In Diablo 2, gold can be scarce in the early stages of the game, making it difficult to acquire the necessary resources to upgrade your character's equipment. One way to boost your gear's performance is by adding sockets using recipes found within the Horadric Cube. Here's a step-by-step guide on how to add a socket to your Diablo 2 items.

To upgrade gems in the Horadric Cube, you'll need three of any particular gem type. For this example, we'll use rubies as our reference point. The same process applies to all other types of gems, including skulls. If you find yourself needing better-quality gems, the Horadric Cube is a great way to upgrade them.

As you progress through the game, you may notice that chipped gems become increasingly rare outside of Normal difficulty. It's essential to keep a stash of these gems as they'll be needed throughout your journey. The final five and most elusive rune recipes require flawless gems as part of the upgrade process.

Chipped gems start dropping in Act 1 Normal, with perfect gems becoming available later in the game. Once you need to craft Mal, you'll require plain gems for the recipe. On the other hand, from Lum and above, flawed gems are necessary for upgrades.

When it comes to creating Amn and higher-level runes, you'll need a chipped gem to upgrade to the next level. This change occurs when crafting Amn and anything beyond that requires a chipped gem as part of the process.

By following these recipes and upgrading your gems through the Horadric Cube, you'll be able to add sockets to your Diablo 2 items and give your character a significant boost in power.

Diablo 2 recipe to add socket