Guide:Gem Grinding Guide

Why You Should Grind Gems

Gems are a much-needed resource to increase Trinketry levels prior to level 40 (the level requirement for the only Trinketry activity, Antique market assessor).

There are currently 9 different items in the game with the Gem Keyword, 8 which can be found as rough gems and 1 (Pearls) which can only be found as an already cut gem.

2 of these (Rough opal and Rough star pearl) can be obtained by doing any kind of mining activity in Jarvonia (except for Stone quarrying). The rest of the gems can only be obtained from opening gem pouches, or activating the Rock-star amulet's ability.

Gem Pouch

Gem pouches can currently be obtained from the following activities (listed with W.E.A.R.), and contain 4 random gems (drop rates):

• Guard duty - (13.25k)
• Wine grape stomping - (16.25k)
• Hull repair - (20.5k)
• Spelunking - (37.5k)
• Underwater basket weaving - (41.75k)
• Antique market assessor - (79k)
• Wreck diving - (139k)

Due to the high WEAR of Spelunking, Underwater basket weaving, and Wreck diving, these aren't considered an option, you should rather see the gem pouches as a bonus when doing these activities for other reasons.

Guard duty and Antique market assessor both have high ability level requirements (Agility level 55 and Trinketry level 40, respectively).

Wine grape stomping

Gathering gem pouches while doing Wine grape stomping has a lot of benefits. First of all there is the chance of getting the epic unique drop: Eberhart corkscrew (0.133% drop rate), which is quite powerful, and will probably be worth some gold when trading is available. It also drops Berries and Wine, the latter of which gives a +15% find collectible bonus.

It is also possible to stock up on the food vendors sell each day, this includes tomatoes which are only sold at this location (the Food Market Stall in Granfiddich), and used for the very useful foraging consumable, Mushroom curry, which gives +100% fine material finding.

This activity also has a chance of dropping cooking chests, a possible source of fine potatoes, an ingredient in the very powerful crafting consumable, Sweet carrot pie.

Last but not least, this activity is done in a city, which mean you can sell all unwanted items, and reduce the need for traveling.

Gearsets

This late game gearset will bring your chest rate down to an impressive 5450 steps per chest.

Hull repair

Hull repair has an overall higher steprate per chest, but like Wine grape stomping, it comes with a lot of benefits. It has a chance to drop the rare Sailor's hat (0.111% drop rate), metal and wood scrap, and also gold.

Most importantly it rewards XP in two skills which are otherwise hard to come by (Carpentry and Smithing), and at a decent rate as well. Smithing in particular will become useful down the line, since armor and weapons are crafted using the skill, and each level will add 1 quality outcome point, similar to crafting.

Carpentry and Smithing chests are quite useful, since they contain strong late game materials such as mangrove planks and the very powerful smithing consumable, Spicy pumpkin juice.

Gearsets

This late game gear set will bring your chest rate down to 8143 steps per chest, 1.736 XP per step (Carpentry), 0.926 XP per step (Smithing) and at the same time give you 111 gold per 1000 steps.

Rock-star amulet

Another option is to gather gems, using the ability on the Rock-star amulet, which is an achievement reward from mining 10k ores.

Unlike gem pouches, using this ability generates 5 gems. It uses the same loot table, which means it is significantly better in terms of output.

You can use the amulet as a passive way to gain gems, while working towards other goals, or use it in a setup specifically made for grinding gems.

If you do not already have a good supply of opals and star pearls, your best bet is to go copper mining wearing a good gear set, as this will give you more overall gems, but fewer of the more rare gems.

In terms of optimizing activation output from the amulet, there is only 1 real choice, which is Stone quarrying.

Stone quarrying

Stone quarrying has the lowest amount of steps required of any mining activity currently in the game, making it a prime activity for steps per action, in terms of reaching the 250 actions needed for the amulet's cooldown.

The activity doesn't offer any useful loot, except for the fine stones and fine large stones. The fine stones can however be useful for achieving the And My Axe and Rock and Stone achievements, and the fine large stones are useful for crafting the Bag of rocks.

The downside of using this method for grinding gems is that it requires a lot of active playing, since you have to check the game each 2.5-3k steps, in order to activate the amulet and do some inventory management.

You will also receive Mining chests at a very high rate, which can be useful for grinding Miner's magnets, which in turn can be made into Hydrilium magnets.

I suggest that you also wear any Adventuring rings you might have, as it a great activity for grinding Adventurers' guild tokens.

Gearsets

This late game gear will bring your activation rate down to a measly 2750 steps and chest rate down to 1251. If you are looking to grind fine materials, the treasure hunter items should be swapped for conservationist counterparts (requiring more AP).

This is the current lowest amount of steps you can bring the activity, resulting in a trigger each 2500 steps, the cost however, comes with chest rate being bumped up to 1938 steps per chest.

Conclusion

Gathering gems through activities comes with a lot of benefits in terms of chest and item hunting, while at the same time boasting some nice experience gains. But it comes nowhere close to being as effective as grinding gems through stone quarrying.