My main profession on mage!bitch is jewelcrafting. So as you can imagine, I have seen it all: Hunters that want to gem for spirit, DKs that want to gem for spellpower....and no, I didn't make that shit up. Usually, I just sort of look the other way, cut the gem, take the tip and move on. But lately I have found that I really get my rage on when I see mages using bad gems, or worse, when they ask me to cut them bad gems. Maybe I don't want to see my fellow bathrobes go down the dark path. Or maybe I just don't want to see crummy mages giving us slightly-less-than-crummy mages a bad name.
Regardless of reason, I am actually going to go out on a limb and give some simple, straightforward mage gemming advice. Ya, I know this has been written about all over the internet, but judging by the number of poorly-gemmed bathrobes I see out there, it can't hurt to throw the information about there again. But before I get down into the specifics, I want to touch on one major theory issue. Gather round the monitor, because I don't want you to miss this....
ARCANE MAGES DO NOT GEM FOR MANA REGEN. No intellect, no mp5. Don't do it. Don't even think about it. Just stop...back away from the Brilliant King's Amber with your mouse in the air. Every time a mage gems for mana, someone buys a Lil KT and drops it in the middle of Dalaran. And for the love of all that is holy, stop running around with the mana shield up - it is only aggravating your problem (You have healers to protect your squishy behinds. Only use the mana shield in an "oh shit I'm gonna die" situation.). Mages, as a class, have plenty of tools for mana regen during long fights: evocation, mana sapphires and mana potions. Hence, gemming armor for mana is a waste - why in the world would you waste a gem slot when you have specific spells that will perform the same function for you?
Ya, I know. You think that if you gem for mana regeneration you will be able to DPS longer without stopping, hence MOAR DPS. Nope. If you sacrifice all of the potential spellpower you could have from proper gemming for intellect/mp5 gems, you might as well try to blow a hole through a brick wall with a BB gun. It doesn't matter how many BBs you throw at it, or how long you can throw the BBs without stopping, they are still BBs and they still won't dent that wall. If you gem for spellpower, you have effectively replaced your BB gun with a bazooka. Sure, you won't be able to go as long without stopping to reload, but if you hit the wall that hard, the wall might be gone before you have to stop and reload. In short, spellpower = MOAR DPS.
So we are on the same page now? Going to leave the intellect gems to the healers? Good. So what should you gem for? The answer is simple, as it goes back to the basic statistic stack hierarchy: Hit > Spellpower > Haste > Crit > Spirit. So following that, here is the short list of the four gems you should be using, assuming you are hit capped from your gear:
So let's discuss.
The red stone for red slots is obvious, yes? Ok, good.
The orange gem is to be used in any yellow slot and possibly red slots. If you have to fill one red slot and one yellow slot, and you want to stack spellpower and haste, use two of the orange rather than a red spellpower and a yellow haste. Why? Firstly, the two stacked orange gems will yield one extra spellpower point. Secondly, the orange gems are cheaper than the primary color gems.
The purple gem is to be used in two blue slotst - you only need two in order to fulfill the meta gem requirement. The purified dreadstone is sort of like the lesser of all evils: there really isn't any other purple or blue gem that is worth a crap for arcane mages - this one at least gives you spellpower. Regarding the scrap of spirit on this gem, I know what you are thinking: "Mage!Bitch.....your stat hierarchy says gem for spirit last! You just yelled at me for gemming for mana regen and spirit is mana regen! WAAAAH!". Ya, I know, but due to Molten Armor, spirit is considered a DPS boost, not a mana regen stat (and.......you are using Molten Armor, yes?).
So what about socket bonuses? Firstly, make sure you have your meta gem requirements filled. After that? I generally look at what the socket bonus gives me: if it is a +7 spellpower or above, I will generally gem for the bonus. If it is below that, I will just gem whatever I want, which is usually straight spellpower (bazooka = good) or a combo of spellpower and haste (fast bazooka = even better).
So that's about the jist of it, my fellow bathrobes. Go forth and blast the hell out of ICC. May the bazookas be with you.
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