Gem tag
All Skill gems have gem tags (also called keywords) listed in the first line of the mouseover description. In addition to dividing the skills into groups, gem tags largely determine which support gems and modifiers can modify a certain skill. The relationship is not strict, however.
Support Skill Keywords
While you can technically link any support gem to any skill gem, some combinations will have no effect. If a support gem contains one of the following keywords, the skill must have the keyword as well to be affected. Note that any skill with the Bow keyword counts as having Projectile.
Just "Support":
Elemental Focus
For example, Freezing Pulse and Ethereal Knives get no benefit from being linked to Point Blank: although they are Projectiles, they are not Attacks.
Overview of gem tags
Category | Mainpage | Description |
---|---|---|
AoE | Area of effect | Skills that have some Area of Effect portion to them.
Note that some skills with the AoE may not be affected by Area Damage but only benefit from increases and reductions to the radius. |
Attack | Attack Damage | Skills that use a weapon. |
Aura | Aura | Skills that grant or modify Auras.
An aura is a permanent effect focused on your character that also affects nearby party members and minions. Most auras reserve a portion of your mana pool with the exception of Module Error: Too many skills found with q_where = skill.active_skill_name="Clarity". Please choose only one of the following ids: |
Bow | Bow | These skills require a bow to be used. They implicitly have the Projectile gem tag. |
Cast | Cast | Skills marked with the Cast keyword deal secondary damage. Cast gems are not spells, and are therefore not affected by modifiers that would normally only modify spells. |
Chaining | Chaining | Skills that have the ability to chain.
support skill gems with the Chaining can also be linked to active skill gems with the Projectile tag |
Chaos | Chaos Damage | Chaos is one of the five damage types |
Cold | Cold Damage | Cold is one of the five damage types |
Curse | Curse | These skills weaken enemies to make them less dangerous or easier to kill. |
Duration | Certain skills have an effect over time or activate after the duration. In some cases, such as curses, reusing the skill will reset the timer. | |
Fire | Fire Damage | Fire is one of the five damage types |
Golem | Golem | Golems are a type of minion that provides a direct Buff to the person who summoned them, but not to anyone else. |
Lightning | Lightning Damage | Lightning is one of the five damage types |
Melee | Melee | Some melee skills require certain weapons; see Melee Skills. These skills all deal melee damage. |
Mine | Mines | Mines can be placed down have to be remotely detonated or triggered with Module Error: Too many skills found with q_where = skill.active_skill_name="Detonate Mines". Please choose only one of the following ids: GemDetonateMines - First Mine Detonates Instantly, Mines get 10% more Detonation Speed for each prior Mine in Detonation Sequence (page) DetonateMines - First Mine Detonates Instantly, Mines get 10% more Detonation Speed for each prior Mine in Detonation Sequence (page). Using Module Error: No skills found with q_where = skill.active_skill_name="Remote Mine" it is possible to turn any active skill gem into a Mine and benefiting from any other support gems with the Mine tag |
Minon | minion damage. | These skills let characters raise minions to fight enemies |
Movement | Skills that move the character. | |
Projectile | Projectile Damage | Skills that emit projectiles |
Spell | Spells | Skills that do not require weapons to be used |
Totem | Totem | Totems are stationary summons that assist in battle. Note that many other skills can be turned into a totem with the Spell Totem or Ranged Attack Totem support gems. See totem damage. |
Trap | Trap | Traps are skills that trigger when an enemy walks over it. Note that many other skills can be turned into a trap with the Module Error: No skills found with q_where = skill.active_skill_name="Trap" support gem. See trap damage. |
Trigger | Trigger | Certain skills can't be activated manually, and happen automatically when specific conditions are met.
Getting hit by these skills does not activate any trigger effects, like Reckoning or the energy shield recovery of Aegis AuroraAegis Aurora |
Vaal | Vaal skill | |
Warcry | Warcry | Warcries are active skills that provide situational benefits to players and are typically aligned with melee characters, because they only affect nearby enemies and allies. Warcries are not spells can therefore cannot be supported by support gems that specifically link with spells, such as Cast when Damage Taken. They all share a cooldown. |