As of late I've noticed more and more players un-gemmed and un-chanted--so this post is a straight up attempt at educating everyone on how to tinker (enhance) your gear.
Raiding in PvP Gear:
Any hardcore raider is gonna tell you, "Don't do it." Now I'm going to tell you why. PvP gear is stat-weighted for PvP; this means stam is typically weighted higher, and you gain resilience at the expense of other, necessary stats, such as critical strike or hit rating, spell power, etc. Since hit rating is unnecessary in PvP, raiding in this gear could effectively render you useless. So, while it may be easy to get, if you really want to raid, I suggest grinding heroics, and grabbing some coin to pickup the crafted epics for your class. You can use addons such as Atlasloot, or check the armory to find the heroics that you can benefit from. Worse comes to worse, the badges will always do you good.
Gemming:
This is one area where many players can improve. First I want you to ask yourself, "what is my goal?" My answer to this is: "to increase my dps." If you're a dps player, I hope your answer is the same. That being said, lemme lay down the basics:
Melee DPS- Ret Pallies/DK's/Warriors
Hit>Expertise>Strength
This is what you need to gem for. Period. Hit Rating until 8%, Expertise to at least 15 skill, then all STR.
Now let's talk about why:
A. If you don't hit the target, you're not dps'ing
B. If you get parried, you're not dps'ing
C. Strength scales much better than any other stat. 1 Str= 2 AP.
Never gem for attack power. Ever. Ever. I'm serious. Never gem for crit either. Crit comes from gear, and raid buffs already give you a nice crit boost--No top of the charts dps ever gemmed for crit. Trust me on this.
Which brings me to the issue of sockets. Rule of thumb here, is to make sure your meta gem is activated, and then ignore all the other colors (JC's can use their dragons eyes for this). Socket bonuses suck; +4 stam, or +5 crit at the expense of 32 AP is just retarded. And everyone knows you don't go full retard.
Enchants:
Many enchants require Reputation. Do the dailies. Grab a tabard. Its worth it.
You can chant every single piece of armor you wear. Let's start at the top:
Head
DPS:
Arcanum of Torment Ebon Blade (Reverred) AP/CritCaster:
Arcanum of Burning Mysteries Kirin Tor (Reverred) SP/CritHeals:
Arcanum of Blissful Mending Wyrmrest (Reverred) SP/Mp5Shoulders
Unless you're a scribe, you're gonna have to do the Sons of Hodir questchain for this slot. Its a long grind, but worth the epic shoulder chant. Epic enchants require exalted rep, but there are some available at honored.
DPS:
Greater Inscription of the Axe AP/CritCaster:
Greater Inscription of the Storm SP/CritHeals:
Greater Inscription of the Crag SP/Mp5Back/Cloak
There aren't too many attractive options here. +22 Agi, +23 haste are about the best...unless you're a tailor.
Chest
+10 All stats. This is the only chant, and its expensive due to the mats-- I strongly recommend you to find a nice guildie for this one.
Bracers
Some options here: +15 expertise, +50 AP, +23 SP...
Hands/Gloves
+44 AP, +20 hit, +28 SP, +20 Agi
Waist
Add an eternal belt buckle...gives you an additional gem socket /ftw
Legs
Epic choices here...
DPS:
Icescale Leg Armor AP/CritCaster:
Brilliant Spellthread SP/SpiritBoots/Feet
Either AP or hit/crit for your choices here. Not much else worth it...
To see the biggest improvement, get yourself hit capped (except healers), and then gem for your "Golden Stat." I promise you'll notice a difference.
Posts
Looks like the same items linked under legs for both DPS and Caster. Probably meant to link a spellthread?
ReplyDeleteOtherwise, great write-up!
Agree with the spellthread comment.
ReplyDeleteAlso: For shoulder enchants, check out what Wintergrasp has to offer. While they have resilience, they're a lot easier to come by than the Hodir rewards, and will add value in the meantime.
And, as far as enchants and gems go, most guilds are set up to provide these to guildies. I know Shystechris will provide gems he has as a JC, and I provide whatever mats I have as an enchanter, free of charge to guildies. That's what a guild -- especially H&G -- are all about.
chris that isnt true abotu crit warriors need more crit to proc all the stuff in there talents that make them good DPS so warriors do need enough crit to where there stuff is always procing to cause the most damage
ReplyDeleteWell, it is and it isn't darth. While some Warriors do need crit, they should still gem for strength...crit may be needed, but the stat weighting for crit is far less than str.
ReplyDeleteA Warrior min/maxing with all crit gems (non-JC) only gets 1-2% crit vs all the AP they could've had--that's why crit needs to be taken from gear.
With well made gear choices, warriors should be able to get enough crit to be effective. Kinda like the slight gearing between Mage types--its all in what you choose to loot.
Chris, I have a couple of questions. If I have a yellow socket, and I'm over hit cap, should I still not gem for crit? I would rather have 8 Str and 8 Crit, plus get the socket bonus of 4 Str, then gain 4 Str and lose the Crit, but I'm not sure.
ReplyDeleteAlso, every red socket should have an expertise gem, correct? Until I'm at 15 Expertise? Just checking. I've been gemming either Str/Crit or Expertise/Crit in my yellow slots.
Think of the off-color gems (purple, orange, green) as a way to meet your meta requirement, while still providing yourself useful stats.
ReplyDelete8str/8 crit gem = 16 AP, .10% crit... + 8AP from socket bonus....doing this 5 times (assuming your socket bonus is always +4 str) will give you .50% crit, but also net you a loss of 50 AP...if not all your socket bonuses are +4 str, then you've lost even more AP which equates to less damage dealt. Str > Crit in every scenario....
As far as expertise is concerned, the jump from 5 -15 skill is noticeable...above that, at least for now, is very minute.
If you really want a step up in dps, after hit cap, and meta requirement is filled, gem either +16 expertise or +16 strength--i promise the <1% crit you lose will be worth it.
Also, RatingBuster (addon) is a good tool that will break down stats into their equivalent forms; ie. 1 str= 2 AP, 1 Agi= .12 crit/ .11 dodge, etc.
ReplyDeleteIts very useful when trying to make out a gear set