Focus Magic: I Feel Pretty
This edition of Focus Magic has OMF covering how to properly gem and enchant your mage
Intro
And now, it’s time for RUMORMONGERING!!
The truth is, AIE, that Dills does NOT love you, Gufoni’s not really British, he’s Australian, and Warak does not have 1 K in it. It doesn’t even have 2, or three, but FOUR, count em, FOUR K’s in it!! You’re not gonna find any actual rapping in the AIE Raid Wrapup, The UI clinic isn’t staffed by any real doctors, and “Professor” Wyndgem earned his teaching degree from the university of Gnomeregan!! Speaking of Gnomes, I also hear Acuzod’s half-gnome, half-murloc!!
Okay, it’s not really time for rumormongering, it’s time for another episode of Focus Magic, the Mage Class segment of the AIE Podcast. I am your host, Dahkar, and today, Old Man Franks is gonna help me introduce our topic….
…..say it.
OMF: “NO!”
Saaaay iiiiiit!
OMF: “Hell, no!”
I’ll give you five bucks.
OMF: *Sigh* “I feel pretty. Oh…so….pretty”
Now was that so hard?
OMF: “Why the hell am I even in this segment anyway??? I’m a warlock!!”
Wait, didn’t you used to be a Death Knight?
OMF: “Shut up! We don’t talk about that! It was retconned, durnit!”
Okay, so that was a fairly roundabout way of saying that we’re here to cover gems and enchants for us mages. Please note that this will concern primarily level 80 mages, because I do not advocate spending money to get your gear enchanted while you’re leveling. It’s wasted the second you replace your gear, so don’t do it. If you do get some gear with sockets in it, say in Outland or so, you can follow my advice on gemming, but buy the cheapest stuff you can find, because once again, you’ll replace it very soon.
Neither of those two pieces of advice apply if you’re leveling either profession, if that’s the case, use yourself as a test subject all you like!
They may tell you that you’re Enchanting, but only if you do it right!
Enchants, if you don’t know, are permanent stat increases applied to your gear. Most of them are done via the enchanting profession, but some are purchased from rep vendors.
The following slots can be enchanted through the enchanting profession: Cloak, Chest, Wrists, Gloves, Boots, and Weapon.
Head and Shoulder enchants are purchased from Rep Vendors.
Leg Enchants are made by Leatherworkers (for tanks and non-caster DPS) or Tailors (for us Castery Types)
Rings can also be enchanted, but if you’ve listened to my previous segments, you’ll know that an enchanter is the only one who can enchant their own rings. It’s their profession-only buff
Trinkets, necklaces, offhand items, and Wands can’t be enchanted. Belts can’t be either, but do have a Blacksmithing crafted item, the Eternal Belt Buckle, which gives them an extra gem slot.
Let’s go down each slot and talk about what’s best for us, and what’s not quite as good, but is noticeably cheaper. Pick which you use at your own discretion.
Helm
The Arcanum of Burning Mysteries offers 30 spellpower and 20 crit rating to a helm. It’s purchased from the Kirin Tor rep vendor for 150gold, and you have to be revered to buy it. The good news is that this enchant is Bind-on-Account, so if you have another toon at Revered with them already, they can buy it and mail it to you. If not, well, mages start friendly with the Kirin Tor, so get yer tabard from them and start running heroics.
That’s pretty much as good as it gets. If you really can’t get that, there’a PvP Version for 40 Stone Keepers Shards from the Wintergrasp vendor, which trades the crit for Resilience. But get that Kirin Tor rep up ASAP.
Shoulders
Another enchant that has to be bought from a faction vendor, and these are Bind-on-Account as well. The Greater Inscription of the Storm is your best one, for 100gold from the Sons of Hodir. You’ve gotta be exalted, though. Don’t forget you can buy Rep tokens from the Emblem of Triumph vendors in Dalaran if you need some cheap rep! This Enchant will get you 24 spellpower and 15 crit.
If you’re a Scribe, get the Master’s Inscription of the Storm instead.
If you aren’t quite exalted with the Sons yet, the Lesser Inscription of the Storm is only 75gold and requires Honored reputation. It gives you 18 spellpower and 10 crit. There’s also a PvP Version from the Wintergrasp vendor, Inscription of Dominance, which trades the crit for Resilience.
Cloak
Are you a Tailor? If not, why? Lightweave Embroidery is far an away the best profession enchant for us, as I’ve talked about ad nauseum. If you aren’t a tailor, get Greater Speed. Haste Rating is always good.
If you can’t get Greater Speed, or don’t want to waste the cash on a not-as-good cloak, Enchant Cloak – Speed is a good lesser version
Chest
You’ll want Powerful Stats here. +10 to all of your base stats is about as good as it gets for your shiny new robes. It’s pretty pricey, but hopefully with the new LFD system and Disenchant options in rolling, the mats will be easier to get.
Now really, unless you’ve got your t9 robe or better, don’t buy that one. Super Stats is +8 to all the base stats, and it’s dirt cheap in comparison. Get this instead
Wrists
Enchant Bracer – Superior Spellpower gives you 30 spellpower for those shiny wrists you just got. If you’re a Leatherworker, A) What the hell is wrong with you, and B) you’re probably aware to use Fur Lining – Spell Power instead.
If you have some decent wrists, but know there’s better waiting for you, Greater Spellpower to bracers is cheaper for only a loss of 7 spellpower, perfectly serviceable!
Hands
Not only is Exceptional Spellpower to Gloves your best bet here (at 28 spellpower), but it’s also very cheap in terms of materials. Get this one for your gloves
You’re not really gonna find any other options for a glove enchant with Wrath level mats. Accuracy is a bad idea (get your hit rating from your gear, gems, and consumables if you need more), and the next spellpower to glove enchant, is Major Spellpower, and that requires Burning Crusade materials, which are generally pricey. Still, if you have them, it’s 20 spellpower, so use it if you can.
Legs
You’ll need to find a Tailor for these. Your best bet is the Brilliant Spellthread, which offers 50 spellpower and 30 Spirit. That Spirit will convert to a little extra crit with Molten Armor active.
The Sapphire Spellthread trades in the Spirit for Stamina, but Stamina offers no direct contribution to your DPS. Plus it requires Eternal Fires instead of Lifes.
If you can’t afford the Brilliant yet, the lesser Shining Spellthread is worth 35 spellpower and 12 spirit.
Also, if you yourself are a tailor, you can enchant your own pants for next to nothing. Awesoome.
Boots
Okay, here’s a point of contention for a lot of folks. Icewalker is really the only direct contribution to your DPS in this slot, with 12 crit and 12 hit rating. It’s probably your best bet in most cases. It’s also dirt cheap.
However, if you’re running raids a lot, especially in ICC where fights require a lot of movement, I’m going to recommend Tuskarr’s Vitality. The minor run speed increase it gives you means you have less time that you have to spend moving, so you can keep on firing off spells. Unless you need the hit from Icewalker, get this once you have some really good boots.
Sword or Dagger
Black Magic. Since they changed this one in patch 3.3, it easily trumps +63 spellpower for Mages, especially Arcane ones. All three of our specs rely a lot on Haste, and the proc-rate (35%, lasts 10 seconds) for this enchant makes it a much better option. Black Magic and 63 spellpower both cost about the same in materials, but are pretty expensive either way
If you’re still hunting for a better weapon, Exceptional Spellpower adds 50 spellpower and is a LOT cheaper.
Staff
Enchant Staff – Greater Spellpower is a constant 81 spellpower, and it just barely, and I do mean JUST, trumps Black Magic for a staff.
Enchant Staff Spellpower is the cheaper option, at +69 spellpower. Pick that up if you’re in the hunt for a better staff or money’s tight.
That should about cover enchants, just make sure you don’t have a bad enchant on your gear. +15 spirit to chest is not good, for example.
Diamonds are a Girl’s best friend. Unless she’s a Mage. Then It’s Cardinal Rubies. Trust me.
All righty, let’s talk gems. Unfortunately, gemming is not always as clear cut a line as enchanting is. Every mage has to decide their gems on a case by case basis. And the fact that there’s three tiers of quality in gems doesn’t help much either. You’ve got to decide if your gear is worth shooting for the expensive gems or settling for lesser ones until you find better.
My general rule of thumb for quality is this: If it’s Tier 9 gear, or the best items you can get from the new Icecrown 5-man heroics, you should spring for the epic gems. If it’s not, go with the rare quality ones or possibly even the uncommons. Epic gems are a lot easiler to get than you think (they can be bought with emblems and honor).
I’m going to go forward in this segment referencing the epic gems specifically. If your gear doesn’t warrant those yet, use the lesser versions. They share the same adjectives. For example Runed Bloodstone, Runed Scarlet Ruby, and Runed Cardinal Ruby are all red gems which offer pure spellpower increases, but each is of a different level of quality.
The Only 5 Gems You Should Use
There are only 5 gems you should concern yourself with as a mage. These 5 and ONLY these 5 are all that should ever appear on your gear. Anything else is an absolute waste.
First is the Chaotic Skyflare Diamond. This is the best meta for us, do not use anything but this. Next is the Runed Cardinal Ruby. It’s red, and this one should be obvious Reckless Ametrine is an orange gem which offers Haste and Spellpower. If you need hit rating, the Veiled Ametrine, with hit and Spellpower, is a perfectly good backup choice. Note: There are yellow gems which offer pure Hit Rating out there. I do not recommend getting them. If you need hit rating that badly, I suggest working on getting better gear to pump it up Purified Dreadstones are purple gems which offer spirit and spellpower. You need 2 of these to activate your meta.
Picking Which to Use
So, how do you pick which gems to use? You have to examine your specific gear to check, obviously. What sockets and socket bonuses you have available will make a huge difference. Just remember, you DO NOT have to put the same color gem in a socket. A Runed Cardinal Ruby will go in a blue socket just fine. You just won’t get the socket bonus.
Firstly, your meta requires 2 blue gems to activate. So you gotta have 2 Purified Dreadstones in there somewhere first and Foremost. I recommend placing these in blue sockets. Even if the socket bonus is bad, you have to have 2 of them, you may as well get it, right? If you don’t have 2 blue sockets, try placing one of them in your belt buckle slot.
Second of all, consider your hit rating. If you’re close to the cap, but not quite there yet, use some Veiled Ametrines to make up the difference until you get some other gear with hit rating on it. Then you’ll want to replace them. Put these in yellow sockets first, obviously.
Finally, if you have your 2 Purified Dreadstones and your hit rating is capped off, what do you fill in the rest of your slots with? Take a look at your specific gear piece. Is the socket bonus 7 spellpower or greater?
If yes, gem for it. Use the above mentioned gems to match the socket colors. If not, then fill all sockets with Runed Cardinal Rubies.
According to all the simulation programs I’ve looked at, that is the best way to optimize your gemming. You can chose to always ignore the socket bonus and fill all your remaining slots with Runed Cardinals, and you’ll probably be just fine. Of course, if you aren’t sure, just run Rawr. It’ll show you the best optimization for your gear setup.
Now, I cannot stress this enough. If you have gems in your gear OTHER than the 5 I mentioned above (or their lesser quality equivalents), you have made a BAD choice. Go replace them. Right now.
Outtro
That’s what you need to know to make your pretty new gear even shinier, guildmates. Good luck to ya. This has been Dahkar, aka Old man Franks, reminding you to help control the gnome population, roll a troll today!