There are a myriad of different gems in Diablo 2: Resurrected, which players can use to improve their gear in a variety of ways. Early on, it's senseless not to plug every slot up with a gem to crawl through the game and stick it to the minions of hell.
Occasionally, a fan may want to replace the gems on a favorite piece of gear that they have put into an item's sockets with new ones, and indeed that is possible. Diablo 2: Resurrected players will first need to remove the old gems, though, and this guide contains full details on exactly how that is done.
Updated on June 28th, 2023 by Hodey Johns: Diablo 2: Resurrected is famously a game that doesn't hold players by the hand. There is no nice and convenient list of how-tos or a tutorial that teaches players the complexities of the game. As a result, it can appear that removing a gem seems impossible at first glance. Thankfully, this is not the case. With many gamers still struggling in this area, this guide has been updated with three sections, one warning about the gem, one providing exact bullet points of how to make this a possibility, and a third one that gives players tips on farming for the components. Diablo 2: Resurrected, specifically, has received updates that change the base game so players who know the process in the initial game might believe the process has changed.
How to Remove Gems
- Open the Horadric Cube
- Put in the socketed item, a Scroll of Town Portal, and a Hel rune
- Hit "Transmute"
The way to remove Gems from a socket is to use the Horadric Cube, an item that can be obtained from the bottom floor of the Halls of the Dead in Diablo 2: Resurrected's second act. It's tied to several quests but can be used early on for making lots of recipes and combining gems.
For the uninitiated, the Horadric Cube has the ability to transmute combinations of items into something different, and that is exactly how players will clean their socketed gear pieces. More specifically, fans should put the socketed item, a Hel rune, and a Scroll of Town Portal into the Cube and press "Transmute."
The Gems Will Be Destroyed
Before getting started, it is very important to clarify that removing gems from a piece of gear will not return them to the player. Indeed, while fans that follow the process that is outlined below will be left with a clean item that can receive new gems, they will not be able to reallocate the old ones to another item.
This means that players will need to continually farm gems as they progress through the game, as they will not be able to reuse those that have already been put into a socket. Know the best places to farm and have a new gem ready to go before ripping out (and destroying) the old gem.
Finding The Components
The most consistent source for Hel runes in Diablo 2: Resurrected is the Countess on Nightmare or Hell difficulty. For the Scroll of Town Portal, players can simply purchase it from a variety of vendors in the game. If players challenge themselves during a replay of the game, they'll find plenty of Hel Runes and Scrolls of Town Portal during their runs.
Neither of these items is extremely difficult to obtain, though fans should still consider if it is worth expending the components on removing the gems from a particular item. With gear that is likely to be replaced after leveling up, don't bother.
Diablo 2: Resurrected is available now for PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch.