Gems and Item Upgrades

Minestria has two systems for making your gear stronger: gems and upgrade cores. Gems socket into equipment to add stat bonuses and special abilities. Upgrade cores enhance equipment from +1 to +10, adding raw power. Both use the anvil.

GEM BASICS

Gems are special items that you socket into your weapons, armor, and tools to add permanent bonuses. Every piece of equipment has gem slots — the number depends on the material tier.

Gem slots by material:

Netherite — 3 slots (4 at +10 upgrade)
Diamond — 2 slots (3 at +5 upgrade)
Iron / Chainmail — 1 slot (2 at +5 upgrade)
Tierless (bow, crossbow, trident, mace, elytra, shield) — 2 slots (3 at +5 upgrade)

Gem slots are automatically added to equipment when it spawns, is crafted, or drops as loot. You can see empty slots in an item's tooltip as gray diamond icons.

HOW TO SOCKET GEMS

Open an anvil. Place your equipment in the left slot and the gem in the right slot. If the gem is compatible with that gear type, you'll see the result with the gem applied. It costs XP to socket — more for higher-level gems and later slots.

Each gem can only go on certain gear types. For example, Heart Gems only work on armor, Attack Gems only on weapons, and Fortune Gems only on tools. The gem's tooltip tells you what it works with.

HOW TO UPGRADE GEMS

Gems come in levels from 1-star to 10-star. Higher stars mean stronger bonuses.

To upgrade a gem, place two gems of the same type and same level in an anvil. They combine into one gem that's one level higher. For example, two Heart Gem I combine into one Heart Gem II.

This means reaching high-level gems takes a lot of lower-level ones. A level V gem needs 16 level I gems combined. A level X gem needs 512 level I gems. Plan ahead and save every gem you find.

Important: Some gems are non-upgradeable. These are marked in their tooltip and cannot be combined. Most gems from daily quests and expeditions are non-upgradeable (about 95%). The Shard Shop's daily rotating gem is always upgradeable.

HOW TO REMOVE GEMS

To remove a socketed gem, place the equipment in the left anvil slot and an Extraction Scroll in the right slot. This removes the last gem that was added. The gem is destroyed — you do not get it back. The scroll is consumed. It costs XP equal to half the original socketing cost.

GEM LIST

There are 18 gems in total, split into three categories.

Scaling Gems (Level I to X)

These gems get stronger with each level. The bonus listed is per level.

Heart Gem — +2 Max Health per level (Armor)
Attack Gem — +5 Attack Damage per level (Weapon)
Speed Gem — +0.5 Attack Speed per level (Weapon)
Armor Gem — +1 Armor per level (Armor)
Swift Gem — +0.01 Movement Speed per level (Boots)
Glider Gem — +0.01 Flying Speed per level (Armor)
Luck Gem — +1 Luck per level (Any gear)
Velocity Gem — +5% Projectile Damage per level (Weapon)
Fortune Gem — 5% chance to double ore drops per level (Tool)
Yield Gem — 5% chance to double crop drops per level (Tool)

At level X, these bonuses are massive. A Heart Gem X adds +20 Max Health (10 extra hearts). An Attack Gem X adds +50 Attack Damage.

Single-Level Gems (Passive Effects)

These gems only come in one level and cannot be upgraded. They provide a constant passive effect while worn.

Saturation Gem — Prevents hunger loss (Armor)
Regeneration Gem — Passive health regeneration (Armor)
Night Vision Gem — See in the dark (Helmet only)
Jump Boost Gem — Higher jumps (Boots only)

Ability Gems (Special Effects)

These gems trigger special effects during gameplay. Single level, cannot be upgraded.

Multishot Gem — Fires 1 extra arrow at a slight angle (Weapon)
Smelting Gem — Auto-smelts raw iron, gold, and copper into ingots when mined (Tool)
Vein Miner Gem — Breaks up to 8 connected ores of the same type (Tool)
Harvest Gem — Auto-replants fully grown crops when harvested (Tool)

WHERE TO GET GEMS

Gems are scarce. That's intentional — they're endgame progression items.

Shard Shop — A daily rotating upgradeable gem for 3,000 shards. Changes every 24 hours, cycling through 10 gem types. This is the most reliable source of upgradeable gems.

Daily Quests — 4 of the 7 days in the quest cycle reward a random 1-star gem. About 95% of these are non-upgradeable.

Gear Expeditions — Very rare drop (roughly 1 in 10 runs). Always 1-star and non-upgradeable.

Season Rewards — At the start of each season, players with prestige receive pre-rolled 1-star gems based on their prestige level (prestige divided by 2, rounded down).

Gems do not drop from rifts, raids, or trials.

UPGRADE CORES

Upgrade cores are consumable items used at an anvil to upgrade equipment from +1 to +10. Each level adds attribute bonuses to your gear. Higher upgrades have a chance to fail.

THE THREE CORE TYPES

Cores are regular vanilla items — there are no special custom items. What matters is the material:

End Crystal = Basic Core — Best for +1 to +4. Craftable (7 glass + 1 eye of ender + 1 ghast tear).

Nether Star = Enhanced Core — Best for +1 to +6. Dropped by the Wither boss.

Dragon's Breath = Superior Core — Best for +1 to +10. Collected from the Ender Dragon (use glass bottles in the breath cloud).

HOW TO USE CORES

Open an anvil. Place your equipment in the left slot and the core in the right slot. Only 1 core is consumed per attempt, even if you have a stack.

If the upgrade succeeds, your item gains +1 level and gets stronger. If it fails, the core is consumed but your item stays at its current level — it doesn't lose levels or break.

SUCCESS RATES

Higher upgrade levels are harder to reach. The core type determines your odds:

               Basic       Enhanced    Superior
+1              50%         80%         98%
+2              40%         75%         97%
+3              35%         70%         95%
+4              30%         70%         93%
+5              10%         60%         90%
+6              5%          25%         80%
+7              2.5%        10%         50%
+8              1%          5%          25%
+9              0.5%        1%          5%
+10             0.05%       0.5%        2%

Use Basic Cores (End Crystals) for early upgrades (+1 to +4) where they're cheap and reasonably effective. Switch to Enhanced Cores (Nether Stars) for mid-range (+5 to +6). Save Superior Cores (Dragon's Breath) for the hardest upgrades (+7 and above).

Reaching +10 is extremely rare and can require hundreds of Superior Cores. Most players settle at +5 to +7 with gems at level V to VII — that's already very strong.

STAT BONUSES PER UPGRADE LEVEL

Each upgrade level adds these bonuses:

Weapons (swords, axes, bows, crossbows, tridents, maces):
+3 Attack Damage, +0.15 Attack Speed, +0.1 Attack Knockback, +0.05 Entity Reach per level

Armor (helmets, chestplates, leggings, boots, shields, elytra):
+1 Armor, +0.5 Armor Toughness, +0.03 Knockback Resistance, +1 Max Health per level

Tools (pickaxes, shovels, hoes):
+0.1 Block Break Speed, +0.05 Block Reach per level

At +10, a weapon has +30 Attack Damage and +1.5 Attack Speed on top of its base stats. A full set of +10 armor adds +40 Armor, +20 Toughness, and +40 Max Health (20 extra hearts).

BONUS UPGRADE EFFECTS

Upgraded gear also gets hidden passive bonuses:

Durability protection — 5% chance per upgrade level to prevent durability loss. At +10, that's a 50% chance per hit.

Fire and projectile resistance — Reduces fire and projectile damage based on total armor upgrade levels. Up to 80% reduction with a full upgraded set.

XP multiplier — Earn more XP from all sources based on average armor upgrade level. At +10, earn double XP.

Sweep damage bonus — Upgraded swords deal more sweep attack damage.

BONUS GEM SLOTS FROM UPGRADES

Upgrading equipment also unlocks extra gem slots:

At +5: Diamond, Iron, Chainmail, and Tierless gear gain +1 gem slot
At +10: Netherite gear gains +1 gem slot

This is important for endgame builds. A +10 Netherite Chestplate has 4 gem slots instead of 3. A +5 Diamond Sword has 3 gem slots instead of 2.

WHERE TO GET UPGRADE CORES

Vanilla crafting and boss fights are the primary sources:

End Crystals (Basic) — Craft with 7 glass, 1 eye of ender, 1 ghast tear
Nether Stars (Enhanced) — Kill the Wither
Dragon's Breath (Superior) — Use glass bottles in the Ender Dragon's breath cloud

Additional sources:
Mob drops — Small chance from killing mobs (Overworld drops Basic, Nether drops Enhanced, End drops Superior)
Ore breaking — Small chance when mining ores
Fishing — Small chance while fishing
Rift reward chests — Included in rift victory rewards
Gear Expeditions — Primary core source from expeditions

Luck Gems boost all drop chances for cores, up to 10x at high gem levels. If you're farming for cores, socket Luck Gems first.

ENDGAME PROGRESSION GOALS

For most players, a realistic endgame target is:

Gear at +5 to +7
Gems at level V to VII socketed in every slot
A mix of scaling gems (Heart, Attack, Armor) and utility gems (Saturation, Vein Miner)

True endgame (very few players reach this):

Full +10 Netherite gear
Level X gems in every slot
4 gem slots per armor piece, 4 per weapon

Getting there requires hundreds of cores, thousands of gems, and multiple seasons of play. It's a long-term goal, not something to rush.

USEFUL COMMANDS

/gems — Open the gem catalog (view all gems, their stats, and how they work)