Want to know where to find New World gems? When it comes to creating the best New World PvP builds or PvE builds, gems can boost your stats and make that build even stronger. For example, gems such as the carnelian are great for tank builds, while fire staff builds benefit significantly from an equipped ruby.
But finding them in the first place? That’s the tricky bit. They don’t turn up reliably – instead, New World gems occasionally appear as rare drops whenever you mine certain minerals in the world. Fortunately, there are ways to boost your chance to find gems, but without these luck-enhancing items, your search may well be fruitless. Thankfully, so long as you’re prepared to go into expeditions, there is a different way to get New World gems.
This guide will explain where to find New World gems and what items you need to equip to increase your chances of finding them. We’ll also go through how to refine gemstones and what each gem does when you equip them for your loadout.
Where to get gems in New World
Unfortunately there is no easy way to mine gems in New World. Two methods seem to work for most players, though. Gems are rare drops that appear when you mine one of the following ores:
- Iron
- Silver
- Gold
- Platinum
- Starmetal
- Orichalcum
Out of all of these, silver gives you the best chance early on compared to New World iron ore. You can increase your chances of getting these gems when you:
- Equip a Miner’s Charm
- Craft a pickaxe with increased luck chance
- Eat roasted potatoes or herb-roasted potatoes to increase your luck
However, it’s not the best way to get gems in New World. Once you reach around level 23 and are at the stage where you can challenge expeditions or raids if you’re more familiar with other MMO games, farming the New World Amrine Excavation will quickly net you lots of precious gems. Therefore, we recommend crafting as many Amrine tuning orbs as you can so you can hop straight back into the expedition.
How to refine a gemstone in New World
After getting a gem, you can refine it by taking it to the stonecutters and using it with a corresponding mote; for example, a fire mote for rubies. You can find motes at any magical plant (harvesting level 30) or magical stone (mining level 50).
New World gem bonuses
There are four tiers of gemstones, with higher-tiered gems bestowing improved bonuses on New World weapons and armour. Here are all of the New World gem bonuses:
Amber
- Weapon – converts 20/30/40/50% of damage into nature damage. This damage scales off the weapon’s stat or the focus attribute, whichever is higher
- Armour – 2/2.5/3/3.8% absorption of nature-based damage
Amethyst
- Weapon – converts 20/30/40/50% of damage into void damage. This damage scales off the weapon’s stat or the intelligence attribute, whichever is higher
- Armour – 2/2.5/3/3.8% absorption of void-based damage
Aquamarine
- Weapon – converts 20/30/40/50% of damage into ice damage. This damage scales off the weapon’s stat or the intelligence attribute, whichever is higher
- Armour – 2/2.5/3/3.8% absorption of ice-based damage
Carnelian
- Weapon – taunts are active with +100/200/250/300% threat generated
- Armour – 4/6/8/10% less threat generated
Diamond
- Weapon – while at full health, healing and damage increase by 6/9/12/15%
- Armour – +0.75/1.1/1.5/1.9% physical damage absorption and +0.25/0.38/0.5/0.63% magic damage absorption
Emerald
- Weapon – targets with less than 30% health take 8/12/16/20% more damage
- Armour – 2/2.5/3/3.8% absorption of thrust damage
Jasper
- Weapon – grants an additional 6/9/12/15% damage bonus after being hit three times
- Armour – 2/2.5/3/3.8% absorption of strike damage
Malachite
- Weapon – grants an additional 6/8/10/12% damage bonus against targets with an active buff
- Armour – +0.75/1.1/1.5/1.9% elemental damage absorption and +0.25/0.38/0.5/0.63% physical damage absorption
Moonstone
- Weapon – grants an additional 12/16/20/24% damage bonus when the player is below 30% health
- Armour – 2/2.5/3/3.8% absorption of slashing damage
Opal
- Weapon – grants an additional 6/9/12/15% damage bonus when player stamina bar isn’t full
- Armour – 1/1.5/2/2.5% absorption of elemental damage
Onyx
- Weapon – grants an additional 15/20/25/30% against targets with full health
- Armour – 1/1.5/2/2.5% absorption of physical damage
Ruby
- Weapon – converts 20/30/40/50% of damage into fire damage. This damage scales off the weapon’s stat or the intelligence attribute, whichever is higher
- Armour – 2/2.5/3/3.8% absorption of fire-based damage
Sapphire
- Weapon – converts 20/30/40/50% of damage into arcane damage. This damage scales off the weapon’s stat or the intelligence attribute, whichever is higher
- Armour – 2/2.5/3/3.8% absorption of arcane-based damage
Topaz
- Weapon – converts 20/30/40/50% of damage into lightning damage. This damage scales off the weapon’s stat or the intelligence attribute, whichever is higher
- Armour – 2/2.5/3/3.8% absorption of lightning-based damage
With that, you should now have everything you need to go and find those precious New World gems. Speaking of finding rare resources, you may be interested in learning where to find New World briar branches, New World linen, and New World oil.