4.3 Item Enhancement Guide

[Digren]

This is a near-complete list of useful Cata gems, from which I generated the page one guide.

Survival Gems

Meta Gems

1. [Austere Shadowspirit Diamond] : +81 Stamina and +2% Armor from Items : Jewelcrafting
2. [Eternal Shadowspirit Diamond] : +81 Stamina and +5% Block Value : Jewelcrafting
3. [Effulgent Shadowspirit Diamond] : +81 Stamina and -2% Spell Damage Taken : Jewelcrafting
4. [Powerful Shadowspirit Diamond] : +81 Stamina and -10% Stun Durationg : Jewelcrafting
5. [Fleet Shadowspirit Diamond] +54 Mastery Rating and +8% Movement Speed : Jewelcrafting
   
   Digren says, "With no defense gem, this list pretty much boils down to stamina and something, where something is 2% armor, 5% shield block value, or 2% reduced spell damage."

Red Gems

1. [Flashing Chimera's Eye] : +67 Parry Rating : BoP Jewelcrafting
2. [Delicate Chimera's Eye] : +67 Agility : BoP Jewelcrafting
3. [Flashing Inferno Ruby] : +40 Parry Rating : Jewelcrafting
4. [Delicate Inferno Ruby] : +40 Agility : Jewelcrafting
5. [Perfect Flashing Carnelian]
6. [Perfect Delicate Carnelian]
7. [Flashing Carnelian]
8. [Delicate Carnelian]
   
   Digren says, "Agility's days as a survival stat are over, because it no longer provides armor and provides just 75% as much dodge benefit as dodge rating."

Blue Gems

1. [Solid Chimera's Eye] : +101 Stamina : BoP Jewelcrafting
2. [Solid Ocean Sapphire] : +60 Stamina : Jewelcrafting
3. [Perfect Solid Zephyrite]
4. [Solid Zephyrite]
   
   Digren says, "Well, yeah, put stamina gems in your blue gem slots. They haven't changed things that much."

Yellow Gems

1. [Subtle Chimera's Eye] : +67 Dodge Rating : BoP Jewelcrafting
2. [Fractured Chimera's Eye] : +67 Mastery Rating : BoP Jewelcrafting
3. [Subtle Amberjewel] : +40 Dodge Rating : Jewelcrafting
4. [Fractured Amberjewel] : +40 Mastery Rating : Jewelcrafting
5. [Perfect Subtle Alicite]
6. [Perfect Fractured Alicite]
7. [Subtle Alicite]
8. [Fractured Alicite]

Purple Gems

1. [Defender's Demonseye] : +20 Parry Rating and +30 Stamina : Jewelcrafting
2. [Shifting Demonseye]
3. [Perfect Defender's Nightstone]
4. [Perfect Shifting Nightstone]
5. [Defender's Nightstone]
6. [Shifting Nightstone]
   
   Digren says, "Agility's days as a survival stat are over, because it no longer provides armor and provides just 75% as much dodge benefit as dodge rating. Unless your dodge/parry ratio is way out of whack (at a ratio to be determined later), a Defender's gem is likely the best choice for red gem slots."

Green Gems

1. [Regal Dream Emerald] : +20 Dodge Rating and +30 Stamina
2. [Puissant Dream Emerald] : +20 Mastery Rating and +30 Stamina : Jewelcrafting
3. [Perfect Regal Jasper]
4. [Perfect Puissant Jasper]
5. [Regal Jasper]
6. [Puissant Jasper]
   
   Digren says, "It's not clear, yet, if dodge rating or mastery rating are the best option for yellow. Either way, one of the dream emeralds is likely the best choice for gem when matching a yellow gem socket."

Orange Gems

1. [Fine Ember Topaz] : +20 Parry Rating and +20 Mastery Rating : Jewelcrafting
2. [Perfect Fine Hessonite]
3. [Fine Hessonite]
4. [Adept Ember Topaz] : +20 Agility and +20 Mastery Rating : Jewelcrafting
5. [Polished Ember Topaz] : +20 Agility and +20 Dodge Rating : Jewelcrafting
   
   Digren says, "Long-neglected orange gems get no love here. It not very likely these will see use when a purple or green gem would provide avoidance/block and stamina."

Prismatic Gems

Digren says, "No cut prismatic gems have yet been introduced for Cataclysm."

Threat Gems

Meta Gems

1. [Destructive Shadowspirit Diamond]
2. [Chaotic Shadowspirit Diamond]
3. [Impassive Shadowspirit Diamond]

Red Gems

1. [Precise Chimera's Eye] : +67 Expertise Rating : BoP Jewelcrafting
2. [Bold Chimera's Eye] : +67 Strength : BoP Jewelcrafting
3. [Precise Inferno Ruby] : +40 Expertise Rating : Jewelcrafting
4. [Bold Inferno Ruby] : +40 Strength : Jewelcrafting
5. [Perfect Precise Carnelian]
6. [Perfect Bold Carnelian]
7. [Precise Carnelian]
8. [Bold Carnelian]

Blue Gems

1. [Rigid Chimera's Eye] : +67 Hit Rating : BoP Jewelcrafting
2. [Rigid Ocean Sapphire] : +40 Hit Rating : Jewelcrafting
3. [Perfect Rigid Zephyrite]
4. [Rigid Zephyrite]

Yellow Gems

1. [Smooth Chimera's Eye] BoP Jewelcrafting

Purple Gems

1. [Sovereign Demonseye] : +20 Strength and +30 Stamina : Jewelcrafting
2. [Etched Demonseye] : +20 Strength and +20 Hit Rating : Jewelcrafting
3. [Accurate Demonseye] : +20 Expertise Rating and +20 Hit Rating : Jewelcrafting
4. [Glinting Demonseye] : +20 Agility and +20 Hit Rating : Jewelcrafting
5. [Guardian's Demonseye] : +20 Expertise Rating and +30 Stamina : Jewelcrafting
6. [Retaliating Demonseye] : +20 Parry Rating and +20 Hit Rating : Jewelcrafting
7. [Shifting Demonseye] : +20 Agility and +30 Stamina : Jewelcrafting

Green Gems

1. [Nimble Dream Emerald] : +20 Dodge Rating and +20 Hit Rating : Jewelcrafting
2. [Sensei's Dream Emerald] : +20 Mastery Rating and +20 Hit Rating : Jewelcrafting
3. [Piercing Dream Emerald]

Orange Gems

1. [Keen Ember Topaz] : +20 Expertise Rating and +20 Mastery Rating : Jewelcrafting
2. [Resolute Ember Topaz] : +20 Expertise Rating and +20 Dodge Rating : Jewelcrafting
3. [Skillful Ember Topaz] : +20 Strength and +20 Mastery Rating : Jewelcrafting

Prismatic Gems

-

[lakhesis]

I'm after other people's opinions, mathematical support for them would be a lovely bonus. I'm mostly restating what I've read others say elsewhere, mixing it in with my own thinking, and trying to consolidate it into a general philosophy of gemming/chanting as opposed to a weighing gem-by-gem. And I'd like to know if i'm "right".. if that's possible =)

My current thinking is that I'm first and foremost interested in achieving 102.4% (with holy shield) block cap. Mastery is the cheapest way to get to 102.4% so that's our first method, but we can only really do that via reforging atm & hence we're using-and-abusing reforging on just about everything to shove it into becoming mastery. Our preferable methods once we're comfortably towards 102.4% are via a (roughly even) mix of dodge & parry, so all that high iLvl avoidance gear we previously hated suddenly became BiS-ish. Oh, and agility is worthless cos it's no longer a two-for-one, now it's just dodge-lite without the armour built in & hence anything involving agility gets thrown out.

Other than that, armour is still just as valuable as it used to be - it's simply harder to get in the same quantities... I still mentally look at bonus armour, divide by 10-20 & call that 1 stam (very roughly). It's just I'm generally mentally dividing a much smaller number of armour now, so the end result isn't as compelling as it used to be.

Stam is always the best once you've ticked all the other requirements or even if you're just not sure what to do.

Hence I immediately throw out the old paradigm of purely gemming stam, and start making the most of any stamina socket bonuses to pick up parry/stam in red sockets & dodge/stam in yellow sockets. Previously the avoidance was a waste, it ain't now, hence while the socket bonus is valuable it becomes worthwhile picking them up again.

Enchanting predominantly stays the same.

Stam/Res vs Stam/Dodge is arguable, but probably comes down in favour of stam/dodge. Whether you go armour or dodge on your cloak is going to come down to whether you need the dodge to hit 102.4 - armour would be preferable if you can. Glove enchants are still all crap, but maybe armsmaster isn't as bad as it used to be.. i'll still be sticking to +18 stam out of general cynicism.

OK.. threat stats...

To my mind this is basically raid dependant. We still prioritise expertise, glove enchant suddenly becomes a great place to pick up +hit if needed. We prefer to use reforging for +hit and gems for +expertise, thanks to +hit suddenly becoming a blue gem. Mostly we'd rather have items with +hit or +expertise, and gem/reforge our 102.4 around them. But, much like always, we'd generally rather not pick up threat stats unless our raid demonstrates that we can't tank right without 'em.

Comments on that as a general philosophy?

[Digren]

Comments on that as a general philosophy?

That's generally what I'm aiming for. I'm reworking the guide to not talk about level 85 stuff (yet) and implement a list of recommendations for what tanks should do right now.

[Digren]

I archived some enchant data here between 4.0.1 and 4.0.3. It wasn't needed any more.

[Digren]

Ok, I've revised everything to cover 4.0.1 instead of 4.0.2. A few key recommendations changed. Be sure to look everything over.

[Tenilla]

[Arcanum of the Stalwart Protector] : +37 Stamina and +20 Defense Rating : Purchased (The Argent Crusade at Revered)


It is on my head item as +20 Dodge now not Def

[Digren]

[Arcanum of the Stalwart Protector] : +37 Stamina and +20 Defense Rating : Purchased (The Argent Crusade at Revered)


It is on my head item as +20 Dodge now not Def

Oops, missed that one. thanks!

[raistlin212]

In the section on current weapon enchants: "Exceptional Agility is great for avoidance gears sets and to work towards the block cap in a passive block set. It provides a bit of armor and crit rating as well, so it is an all around general-purpose reliable stat."

Needs updated.

[knaughty]

I think the sections on Strength, Hit, Agility might need to be adjusted now Theck's numbers are in. Our best threat stat by a mile is Expertise, then Hit, then Strength in a rather distant third. Stamina provides about 80% of the threat of Strength, I can't ever see strength being a valid threat choice.

Threat set would be (IMnsHO):

1. Expertise to softcap
2. Hit to cap
3. Stack stamina

Otherwise looks good and will link to my FAQ when I'm  not working from an iPad

[Digren]

In the section on current weapon enchants: "Exceptional Agility is great for avoidance gears sets and to work towards the block cap in a passive block set. It provides a bit of armor and crit rating as well, so it is an all around general-purpose reliable stat."

Needs updated.

Thanks. Totally reworded my commentary to take out links to all the outdated math debates. The recommendations themselves didn't need to change.

[Digren]

I think the sections on Strength, Hit, Agility might need to be adjusted now Theck's numbers are in. Our best threat stat by a mile is Expertise, then Hit, then Strength in a rather distant third. Stamina provides about 80% of the threat of Strength, I can't ever see strength being a valid threat choice.

Threat set would be (IMnsHO):

1. Expertise to softcap
2. Hit to cap
3. Stack stamina

Otherwise looks good and will link to my FAQ when I'm  not working from an iPad

I've reworked that text based on the latest numbers. We'll see how much they change things again in the short term.

[steadypal]

when i was doing the reforging and regemming to match +9 stam bonuses. i was using the block cap macro... it was saying WITH kings, that the 10agi gems were giving .01 more avoidance than the 10 parry gems, is it more wise of me to just go with the +parry?

[Mordral]

Executioner: 160 120 crit rating – changed from ArPen with 4.0.1

Edit: 120 crit confirmed. Thanks to Digren on the correction. No idea what my problem is, either the tooltip on the scroll was a football bat or D is for Lysdexia. Either way, at 120 crit this enchant is... lacking

What an amazing waste of time this has been. Sincere apologies to everyone who read that garbage.

[Digren]

when i was doing the reforging and regemming to match +9 stam bonuses. i was using the block cap macro... it was saying WITH kings, that the 10agi gems were giving .01 more avoidance than the 10 parry gems, is it more wise of me to just go with the +parry?

How much parry and dodge do you have? Do you have numbers for changes to those with different amounts of parry rating or agility?

Maybe they've tweaked something since beta.

[Mordral]

Executioner testing 2.0

Edit: Anachronos seems to make a swell reactive 'boss' test dummy. I make a better test dummy.