The UI will tell me to left click the + button to level up a gem, but it also tells me to right click on it and I can dismiss the leveling up process.
Should I always level up the skill gems or is there ever a reason not to?
Path of Exile Gems – Should Gems Be Leveled Up ASAP?
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Related Solutions
Levelling up a gem is like levelling up a skill in many other games. It gives you higher damage, more effects, higher requirements, etc.
As you can see, burning arrow gains 3% physical damage, and 1% greater chance to ignite enemies. It also now requires you to be level 2 to use it.
I believe higher levels of Raise Zombie increase zombie health and damage. For other (non-summon) skills, the stats of the new level were shown on the gem at one point during beta, but do not appear to be shown now. The reason minion statistics aren't shown on the skill is because they don't exist on the skill, they exist on the minion.
(Minion statistical information) isn't hidden, it doesn't exist. Ideally we'd like to make it exist and be visible eventually, but this a) requires implementing entirely new systems for skills to be able to show stats that aren't in the skill, and b) requires those stats having actual values we can read somewhere. We've got a temporary solution for Zombie life numbers, which need updating any time any balance changes modify what those values are, but it's simply not viable to make that a large-scale solution.
You get more zombies from the passive tree.
The game will automatically assign new skills to any empty slots in your hotkey menu. However, if you click on any of the skill slots in the bottom right, you can assign/unassign whichever attack/skill you want.
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Best Answer
Skill gems have requirements, and those requirements increase with the level of the gem.
If the requirements are not met, the gem will not be active. To prevent accidentally doing so, the game does not allow you to level a gem if the new requirements are not met.
If you expect that you will not be able to meet the requirements in the near future - e.g. because you are about to replace a ring which has a minor bonus to a stat required by the gem - it might be better not to level the gem.
This usually only happens for gems that require a stat that is not your main stat.
A second reason not to level a gem, is more specific. There are a few skill gems that put limits on their linked gem. E.g. Cast when Damage Taken (values between brackets depend on the level of the gem).
You should not level the linked gem beyond the limit put upon it by this gem.
Because the required damage will increase with the level, some people even advice not to level the Cast when Damage Taken gem past a certain point. This, of course, depends on the linked skill and personal preference, and is very situational.