AsDiablo 4players progress through their Season 9 journey, they may want to pay special attention to one overlooked resource. Managing all the moving parts of a build inDiablo 4can get overwhelming in any season, but the Sins of the Horadrim season places a new emphasis on socketables for players' gear, on top of new abilities like Horadric Spells. With the addition of Horadric Jewels in Season 9, Gem Fragments suddenly have more value than ever, making them an important material for players to collect as they level their seasonal character.
Traditionally, Gem Fragments have been used tocraft Gems atDiablo 4’s Jeweler, which can then be socketed into various pieces of gear for different effects based on the gear type. While it’s easy to overlook these items, adding Gems toDiablo 4armor and weapons can make a significant difference to endgame builds. Past seasons have introduced their own seasonal socketables, like Caged Hearts inDiablo 4Season 1 or Occult Gems in Season 7, but Horadric Gems may be the most useful seasonal socketable item yet.
Diablo 4 Season 9 Makes Gem Fragments a Hot Commodity
Gem Fragments Have More Uses in Diablo 4 Season 9
The grind for enough Gem Fragments to craft the highest-tierGems inDiablo 4has been tough in the past, with players needing a whopping 100,000 fragments of a specific type to craft one Grand version of the Gem. Although lower-tier Gems have their uses as players level up, it can get very pricey trying to craft the highest-tier Gem for every piece of gear each time a new tier is unlocked.
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With how expensive it can get crafting Grand Gems for aDiablo 4Season 9 build, players are better holding onto their Gem Fragments until they hit level 30 and can start crafting Grand-tier Gems, rather than wasting resources on lower tiers.
On top of the standardDiablo 4Gems, Season 9 offers players the option of crafting Horadric Jewels to socket into their gear and add new augments to their Horadric Spells. To unlock access to Horadric Jewels, players will need to reachDiablo 4’s Torment difficultiesand find Horadric Tomes from Strongrooms. Once a crafting recipe has been unlocked, players will need to spend a total of 45,000 Gem Fragments—15,000 across three different fragment types—and 3,000 Horadric Phials to craft a Jewel. While this price puts these Jewels between Royal and Grand Gems in terms of cost, they’re still a steep investment, so players will want to hold onto their fragments until they’re sure which socketables they plan to use on their build.
Diablo 4 Has Increased the Sources of Gem Fragments in Season 9
The good news forDiablo 4Season 9 players is that there are abundant sources for Gem Fragments in the game. While Gem Fragments can be found randomly in chests throughoutDiablo 4’s dungeons and in caches earned from completing the seasonal quest, the most consistent source of Gem Fragments comes from theInfernal Hordes endgame activity. After clearing all waves of the Infernal Hordes and defeating the Fell Council, players can spend the Burning Aether they’ve earned on a variety of rewards, but the Spoils of Materials chest offers players a large chunk of Gem Fragments for their efforts.
Newly added to Season 9 areNightmare Sigils with Horadric affixes. Aside from Horadric Strongrooms, these new sigils include affixes like Horadric Gold Reserve, Horadric Materials Reserve, and most importantly, Horadric Gem Reserve. Tackling a Nightmare Dungeon with a Horadric Gem Reserve affix can net players significantly more Gem Fragments than they would otherwise find, giving them that extra boost of fragments necessary to ensure they can craft all the new Horadric Jewels.
