Power Stones

Power Stones have special effects and can be inserted into your gear. Rotten stones drop in Undeadgrounds, Earth Stones drop in Champion's Quest, while the rest can be found in Maze, Abyssal Maze, Chaos Dungeon, and Insane Daily Maze. Each Power stone has a special effect when it is put in an armor piece and a different effect when put into an offensive piece (weapon or ring). These Power Stones start at level 1 and can be upgraded by combining three of the previous tier. For example, three Level 1 stones make a Level 2, three Level 2 Stones make a level 3, etc. As you upgrade these stones they will increase your Gear Score as well as the bonus they provide.

Rotten

These stones are obtained in Undeadgrounds and this is where they are most useful. They are a great addition to any armor pieces you are using in this mode. As time goes on you will most likely be filling up almost all of your armor slots with Rotten Stones though sometimes you will still be mixing in a few others. For your offensive gear you will most likely want one high level stone for the percentage increase of your damage.

Red

These stones are not often used in armor pieces. The most common use is when fighting certain Clan Bosses but that is a very niche scenario. Where these stones really shine is in your offensive pieces. Each attack will apply 1 stack of burn. Burn will deal 20% of your damage per stack every second for five seconds. Once it reaches 10 stacks it will cause an explosion dealing 400% damage. For every 100% Burn you have you will apply that many stacks per attack. If you exceed 1000% Burn Effect you will cause an explosion every attack and add the additional stacks to the enemy. For example, if you have Burn Effect +1350% you would apply 3.5 stacks per hit on top of the explosion that deducts your 10 stacks. This is a strategy that is often used in higher level dungeons. Typically, this will first start in Abyssal Maze but can be used in other more difficult dungeons as well.

You do have to coordinate with your partner in game modes if someone is using a Fire Set. For example, if they are running a Fire Set and you are not you will consume their stacks. If your partner manages to add 100 Fire stacks to the boss and you only have 100% Burn Effect, each time you attack you will apply 1 stack of Burn but consume 10 leaving 91. As you keep attacking you will consume all the stacks not allowing the boss to be killed. Remember, the Burn damage is 20% of the last damage done to the boss multiplied by the number of stacks. Make sure once enough stacks are applied to the boss only the Hunter that does the most damage should attack or reflect damage to the boss.

You can find an in depth guide on how Burn works by another creator here.

Green

These stones are important and you will need them throughout all Dungeons. You will have a hard time finding enough of these at first. They are used in both your armor and offensive pieces. At first you will use them in your armor to be able to survive in Maze. Eventually these will be phased out of your armor as you advance through Maze. Maybe only having one or two left in your armor by the time you reach Abyssal Maze where they will be phased out entirely for damage reduction. They will make a comeback through when you reach Chaos Dungeon as increase health will become important again. As for offensive gear, at least one to two stones will find your way in there and stay for almost all Dungeons and modes. The only place you definitely won't use them is Abyssal Maze levels 2 and 4 once you have a Fire Set.

Poison works similar to Burn except it doesn't explode. You can always stack Poison no matter how low your percentage is and it will not consume any stacks. This will be the go to damage for Maze as well as a few other modes at first until some people eventually replace it with a Fire Set. Each stack of Poison will do 10% of your damage per stack every second for four seconds. For every 100% Poison you have you will apply that many stacks per attack. For example, if you had 500% Poison you would apply 5 Poison stacks per attack. Remember, the Poison damage is 10% of the last damage done to the boss multiplied by the number of stacks. Make sure once enough stacks are applied to the boss only the Hunter that does the most damage should attack or reflect damage to the boss.

You can find an in depth guide on how Burn works by another creator here.

Blue

Blue stones are very important and it will be a struggle to collect enough. They are important both offensively and defensively. You will have a few during Maze but the goal in Abyssal Maze will to be fill all your armor slots with blue stones for the damage reduction. As you get more comfortable you may be able to swap some out but your goal should be to get at least around 70%. This damage reduction will also be helpful for doing Clan Boss or other modes like Undeadgrounds and Champion's Quest at first. Eventually they will be phased out of your Champion's Quest gear as well as you are progressing. Damage reduction will not be important in Chaos Dungeon as it is ignored by all monsters in this mode.

Offensively blue stones will give you a chance to spawn Tentacles with every attack. If you have 100% Tentacles Chance you will spawn 1 Tentacle every attack. Multishot is great as it will spawn an additional Tentacle for every attack you make for each Multishot ability you have. Each time the Tentacles attack they will apply any effects from your Power Stones or Hunters. For example, Tentacles will apply both Poison and Burn stacks as well as Hunter effects like Mutant Turtle's bonus to reflect damage, Mad Doctor's Disease, The Ripper's Weakness, etc.

You can find an in depth guide on how Tentacles work by another creator here.

Purple

Purple stones are very important. You won't need as many as Blue stones at first but eventually these will be your go to for defensive gear. You will want to have one high level Purple stone in your weapon or ring. This will grant you the ability to drain life on all your attacks which is very important to survive during dungeons. The only Dungeon levels they will not work on are the no heal levels. You will also need the life drain for the Undeadgrounds and Champion's Quest modes.

You will want some of these in your defensive Maze gear as you are starting out to help you get some extra levels and survive. Once you reach Abyssal Maze the defensive purple stones will be replaced by blue stones. Once you reach Chaos Dungeon purple stones will become important again to help you gain enough experience to defeat the bosses as it is much harder to level up. When you are in Chaos Dungeon you will most likely have a collection of Purple Power Stones you were not using previously to be able to fill all the necessary slots with at least level 5 stones. You will then be able to slowly upgrade them over time.

Pearl

Pearl stones will have a place in your gear for a while but you don't need that many. In Maze you will most likely want one in your defensive gear to give you the Stun chance and one in your offensive gear for the additional damage. When you reach Abyssal Maze you will still use one in your defensive gear until you get more comfortable in the mode and get a blue stone to replace it. You will be able to remove it from your offensive gear because Abyssal Maze is more about getting enough stacks on the boss then using a Hunter with reflect damage to kill the boss.

When you reach Chaos Dungeon this will be an addition back into your offensive gear. You'll need at least one stone for the increased damage but I prefer to run two. Once you reach Chaos Dungeon you should have enough Pearls to at least get two level 6 stones since you will not be needing them in any other sets typically. Work on getting these up to level 7 if you are using these for Chaos.

Yellow

You may use a few yellow stones but they aren't that important for a while. Putting one in both your offensive and defensive gear can be helpful when starting in Maze. The additional movement speed will help you a lot to group up the enemies and stay alive as usual these will be replaced with the damage reduction from blue stones once you reach Abyssal Maze. The attack Speed in your offensive gear isn't that helpful but you mostly will be using your other green and blue stones to level up the existing gems in the other slots. One yellow gem can be a place holder here until you get enough extra stones to remove the yellow from your offensive gear.

Similar to other stones these will make a comeback in Chaos Dungeon. They still won't have a place in your offensive gear but you will want two in your defensive gear to help you move around the dungeon quicker and collect the necessary experience so you can begin damaging the boss.

Azure

Azure stones don't seem to have a place in the meta for most Dungeons or modes at the moment but they can be useful if used correctly. If you have the extra slots available they can be helpful on either defensive or offensive gear but there are usually better stones to use. They can be useful in Chaos Dungeon to help farm with single target Hunters like Ninja, Crow, or Anubis.

It seems that Azure stones are getting most use in Undeadgrounds at the moment. There are a lot of levels as well as in Endless Mode where these stones will be useful. They will not be required for all levels but when using them in offensive gear the aim is to have 100% Blast Nova chance. It can be hard to find the space to slot them into defensive gear because you will often want to focus on damage reduction. But if you have the space putting a few of these can be helpful. The main focus will be on leveling them up to be used offensivley though.

Earth

At first your best use of Earth Power Stones will be in Champion's Quest. The boss is immune to Poison Damage. In most cases you can use your regular set and swap out your Green stones for Earth. I find a good gem setup to use is the same as Chaos Dungeon except swap the one Green for an Earth Power Stone. This means you just have to focus on leveling up one Earth Power Stone as high as you can.

Eventually, once you get enough Titan pieces Earth stones can be useful in Dark Forest as well. You still don't need that many you can get by running 1 or 2 stones with a bunch of tentacles. These really begin to shine in Dark Forest once you are able to get a high enough damage typically by getting the HP to Damage enchantment.