generally though, I feel like it's somewhat astonishing that people are saying gems are "too niche and useless" and just want +stats. Like, you could make the gems boring and lack a justification for being. It seemed to me the entire point of them is to give different outlets for build diversity. I would rather see the system completely removed than see them turned into vacuous stat rocks.

31 Dec, '25
Ericc

As they stand the gems are too much of a time sink for too little in reward. The farming of essence yields too little material per shroud lair compared to how much it costs to upgrade the gems.
On top of that the gems offer a very small buff that is conditional and not passive or "easily" activated.
It's a mountain of work for almost nothing in return.

1. Gems needs to have less conditions to meet to activate their effects and/or have much stronger effects.
2. Archaic Essence just honestly needs to not have separate levels. there should JUST be essence, no 5-10 different levels of it, especially with how little you get per shroud lair. Higher level areas can simply just provide more essence per lair than lower level ones to make up for this suggested change. Additionally maybe the costs per upgrade might need lowering, but I havent tested enough to say that for certainty.

03 Jan
Elaphros

Rework gems into 4-5 generic categories, with up to 3 additional random effects, increasing in potency with normal/rare/epic/legendary status.

13 Jan
leilar

Please make magic chests compatible with Gem Forges in build areas that contain both. Could this be any more frustrating to interact with?

14 Jan
leilar

I also cannot tell how upgrading gems is supposed to work. On one character, I have one Gem Forge discovered, and I can upgrade a gem to level 10. It then tells me I just discover more Gem Forges to upgrade further. On another character that is much more high level, I have at least 3 Gem Forges on my map that I have accessed, yet I get the exact same message as on my first character: for the very same level 10 gem (the Burning gem from Springlands,) I must "discover more gem forges."

How many? Why does discovering a new one have no impact? I do not feel like it's possible to figure this out without looking online, so it seems to be very design challenged. It should not be so vague and unguided if it is not completely intuitive.

I also don't know what the point of all this essence I'm looting is because I can't upgrade anything, and also inserting ANY level of gem used the level 5 essence. I just don't get it, and this system needs help.

16 Jan
ONI-Junge

think it would be great if you could build your own Gem Forges in your base. Even later in the game, you could implement them. The level of the Gem Forges could increase with the level of the Flame Altar.

Also, I would rework the effects of the gems. Some are ineffective and therefore pointless. Furthermore, a 1-5% improvement is far too little. It has almost no effect.

16 Jan
Kronicle

The gem forge has a feeling it is suppose to be big and important with how it is placed in the shroud and can even restore your shroud timer, but the grind to find gems, find essence and then make your way through shroud and then back out, just feels bad. With how much goes into it I would rather have the Gem Forge at home. I am already having to grind resources to make weapons and equipment which offer bigger bonuses, and that stuff can be made at the home. Gem Forges at this moment just don't feel worth it and feel unfulfilling.

17 Jan
er1k

Owned Gem perks can be activated randomly for other group members in multiplayer. Unreliable but still noticeable!

Reading Gem attributes should work the same in storage as from inventory. The fact that I have to have them in inventory to read their description is strange.
Gem attributes seem to be buggy - different numbers in attribute list versus description.

Essence Levels are stupid: I have absolutely no grasp why the Essence levels are different to the max Gem Forge levels. What an uncooperative and un-intiutive game design?! Even after 1000 hours I'm still thinking way too long about what Essence I have to grab for a 15 to 20 upgrade and so on...

Recycling Essence interface shows two different numbers for Essence yield. Number in the thumbnail from the Epic warning doesn't match.

Please give the Forge & Liar icons on the map a level number. Don't just force people to add a custom map marker when you've dropped the named map maker patch.

20 Jan
Gary Merged

Gem's in general do seem to need an overhaul. They feel too weak and underwhelming. The effort for levelling them just doesn't seem worth it at all. It barely even feels worth slotting them.
The gem of storms eye for example should apply the same mark to all targets hit by shock spells, and maybe even only shock spells.
Currently it only applies the mark to the first target in the chain that you hit, making it not really have much use, because you have to manually apply it to each individual target get a worthwhile bonus out of it.
When used with shock spells that have the innate chain hit mechanic, it should apply the mark to every target in the chain, making this shock type gem have synergy with shock type spells. It just seems like a no brainer that this gem mechanic would synergize with the shock spell chain hit mechanic.

26 Jan
Sparkplug

I have no idea which forge to go to or what I need to bring. Traveling to a gem forge just to insert or extract a gem only to find out you have the wrong level of essence or whatever means that I will never do it. It's too confusing and too much of a hassle.

31 Jan
Kraven Kor

This shouldn't be that hard.

Gem of Burning: Deals 5% of base weapon damage as fire damage, and ignites for 2.5% per second for 3 seconds. No, not a lot of enemies will take the full DoT part, but bosses would. DoT part does not stack, but any hit by same renews DoT timer.

Gem of Lightning: Deals 5% of base weapon damage as lightning, prevents mana or stamina regen for 1 second. Does not stack.

Gem of Ice: Deals 5% of base weapon damage as Ice, deals 2.5% of base weapon damage as Stamina damage. Can apply Frost Slow on crit.

Gem of Meteoric Impact: Deals 5% of base weapon damage as Blunt / Fire damage. 10% more Stun Meter damage. And you can do the glide bomb, say 10% of base weapon damage AoE DoT for 3 seconds.

Gem of Bleeding: Deals 5% of base weapon damage as Cutting / Piercing. On Crit, applies DoT - every 1 seconds = 25% of damage dealt by the attack, for 3 seconds.

Gem of Necromancy: Deals 5% of base weapon damage as Necrotic. On crit, summons Skull Dude.

Gem Feedback Megathread

Comments: 67 Oldest • Newest • Most likes • Fewest likes

Comments: 67
Oldest • Newest • Most likes • Fewest likes