A Gem Forge you can set up at home turns gem work into a chore you handle on your own terms. Instead of traveling to the forges scattered across the world, you craft a placeable version through a late-game quest from the Ancient Researcher and place it in your base.
Quick answer: Complete Loraine Crim‘s quest “A Gem Forge Of Our Own”, find the recipe in the citadel, then have the Ancient Researcher craft the Placeable Gem Forge under a roof from 30 Basalt, 10 Gold Dust, 5 Diamond Dust, 10 Celestium Bars, 5 Moonstone Dust, and 2 Archaic Infusion.
Start the quest “A Gem Forge Of Our Own”
Late in the game, the Ancient Researcher Loraine Crim offers the quest “A Gem Forge Of Our Own”. It runs in two parts, and finishing both rewards 450 XP.
Start with “Find A Gem Forge Crafting Recipe”, which has you track down plans for an advanced gem forge. Loraine suspects they are inside the citadel, the Ancients’ capital in Cinder’s Cradle.
After obtaining the plans, take on “Craft And Place A Gem Forge” and head back home to make the forge. The quest is finished once you craft and place it.
Where the recipe is in the citadel
A lore note there, “Gem Forge Notes”, records an Ancient explaining that the forge blueprints were stored “on the upper floor” behind a lock. The note adds that the door and the light above it are visible from the button below.
The quest itself only names the citadel as the place to search, so look there for a locked upper floor whose door is worked by a button below it.
Craft the Placeable Gem Forge
With the recipe in hand, the Ancient Researcher builds the Placeable Gem Forge. The craft must happen under a roof, so set up the work inside a shelter at your base. The full recipe is below.
| Material | Amount |
|---|---|
 Basalt | 30 |
 Gold Dust | 10 |
 Diamond Dust | 5 |
 Celestium Bars | 10 |
 Moonstone Dust | 5 |
 Archaic Infusion | 2 |
The item description reads: “This Gem Forge can be placed inside your base. Use it to upgrade gems or to insert them into your weapons from the comfort of your own home.”
How to make each material
Most of the ingredients are processed at a station rather than found as drops. Basalt is dense volcanic stone you gather in Cinder’s Cradle.
| Material | Station | Inputs | Output / Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gold Dust | Mill | 1 Gold Bars | 1 (4 min) |
| Diamond Dust | Mill | 1 Diamond | 1 (3 min) |
| Moonstone Dust | Mill | 1 Moonstone | 1 (3 min) |
| Celestium Bars | Blast Furnace | 40 Coal, 20 Celestium Ore | 20 (12 min) |
Archaic Infusion is made at the Infusion Altar. Combining 10 Magma Gel, 1 Archaic Core, 5 Archaic Shards, 4 Sparkling Dust, and 6 Archaic Essence VII produces 5 in 4 minutes. The Archaic Core drops from the Ancient S.P.D.R. Construct, and Archaic Essence VII comes from the Shroud Lairs of Cinder’s Cradle.
What a Gem Forge does
Fitting a gem costs Archaic Essence, which Archaic Essence VII’s item text describes as “needed to insert gems into weaponry”.
The Alchemist’s early quest “Finding And Using A Gem Forge” leads you to the first one, and the Cinder’s Cradle map marks two Gem Forges in that region. A socketed gem appears on the weapon’s tooltip with its level and effect. For example, the Gem of Destiny at level 50 marks one random enemy within 25.00 m for 20 s; defeating that enemy spawns an orb granting 100 health, 48 mana, or 71 stamina, whichever is most depleted.
Weapon gems by region
Each region carries its own set of gems, and collecting a region’s full set grants XP. Here is where each gem belongs.
| Region | Gems |
|---|---|
| Springlands | Gem of Bleeding, Gem of Burning, Gem of Puncturing, Gem of Skulls |
| Revelwood | Gem of Fracturing, Gem of Hopeful Embers, Gem of Retaliation, Gem of Swiftness, Gem of Toxic Betrayal |
| Nomad Highlands | Gem of Agility, Gem of Storm’s Eye, Gem of Lesser Necromancy, Gem of Overpowering |
| Kindlewastes | Gem of Corruption, Gem of Focused Light, Gem of Battle Mania, Gem of Soul Reaping |
| Albaneve Summits | Gem of Bloodlust, Gem of Cold Composure, Gem of Meteoric Impact |
| Veilwater Basin | Gem of Lycanthropy, Gem of Aerobatics, Gem of Currents, Gem of Greater Necromancy |
| Cinder’s Cradle | Gem of Armoring, Gem of Cleansing, Gem of Destiny, Gem of Hyperspecialization |
Some gems are worth understanding before you socket them. Gem of Hopeful Embers makes defeated foes leave orbs that restore time when little remains in the Shroud. The Gem of Lesser Necromancy can summon an allied Hollow Wretch on a kill, with up to 4 active at once; the Gem of Greater Necromancy summons an allied Hollow Reaper instead, with a limit of 1 at a time. Gem of Hyperspecialization restores Focus for kills shortly after you activate a weapon’s Special Ability. Damage an enemy with Gem of Cleansing to remove its Shroud Damage Resistance briefly.
