Summary
- Tier 3 support gems in Path of Exile 2 offer diverse options to enhance skills with unique trade-offs.
- Deep Cuts, Supercritical, and Mastery Gems are top-tier supports for specific purposes or all builds.
- Support gems like Tremors and Despoiler amplify damage output and effects for certain playstyles.
There are a lot of support gems in Path of Exile 2, and by the time players get to the end game and start seeing tier 3 support gems, they likely already have a whole host of slotted supports they like. If players want to work outside the limited suggested gems system, then by this point they have hundreds of support gem options.
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The third tier of support gems opens up 57 new options. With this level of choice, it can be difficult for players to know what the best options are to add to or replace support gems in their specific build. The following support gems are some of the best either for specific purposes or that work across multiple builds and skill types, from the third tier of support gems.
15 Deep Cuts
Bigger Bleeds
- Category: Strength
- Cost to slot: +5 Strength
- Effect: Skills have 75% more magnitude of bleeds inflicted, 25% less damage on hit
With a bleed-focused set of skills, Deep Cuts is a powerful tier 3 support gem. The gems effect means that the initial damage of the hit inflicting the bleed will be 25% lower, but the magnitude of the bleed inflicted will be 75% higher.
The initial damage of a hit determines the bleed strength, but the increased magnitude more than outweighs the lowered initial damage. For builds that can aggravate bleed, this can be an especially potent way to deal damage over time.
14 Supercritical
Critical Booster
- Category: Intelligence
- Cost to slot: +5 Intelligence
- Effect: Skills have a 100% more critical damage bonus, 20% less critical hit chance
Supercritical has a harsh trade-off for its large increase in critical damage. The 20% less critical hit chance means that some skills will have little chance of actually making use of the damage bonus. However, for skills that can deal with guaranteed critical hits like Snipe, the downside is negated and the damage bonus is incredibly powerful.
13 Rageforged
Enraged Power
- Category: Strength
- Cost to slot: +5 Strength
- Effect: Skills consume 10 Rage to deal 35% increased damage
Rageforged can consume Rage to increase the damage of supported skills significantly. The support gem requires a reliable way to generate rage to be used effectively, but for setups that have Rage-generating skills and support gems, this is a powerful reusable buff. The gem can support any damaging skill triggered by the player, so it can be used with a number of hard-hitting skill gems.
12 Deadly Poison
Powerful Poison Procs
- Category: Dexterity
- Cost to slot: +5 Dexterity
- Effect: Skills have a 75% increased magnitude of poisons inflicted, 25% less damage on hit
Like Deep Cuts for Bleed damage, Deadly Poison increases the magnitude of Poisons inflicted on enemies, at the cost of less damage on hit for the supported skill.
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The trade-off has the same math as Deep Cuts, so the increased magnitude is worth the lowered base damage if players are focusing poison damage over time on a particular skill. This is especially potent when players are able to stack poisons through other support gems and passives.
11 Chaotic Freeze
Cold Chaos
- Category: Intelligence
- Cost to slot: +5 Intelligence
- Effect: Skills that deal chaos damage over time help accumulate freeze buildup
The mechanics of Chaotic Freeze aren't necessarily obvious on the surface. The gem makes chaos damage over time inflicted by the supported skill contribute to freeze buildup when the enemy is hit by other skills that inflict freeze buildup.
This makes it especially effective in minion builds that make use of the Skeletal Frost mages, as associated skills like Contagion can spread chaos damage over multiple enemies and make freezing groups of foes easier.
10 Mastery Gems
Skill Boosters For All Types
- Category: Intelligence
- Cost to slot: +5 Intelligence
- Effect: Supported skills gain +1 to level (Chaos / Cold / Fire / Lightning / Physical / Minion)
Currently, all the mastery gems are contained in the Intelligence support gem category, but there's one for each type of elemental skill, as well as physical skills and minion skills. Each respective gem increases skills of a given type by one level.
So slotting Chaos mastery into a Chaos skill gives that skill an extra level, and so on. Each level of skill brings some pretty hefty bonuses in Path of Exile 2, so the respective gems are worth looking into for a player's specific skill focus.
9 Tremors
Repeating Aftershocks
- Category: Strength
- Cost to slot: +5 Strength
- Effect: Skills have a chance to create up to three additional aftershocks, 35% less base damage
The strength support gem Tremors is an effective tier 3 support gem for skills that are intended to spread damage over a wide area to damage groups of lower-health enemies. The gem works with slam moves, so skills like Leap Slam and Sunder can be modified to deal lower damage, but repeat that damage up to 3 times. Combined with a larger area of effect and other melee support gems, Tremors makes these skills effective mob clearing tools for melee-focused builds.
8 Biting Frost
Freezing Cold
- Category: Intelligence
- Cost to slot: +5 Intelligence, 120% cost multiplier
- Effect: Skill consumes freeze on enemies to deal 50% more damage, skill cannot cause freeze
Biting Frost can be used to devastating effect by players who are focusing on Cold damage and freezing enemies. This support gem consumes the freeze effect on an enemy to give the supported skill a 50% damage boost. The use is self-explanatory; freeze an enemy, then use a big damage skill with this support gem to finish them off.
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7 Heft
Weighty Physical Hits
- Category: Strength
- Cost to slot: +5 Strength, 120% cost multiplier
- Effect: Skills have 30% more maximum physical damage
Skills have variable damage in Path of Exile 2. Players will quickly notice that both weapons and skill descriptions give damage ranges rather than flat damage numbers. What Heft does is increase the maximum physical damage a skill can deal, meaning the damage cap of the attack is increased rather than a flat damage buff. That doesn't make it any less effective, and Heft is a great way to get more damage for physical builds.
6 Payload
Double Grenade Chance
- Category: Dexterity
- Cost to slot: +5 Dexterity
- Effect: Grenade skills have a 50% chance of activating twice, 70% increased cooldown
Mercenaries can make good use of Grenade skills in Path of Exile 2, and Payload is one of the more effective gems for boosting their overall damage. The gem gives Grenades a 50% chance of activating twice, meaning players can spread damage or crowd control effects over a wide area depending on the skill. It reduces the cooldown recovery rate by 70% though, so there is a trade-off.