Lately I’ve noticed a lot of questions on the druid forums, plus a little general confusion surrounding gems choices. The topic of “how to gem” is something that has been done many times, almost to death, really – but it’s one of those fundamental topics that people will always ask about, because (as with my article on stats) there will always be new druids on the scene who want to know how best to gear themselves.


This won’t be an all-encompassing article on every option available to us; rather, it will be a quick rundown of which gems are best for each socket colour, when to gem for socket bonuses, and which meta gems to use (in part 2).

By all means you can experiment with your own gemming, but these are widely accepted as the best choice for resto druids.





How to gem

I’m going to quote another druid here – Ikagawa of Uther, because he said it perfectly:

Everything should be straight SP except for a few caveats.


1. If you need more regen, then use SP/Spi or SP/Int hybrids.
2. If you have a nice socket bonus, use a hybrid gem to activate it.
3. If you need to activate a meta, use hybrid gems to activate it.

If you follow this advice, you can’t go far wrong. Spellpower gems are your first choice, even in non-red sockets. Then, if you need more regen, if a socket bonus is particularly good (usually 5+ spellpower), or if your meta gem calls for different colours, use the hybrid (orange and purple) gems (orange gems count as both a yellow and a red gem, purple gems count as both a blue and a red gem).


It’s that simple – prioritise spellpower gems in all sockets, UNLESS:

  • you need more regen

  • you need to match a good bonus
  • you need to activate a meta gem



Easy! :)





Matching socket colours


If you need to match socket colours, here are the gems to use for each socket type:

Type Red Yellow Blue
JC only Runed Dragon’s Eye
+39 Spell Power		 - -
Epic Runed Cardinal Ruby
+23 Spell Power		 Luminous Ametrine
+12 Spell Power,
+10 Intellect		 Purified Dreadstone
+12 Spell Power, +10 Spirit
Rare Runed Scarlet Ruby
+19 Spell Power		 Luminous Monarch Topaz
+9 Spell Power, +8 Intellect		 Purified Twilight Opal
+9 Spell Power, +8 Spirit
Perfect Perfect Runed Bloodstone
+16 Spell Power		 Perfect Luminous
Huge Citrine
+8 Spell Power, +7 Intellect		 Perfect Purified
Shadow Crystal
+8 Spell Power, +7 Spirit
Uncommon Runed Bloodstone
+14 Spell Power		 Luminous Huge Citrine
+7 Spell Power, +6 Intellect		 Purified Shadow Crystal
+7 Spell Power, +6 Spirit


As mentioned above, these are simply the “standard” gem choices, and are generally considered the best gems for resto druids.

I suggest Druid Heal’s section on gems if you are looking for further options.


In Part 2 I will examine meta gems, and the common mistake people make with them.



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