As a fresh lvl 70 gemming up my heavy clefthoof I used some def/sta gems to get both the dodge gem bonus and the needed defense rating. The transition from needing the extra def from the gems will wax and wain based on other gear as I am able to get it. The gem bonus across the three pieces is "only" + 11 to dodge rating. Is there a good rule of thumb on when to forgo the extra dodge and throw additional stamina gems in those slots?

FWIW, I gem'd almost all of my noob tanking gear with +sta. And enchanted with +agi (or +stats). I logged off in my tanking gear. See Felkan in my sig.

I'm not sure when you need to start worrying about more +dodge. Probably post-Kara.

If you're really concerned about keeping the dodge rating (which while nice, is a pretty low amount of actual dodge %), you could always use Shifting Nightseyes for the blue slots or Glinting Noble Topaz for the yellow slots. The agility is by far more dodge and the yellow gems will give you more +hit which is useful as well.

Agility all the way. Dodge, Crit and Armor. Whats not to love.

yeah have to agree with Clar. gotta love agi.

Decide per item whether it's worth it to get the socket bonus.

Consider 2 different scenarios; what stats would you get if you kept within the confines of the socket colours, and what stats you would get if you could just choose any gems you want.


Agility is a very important stat, to be sure. Stamina has a bit of a psychological effect though; healers who see a bear with 18,000 health feel reassured, even if that bear only has 25% dodge (which they don't see). In my view the stamina vs agility thing is like form vs function. It's easy to write things like this off but raid morale is extremely important. Motivated raiders can be absolute jedis, frequently belying their gear. Seeing a TUFF BARE can be enough, sometimes.


-Annikk

It's not worth it. At all. Gem for stam or agility/stam.

If you are just starting out at lvl 70 with this set, socket everything with +sta and enchant with +agi (or +stats). Once you get ~16K+ health in bear form, you can start shifting more gems to +agi or +sta/+agi.