Hero Equipment: Embedding Gems, all you need to know

headerWith update 10.3, a new system of enhancing gear has been introduced, besides upgrading and enhancing, namely Embedding (Gems) So what does this feature exactly do and what do you need to do this? As in the article about upgrading and enhancing, I will try to combine everything you need to know into this one article. For a run down of what gears to embed with Gems, see this article.

  • 1. What is Gem Embedding?
  • 2. Where can you find this function?
  • 3. What is needed to embed gems?
    • 3.1 Gem Shards
    • 3.2 Gems
    • 3.3 Combining Gems in Forge
    • 3.4 Embedding gems and unlocking more sockets
    • 3.5 Removing Gems from gear
  • 4. Gem Pouch research
  • 5. Available Gems and levels
    • 5.1 Artamir Gem

1. What is Gem Embedding?

In short, Gem Embedding is a new, third option to make your gear even greater than it already is. You could Enhance gear to unlock bonus attributes, Upgrade gear to strengthen their effects and bonus stats, and now you can insert Gems into sockets in the gear, to increase the base stats of the gear.

2. Where can you find this function?

The main function of Gem Embedding can be found in the same places where you will find the options to Enhance and Upgrade. This can be from a Hero’s equipment page, or from Forge for example. If you go to the Forge you will see that gear now has four sockets displayed underneath their thumbnail, of which only one is unlocked by default:

armor gems view

Now to go to Embedding Gems, you either press the thumbnail (left), or press the bonus attributes (right), and then the Embed button:

gear view with gemscombined

When you press Embed, you will be taking to the Embed screen of the gear piece, where you will find the option to Embed a Gem and get an overview of available sockets and the gems inside them:

3. What is needed to embed Gems?

There are a few things necessary for Embedding Gems. We need the raw materials for the process, we need to combine those into useful items, and then we need to actually embed them. Besides that, we have options to enhance the process and make it possible to use more Gems per gear piece.

3.1 Gem shards

Gem Shards are the basic materials for making Gems. Most likely, you will be mining these mostly to acquire the ingredients for Gem Embedding, but they can be bought and won as well. They are found inside Goblin Caverns, a new type of land patch which was introduced among the existing plains, wilds, goblin camps and others on the map. The map which is also getting a 3D overhaul in the near future. To get a full overview on how to Mine Gem Shards from Goblin Caverns, please see this article.gem shards

3.2 Gems

Gems are what is actually used in the process of Gem Embedding. They start of at level 1, and can be upgraded to higher levels. There are currently two methods of getting Gems:

  • Combining Gem shards in the Sage tower 
  • Winning Gems in tournaments and other events

The Gems from the Sage tower are level 1 Artamir Gems, which can then be used on gear directly, or upgraded further. Go to the Relics>Gem tab in the Sage Tower to view the options to combine shards into Gems (10/100/1000 shards) and Ancient Drills (120 shards):

forge gem

3.3 Combining gems in Forge

As is stated above, Gems can have different levels, and Gems from Sage tower for example start at level 1. However, Gems can also be upgraded to higher levels, making them more powerful. This can be done in a new tab that can be found in the Forge:

forge combine gems

Similar to Enhancing gear, you are able to use lower level Gems and select them as materials to be combined into more powerful Gems. At the bottom of the screen are shown the Gems of the different levels you currently have in possession. Pressing a Gem type will show the details of what that level Gem does when inserted into gear pieces:

gem gear attributes

You will need 4 (Artamir) or 5 (Emerald) Gems to combine into a Gem of a higher level. If you have sufficient Gems, you can press select and they will be put into the sockets. Next you press the ‘Combine’ button to start the combination process. A screen will pop up if you have materials to make multiple new Gems:

how many forge gems

Set the slider and press ok. A transformation animation is shown (below), and the new Gems are put in your inventory to use.

combining process

3.4 Using gems and unlocking more sockets

Once the necessary Gems have been acquired, they can be inserted into the appropriate gear items. To do this, go to a piece of gear and then go to its Embed menu (see pictures at the top of this article, chapter 2). Now select the Gem you want to insert and presto, done.

As can be seen in the top article pictures as well, gear has 4 available sockets for Gems (this seems to be the case for every piece of gear no matter how low or high quality), but only 1 socket is unlocked by default. The other 3 can be unlocked by two means so far:

  • Buying the unlock for 50 mithril
  • Unlocking with the use of an ‘Ancient Drill’  item

ancient drillAncient Drills are used to open up one additional socket in a piece of gear. They can be bought for 50 Mithril, or simply crafted from mined Gem Shards in the Sage Tower, at 120 Shards per Drill. To unlock, first press the unlock button below the socket, then choose in the pop-up screen between paying with Mithril or using a Drill:

unlocking gear gem slot

3.5 Removing Gems from gear

The goal will be to have as high a level of Gems in your gear as is possible. But you are not going to wait around for level 5 Gems before using them. So you will need to remove lower level Gems from gear in the process of Mining and upgrading. Up to level 5, this process is free, and Gems 1-4 can be swapped as many times as you like. From level 5 onward, you will need a special rune to remove the Gem from its socket: the Demount Rune. These can be won in chests and are a possible drop from extraordinary Goblin Carverns.

It costs 1 Demount rune to remove a lvl 5 or 6 Gem, 2 for a lvl 7 Gem, and possibly 3 for a lvl 8 Gem, although I cannot confirm that last one yet.

demount rune

4. Gem Pouch research

So far we have seen everything needed to embed Gems in gear. However, within the Academy a new research has also appeared that increases the number of Gem Shards you can take from a mine in one go. I’ll simply advise everyone to just complete this to level 10 right away, as it is very useful in Mining Gem Shards.

research gem pouch

5. Available gems and levels

The Artamir gem was introduced first, but Emerald, Sapphire, Citrine and Ruby gems have been announced and (partly) implemented into the game. While the Artamir gems buff different stats based on the sort of gear it is put in, the other gem species buff one type of stat regardless of gear piece. The percentages the Gems buff also differ between the Artamir and other gems. Lastly, only Artamir gems can be actively gathered through gem shard mining. The freshly introduced Emerald gems are only available in chests.

5.1 Gem stats

The Artamir Gems are made from Artamir Gem Shards mined from caverns and combined in the Forge. Depending on the piece of gear in which they are inserted, they have varying effects:

gem stats

32 thoughts on “Hero Equipment: Embedding Gems, all you need to know

  1. If you put artamir gems in your ring that enhances attack debuff. Only the attack debuff of the ring or the attack debuff of all the gear this hero usses?

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  2. As usual Kabam has a problem with unimportant details like which gem provides what Debuff. The Kabam email states the same data you have posted. Likewise in writing my primer for my alliance I followed the data in the email. In-game mechanics and help screens show that the Citrine gem provides a decrease in enemy life while the Sapphire provides a decrease in enemy attack. I have entered a ticket on this error. You might want to confirm and alter your graphic and post.
    Thank you for a one stop spot for all things Hobbit!

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      • As artamir gems are not good to embed in the cloak, could you please tell us which gem is the best for campaign/defense and attack ones?
        Btw, nice job! You’ve saved me and my ally a thousand times! ;D

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  3. Excellent article,
    Thank you for all your hard work, especially to keeping it up to date !
    Citrine are now available and they provide a Life debuff (you switched with Sapphire i believe).

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  4. Only things I can expand on from the above is:

    Level 5 Gems increase:
    Weapons: Increase Attack by 6.40%
    Cloak: Increase Troop Limit by 640
    Amulet: Decrease Enemy Life by 6.40%
    Shield: Increase Life by 6.40%
    Ring: Decrease Enemy Attack by 6.40%

    You need 4 of each level gem to increase to the next level in your forge. For example, you require 4 * level 1 gems to combine into a level 2; 4 * level 2 gems to combine into a level 3 etc.

    This means you need 1,024 level 1 gems to make a level 5 gem.

    As far as I can tell you can keep combining gems up to level 10 (but I’m not quite there yet!). But, if so that would require 1,048,576 gems to make 1 level 10.

    You can search for Goblin Caverns from a new tab in the watch tower. You can only perform a search once every 4 hours.

    Each time you hit a goblin cavern you use up 1 pick (you start with 5) – this includes reinforcing a cavern you are already mining. You can scout a cavern without losing a pick. Picks take (i think) 24 hours to regenerate so use them sparingly! You need to leave your troops & hero at the goblin cavern whilst mining.

    When they return, claim your gems in Sage Tower, then pop over to the Forge to do the combining/upgrading.

    Hope this helps someone!

    What I would like to know is once you have embedded a gem, can you remove it again? Can you still upgrade/combine the gem when after it’s been embedded? I have a couple of level 5’s and I’m wondering whether to use them now or keep building them up to level 10… If anyone can advise!?

    Thanks

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  5. Can you update this post/add the various % increases for the gems at different levels to you post?

    Here is some info for the first 4 levels; I am hoping anybody else can fill in the rest.

    Artamir Gem 1 – (10 might) – .2% Increase
    Lv. 2 – (40 might) – .8%
    Lv. 3 – (160 might) – 1.6%
    Lv. 4 – (640 might) – 3.2%

    Percentage gain is seen according to area of gear.
    Sword – Inc. Attack
    Shield – Inc. Life
    Amulet – Dec. Enemy Life
    Ring – Dec. Enemy Attack
    Cloak – Inc. Troop Limit

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  6. To those that have this enabled on their servers already, can your army get attacked and die while mining for gems? Do you send a full wave of army? What type of troops do you send? T1? Do wagons bring back more?

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      • Lots of questions concerning gems..
        Your army can get attacked during mining. Even though if your cities are bubbled..
        Wagons are useless when mining. Amount of troops you send is up to you and depending on the strat you’ll follow.
        Mining takes about 40 minutes and your hero will bring back 40 gems when having level 10 pouch research.

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  7. My question is what determines how much of a buff you get from a gem? My gems give me .2% gain, but a teammate of my states he is getting a .5% gain. Both are the single lvl one gem. The lvl 2 gems are .8% and 2%. I have yet to figure out why the discrepancy.
    Thanks

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  8. That makes me wonder if hero gear also has strengths and weaknesses to other gear?

    For an example a sword of elven elder has 3 buffs up attack, up health and down enemy life.

    The wartorn champion great sword has 4 buffs.
    up attack, up attack, up attack and up attack.

    But the king’s mystic sword has 3-4 debuffs effective Against all enemy life.

    So would (elder) make up for all the attack buffs from the (wartorn) because it has given u bonus attack, extra health and a debuff of enemy life.

    And would the wartorn have a better chance against the king’s mystic because it can match the health debuffs with all of its extra attack

    I can see that some gear upgrades give buffs and debuffs for troops. So u can set up select hero to be proficient with selected troops.

    But do the battle mechanics I’m trying to explain take play?

    I also noticed this new update with embedding gems to items.
    Will this allow u to mix n match to cater for your enemy?? With new attributes?

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  9. Goblin caverns, mining and gem functions are how available in server 125. Ancient drills can be made using 120 gem shards. If your research is up to L10, you can mine 40 gem shards (max amount) from the cavern which will carry an X amount (eg. 400 shards/200shards). The amount varies I think. There are two types of caverns: extraordinary caverns and common caverns. Other random objects like city relics, runes (all types it seems), tokens (both types), Orc ears, gold, even gear (so far I’ve gotten one purple)… Still finding out what else it drops.

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        • Def hero ( ring & amulet void, sword, shield, cloak replenish) from my experiance embed 1st ring but don’t put gems lv5, use gems lv4 untill you have enough of them to make 4 gem lv6, because for the lv5 you need demount rune or use mithrill to remove it from gear and for Artamir gems lv6 is a maximum atm. After ring you should embed shield(I would suggest using gems lv4 untill you can make 4 gems lv6).
          Att hero (Tauriel’s Bow or if you don’t have it use Orcrist with necromantic cloak, amulet, ring, shield) 1st embed weapon and 2nd should be amulet(well I’m not sure for 2nd choice 100%). Hope this helps

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