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Decorations and Engravings: Socketing Gems

Decorations and engravings are gems you slot into your gear to push your stats higher. Once you understand how the sockets work and which gems fit your build, they become one of the easiest ways to gain power without touching the market. This guide covers what they do, how sockets scale with rarity, which gems suit which class, the catch when you remove one, and why you should use them now instead of saving them.

What decorations and engravings do

Both decorations and engravings add stats to the gear you slot them into. A single gem can grant flat stats, for example one community example added +21 Physical Damage (unverified). The effect depends on the gem. Lapis adds crit, amethyst adds Physical Damage, opal adds HP, and chaos diamond or emerald adds chaos resistance. Engravings tend to lean toward increased attack damage. Pick gems that match what your character actually needs, and the bonuses stack up quickly across a full set of gear.

Sockets by rarity

Decoration sockets start to appear at blue rarity and above. Below blue, a piece has no sockets at all. The higher the rarity of the gear, the more decoration and engraving slots it carries. At the top end, a community report says a full Beyond weapon can hold 4 decoration plus 4 engraving slots (unverified). So if you want more room for gems, chase higher-rarity gear, since the socket count comes with the rarity rather than the item level alone.

Which gems for which class

Match the gem to your class and build. Fire damage gems suit a Sorcerer, since their kit already leans on elemental output. Amethyst fits anyone who scales with Physical Damage. Lapis is good when you want more crit, opal helps if you need a larger health pool, and chaos diamond or emerald shores up chaos resistance when that is hurting you. Engravings with increased attack damage are a safe pick for most damage-focused builds. There is no single best gem, only the gem that covers the gap your character has right now.

Removing a decoration deletes it

Be careful before you pull a gem back out. You can drag a decoration out of a piece inside the Hero-dric Cube, but the removed decoration is deleted rather than refunded. You do not get the gem back to use elsewhere. On top of that, a community report says removing or re-decorating a piece can place a 7-day cooldown on it (unverified). Because of this, slot a gem only when you are reasonably sure you want it there, especially on a piece you plan to keep.

Use them, do not hoard

Use your gems freely, especially when you are stuck or the market is closed and you cannot trade for an upgrade. Do not hoard high-rarity gems for some later stage, because you need the power now to reach those stages in the first place. Low-rarity gray, green, and blue gems are perfectly fine to slot early on. High-rarity gems are stronger but expensive, and at low levels you cannot get them anyway, so only start considering high-rarity gems around level 65 and up. Until then, fill your sockets with what you have and keep moving.

Sources

Updated 2026-06