Gems, Gems the musical fruit, the more use equip the more you toot

Alright folks,

I meant to get this article out earlier, but hey with a full time job, two blogs and a website plus a lot of hours on WOW sometimes I just run out of time :)

So, you're on your way to getting all the great weapons/armor you need and you're noticing that some of the new stuff has gem socksts. You may be wondering what colors to get, what cuts, etc.

If you've been following my advice and picking up the Gladiator's PvP armor you're going to be seeing mostly yellow and red slots. This is great for you because these colors will help with hit rating, strenght (AP) and critical strike... all of which you're going to want. You'll find a great site here which allows you to search for gems by attribute.

First of all, let's go over a couple basics.

#1) To socket a gem, open up your character screen and "SHIFT+RIGHT CLICK" on the item. This will open up the gem window and you can drag and drop the gems into the sockets

#2) While you can put new gems in your gear down the road, they destroy the old gems (similar to enchanting over an existing enchant)

#3) Mixed colors count a BOTH gems. For example if you have a Red slot, you could put an orange gem or purple gem in and it would work in the red slot.

#4) Make sure you're putting the right gems into the right slot. If you put a yellow gem into a green slot it will allow you to eqip it but you won't get any of the gems bonuses.... If you're not seeing an increase in your stats after socketing a gem, go back and make sure it's in the right socket. (You can't pull it out, but you can put a new gem it it's place... be careful)

There are so many gems out there that I won't go over most of them. But check the link earlier in the article for a filterable list of them. The Gems you choose will depend a bit on your play style and what stats you're short on. But I'll list the 3 that I think will be of most benefit.

Blue Versions

- Bold Living Ruby = +8 Strength
- Inscribed Noble Topazl = +4 Strength +4 Critical Strike
- Rigid Dawnstone = +8 Hit Rating

Green Versions
- Bold Blood Garnet = +6 Strength
- Inscribed Flame Spesserite = +3 Strength +3 Critical Strike
- Rigid Golden Dreanite = +6 Hit Rating

If you don't have the money for Blue gems yet, you can put in the green versions for a lot cheaper (we're talking 3g instead of 30g) but I would recommend getting the better versions when you have the cash. Also there are slight improved purple versions but they're from heroic drops and such... so the blue is probably the best you can reasonably expect to get.