Crude Ruby is the lowest gem in the Ruby family in Diablo 4. It will grant you different bonuses, depending on your gear, and you can socket it into equipment. This article outlines how Crude Ruby works and how to make it more effective by upgrading it to a higher tier.

Effects of Crude Ruby:

Different kinds of gear have different effects when a Crude Ruby is embedded in them.

Weapons: The ruby gives a boost on Overpower Damage when placed in a weapon socket. It serves as a way for you to up your offence to be able to deal more damage with overpowering. The specific bonus varies from +12% to -1%, which can significantly boost your fighting ability.

Armor: Fixing the Crude Ruby into armor adds up Maximum Life. The overall health pool of a player is therefore increased making him/her more resistant during combat. This has an improvement starting from 0.05% until -1%.

Jewelry: When put into jewelry like rings and amulets, the ruby bestows Fire Resistance. You get additional armor against fire-related attacks as well as reduced damage from such enemies. For example, fire resistance ranges from 11.5% til -1%.

Upgrading Crude Ruby:

To make your crude ruby more effective, upgrade it to another higher tier one. In upgrading this kind of gem, you need 3 gems and gold investments. By doing that, such gems become even more powerful in providing bonuses when they are inserted into gears.

Starting from the lowest tier- Crude Ruby to next tier Chipped Ruby- is possible through upgrading them. This process starts by visiting a gem artisan or merchant who does gem upgrades for you; this step will require three gems belonging to that same level including Crude Rubies and some gold payment according to them as well combined together all at once so as the result would be Chipped Rubies instead.

One thing to bear in mind is that the Diablo 4 jeweler can also take out your gear's gems without affecting the status of both. This way, you can easily swap gems within different pieces of equipment and test various gear combinations to optimize the build of your character.

Maximizing Gem Benefits:

In order to maximize effects from gems such as Crude Ruby, one should consider matching them with his or her own gear. Think about what bonuses will benefit you most based on how you play and what kind of build you have. For instance, if you deal with fire skills a lot, it might be helpful to place Crude Ruby into jewelry for Fire Resistance. On the other hand, enhancing Maximum Life through an Armor slot can be more advantageous if you are rather defensive.

On top of this, always keep an eye out for better quality gems in later stages of the game. They offer larger bonuses and thus help to improve your characters' overall strength and ability to survive.