Affliction gemming question

[skullytor 4]

Hi guys, new member. ive read these forums for a while and theyve helped me tremendously with my lock and pally. anyways, looking at the stat weights on the affliction forum it shows intel > hit > mastery > haste > crit. however, on your afflic gemming section you suggest a Intel/mastery gem for red sockets. im confused as to why you wouldnt just put a pure intel gem in there. any takers?

edit: on a side note: i feel like my dps hasnt gone up at all from 430- my current 484 ilvl. im fresh to this lock but gemmed and chanted my gear. im having trouble with hit, and i think ultimately this is my issue. every one of my reforges is into either hit of exp, and im barely at hit cap. i guess my question is this: am i waiting for a hit breakpoint where ill have some leftover in order to even hit the 4750 haste breakpoint, which several guides on here suggest for my ilvl? my haste is around 3300, which i understand is quite low, but how am i supposed to hit 4750 when im barely able to get hit capped at my ilvl?

Edited April 16, 2013 by skullytor

[Cruzan 71]

Hey skullytor,

Toss us a link to your Armory and we can probably give you some more specific advice.

As for the gemming, it is based on the stat weights.

For example, using Mr. Robot's stat weights, Intellect has a weight of 4.53 and Mastery has a weight of 2.82, so the DPS per gem type would be

160 intellect gem: 160*4.53 = 724.8

80 intellect + 160 mastery gem: 80*4.53 + 160*2.82 =813.6

Finding exactly what your specific stat weights are isn't easy, but in reality the DPS difference between the gems isn't gamebreaking. Also, if you're having trouble reaching your hitcap through gear/reforges alone then popping a Precise Primordial Ruby in to a red socket wouldn't be a bad option and could be cheaper to buy on your AH.

Edited April 17, 2013 by Cruzan

[skullytor 4]

Armory link - http://www.wow-heroes.com/character/us/Stormrage/%C3%96blivion/

I actually managed to get hit capped, my question is more based around the idea that on several guides for my ilvl (480-489) a haste level over 4750 is suggested. considering im just barely at hit cap, what is it that im not doing that others are able. I just have zero stats to reforge out of hit

[Cruzan 71]

Hey,

You just have to work with what you've got man . Most of your gear doesn't come with Hit on it already which forces you to reforge in to Hit/Exp. Your concern over the 4717 Haste threshold isn't something you should be worried about. The talk about affliction has kind of gone by the wayside since 5.2, but all of the discussion that was around for 5.1 still applies. Keeping Mastery and Haste close in value to each other (rating-wise) is theoretically the best way to go for your ilvl. Things are little different (Haste is becoming more valuable) as you acquire the new trinkets from ToT since they are RPPM based, but you still have 5.0/1 trinkets so that isn't important. You can stack purely in to Mastery and still be fine, because like the gems, concern over secondary stats is such a minor factor to your damage that it isn't worth spending the time worrying about unless you are doing heroic progression.

A note about Haste thresholds: If you let your DoTs fall off/expire on a consistent basis then the thresholds apply. If you are playing properly by utilizing Pandemic then the haste thresholds become irrelevant. Thresholds help you squeeze in an extra tick of a DoT before the DoT runs out (There's more to it, but thats the basic jist), but if you never let the DoT fall off then "extra ticks" don't mean anything.

To address your concern over having the same DPS at 484 ilvl as when you had 430 ilvl that is purely a playstyle problem. Make sure your DoTs NEVER fall off. This isn't realistically possible for most of us (the hardcore gods of affliction will be very close to 100% up-time). Make sure Agony NEVER falls off your target. Strive to keep UA and Corruption up as much as possible. DoT trackers help with this as well as the addon Affdots. If you don't have Affdots, go download it right now. Seriously, right now. Stop reading this.

Empowered DoTs + Pandemic + Haunt is the bread and butter of affliction and learning how to maximize the time that your DoTs are empowered (buffed by trinket procs/profession procs/Dark Soul) will be the key to getting the DPS that you're looking for. I guarantee if you master this concept you could gem/reforge in to all crit and still beat a warlock who isn't doing this properly.

Give us more specifics on your gameplay, or even better, start recording your fights by using World of Logs and we can help you even more! Keep browsing these forums as there is a huge wealth of knowledge about Affliction. That's pretty much all anyone ever talked about on here before 5.2

Edited April 17, 2013 by Cruzan

[Vaelyn 6]

At such low ilevels it might be worth going below hit cap (12%).

It's what I did while raiding MSV.