Gemming Elemental Shaman

[Greythan]

Noticed after scanning quite a few shaman from these forums that the gemming seems to be a bit varied.

Seen some that socket gems for bonuses focusing on haste (yellow), sp (red) and spell pen (blue). Seen others that seem to sacrifice socket bonuses for sp with a couple spell pen for meta bonus.

Thoughts? I'm a bit poor atm so want to try to gem as smartly as possible since I can't afford too much experimenting.

Thanks.

[zenga]

First off, the current gemming will become obsolete in a good week (when patch 4.0.1 goes live) as our stats change. Anyway, for bg's I don't find haste very interesting due to all the interrupts, movement, ... if I hit, I wanna hit. So I go for 130 spell penetration, using blue & yellow slots (mysterious dreadstone, 12sp + 13 spell pen) or yellow radiant eye of zul 10 crit + 13 sp. The remaining (if any) ones are pure spell power. That works for me in BG's, I don't play arena so that might be different.

[Greythan]

Thanks Zen. I'm primarily a BG player.

On a related note, played a eots tonight and had a good healer follow me around. Even with PvP GS of like 4300 on my toons I ruled. I can see how we're a real problem with a good healer. Wow.

I wasn't paying attention to the upcoming patch so I'll maybe go cheaper gems for now. I've always been flush with cash, but leveling my 3 shaman (to get with my already level 80) primarily in BG's really hurt my gold.

Your input matches the general elemental PvP guidance I've read (SP and some SPen to get meta bonus or to get to 130.

Will be interested in reading the communities thoughts on gear impact with 4.0.1.

Thanks again!

[zenga]

btw, some stick to 100 spell penetration, but to go through paladins resistance aura's, etc, you need 130. Playing around a bit with what works best for you might be wise. I.e. a stat I like to keep the same across my shamans in pvp is haste. At equal gearlevels that's obviously not too much of an issue, but that's not always the case.

[Littleburst]

For Bg, i suggest to stick with 3k SP unbuffed. Might chance with Cata, but for now i just suggest to play a BG with just 1 ele shaman. Then conclude how much damage you do is overkill. It's insane. I got full wrath and still gem stamina in some slots.

It's ofcourse a lot different if you don't have full furious yet. Just balance it out. 25k hp is a good aim, then just see how much SP you can get.

[Whowantstoknow]

4.0.1 im guessing crit will be the strongest stat until we get the inflated health pools at 85. (Resilience no longer reduces crit chance)

[Toned]

Crit and SP for the lameduck lvl 80 with cata talents till cata releases and you get to 85.