Gearing Your Warlock (2.4 Edition)

Table of Contents

1. Links to Posts
2. Introduction
3. DPS Point System (DP)
4. Gear 101/FAQ
5. Levels 20-29
   1. Shadoweave Set
6. Levels 40-49
7. Levels 50-59
8. Levels 60-69
   1. Netherweave Set
9. Level 70
   1. Dungeon Set 3
10. Gear Rankings
    1. Gems
    2. 1H weapon
    3. Off-hand
    4. 2H weapon
    5. Wand
    6. Head
    7. Neck
    8. Shoulder
    9. Back
    10. Chest
    11. Wrist
    12. Hands
    13. Waist
    14. Legs
    15. Feet
    16. Finger
    17. Trinket
11. General raiding
    1. Key items from Heroic Dungeons/Badges
    2. Key items from Tier 4 instances (Karazhan, Gruul, Magtheridon)
    3. Key items from Tier 5 instances (Zul'Aman/Serpentshrine Cavern/Tempest Keep)
    4. Key items from Tier 6 instances (Mount Hyjal/Black Temple/Sunwell Plateau)
    5. Pre-raid gear lists
    6. Max DPS gear setup
       

Link to Posts

• Leveling Gear
• Gems
• 1H weapon
• Off-hand
• 2H weapon
• Wand
• Head
• Neck
• Shoulder
• Back
• Chest
• Wrist
• Hands
• Waist
• Legs
• Feet
• Finger
• Trinket
• Key items to acquire from each raid level
• Pre-raid gear lists
• Max DPS gear setup

Introduction
Hey fellow locks. It's been about a year since I came out with my original gear guide, Gearing Your Warlock, which was pretty well received and since then, my guides have received over 700,000 views because of all guys' support. Looking back at the old guide, a lot of the information and gear is outdated and slightly inaccurate, so I have decided to completely revamp my guide in a way that I think will help locks tremendously and present the information in a much more organized and useful fashion. Please keep in mind that this is strictly a PvE guide because 1) I suck at PvP AND 2) PvP gear guides are pretty pointless since there are many changing factors that can determine PvP success.

The main thing that is new in this version is that I strongly emphasize on gearing at level 70, listing the top items of every slot so you know which items are better than others for locks, and by what margin. I have done this by using a new point system called DPS points which is a very accurate way to measure and compare stats. This system also made it a lot easier to analyze gems and enchants, making the analysis more quantitative. More on the DPS Points in the DPS Point System section below.

In addition to ranking the top items, you'll also find commentary at the top of most of the pages with my suggestions on the logical way to progress your gear starting from a pre-raiding level, from all the way to the Tier 6 instances and Sunwell. There will also be an updated model for thr ideal pre-raiding setup and also a new maximum DPS setup including Sunwell items. Speaking of Sunwell, I have been paying close attention to the 2.4 PTR and have added many of the known items to the list so you know what's coming up. Eventually when the final loot tables are known, I will go back and add whatever I missed before.

The old guide is still there for leveling warlocks, but know that I have not focused on that for this update, as it was much more important and a pretty big task already to add and rank all the new items. I have tweaked things here and there, but I think the most important thing to do for this update was to revamp the part of the guide that people liked most before.


DPS Point System (DP)
With the help of Leulier's spreadsheet, I have created a pretty accurate model of exactly how much DPS one point of a stat will compare to another point. I compare items using this system called DPS points (DP).

The model I used for DP was a 0/21/40 Destruction build only using Shadowbolt to deal damage. Since I know some will be curious, the way I did this was I found a point where one point of a stat gave me exactly one DPS increase, set that value to equal 100 DP, and then figured out the values that an increase for a point of other relevant DPS stats gave. In my case, I set the spreadsheet to about 1300 shadow damage, 23.5% crit, 15% hit, and 0% haste, and then one point of spell hit (.0793 of 1%) equaled 1 DPS. From there I reset the values and noted the DPS increase from one point of spell damage, haste, and crit. These numbers are pretty accurate for a late T5/early T6 raiding lock. As you get better gear too, the proportions don't change as much.

For all those that are Affliction, the values for points are pretty much the same as Destruction, except that spell damage is more important (almost equal to spell hit), and spell crit/haste/hit are a little less important. In the guide though, I only calculated the point values for 0/21/40 shadow Destruction, as it is the most common and widely accepted top DPS spec. This table is essential for knowing how to compare one stat to another, so get familiarized with it. Later I will slightly touch upon each stat including those not included in DPS points. Here is the DPS point value chart.

DPS Point Values:
Spell hit: 100
Spell damage: 64
Shadow damage: 64
Spell haste: 78
Spell crit: 72
Meta gem: 2900 (Chaotic Skyfire Diamond from Leulier's spreadsheet)

Note that unlike my previous point systems, I did not assign a value to stamina, intellect, spirit, etc, because they really have insignificant DPS value. As a warlock, you will have naturally high health and generally will never have to worry about your health count. Intellect does increase your crit chance by a small margin, but it is still insignificant and would have been tedious to include. Every other stat is useless for PvE DPS. The final thing to note is that I assigned a value of 2900 to a meta gem slot, which was derived from Leulier's spreadsheet. The meta gem that you should be using is the Chaotic Skyfire Diamond.

As a little disclaimer, remember that although pretty accurate, this is still just one quantitative way of ranking items and DPSing. 90% of the complaints disregard that. Values can and will change somewhat as your gear level increases/decreases. However, if I changed the basis of the values, the gear rankings would have no merit since I'm comparing the items in different terms.


Gear 101

What kind of stats should I be looking for?
There are 5 major stats: Strength, Agility, Spirit, Stamina, and Intellect. Strength and agility are more suited to non-casters and have pretty much no use. Spirit is related to mana regeneration, but since we have a nifty spell called Life Tap, spirit can be pretty much ignored. Each point of Stamina gives 10HP, and each point of Intellect gives 15 mana point. Also, 82 points of Intellect is equivalent to 1% spell crit chance at level 70. Since we convert health to mana via Life Tap, Stamina is considered the best overall major stat for warlocks. Intellect is less vital but still important, especially to a raiding Destruction lock. Note that neither stamina or intellect boost DPS by any significant value, but it never hurts to have more health and mana.

In order of importance: Stamina ► Intellect ►► Spirit ►►► Agility, Strength

What about other stats/effects?
There are also other effects gear can have like added spell damage, spell critical strike, spell penetration, spell hit, resilience, spell haste, etc. There are a few more, but these are the important ones that are related to warlocks.

Spell damage - Spell damage directly affects how hard our spells hit for. Spell damage increases all schools of magic, while a specified spell damage group such as fire or shadow only increases the respective school of magic. Shadow damage is mostly all warlocks care about though, so shadow damage and spell damage are pretty interchangeable.

Spell hit - Against boss level mobs, warlocks have 83% chance to hit with any spell. We can increase our chance to hit by adding spell hit, to a cap of 99% chance to hit. We need 12.6 spell hit for 1% increased chance to hit. The maximum spell hit you will ever need is 202 spell hit. Any more is wasted.

Spell critical strike - Spell crit simply increases our chance to cause a critical strike with a direct damage spell. We need 22.1 spell crit points to increase our crit chance by 1%. Without Ruin, spell critical strikes do 150% of normal damage. With Ruin, they do 200%.

Spell haste - Spell haste reduces our cast time of our spells and the global cooldown to a minimum of 1 second. It takes 15.76 points of spell haste to reduce a spell's cast time and the global cooldown by 1%.

Spell penetration - Spell penetration reduces a targets resistances to a school of magic. This is not to be confused with a chance to hit a mob. This is primarily a PvP stat.

Resilience - Resilience reduces the chance to be struck by a critical strike, and reduces damage we take from DoTs and critical strikes. This is primarily a PvP stat.

How does spell damage work?
Spell damage is extra damage added on to spells. However, often times you don't get the exact amount of damage added on because there is a spell coefficient that modifies that damage rewarded. For casted spells, the formula is cast time/3.5 second. For example, Shadowbolt would be 3/3.5 = .857. You would get roughly 85.7% of your spell damage added on to the base damage. So if your Shadowbolt did 100 damage and you had 100 spell damage on your gear, you would do 100 + 100(.857) = 185.7 damage per cast.

Staff vs. 1H weapon + offhand?
A common question that warlocks have is to equip either a two-hand staff or a one-handed dagger or sword and and off-hand item. In PvE, I tend to favor thee 1H weapon + off-hand combo because in most cases you can get a fair bit more spell damage without sacrificing too many stats. In PvP however, you might want to load up on Stamina, which staffs usually have a good amount of.

What about resistance?
Resistance is an important stat for some raid fights, but resistance gear usually isn't the best for doing the most damage, so resistance will be pretty much ignored.

I've heard the terms Tier 1/Dungeon Set 2, etc. related to gear? What's that about?
Dungeon sets and tier sets are powerful endgame item sets that are meant to be for a specific class. There are a few differences between dungeon sets and tier sets. Pieces of the Dungeon sets drop in endgame 5 man dungeons (and UBRS). Pieces of the Tier sets drop in raid instances. Also, items in dungeon sets are not restricted to be worn by a sole class, while in the tiered sets, the specific class can only wear the set.

• Dungeon set 1 - Dreadmist Raiment
• Dungeon set 2 - Deathmist Raiment
• Dungeon set 3 (affliction lock) - Oblivion Raiment
• Dungeon set 3 (destruction/crit chance lock) - Mana-etched Regalia

• Tier 1 - Felheart Raiment
• Tier 2 - Nemesis Raiment
• Tier 2.5 - Doomcaller's Attire
• Tier 3 - Plagueheart Raiment
• Tier 4 - Voidheart Raiment
• Tier 5 - Corruptor Raiment
• Tier 6 - Malefic Raiment

How do I know if an upgrade is worth the effort?
Make sure you familiarize yourself with the DP table I listed above that assigned values to each stat. Now how do you know whether it's worth the cost in mats to go for a particular item I suggested? How do you know which upgrades are better than others, and which ones you should prioritize? The way I started doing this using my point system was by working out some simple percentages. Say you had some boots worth 1600 point, and you saw that I recommended boots of the same slot that were worth 1900 point. To figure out the percentage difference, divide 1900 by 1600 (1900/1600) and you get an 18.75% difference. Now what's that mean? That's what this next table is for.

For a level 70 PvE warlock:

0-3% - side-grade, don't put too much effort to get this item
3-7.5% - slight upgrade, generally not worth the money/time
7.5-15% - clear upgrade, worth a small investment but should not be a top priority
15-25% - big upgrade, either you're in dire need of an upgrade or this an excellent item. As long as it's not too unobtainable, put forth an effort to get this.
>25% - massive upgrade, worth spending a lot of money/time as this one item will improve your character significantly

Using these percentages, it is easier to compare individual upgrades because you are not just calculating the difference between the DPS points, but the relative size of the upgrade.

Does emphasis on stats change while I'm leveling?
Absolutely. If you are leveling a warlock, it's much simpler. You want to focus on spell/shadow damage, stamina, and intellect in that order. Spell crit and spell hit are pretty insignificant until you get to level 70. You'll see examples of gear to get while leveling later.

Anything else?
A fair bit of items I list will come from tailoring. Tailoring is one of the best professions for a warlock, and I highly suggest you pick it up. It is a bit of a money sink, but I found it a pretty fun profession to level up. The rewards at the end are definitely worth it too. Frozen Shadoweave lasts a long time and there is some very nice stuff coming out of Sunwell also.


Conclusion and Sources
Well there you have it, all you need to know about gear. Hopefully everyone is able to gain something from this guide. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to say what's on your mind and share what you know. The guide still has lots of room for improvement and I will be updating it regularly. As a small sidenote, please don't whisper me in-game with questions about gear. Not only do I like when I'm in game to spend the time how I like, but I can answer your question more in-depth on the forums. I would like to thank and credit the following sources:

• The Warlocks Den - www.wowmb.net
• WoWHead - www.wowhead.com
• Thottbot - www.thottbot.com
• Leulier's spreadsheet - WoW Warlock DPS Spreadsheet
• Berg's Tank Guide - Berg's Tank Guide
• World of Raids - World of Raids :: Index

Thanks for reading,
C-pimp

[Canadianpimp]

Levels 20-29
Note: Throughout the guide, you'll sometimes see an arrow by the item. Although I recommend all the gear that I list, the items with an arrow mean that either they are significantly better than most other items of that kind in the level range while still being fairly easy to obtain and that I highly recommend those specific items. If you don't want all the items that I listed or just want the best ones, look for the items with an asterisk.

I decided this would be a good place to start, since you don't really need to be too focused on acquiring gear before level 20. For the most part, always keep your eye on "of the Eagle" gear. This gear is always going to have Stamina, Intellect or both.

Of the Eagle gear from 20-30

► Head: Shadow Hood, tailoring
Shoulder: Berylline Pads, RFK quest reward
Cloak: Engineer's Cloak, Stonetalon Mtn. quest reward
Chest: Efflorescent Robe, Stonetalon Mtn./Ashenvale quest reward
► Hands: Hands of Darkness, tailoring
Waist: Warsong Sash, Stonetalon Mtn./Ashenvale quest reward
Legs: Night Watch Pantaloons, Duskwood quest reward
Feet: Acidic Walkers, Gnomeregan boss drop
Ring: Ring of Twilight Shadows, level 100 jewel crafter can make this
Ring: Wicked Moonstone Ring, level 125 jewel crafter can make this
Ring: Ring of Iron Will, Redridge Mountain quest reward (Alliance only)
Wand: Moonbeam Wand, Ashenvale quest reward, sold by vendor in Tirisfal Glades
► Staff: Staff of Soran'ruk, Warlock quest reward, http://www.wowhead.com/?quest=1740
Off-hand: Cursed Eye of Paleth, Wetlands quest reward (Alliance only). Also be sure not to complete the "Cleansing the Eye" quest as then you cannot get this item. I believe by abandoning the quest you keep the item.

Goal: 850 health, 1800 mana.

Levels 30-39
During the 30s, you will notice that there is a big increase in the quality of items in the 20s. You can also start to wear pieces of the Shadoweave set, made by tailors. There will be a little section on that later, but this section will exclude Shadoweave items.

Head: Whitemane's Chapeau, SM cathedral boss drop
Shoulder: Inquisitor's Shawl, SM cathedral boss drop
Chest: Robes of the Lich, RFD boss drop
*Chest (alternate): Enchanted Gold Bloodrobe, Warlock quest reward, http://www.wowhead.com/?quest=4736
Wrist: Condor Bracers, Desolace quest reward
Hands: Insulated Sage Gloves, Alterac Mountain quest reward
► Waist: Star Belt, tailoring
Legs: Red Mageweave Pants, tailoring
Legs (alt): Night Watch Pantaloons, Duskwood quest reward (Alliance only)
Feet: Junglewalker Sandals, STV quest reward
► Dagger: Hypnotic Blade, SM library boss drop
► Ring: Golden Ring of Power, can be crafted by a 180 jewel crafter. It will cost you around 10g but if you have a bit of money to spare, this is one of the best rings you'll see in a while.
► Off-hand: Orb of Dar'Orahil, Warlock quest reward. http://www.wowhead.com/?quest=4962 Be sure to to the Felhound version of the quest, not the infernal.

Goal: 50 shadow damage, 1300 health, 2400 mana.

Shadoweave Set
The Shadoweave set is the best early game set for Warlocks. I highly recommend going for this set, as it is cheaply made by tailors and provides an awesome boost in damage. You should be able to buy the mats from the AH for all six pieces for under 10g, or you can farm them yourself. The increase in shadow damage at that level is pretty significant and noticeable. Tailors can buy the Shadoweave patterns in Stormwind or Undercity. They're well worth the investment.

The 6 piece set consists of a mask, shoulders, a robe, gloves, pants and boots. All in all it gives:
13 Stamina
15 Intellect
17 spirit
114 shadow damage
This is going to make your shadowbolt hit for at least 25% harder, not to mention your DoTs ticking for a lot more too. This set should not be overlooked, as most of these items will last you through the entire 40s. Check the link to see what levels you can start wearing each piece at.


Levels 40-49
During the 40s you should be pretty comfortable wearing your Shadoweave set. Most of the gear here is actually worse or only slightly better than the shadoweave set. Some people argue that the Dreamweave set made by tailors is better than Shadoweave, but this for the most part untrue for warlocks. Shadoweave has more damage and Stamina, which is pretty much all we're concerned about at this point. Dreamweave is loaded with Spirit, which is near useless for us locks. Make acquiring and wearing the whole Shadoweave set your goal by level 45. I will still point out though that the Dreamweave Gloves and Dreamweave Robes are very, very slight upgrades, but I didn't include it since Dreamweave costs a bit more. For those that want other options from Tailoring and those slots not covered by the Shadoweave set, here you are.

Head: Bad Mojo Mask, ZF boss drop
Neck: Lifeblood Amulet, ZF boss drop
► Back: Deep Woodlands Cloak, Horde only quest given in Hinterlands
* Back (alt): Emberscale Cape, Uldaman boss drop
Chest: Antiquated Nobleman's Tunic, Horde only quest given in Undercity
Wrist: Bloodband Bracers, STV quest reward
Hands: Wingcrest Gloves, Horde only quest in Feralas
Waist: Star Belt, tailoring
Feet: Southsea Mojo Boots, Tanaris quest reward
Ring: Gem Studded Band, crafted by 250 Jewel crafter
Wand: Noxious Shooter, Maraudon boss drop (orange side)
► Staff: Zum'rah's Vexing Cane, ZF boss drop

Goal: 100 shadow damage, 1800 health, 3000 mana.

Levels 50-59
The 50s is generally when you start looking for as much spell damage as possible. There is an abundance of spell damage items in instances, so that's where most of the items come from. A lot of the better items in this level range come from high level instances like UBRS, Scholomance, and Stratholme. I'm going to stay away from these zones because since TBurning Crusade is out, there isn't too much demand to run these instances. BRD, Dire Maul, and LBRS are the instances I'll be looking at for gear. Also note that even though you can start Outland quests at level 58, I won't list any Burning Crusade quest rewards in this section.

Note that tailors can make two more sets that are useful to warlocks. There is the Cindercloth set, which is a great fire damage set, however at this point in time Shadow is clearly the way to go and the Cindercloth set is higher on stats like Spirit and Intellect, not Stamina. There is also the Felcloth set, which is a slight upgrade from the Shadoweave set. However, the set isn't great because it is very low on Stamina, it's a little expensive to make and you will need a 300 tailor with extra Demonic Runes (a BoP mat needed). All in all, one piece is pretty good; the Felcloth Robe.

Head: Crown of the Ogre King, Dire Maul North boss drop
► Shoulder: Kentic Amice, BRD boss drop
► *Chest: Robe of the Void, tailoring 300 BoP pattern
*Chest (alt): Felcloth Robe, tailoring 300 BoE pattern
Wrist: Manacle Cuffs, BRD quest reward
Gloves: Hands of Power, LBRS boss drop
Waist: Ban'thok Sash, BRD boss drop
Legs: Skyshroud Leggings, LBRS boss drop
Feet: Omnicast Boots, BRD boss drop
Ring: Ring of Bitter Shadows, Jewel crafting pattern sold by vendor in Eastern Plaguelands
Trinket: Burst of Knowledge, BRD boss drop
Trinket: Abyss Shard, Warlock quest reward
Staff: Soul Harvester, Warlock quest reward

Goal: 150 shadow damage, 2900 health, 4000 mana.

Levels 60-69
Well you finally made it to Outland. That's great, but no longer can you skimp on gear. The enemies are harder in this zone, and you're going to need some good gear. Luckily enough, Outland is full of good gear from quest rewards to instances. I'm going to ignore all level 60 raid gear since it would be fairly hard to acquire now that rarely anybody runs the old raid dungeons. Also keep in mind that Outland has TONS of great gear, so one doesn't have to be too picky about certain gear at this stage. A few less spell crit chance point isn't going to kill you.

In this section, I'm just going to list quest rewards and three cheap, but good crafted items. None of these items requires you to run an instance or costs a lot of money, and aside from the three craftables, all of them you should be able to get at level 67 or lower. All of them are fairly easy quests chains, nothing extensive. Don't waste your time running dungeons over and over for gear if you don't want to. Outlands has plenty of quests to do, there's little pure grinding and instancing you need to do. As always, click on the link if you're interested in an item to find out more on how to get it.

Head: Junior Technician 3rd Grade Goggles, Netherstorm quest reward
Neck: Natasha's Arcane Filament, Blade's Edge Mountain quest reward
Shoulder: Nether Guards, Netherstorm quest reward
* Shoulder (alt): Spelunker's Mantle, Blade's Edge Mountain quest reward
Back: Cloak of the Black Void, 350 BoE tailoring item
* Back (alt): Windtalker's Cloak, Hellfire Peninsula quest reward
Chest: Shadowcast Tunic, Hellfire Peninsula quest reward
* Chest (alt): Goldweave Tunic, Hellfire Peninsula quest reward
Wrist: Bracers of Havok, 350 BoE tailoring item
* Wrist (alt): Thunderlord Armbands, Blade's Edge Mountain quest reward
Hands: Manaspark Gloves, Hungarfen from Underbog
* Hands (alt): Red Hands of the Thunderlord, Blade's Edge Mountain quest reward; called Sylvanaar Gloves for Alliance
Waist: Chief Engineer's Belt, Netherstorm quest reward
* Waist(alt): Cilice of Suffering, Terrokar Forest quest reward
Legs: Bloodfire Leggings, Terrokar Forest quest reward
Feet: Sinister Area 52 Boots, Netherstorm quest reward
* Feet (alt): Ikeyen's Boots, Zangarmarsh quest reward
Ring: Khorium Band of Shadows, 350 BoE Jewel crafting item
Ring: Carinda's Wedding Band, Hellfire Peninsula Quest reward (Horde only)
Trinket: Mark of Defiance, turn in 30 marks of Honor Hold/Thrallmar
Trinket: Ancient Crystal Talisman, Horde Zangarmarsh quest reward; Alliance equivalent is Glowing Crystal Insignia
Staff: Battle Mage's Baton, Nagrand quest reward
Wand: Nesingway's Safari Stick, Nagrand quest reward

Goal: 475 unbuffed shadow damage, 6000 health, 5000 mana.

Netherweave Set
As for tailoring, the Netherweave set is awesome for a mid-60 warlock. The 6 piece set (you can't wear the robe and the tunic at the same time) gives you 190 spell damage and 204 Stamina. The set is rather cheap to make also. Once again, don't fret too much about gear choice now, but if you have any shoddy pieces in your gear arrangement, the Netherweave set is an ideal warlock set with the high Stamina and damage to fill in the gaps. You're almost at 70, when you'll be completely revamping your wardrobe. It's no Shadoweave, but it's still damn good.


Level 70
After level 70, gear becomes the most important factor in determining the strength of a character. Gear is the only way to progress after 70. There are two ways to acquire better gear - through PvP and PvE. Since we're not covering PvP gear, the way to get the best gear is through raiding. Before one attempts to raid, he needs a set of gear that will contribute to the group. Let's take a look at two top end pre-raid dungeon sets.

Dungeon Set 3
The Dreadmist Raiment, the warlock Dungeon Set 1 was acquired through level 60 endgame instances. It could be updated to Dungeon Set 2 through a quest chain. At level 70, Blizzard has given us two, five-piece Dungeon Set 3 sets spread throughout endgame instances. The Oblivion Raiment is generally for affliction locks who want spell damage, Stamina and spell hit. The 45 mana your pet gains every 5 seconds also benefits locks with Dark Pact. The Mana-etched Regalia is not specifically tuned for warlocks, but this is a great set for destruction locks who focus on crit chance at the sacrifice of a little spell damage and Stamina. A good general rule on which set to focus on is to see if you have Ruin, the 21 point Destruction talent, or not. If you don't, the Oblivion Raiment is better. Locks with Ruin will also do fine with the Oblivion Raiment, but they won't go wrong with the Mana-Etched Regalia set either.

However, the Mana-Etched Regalia is harder to obtain because 4 of the 5 pieces drop in Heroic instances.

Aeonus - The Black Morass - Head
Omor the Unscarred - Hellfire Ramparts - Gloves (Heroic)
The Black Stalker - The Underbog - Pants (Heroic)
Epoch Hunter - Old Hillsbrad Foothills - Robe (Heroic)
Quagmirran - The Slave Pens - Shoulders (Heroic)

In comparison, here is where the Oblivion Raiment drops.

Harbringer Skyriss - The Arcatraz - Head
Warchief Kargath Bladefist - Shattered Halls - Gloves
Talon King Ikiss - Sethekk Halls - Pants
Murmur - Shadow Labyrinth - Robe
Murmur - Shadow Labyrinth - Shoulders

As you can see, the Oblivion Raiment is easier to get. The stats pretty much equal themselves out, so if one set is worth the effort, it is the Oblivion Raiment.

[Canadianpimp]

Gems

I see a lot of locks gemming incorrectly these days, so I'm going to give my thoughts on the best way to gem. When you gem an item, first look at the socket bonus, and how many gems are needed to get to the socket bonus. Next, take note of what stats you need to work on, especially if you are not hit capped through stats on gear only. If you are not hit capped, the best way to gem is by putting pure spell hit gems into sockets in this order of preference.

Yellow - always put pure spell hit gems in UNLESS you are hit capped
Blue - put pure spell hit gems in UNLESS hit capped AND don't need 2 blue gems for meta gem
Red - only put pure spell hit gems if not hit capped AND the socket bonus is worthless

Blue sockets are generally the worst socket for DPS, but we need two of them to activate the Chaotic Skyfire Diamond meta gem. Sometimes blue sockets aren't so bad, such as in the Belt of Blasting where you won't lose a lot of DPS by socketing a purple gem in the blue socket and getting the socket bonus.

If you are hit capped just through stats on your gear, you will want to put either spell haste/damage gems, spell crit/damage gems, or pure spell damage gems in pretty much every one of your sockets for maximum DPS with Destruction raiding. Here are two simple examples:

• Carved Witch Doctor's Stick - If hit capped, use a spell haste/damage orange gem. If not hit capped, use a pure spell hit gem. If you need a blue gem to activate your meta gem, put a purple gem in with spell damage/stamina.

• Fury of the Ursine - If not hit capped, use a pure spell hit gem. If hit capped, use a spell damage/spell haste gem.

Remember that each situation is different though, it depends on your individual situation. Here are the best options for each type of socket color. Note that a gem that I list might have an identical counterpart that can be obtained through PvP, heroic boss drop, quests, etc. I'm only going to list one type and list the most common place to find it.

Red socket

1. Don Julio's Heart (Jewelcrafting BoP, unique) DP: 896
2. Veiled Pyrestone (BT/SWP drop) DP: 884
   
3. Reckless Pyrestone (BT/SWP drop) DP: 774
4. Runed Crimson Spinel (BT/SWP drop) DP: 768
5. Potent Pyrestone (BT/SWP drop) DP: 744
6. Veiled Noble Topaz (Rare gem) DP: 720
7. Reckless Noble Topaz (Rare gem) DP: 632
8. Potent Noble Topaz (Rare gem) DP: 608
9. Runed Living Ruby (Rare gem) DP: 576
10. Veiled Flame Spessarite (Uncommon gem) DP: 556

Yellow socket

1. Great Lionseye (BT/SWP drop) DP: 1000
2. Veiled Pyrestone (BT/SWP drop) DP: 884
3. Blood of Amber (Jewelcrafting BoP, unique) DP: 864
4. Great Dawnstone (Rare gem) DP: 800
5. Quick Lionseye (BT/SWP drop) DP: 780
6. Reckless Pyrestone (BT/SWP drop) DP: 774
7. Potent Pyrestone (BT/SWP drop) DP: 744
8. Veiled Noble Topaz (Rare gem) DP: 720
9. Gleaming Lionseye (BT/SWP drop) DP: 720
10. Reckless Noble Topaz (Rare gem) DP: 632
11. Quick Dawnstone (Rare gem) DP: 620
12. Potent Noble Topaz (Rare gem) DP: 608
13. Great Golden Draenite (Uncommon gem) DP: 600
14. Gleaming Dawnstone (Rare gem) DP: 576
15. Veiled Flame Spessarite (Uncommon gem) DP: 556

Blue socket

1. Vivid Chrysoprase (Quagmirran - Heroic Slave Pens) DP: 500
2. Forceful Seaspray Emerald (BT/SWP drop) DP: 390
3. Glowing Shadowsong Amethyst (BT/SWP drop) DP: 384
4. Glowing Nightseye (Rare gem) DP: 320
5. Glowing Shadow Draenite (Uncommon gem) DP: 256

Meta socket
The meta gem that you should be using is the Chaotic Skyfire Diamond, and I am assuming a DP value of 2900. This gem requires a combination of at least 2 blue/purple/green gems throughout your other sockets to be active.

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1H Weapon

Pre-raiding: The easiest way to a decent weapon is to go to run Heroic Magister's Terrace and get the weapon off of the first boss. Pretty easy and drops a quarter of the time. You could also grind the Merciless Gladiator's Spellblade if you don't mind PvP farming a bit. The heroic badge weapon isn't very good for the hefty price.

Tier 4 raiding: If possible,try and get the Merciless Gladiator's Spellblade as you won't see something nearly as good or an upgrade until Hyjal/BT. If you don't want to grind the honor, then Gruul/Prince drop a very nice dagger that will last.

Tier 5 raiding: If your guild is killing Jan'alai in ZA, go for his weapon. If not, the Merciless Gladiator's Spellblade is still pretty much the best you can do here for a guaranteed item, but if you are in a Leo killing guild, then his sword becomes a good alternative.

Tier 6 raiding: Archimonde's weapon is by far the best one hander in the game for casters. Skip The Maelstrom's Fury, as it's a minimal upgrade from T5 level weapons. When you clear Sunwell, Kil'jaedan carries the Sunflare, the best weapon in game.

1. Sunflare (Kil'jaeden - Sunwell Plateau) DP: 22642
2. Tempest of Chaos (Archimonde - Mount Hyjal) DP: 20004
3. Brutal Gladiator's Blade of Alacrity (Season 4 Arena) DP: 19506
4. Brutal Gladiator's Spellblade (Season 4 Arena) DP: 18824
5. Vengeful Gladiator's Spellblade (Season 3 Arena) DP: 17508
6. The Maelstrom's Fury (High Warlord Naj'entus - Black Temple) DP: 16688
7. Wub's Cursed Hexblade (Jan'alai - Zul'Aman) DP: 16628
8. Talon of the Tempest (Doomwalker) DP: 16284
9. Blade of Twisted Visions (Zul'jin - Zul'Aman) DP: 16150
10. Merciless Gladiator's Spellblade (Season 2 Arena) DP: 15900
11. Scryer's Blade of Focus (150 Heroic Badges) DP: 15808
12. Fang of the Leviathan (Leotheras the Blind - Serpentshrine Cavern) DP: 15656
13. Bloodmaw Magus-Blade (Gruul - Gruul's Lair) DP: 14792
14. Nathrezim Mindblade (Prince Malchezzar - Karazhan) DP: 14648
15. Jaded Crystal Dagger (Selin Firehand - Heroic Magister's Terrace) DP: 13244
16. Gladiator's Spellblade (Season 1 Arena) DP: 12736
17. Eternium Runed Blade (365 BoE Blacksmithing) DP: 12264
18. Blade of the Archmage/Stormcaller (Exalted with Honor Hold/Thrallmar) DP: 11688
19. Blade of Wizardry (BoE World Drop) DP: 10176 (without proc)
20. Archmage's Guile (Revered with Shattered Sun) DP: 9760
21. Greatsword of Horrid Dreams (Murmur - Shadow Labyrinth) DP: 9720
22. Starlight Dagger (Mennu the Betrayer - Heroic Slave Pens) DP: 9344
23. Runesong Dagger (Warbringer O'mrogg - Shattered Halls) DP: 9184
24. Grand Marshal's Spellblade (PvP Honor Reward) DP: 9044
25. The Willbreaker (Keli'dan the Breaker - Heroic Blood Furnace) DP: 8968
26. Continuum Blade (Revered with Keepers of Time) DP: 8544
27. Mana Wrath (Pathaleon the Calculator - The Mechanar) DP: 8064

Enchant:

Soulfrost - DP: 3456
+40 spell damage - DP: 2560
+30 spell damage - DP: 1920

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Off-hand

Pre-raiding: If you are starting to raid, the Fetish of the Primal Gods or the Orb of the Soul Eater is one of the best investments of your badges that you can make. They will last a very long time as a true upgrade doesn't come until Hyjal/BT.

Tier 4 raiding: Karazhan has a couple nice off-hands, but the badge rewards are still your best options.

Tier 5 raiding: The Fathomstone is nice for some crit, but it's not a huge upgrade over the heroic rewards.

Tier 6 raiding: In BT and Hyjal we get some very substantial upgrades. Rage's offhand is significantly better than Shade's though, so be patient and go for that one. Brutallus' offhand is pretty lackluster.

1. Chronicle of Dark Secrets (Rage Winterchill - Mount Hyjal) DP: 6044
2. Blind-Seers Icon (Shade of Akama - Black Temple) DP: 5088
3. Heart of the Pit (Brutallus - Sunwell Plateau) DP: 4992
   
4. Fathomstone (Hydross the Unstable - Serpentshrine Cavern) DP: 3960
5. Fetish of the Primal Gods (35 Heroic Badges) DP: 3694
   
6. Jewel of Infinite Possibilities (Netherspite - Karazhan) DP: 3572
7. Lamp of Peaceful Radiance (Harbringer Skyriss - The Arcatraz) DP: 3480
8. Orb of the Soul Eater (25 Heroic Badges) DP: 3264
9. Khadgar's Knapsack (25 Heroic Badges) DP: 3136
10. Karrog's Shard (Karrog) DP: 3104
11. Talisman of Nightbane (Nightbane - Karazhan) DP: 3016
12. Manual of the Nethermancer (Nethermancer Sepethrea - Mechanar) DP: 2712
13. Star-Heart Lamp (Temporus - Black Morass) DP: 2608
14. Brutal Gladiator's Endgame (Season 4 Arena) DP: 2560
15. Karaborian Talisman (Magtheridon - Magtheridon's Lair) DP: 2240
16. Vengeful Gladiator's Endgame (Season 3 Arena) DP: 2240

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2H Weapon

Pre-raiding: I recommend actually going for a 1H + off-hand for pretty much all of raiding. This is especially true given the itemization for pre-raiding, as you usually get a better DPS combination that way. Kael'thas in Magister's Terrace drops a pretty nice staff though and is one of the better DPS blue staffs. I still recommend the 1H+OH combo though.

Tier 4 raiding: Staff of Infinite Mysteries is nice, but it isn't as good as the 1H weapons off Prince and Gruul. Having your eye on those weapons over this staff is the best way to go.

Tier 5 raiding: The Nexus Key pretty nice if you never got a weapon from Kara or Gruul, but it shouldn't make you switch to a staff.

Tier 6 raiding: Illidan's staff = /drool, but the Tempest of Chaos + Rage's off hand is definitely a better DPS combo. When you get to Sunwell, the 50 hit on Felmyst's staff make up for all the hit you'll be using with the Sunwell caster upgrades. This is probably the best way to go, and pretty much the only time I favor a staff over a 1H + OH combo.

1. Grand Magister's Staff of Torrents (Felmyst - Sunwell Plateau) DP: 28272
2. Brutal Gladiator's Battle Staff(Season 4 Arena) DP: 23824
3. Zhar'doom, Greatstaff of the Devourer (Il