Splitting Steel

Splitting SteelAttack, Projectile, AoE, Physical
Level: (1-20)
Cost: (6-11) Mana
Attack Speed: 90% of base
Attack Damage: (120-330)% of base
Effectiveness of Added Damage: (120-330)%Fire a single projectile that splits on impact or at the targeted location, dealing area damage when it splits and again when the split projectiles explode at the end of their flight. Requires a Sword or Axe.Modifiers to number of Projectiles instead apply to
the number of targets Projectile Splits towards
Projectiles Split towards (2-5) targets
Base radius is (0.6-1) metre
40% chance to Impale Enemies on Hit
Projectiles can Split without hitting a target

Additional Effects From 1-20% Quality:
(2-40)% increased Impale EffectPlace into an item socket of the right colour to gain this skill. Right click to remove from a socket.

Acquisition
Drop level: 5Metadata
Item class: Skill Gem
Metadata ID: Metadata/Items/Gems/SkillGemSplittingSteel

Splitting Steel is an attack which uses your sword or axe to launch a projectile that impales enemies on hit. The initial projectile explodes on hit or at target location to deal area of effect damage, then splits towards multiple enemies which also explodes.

Skill functions and interactions

• Additional Projectiles: The skill will only ever fire one initial projectile. Any additional projectiles added will cause the skill to split towards more enemies.

• Melee: Splitting Steel is not considered a melee attack despite using melee weapons, similar to Spectral ThrowSpectral ThrowAttack, Projectile
  Level: (1-20)
  Cost: (5-9) Mana
  Attack Speed: 110% of base
  Attack Damage: (100-150)% of base
  Effectiveness of Added Damage: (100-150)%Throws a spectral copy of your melee weapon. It flies out and then returns to you, in a spinning attack that damages enemies in its path.
  Additional Effects From 1-20% Quality:
  Projectiles that have Pierced deal (0.5-10)% more DamagePlace into an item socket of the right colour to gain this skill. Right click to remove from a socket.. Despite this, Splitting Steel does benefit from implicit modifiers of tinctures.

Gem level progression

Level				Mana Cost	Damage Effectiveness	Attack Damage	Projectile split	Radius	Exp.	Total Exp.
1	1	0	0	6	120%	120%	2	0.6m	0	0
2	2	0	0	6	131.1%	131.1%	2	0.6m	70	70
3	4	0	0	6	142.1%	142.1%	2	0.6m	308	378
4	7	14	0	7	153.2%	153.2%	2	0.6m	1554	1932
5	11	19	0	7	164.2%	164.2%	2	0.7m	6667	8599
6	16	26	18	7	175.3%	175.3%	2	0.7m	26047	34646
7	20	31	22	8	186.3%	186.3%	3	0.7m	49725	84371
8	24	37	25	8	197.4%	197.4%	3	0.7m	95714	180085
9	28	42	29	8	208.4%	208.4%	3	0.8m	169595	349680
10	32	47	33	8	219.5%	219.5%	3	0.8m	283759	633439
11	36	52	36	9	230.5%	230.5%	3	0.8m	453996	1087435
12	40	58	40	9	241.6%	241.6%	3	0.8m	703128	1790563
13	44	63	44	9	252.6%	252.6%	3	0.9m	1061223	2851786
14	48	68	48	10	263.7%	263.7%	3	0.9m	2065870	4917656
15	52	74	51	10	274.7%	274.7%	4	0.9m	2507110	7424766
16	56	79	55	10	285.8%	285.8%	4	0.9m	5798936	13223702
17	60	84	59	10	296.8%	296.8%	4	1m	15083919	28307621
18	64	90	62	11	307.9%	307.9%	4	1m	27792735	56100356
19	67	94	65	11	318.9%	318.9%	4	1m	43869739	99970095
20	70	98	68	11	330%	330%	5	1m	242081556	342051651
21	72	100	70	11	341.1%	341.1%	5	1.1m	—	—
22	74	—	—	11	352.1%	352.1%	5	1.1m	—	—
23	76	—	—	12	363.2%	363.2%	5	1.1m	—	—
24	78	—	—	12	374.2%	374.2%	5	1.1m	—	—
25	80	—	—	12	385.3%	385.3%	5	1.2m	—	—
26	82	—	—	12	396.3%	396.3%	5	1.2m	—	—
27	84	—	—	12	407.4%	407.4%	5	1.2m	—	—
28	86	—	—	12	418.4%	418.4%	6	1.2m	—	—
29	88	—	—	12	429.5%	429.5%	6	1.3m	—	—
30	90	—	—	13	440.5%	440.5%	6	1.3m	—	—
31	91	—	—	13	446.1%	446.1%	6	1.3m	—	—
32	92	—	—	13	451.6%	451.6%	6	1.3m	—	—
33	93	—	—	13	457.1%	457.1%	6	1.3m	—	—
34	94	—	—	13	462.6%	462.6%	7	1.3m	—	—
35	95	—	—	13	468.2%	468.2%	7	1.3m	—	—
36	96	—	—	13	473.7%	473.7%	7	1.4m	—	—
37	97	—	—	13	479.2%	479.2%	7	1.4m	—	—
38	98	—	—	13	484.7%	484.7%	7	1.4m	—	—
39	99	—	—	13	490.3%	490.3%	7	1.4m	—	—
40	100	—	—	13	495.8%	495.8%	8	1.4m	—	—

Item acquisition

Splitting Steel can drop anywhere.

Recipes

Splitting Steel can be created from the following recipes:

Amount	Part	Description	Meta
6	The FoxThe Fox6Level 20 Gem"Masters of wit, strength and cunning. To survive the harsh winters, you must be like the fox." - Ezomyte Proverb	Random level 20 gem	A
3	Gemcutter's PromiseGemcutter's Promise3Gem Quality: +20%"I swore to use my position to help the people. What good is power when it just accumulates on the already-powerful?" - Erasmus, Imperial Gemcutter	Random gem with 20% quality	A
1	Gemcutter's IncubatorGemcutter's IncubatorStack Size: 10Adds an incubated Quality Gem item to an equippable item Item drops after killing {0} monstersRight click this item then left click an item to apply it. The Incubated item drops after killing a specific number of monsters.	Random gem with 1–20% quality	A
1	The VoidThe Void1Reach into the Void and claim your prize.	Random divination card set exchange	A

Quest reward

This item is given as a quest reward for the following quests:

Class →	Witch	Shadow	Ranger	Duelist	Marauder	Templar	Scion
Quest ↓
Enemy at the Gate Act 1

Vendor reward

This item can be bought at the listed NPC vendors, after completing the following quests:

Class →	Witch	Shadow	Ranger	Duelist	Marauder	Templar	Scion
Quest ↓
Enemy at the Gate Act 1 Nessa
A Fixture of Fate Act 3 Siosa
Fallen from Grace Act 6 Lilly Roth

Related helmet enchantments

The following helmet enchantments affect Splitting Steel.

Note that helmet enchantments are no longer obtainable since version 3.23.0 and can only be obtained in permanent leagues as already enchanted items from before this patch.

Name		Labyrinth	Stats	Spawn Weighting
Enchantment Splitting Steel Area 1	66	Merciless Labyrinth	Splitting Steel has 16% increased Area of Effect	helmet 100
Enchantment Splitting Steel Area 2	75	Eternal Labyrinth	Splitting Steel has 24% increased Area of Effect	helmet 100
Enchantment Splitting Steel Chance to Not Consume Shard 1	66	Merciless Labyrinth	Splitting Steel has 20% chance to not consume Steel Shards	helmet 100
Enchantment Splitting Steel Chance to Not Consume Shard 2	75	Eternal Labyrinth	Splitting Steel has 30% chance to not consume Steel Shards	helmet 100
Enchantment Splitting Steel 1	66	Merciless Labyrinth	Splitting Steel deals 25% increased Damage	helmet 100
Enchantment Splitting Steel 2	75	Eternal Labyrinth	Splitting Steel deals 40% increased Damage	helmet 100

Version history

Version	Changes
3.25.0	No longer has Added Attack Physical Damage at all gem levels. It now has 120% Effectiveness of Base and Added Damage at gem level 1 (previously 70%), scaling up to 330% at gem level 20 (previously 210%). Now has a Mana cost of 6 at gem level 1 (previously 5), scaling up to 11 at gem level 20 (previously 8).
3.23.0	No longer consumes Steel Shards, or grants Call of Steel. No longer has "Projectile which have Split deal 35% less Damage." It now has 40% chance to Impale Enemies on Hit (previously 60%), and has an Attack Speed multiplier of 90% of Base. Quality now provides 0-40% increased Impale Effect (previously 0-20%).
3.21.0	Splitting Steel now has 70% effectiveness of Added Damage at gem level 1 (previously 100%), scaling up to 210% at gem level 20 (unchanged). It now has 1 to 2 Added Attack Physical Damage at gem level 1 (previously 2 to 3), scaling up to 101 to 151 at gem level 20 (previously 75 to 113). Projectiles now Split towards 2 targets at gem level 1 (unchanged), and 5 targets at gem level 20 (previously 4). It no longer has 50% less Area of Effect after Splitting, however the base radius of the gem has been lowered by 50% as well. This results in a smaller original area of impact and the same size areas for the impacts from split projectiles. Splitting Steel projectiles can now only travel 45 units before splitting.
3.15.0	Now requires 14 Dexterity to use at gem level 4 (previously 14 Strength), up to 68 Strength and 98 Dexterity to use at gem level 20 (previously 98 Strength and 68 Dexterity). Now deals 210% of Base Damage, and has 210% Effectiveness of Added Damage at gem level 20 (previously 168%).
3.12.5	Fixed an issue where Phantasmal Splitting Steel was missing its "chance to Impale Enemies on Hit" quality effect modifier.
3.12.0	Splitting Steel has been added to the game.