Over 40 New Exceptional Support Gems.
What are PoE Exceptional Support Gems?
Exceptional Support Gems are more transformative, offering an additional way to customise your build in the late game and extending character customisation even further into a build’s life.
In Path of Exile (PoE), Exceptional Support Gems refers to a specific category of endgame gems that provide powerful utility or transformative effects. As of the 3.28 Mirage League, this system has been significantly overhauled to replace the previous "Awakened Support Gem" system.
List of PoE Exceptional Support Gems 3.28
- Cooldown Recovery Support Supports skills that have a cooldown. Cannot modify the skill of minions.
- Frostmage Support Supports spell skills that deal damage with hits and have no reservation. Cannot support arcane skills, Brand skills, Orb skills, Vaal skills, or skills used by totems, traps or mines. Cannot modify the skills of minions.
- Greater Spell Cascade Support Supports spell skills that apply an effect to an area around a targeted location. Cannot support Vaal skills or skills used by totems, traps, or mines. Cannot modify the skills of minions.
- Voidstorm Support Supports ranged attack skills that fire projectiles upwards. Cannot support triggered attacks, attacks used by things other than you, or which create minions.
- Foulgrasp Support Supports brand skills that can be recalled.
- Greater Multistrike Support Supports melee attack skills, making them repeat three times when used, targeting a random enemy each time. Cannot support Vaal skills, channelling skills, travel sskills, retaliation skills or triggered skills.
- Hiveborn Support Supports offering skills you use yourself.
- Hextoad Support Supports non-aura hex curse skills.
- Eclipse Support Supports any skill gem. Cannot support skills that don't come from gems.
- Bloodsoaked Banner Support Supports banner skills. Cannot modify the skills of minions.
- Invert the Rules Support
- Cast on Ward Break Support
- Vaal Sacrifice Support Supports Vaal spell skills, making them repeat when cast at the cost of your life and energy shield. Cannot support totem skills, channelling skills, trigggered skills, instant skills, retaliation skills, blink skills, or skills with a reservation.
- Greater Spell Echo Support
- Vaal Temptation Support
- Machinations Support
- Pyre Support
- Bonespire Support
- Scornful Herald Support
- Cull the Weak Support
- Greater Ancestral Call Support
- Fissure Support
- Hexpass Support
- Greater Fork Support
- Greater Chain Support
- Lethal Dose Support
- Companionship Support
- Divine Sentinel Support
- Annihilation Support
- Invention Support
- Greater Kinetic Instability Support
- Void Shockwave Support Supports melee attack skills. Cannot support triggered attacks, attacks used by thing other than you, or skills which create minions.
- Eldritch Blasphemy Support
- Gluttony Support
- Overheat Support
- Congregation Support Supports skills which create Minions.
- Greater Devour Support
- Greater Unleash Support
- Pacifism Support
- Minion Pact Support
- Unholy Trinity Support
- Overloaded Intensity Support
- Transfusion Support
How to get PoE Exceptional Gems
Upon defeating the Endgame Incarnation bosses in Path of Exile: Mirage, powerful new Support Gems will begin dropping from specific Atlas Bosses. These new Support gems are categorised as Exceptional, being a significant expansion of that class of Support gem.
Exceptional gems are strictly endgame rewards and cannot be purchased from vendors:
1. Originator's Voidstone
Originator's Voidstone: Defeating the Incarnation bosses for the first time rewards this Voidstone, which enables these gems to drop from bosses.
- Bosses within the Atlas can drop Astrolabes and Exceptional Support Gems
This Voidstone allows new Exceptional Support Gems to drop from many bosses across the Atlas.
2. Endgame Encounters
They primarily drop from specific endgame encounters and pinnacle bosses.
3. Divination Cards
Specific cards like The Enlightened remain a primary way to target-farm the classic cycle (Empower/Enlighten/Enhance).
4. The Labyrinth Gem craft
- The Labyrinth Gem craft outcome to exchange a Support Gem for its Awakened version has been removed.
- The Labyrinth Gem craft outcome to exchange a Support Gem for a random Exceptional Support Gem, instead now states you will receive a random Empower, Enlighten or Enhance Support Gem.
5. Bestiary
- The Beastcrafting recipe to increase the level of non-Corrupted Awakened Gem by 1 now adds 500m Experience to an Exceptional Support Gem.
- The Beastcrafting recipe to Reroll an Awakened Support Gem now sacrifices an Exceptional Support Gem for 3 high Level, high Quality Support Gems.
Key Characteristics
- Mutually Exclusive: You cannot benefit from both an Exceptional gem and its regular version on the same skill.
- Leveling: They typically have a maximum level of 3 (or 4–5 for certain legacy or awakened exceptional versions) and a very high experience requirement.
- No Vendor Recipe: The common recipe to flip a level 20 gem for a 20% quality version does not work on Exceptional gems; you must use Gemcutter's Prisms.
The 3.28 Mirage Rework
With the 3.28 Mirage Content Update, "Exceptional Support Gems" now describes a broader system of over 40 new gems:
- Replacement of Awakened Gems: Most previous Awakened Support Gems have been phased out and are now considered legacy in permanent leagues. They are replaced by these new Exceptional variants.
- Transformative Properties: Unlike Awakened gems, which were often just numerically stronger, the new Exceptional gems are designed to provide unique interactions for endgame builds.
- Greater Variants: Some are "Greater" versions of existing gems (e.g., Greater Multistrike Support or Greater Spell Cascade Support). These are mutually exclusive with their regular counterparts.
