Agility vs Dodge

I've been looking around here for a while and haven't found an answer thats updated for cata.

Previously, agility has been superior to dodge rating on the basis that it not only gives dodge, but armor and crit as well and that it converts to dodge chance at a relatively good rate. Since cata has launched and gem colors have changed, I've taken to sticking stam gems in blue slots, parry, or parry+stam in reds, and mastery in yellows. My question is: With cata, at what rate does agility convert to dodge and armor, and is it still better/more efficient to gem agility in place of dodge rating?

I don't think agility gives any armor anymore.

I think this was covered in the Cataclysm forum but I am not sure if the post got transferred over.

Agility is now a stat we don't look for or want, it provides no armor and is only [as a rough figure] 75% as efficient as dodge rating according to the research.

For hard and fast answers Digren's guide covers how and what to gem/enchant.

Barathorn.

Elitist Jerks - Combat Ratings

Agi is 58.03% effective as providing dodge compared to dodge (176.71899/304.50762639) without kings
Agi is 60.93% effective as providing dodge compared to dodge with kings
Agi provides zero armor

Definitely it is not a stat we should be gemming or enchanting for anymore. However Signet of the Elder Council (rep ring) is the best pre raiding ring you can get your hands on, beating down the Rare 346 alternatives due to higher item budget and having mastery.

While it's not as good as dodge, it is better than strength for survival! Strength provides just 25% of the parry of parry rating.

There are a few places (rings, amulets, cloaks, trinkets) where gear with mastery and agility are available. In those slots the agility pieces might be better than the strength pieces depending on the itemization.

Thank you Lythac and Digren, thats exactly what I was looking for.

Echaa wrote:Thank you Lythac and Digren, thats exactly what I was looking for.

Me too. Great thread, very short and simple.

As discussed in the "so many trinkets thread", I really like the mastery/agility trinkets - Tia's Grace and the Tol Barad epic one. Agility is not a first rank stat for us, but it is valuable and the benefits can add up.

I knew that ring looked yummy when I saw it

Don Rodrigo's Fabulous necklace will net you the most defensive stats as well before you get to Sinestra.

It is superior to every other 359 in terms of pure defensive value.

The conversion to dodge from agility coupled with the heavily budgeted mastery brings it out ahead.

It's also BOE. Some people don't want to use DPS gear even if it's better, but it's worth the buy if you're sitting on money. I paid 10k myself.

In Addition:

As a rule, agility items tend to overtake their strength counterparts when two situations are true:

1) The agility item has mastery
2) The budget for mastery on said item hogs the item budget.

They are almost certain to overtake their strength counterparts in other situations as well.

1) The agility item has mastery
2) The agility item is 359 and there are no 359 strength items that have both their "green budgets" allocated into defensive stats.

You are generally safer doing the math your self or using a trusted source on which agility items you should or should not equip, but the Acorn of the Daughter Tree is another example of an 346 agi item being superior to a 346 str item. These claims are just generalizations.

Don Rodrigo's necklace is indeed quite good. I've flagged it as #2 in game, only a short bit behind the heroic version of the Ironstar Amulet. For non-heroic raiders the Don's neck is best in class.