Gemcutter’s Prism in Path of Exile 2 is a crucial currency item used to improve the quality of skill gems, directly boosting their effectiveness. Each Gemcutter’s Prism increases a skill gem’s quality by 1%, up to a maximum cap of 20%. This quality boost improves various gem attributes such as damage, mana efficiency, or skill effect duration, ultimately enhancing a character’s power and efficiency. Understanding these mechanics is key to maximizing skill performance and managing resources effectively, especially when paired with other poe 2 currency used in crafting and optimization.

The 20% quality cap acts as a hard limit for gem enhancements, meaning players cannot raise a gem's quality beyond this point through Gemcutter’s Prisms. This cap ensures a balanced progression where players must strategically decide which gems to invest their prisms in, focusing primarily on their core or most impactful skills. This quality cap also simplifies planning, as players know the maximum benefit any skill gem can derive from prism upgrades.

A notable aspect of the Gemcutter's Prism mechanic is that each prism applied adds a flat 1% quality increase, making it easy to predict how many prisms are needed to reach the cap. For gems starting at 0% quality, it requires up to 20 prisms to reach the maximum 20%. The efficiency of this system allows players to incrementally improve gems as they find prisms, without sudden or unpredictable leaps in power.

Gap closing strategies come into play when managing multiple gems or builds where resource constraints exist. Since prisms can be scarce, focusing on prioritizing key gems that benefit most from quality boosts is essential. For example, players often upgrade primary damage-dealing skills or important support gems first because the returns on these are highest. Gems that provide utility or are less frequently used can be upgraded later or more selectively.

Newly acquired gems sometimes come with base quality, so applying prisms to already slightly improved gems can reduce the number of prisms needed to hit the cap. It is also effective to use vendor recipes that convert sets of lower-quality gems into prisms, allowing players to recycle unwanted or excess gems and maintain a decent supply of prisms. Many players also choose to buy poe 2 currency in the trade market to accelerate this process instead of relying solely on drops.

Understanding the cap and the incremental increase mechanics allows players to manage their gems and prisms judiciously, avoiding waste and maximizing power gains. Prioritization, recycling through vendor recipes, and gradual incremental enhancement form the core of effective Gemcutter’s Prism strategies, enabling players to close the gap between their current skill strength and the highest potential power achievable with gem quality enhancements.