Gemming guide?...

Howdy,

I'm wondering if there is a collection in one place of the gems of each color that are benefical for tanking, as well as the other pally builds. I'm starting to collect raw gems in advance of getting gear worth socketing them into, so I'd like to know which ones to save, and which to vendor...

thanks!

I'd save all the raw gems for now. The only reason is that some time a socket bonus is worth it and some time it isn't. Take into account the meta gem requirements and it might be worth taking a lesser gem.

The best information I can provide is the stats needed for each class that can be upgraded with gems

Holy:
+heal
+spell crit
+mp5
+int

Prot:
+def (enduring talasite)
+dodge (subtle living ruby)
+stam (solid star of elune)

Ret:
+str
+attack
+crit

Rets LOVE my Inscribed Noble Topaz on the AH (+4 crit/+4 str)

As a jewelcrafter, I also have access to BoP Unique-Equipped gems and I have one of them where possible in all my sets:

Kailee's Rose +26 healing
Facet of Eternity +12 def
Stone of Blades +12 crit
Falling Star +18 stam

Pretty much all of my raid gear has Solid Stars, a Falling Star and Subtle Living Rubies. Too bad there isn't a +block rating gem yet.

My healing gear is a Kailee's Rose and a shitload of the teardrop blood garnets (+13 healing).
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Some people call me crazy but I like to think of myself as a freelance lunatic.
Ann Coulter is a Cylon

You can just go to a site like WoWHead, and it lists all of the gems available in the game. There are gems for most tanking stats, however sadly you can't get +armor, +block rating, or +block value from a gem.
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Save your blue gems.
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While you could check them all out on WoWHead or another database site, WoWWiki has a great chart on them. The table "above the fold" covers everything you'd need, with the comprehensive listing of gems further down the page: Gem - WoWWiki.

• Typically, red gems are for offensive stats with the notable exceptions being the dodge and parry gems: +dmg, +heal, AP, Str, Agi, Dodge, Parry.
  
• Blue gems for support stats: MP5, Sta, Spirit, Penetration.
  
• I haven't really come up with a good "category" for yellows in my mind, but they tend to cover the rest of the support stats: (Spell) Crit, (Spell) Hit, Defense, Resilience, Int.
  
• Hybrids are a mix of their base colors. For example Purple -> Blue + Red.

Hope that helps.
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So, to summarize my thoughts here....

For my pally, I'm to keep:

Red gems: Dodge (and healing and SD)

Blue: sta

Orange: healing/int and SD/SC for healing sets or when I need the socket bonus)

(for my hunter it's Red, Orange, and Purple)

This means I should be able to sell off all my green and yellow gems, as another color gem would almost always be of more benefit)

so, any flaws in my thinking here?....

The other thing to mention is that 90% of socket bonuses aren't worth going for, so as a tank you should generally be throwing blue stam gems in everything unless you need the extra avoidance for uncrushability.

http://wowgems.jponrails.com/cut_gems/list
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You may find this useful:

http://wowgems.jponrails.com/cut_gems/list
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