Enshrouded Guide | How To Use Gem Forge

Here's a guide on how to use the Gem Forge in Enshrouded

Game Guide by TauxicPandA on Jul 11, 2025

The Thrills of Twilight update has introduced the new Gem Forge mechanics in Enshrouded that let you put powerful Gems into your Weapons, with which you can build diverse builds to tackle some difficult sections of the game.

Enshrouded Guide, How To Use Gem Forge

Understanding Gem Forges

Once you've identified a Gem Forge, you get to activate the enchant system, where you can upgrade your equipment with Gems that you've earned through your quests. The Gem forges are scattered throughout the world, and at least ten of them have confirmed locations with distinct upgrade capabilities.

To max level your Gems, concentrate your discovery points on the Albaneve Summits and Kindle Waste regions. These two locations in Enshrouded have the best quality Gem forges, so you'll be upgrading your Gems to maximum level.

Best Gem Forge Location

The optimal forge position is to the south of Albaneve Summit's Hollow Halls, southwest of Spooky Tomb.

Be careful approaching this forge since a Fell Sickle Scythe defends the spot. You can outsmart it by passing through the beast's patrol path, but you will also have a Stalker nearby.

Gem Sockets

Any equipment found after the update can spawn with empty Gem sockets, meaning such equipment is much more valuable than its pre-update counterparts.

Unfortunately, equipment obtained prior to the update is not socket-compatible, and thus, you will be compelled to farm new equipment pieces in Enshrouded.

Gem Hunting Locations and Strategies

There are more than twenty types of Gems in the game world that have different enchantments and rewards. They need earnest exploration and battles against specific groups of enemies within other regions.

The shroud layers added last give the most uniform Gem farming. These massive tunnel networks in the Shroud are filled with several new types of enemies that yield Gems when killed. The shroud layers in Kindle Waste and Albaneve Summits regions yield the best-quality Gems and must therefore be a top priority to explore.

Enshrouded Guide, How To Use Gem Forge, Gem Hunting Locations and Strategies

Gem of Cold Composure

Northwest of the Balefire Stronghold Iron Heart, several of the most difficult Shroud enemies in the game are found, such as Fell Commanders wielding sword and shield pairs. They are also more easily sent away if their defensive stance is broken.

Fell Commanders can also drop Gems of Cold Composure, which offer remarkable bonuses to magical and physical resistances while offering ice explosion damage on the charge of your block skill. The Gem is especially suitable for tanking builds.

Gem of Meteoric Impact

The southern area of the Albaneve Summits includes the Gateway Outpost close to Vukah, where you can set up a Flame Shrine for easy access to respawning.

A chest farming location exists nearby, but the primary objective lies in the point of interest below, populated by Vukah Clan members. These challenging enemies drop Gems of Meteoric Impact, which illuminate your Glider in darkness and create fire damage explosions.

Gem of Bloodlust and Battle Mania

The Vukah Clan encounters may also yield Gems of Bloodlust, adding another valuable enhancement option to your collection.

For builds requiring stamina, health, and mana regeneration, look for Gems of Battle Mania in the southern Kindle Waste region.

Scavenger Berserkers near the Sun Temple in Scatterbone drop these Gems, and the Vukah Canyon area south of the Albaneve Summits passage provides alternative farming opportunities for the same Gem type in Enshrouded.

Gem of Focused Light

Lower-level sections, such as the Nomad Highland, have Gems of Focused Light, which are dropped from the same enemy level but with lower powers. The Ancient Spire and the attached Sun Temple always spawn Cleaver Scavenger enemies that can easily be farmed for Gems.

Resource Management and Gem Upgrading

Lower-level regions spawn proportionally weaker Gems, so you'll need to farm higher-tier areas if you want optimal efficiency. A level 25 Gem of Battle Mania will significantly outperform the same type of Gem from a low-level region.

Archaic Essence serves as the primary upgrade material for Gem enhancement, with different quality tiers corresponding to various regions. Level 5 essence comes from starter zones, level 13 from Revel Boot areas, level 18 from Nomad Highlands, level 25 from Kindle Waste, and level 33 from Albaneve Summits.

Since endgame progression focuses on maximum-level content, prioritise Shroud areas in the Albaneve Summits for the highest-quality Archaic Essence.

Enshrouded Guide, How To Use Gem Forge, Resource Management and Gem Upgrading

Efficient Essence Farming

The shroud layer northwest of Balefire Stronghold Iron Heart provides excellent Archaic Essence farming opportunities. Before entering the Shroud layer, build a Flame Altar above the Shroud area for checkpoint security.

Enter the cave system through the southern shroud entrance, navigate up the frozen waterfall, and loot the abundant Archaic Essence plants throughout the area.

The shiny orange mineral deposits scattered across the floor represent additional Archaic Essence sources in Enshrouded. Break through walls to access expanded areas containing more essence and enemy encounters.

The new flying creatures that shoot flaming lasers pose a threat, but drop Archaic Essence when defeated. Plants typically provide the highest essence yields, but combining all sources maximizes your resource collection efficiency.

Gem Forging and Enhancement

You need to find Gem forges with a higher level than your current Gem level to level up your Gems. A forge level 30 can level up a level 28 Gem using level 25 Archaic Essence, which shows how flexible the system is.

Use the lowest quality essence that will meet the upgrade requirement at all times, as better Essence should be reserved for more difficult upgrades.

The Gem recycling system enables you to recycle unwanted Gems for Archaic Essence, making resource management more efficient. Low-level Gems that require a lot of farming to level up can be recycled to produce Essence instantly.

Recycling higher-tier Gems in the forge is illogical yet yields maximum-level Archaic Essence with bigger returns than lower-level recycling.

Equipment Optimization

Weapon upgrading requires both standard runes and legendary runes, with the Blacksmith providing crafting services for Legendary Runes using standard runes as materials.

Items with socketed Gems cannot be salvaged or destroyed, requiring Gem extraction at a Gem Forge before equipment disposal. This extraction process costs 25 Archaic Essence from the same zone level in Enshrouded.

Enshrouded Guide, How To Use Gem Forge, Socketing Strategy

Socketing Strategy

When socketing Gems into equipment, think about how each Gem synergises with your character. A 5% Gem of Cold Composure to create health orbs upon killing mobs is nice with cutting damage increases, for a 45% drop rate of health orbs.

Focused Light Gems allow for enemy marking and stacking damage, whereby fire damage will increase up to three times for the destructive effect.

The Gem upgrade system provides several upgrade paths where you can customise your equipment for specific combat encounters.

Level 35 Gems are used in max-level Gem forges and represent the pinnacle of potential upgrade. Gem choice and strategic socketing of it can convert ordinary gear into build-defining gear that can play the most demanding content in the Thrills of Twilight update in Enshrouded.

Also, check our Enshrouded Review and other guides below: