Mad Priests on Madmortem

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Healing (raid)

Low Cost

Standard Cost

Maximum Power

Meta Gems

Damage (raid)

Low Cost

Standard Cost

Maximum Power

Meta Gems

PvP Discipline

Low Cost

Standard Cost

Maximum Power

Meta Gems

Ok, so lets start out with the raid healer gems.
In raid healing you have got two paramount stats: Mana regeneration and bonus heal. As of 2.4 Intellect plays a role again – though not for its primary stats (manapool and crit), but for the secondary effect: It now increases our spirit regeneration.
Spirit/Int Regeneration can be compared to MP5 by the following equations:

SPI*0.046635*SQRT(INT) = MP5 ooc
<=>
SPI*0.046635*SQRT(INT) * (incombat * 0.3 + outcombat) = MP5 (real thing now )
<=>
SPI*0.046635*SQRT(INT) * (incombat * 0.3 + (1-incombat)) = MP5
<=>
SPI*0.046635*SQRT(INT) * (1 - incombat * 0.7) = MP5
=> i.e. (assuming 75% time spent in 5 sec rule and 500 Intellect)
8 SPI = 3,96 MP5

Actually, the breaking point for 75% in 5 sec rule is at 287 int – if you have less than that… you are doing something wrong .

There is one more thing to note about this: (Greater) Blessing of Kings does increase the Spirit value gained from Gems by 10% – it does not increase raw MP5 though!

These stats of 500 Spi, 500 Int and 75% in combat time will be used in all calculations henceforth – oh, and of course I expect you to have specced meditation! (If you additionally wear 3/3 primal mooncloth gear, you will gain a bit more, although it should not offset your decision to much, considering how well spirit now performs.) Blessing of Kings will be considered to be applied. As well, I will do my calculations with 5/5 Spiritual Guidance and 1/1 Spirit of Redemption.

Low Cost gems:
Note: These are only to be used, while you wait for your gem cutter to come online, or mayhaps for putting into green gear!
Blue: [Sparkling Azure Moonstone] = 6 Spi <=> 3.43 MP5 + 1.73 Heal
Yellow: [Dazzling Deep Peridote] = 1 MP5 + 3 Int
Red: [Royal Shadow Draenite] = 1 MP5 + 7 heal
Now, all these can be purchased from your gem cutter of choice, they are made from green gems which most cutters already regard as trash, since they are genereted en masse from prospecting without really anyone interested in them.

Standard Cost gems:
Note: It might actually be cheaper to scroll down to maximum power gems, since some of these can be replaced with better heroic dungeon drop gems.
Blue: [Sparkling Star of Elune] = 8 Spi <=> 4.58 MP5 + 2.31 Heal
Yellow: [Dazzling Talasite] = 2 MP5 + 4 Int
Red: [Purified Shadow Pearl] = 9 heal + 4 Spi <=> 10.16 heal + 2.29 MP5
Red: [Kailee’s Rose] = 26 heal – this is not an epic quality gem, it is just purple. BoP JC-only item.
Except for Kailee’s Rose, these can all be purchased from more accomplished gem cutters or your most beloved auctioneers.

Maximum Power gems:
Note:
Blue: [Sparkling Empyrean Sapphire] = 10 Spi BT <=> 5.72 MP5 + 2.89 Heal
Yellow: [Seer's Chrysoprase] = 4 Int + 5 Spi <=> 66 Mana + 3.96 MP5 + 1.44 Heal HC
Red: [Imperial Tanzanite] = 9 Heal + 5 Spi <=> 10.44 Heal + 2.86 MP5 HC

Meta gems:

Certainly the most powerful gem overall.

I would consider this to not even be quite equivalent of 3 MP5 healwise – however if you frequently die at trashmobs due to CoH healing when your tanks are not quite awake yet, or your mages somehow don’t manage to hold their sheep, it might be an alternative

Yes, this is used by several people who think themselves to be quite good. Usually though people with this gem in their hood are not considered “quite good” by anyone else…
However, this can possibly save the day if you get to spam your heals… But when do you get to spam your heals w/o running oom or drawing aggro or dying anyway, or or or…
I personally would not take this gem due to missing control/predictability and its probably rather lesser benefits.

Second item on the list are raid dps gems.
Usually you will want to go with pure +dmg gems. On some occasion it could be advisable to take other colors into consideration as well, i.e. if you got an item that requires a yellow gem and offers a few spelldmg as compensation for fullfilling that requirement.
However, do not go to any length to acquire crit rating: It really does not scale very good for us shadow priests.

Low Cost gems:
Note: Only for use in green equipment and as a placeholder for a real gem.
Blue: [Glowing Shadow Draenite] = 4 spelldmg + 4 stam
Yellow: [Veiled Flame Spessarite]= 3 spellhit + 4 spelldmg
Red: [Runed Blood Garnet] = 7 spelldmg

Standard Cost gems:
Note: Using hc/honor gems from the “Max Power” section might be considered cheaper – and better.
Red: [Kailee's Rose] = 9 spelldmg – yes, this is a healing gem. However it is created from the same uncut gems, as the standard 9 spelldmg gem but with the added bonus of upping your heals and PW:Shield a bit
Red: [Runed Living Ruby] = 9 spelldmg
Yellow: [Veiled Noble Topaz]= 4 spellhit + 5 spelldmg
Yellow: [Reckless Noble Topaz]= 4 spellhaste + 5 spelldmg
Blue: [Glowing Nightseye]= 6 stam + 5 spelldmg

Maximum Power gems:
Note: Unless your guild farms BT for gems, you will probably want to look out for the ones marked HC versus BT marked gems, since the black temple gems are typically really expensive (~350+ gold on our server) and hc gems will lose their unique-equipped status with 2.4 in all probability.
Red: [Runed Ornate Ruby] = 12 spelldmg – available for 6885 honor
Red: [Runed Crimson Spinel] = 12 spelldmg – BT
Yellow: [Veiled Pyrestone] = 5 spellhit + 6 spelldmg BT
Blue: [Glowing Shadowsong Amethyst] = 6 spelldmg + 7 stam BT
Blue: [Glowing Tanzanite] = 6 spelldmg + 6 stam HC

Meta gems:
Note: Remember that you will have to activate your meta gems using combinations of other gems you might want to avoid.
Well, a few options do exist:

Probably (at least with the 2.4 changes to spell haste vs. global cooldown) the most powerful gem in raw damage output. However, it does take a drain on your manapool and may confuse you by totally messing up your spell rotation.

14 spelldmg – Jay! Actually, if we could switch the secondary effects of this and the next gem, it would make both healers and damage dealers happy… Healers would gain 1% increased spirit mana regen from the 2% increased int! (So do shadows, but spirit is not that high a priority for dds)

This gem does give you 9 spelldmg. However this is not the real reason for its appearance under the dps category – that would be the 2% threat reduce. Shadow still do not have any permanent aggro reduce, so one might be forced to take what one can get.
Also this gem clearly surpasses the [Swift Starfire Diamond] you can acquire for a few spirit shards. 2% threat reduce beat 3 spelldmg on any day

Due to the overall very low quality of spelldmg gems available, it is quite reasonable to use a more endurence-oriented gem.

Last, but not least: Powerful discipline pvp gems.
As a discipline priest you will usually start out by getting your resilience up to somewhere around 500, and then start adding more stamina and mayhaps a bit of heal/mp5.
I will only list stam/resilience gems, considering that any other gem can be found under the raid heal category.

Low Cost gems:
If you are really looking for “Low cost pvp gems”you might want to have a look at your good old raid gems. Oh, and be sure not to be on one of my teams.

Standard Cost gems:
Yellow: [Mystic Dawnstone] = 8 resilience
Yellow/Blue: [Steady Talasite] = 4 resilience + 6 stam
Blue: [Solid Star of Elune] = 12 stam
Red: Nothing here, look at the max power section below, or the raid heal category.

Maximum Power gems:
Note: Unless your guild farms BT for gems, you will probably want to look out for the gems marked with HC versus the ones with a BT mark, since the black temple gems are typically really expensive (~350+ gold on our server) and hc gems will lose their unique-equipped status with 2.4 in all probability.
Yellow: [Mystic Lionseye] = 10 resilience BT
Yellow: [Sublime Mystic Dawnstone] = 10 resilience – purchasable for 100 Halaa Battle Tokens in Halaa, as long as your faction rules the city
Yellow/Blue: [Steady Chrysoprase] = 5 resilience + 6 stam HC
Blue: [Solid Empyrean Sapphire] = 15 stam BT
Blue: [Charmed Amani Jewel] = 15 stam – ZA quest
Blue: [Falling Star] = 18 stam – jeweler self-craftable
Red: [Blessed Tanzanite] = 11 heal + 6 stam – although you could put this in a blue slot as well, finding red pvp gems is way harder than finding something for a blue slot
Red: [Durable Fire Opal] = 11 heal + 4 resilience – although you could put this in a yellow slot as well, finding red pvp gems is way harder than finding something for a blue slot

Meta gems:
There is only one real option for me:

Although there are some people who argue for [Mystical Skyfire Diamond] due to its capability to reduce the chance that someone might counter you – a good counterspeller will hit even 1 sec casts and even if they don’t, they will probably just hit your next cast. To illustrate my point: Just while writing this sentence, I have just eaten a nice earth shock – into my 0.5 sec mass dispel.