WoW Rookie: Slotting your sockets with gems
by Lisa Poisso 
Jul 22nd 2009 at 9:00AM
You're over level 60 now, and you're pretty hot stuff. You've ridden through the Dark Portal the old-fashioned way, swaggering into The Burning Crusade content in style. You'd done your reading; you knew these mobs were going to hit a lot harder, and you came prepared. You ran a few last dungeons before you shipped out, and you're respectably outfitted in BRD and URBS blues, along with a heady mix of new gear that appears to be dropping like candy.
And then you looted a piece of armor with crazy-hot good looks but an odd, blank box among its stats – and the stats, strangely enough, appear to leave something to be desired. Nonetheless, your groupmates applauded your luck and seemed genuinely pleased for you. What in Outland have you gotten into now?
My dear WoW rookie, you've just looted your first socketed item. Sockets allow you to truly customize your gear to either augment your strengths or brace up your weaknesses (or both). Whether you just want to get down the road with a decent set of gear or you enjoy endlessly tweaking your armor's performance, we'll help you fill your first sockets and make your character stronger than ever.
First off, these recommendations are aimed squarely at non-jewelcrafting characters leveling their way through Outland and Northrend. Just the basics – that's what WoW Rookie is here for. That said, the best place to start is our Insider Trader guide, A diamond is forever: a consumer's guide to gems. You'll learn:
- What are my choices in gems?
- What does each gem color do?
- Where do I get gems?
- How do I get my gems cut, and how do I know what type of cut I need?
- How do I put gems into the slots?
- A fourth type of gem (and gem slot) has been added. Prismatic gems and sockets accept (or "match") gems or sockets of any color.
- Blacksmiths can add a socket to their own one-handed weapons, bracers or gloves. They can create an Eternal Belt Buckle for other players, which adds a Prismatic socket when applied to your belt (and accepts/"matches" gems of any color).
- Being dual-specced has no effect on your gemming. Purchasing dual specialization does not grant you additional or secondary gem slots. Dual spec has no impact on your equipment at all; it changes your talents, your glyphs and your action bars. (You'll probably want to assemble two sets of gear and use the new Gear Manager to keep them straight.)
- When to gem and enchant Lengthy reader discussion
- WoW Gem Finder helps you find the right gems
- My teenaged son (every writer needs a back-seat DPSer) reminds me to restate the obvious: fully gemmed, socketed items may look like hot stuff -- but they may not perform like hot stuff for your particular character and gear mix. Try things out before getting rid of older pieces.
Oh, and before we go -- if you were wondering about the raid-focused followup to last week's Instance ID article, it's been delayed a bit. It's becoming, shall we say, somethin' ... much ... BIGGAH! Stay tuned – and keep on enjoying those levels.
WoW Rookie feeds you the basics to get you off to a good start in the World of Warcraft. We'll walk you through all sort of new-player concerns, including game lingo for the beginner, joining your first guild as a mid-level player and on to what to do when you finally hit level 80.Filed under: Tips, How-tos, Features, WoW Rookie, Jewelcrafting
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Fedya Jul 22nd 2009 9:14AM
I don't have a BS but I'm pretty sure they can't add a socket to weapons.
Trippy Jul 22nd 2009 9:14AM
Nice guide, always a pleasure to read, even though I don't really consider myself a Rookie anymore. One thing I would like to point out is that, even though the data files have a one-handed weapon socket spell, it never made it onto the live realms yet.
Mane Jul 22nd 2009 9:25AM
Don't always disregard socket bonuses. I will put a Twilight gem in a blue socket that has 9 SP and 12 stam over a Scarllet gem with 19 SP if the socket bonus is SP, you end up losing 2 or 3 SP points , but it's worth the gain of additional stam.
So remember to take socket bonuses into consideration, most players I check totally disregard just to stack a particular stat.
Amy Jul 22nd 2009 11:48AM
So very true. I always take advantage of the Socket Bonuses... I swear I have some complete goofballs on my server I see a Tank Stacking Stam when he could have more Block or more parry with the socket bonus.... Totally makes me wanna whisper em wiht "Dude take advantage of the Socket Bonus don't just be a stam junkie"
Sean Jul 22nd 2009 12:16PM
I guess it depends on what you are doing. If you are a dps class trying to do the most dps, the socket bonus isn't usually worth it to go after if you could end up with more sp/ap by just putting in the largest gem of that type since for most classes stamina (for example) doesn't add anything to your dps. That being said, it doesn't really matter that much what you do until you are gearing up with stuff that is close to BiS, you are trying to squeeze out those last points of dps and you have maximized yourself skill wise. Before then you are probably still getting comfortable with rotation and priority so sticking in some cheap green gems and grabbing a socket bonus is fine.
Jeriel Jul 22nd 2009 1:01PM
@ Amy
Tanks that stack stam usually stack it because it's not at the mercy of RNG. Usually to avoid wipes due to an unlucky string of unavoided hits, and give the healers precious time to land heals because the tank was capable of soaking up the hits.
Parry also suffers from a higher rate of rating needed per percentage point than dodge, also has a lower point of diminishing return. Block is getting a buff next patch but right now it's a pretty weak mitigation/avoidance stat because the bosses in Ulduar hit way too hard, and it's both at the mercy of the RNG, and only mitigates a small percentage of damage. Mostly block is a threat stat right now for Shield slam and reflective damage.
Miri Jul 22nd 2009 9:26AM
As a JC, I always loathe when someone is looking for a JC, but doesn't know what cut they want. This is a guide I always have open in Firefox, which is a GREAT reference guide for what color gems are, what you need them to do, and which socket colors they can "fullfill" bonuses for: http://www.wowwiki.com/Northrend_gems_table
I'd also recommend skipping over the Outlands gems and going straight into Northrend gems. Northrend green gems are fairly cheap on my AH and I'm always cutting them for friends leveling up. Most of the blue/socketed gear you'll get in Outland will last you into Northrend--gem for the stat you need most (you won't be gemming for hit in Outland, simply because you'll need to worry about it at 80, but not at 61) and I usually don't worry about the socket bonuses at the lower levels.
Kcaz64 Jul 22nd 2009 9:30AM
Blacksmiths cannot socket weapons...
Speedmonkay Jul 22nd 2009 9:35AM
I feel lost gemming without www.wow-gem.com
vanye111 Jul 22nd 2009 2:58PM
I just wish the site let you skip Outland gems. ...
GormanGhaste Jul 22nd 2009 9:36AM
If you can't find any cheap gems for leveling gear in the AH, there are low level gem vendors in both the aldor and scryer areas of shatt.
Nathanyel Jul 22nd 2009 11:18AM
Those white gems are nearly more expensive than Northrend green gems, which are worlds better.
vazhkatsi Jul 22nd 2009 2:01PM
yeah, and personally i put northrend green gems into my gear, and it lasts really long. however, most rookies won't know about the better gems, or don't want to go back to an AH to get them, in which case buying a few of the crappy white gems is better than having it unsocketed.
personally i stock up on a stack of whatever red/orange/purple gems are useful and i'm set for all of outlands, since socketed gear is much more rare in northrend.
drunkencheese Jul 22nd 2009 9:40AM
ok we know blacksmiths cant add sockets to 1handers...
Sinthar Jul 22nd 2009 10:01AM
The bit about Blacksmiths socketing 1h swords was a bit of a ROOKIE mistake wasnt it? ;)
Sorry couldnt resist!
:)
Clbull Jul 22nd 2009 10:32AM
As a slight warning, in 3.2, the Jeweler's Gems will no longer fit into just any slot and provide the bonuses.
Valt Jul 22nd 2009 10:50AM
It took me 2 years to notice that you can gem "wrong" color gems to "wrong" color slots. So for past 2 years I just made orange/yellow to yellow slot etc without idea that you could put red gem there.
How I was suppos to know?
I am such noob.
artifex Jul 22nd 2009 9:01PM
Well, you could have read wowwiki or one of the theorycrafting site, when trying to figure out which stats to gem for :)
Speaking of, every theorycrafting site I've seen says for casters (or at least locks) in PvE, you ignore all socket bonuses and color requirements and just dump Runed Scarlet Rubies (+19 spell power) into every slot you can.
Valt Jul 23rd 2009 6:18AM
artifex, of course. But how could've known to look for this information. Also I had impression for ages that only JC could ignore socket colors so thats why all those theorycraft "put 19 sp to everything" just made me think that every minmaxer is JC for this and amazing gems.
Nathanyel Jul 22nd 2009 11:34AM
Not reading all the provided links, but I'd say you're missing this information:
With the advent of WotLK, getting items with sockets in BC content is extremely good, as you can just socket them with uncommon (green quality) gems from WotLK content, which are insanely cheap on the AH, for certain gem colors such as blue or violet you can even get rare ("blue") gems for just a few gold, while red ones always are more expensive.
A quick overview of socketed items obtainable before Level 68 (when you should go to Northrend)
http://www.wowhead.com/?items&filter=maxrl=67;cr=80:18;crs=5:1;crv=0:0#0-1
(sorted so that the green items come first, as they are easier to obtain)