Gemming and Enchanting Your Moonkin
I still have a problem with many moonkins out there. Whether it be that they simply don’t know what gems exist, or they simply can’t afford the right gems, there is nothing that really disappoints me more than seeing my fellow moonkins gemming for the wrong stats, or having cheap gems/enchants on great tier gear.
Hit (till capped) > Spell Power > Haste > Crit > Everything Else
However, if you notice my gear/gems/enchants, I don’t gem or enchant for haste, crit, or hit. These things come too easily from gear, and even if you are significantly below hit cap, you can make up 3% from iFF, and 1% if you have a Draenei in your party (not raid group!). That said, if you are really below hit cap, feel free to gem for hit, but your main goal should be to get all the +hit you need natively in your gear.
GEMMING
- Red Gems: Runed Scarlet Ruby – plain and simple. Raw spell power is a moonkins bread and butter, and point for point, it wins against any other stat (after being hit capped). I put these gems in 90% of my gem slots, even if it avoids socket bonuses, unless the socket bonus is more spell power, and sometimes even if it is more spell power. SPELL POWER IS KING!
- Blue Gems: Purified Twilight Opal – I see way too many moonkins wearing +9 sp, +12 stamina gems in their PvE gear. I wonder if it is either because they don’t know this gem exists, or think that stamina somehow helps moonkins. At any rate, while +8 spirit its not really a huge increase, it will help out your Intensity-based mana regen, and a small portion of it will become spell power (via Imp. Moonkin Form). Unless you’re a JC, you’re going to need at least 2 of these to activate the must-have moonkin meta gem.
- Yellow Gems: I don’t use yellow gems. Not sure why, but they’ve never been to appealing to me. Unless the socket bonus to a yellow gem slot turns out to be something like +5 spell power, throw in a +19sp gem in there, and forget about the socket bonus. If you need more hit, throw in a +16hit gem, temporarily.
- Meta Gem: Chaotic Skyflare Diamond – a PvE Moonkin’s must-have. Steer clear from PvP gems, or other gems for your helm’s meta gem. More info on this below.
ENCHANTS
Helm
I cannot stress this enough. If you are a PvE moonkin, you NEED to have a Chaotic Skyflare Diamond in your helm’s meta gem. There is no way around that, nothing irks me more than seeing a PvP gem (like +run speed or -stun duration) meta gem’s in a PvE helm. This gem should increase your DPS noticeably, by itself. For the enchant on your helm, there is nothing better than the Arcanum of Burning Mysteries, which is easily attainable by just being Revered with the Kirin Tor (who isn’t Exalted with everyone by now, anyways?).
Shoulder
While this is a pain in the ass to get, Greater Inscription of the Storm is the way to go for a shoulder enchant. While you grind rep with the Son’s of Hodir (unless you want to spend 3k-4k to power level it!), use the Scryer enchant, or use the revered version of this enchant. I see moonkins with +12stam to their PvE shoulders and a single tear drops out of my eye.
Cloak
If you aren’t a Tailor, the best cloak enchant currently available is going to be, Enchant Cloak – Greater Haste. If you are a Tailor (for some reason), Lightweave Embroidery still out-damages this cloak enchant, but in 3.1 it will be significantly better, and well-worth it.
Chest
If you have a solid chest piece, there is no reason to go all out and put Powerful Stats. While +10 stats doesn’t really do too much for us, it is the best currently available. Show your dedication to PvE and don’t put +8 stats.
Wrists
Obviously, if you are a Leatherworker, use your +67 (or whatever it is) bracer enchant. Otherwise, +30 spell power is the way to go on your bracers. You should be beginning to see a trend here.
Weapon
Enchanting your weapon can get expensive, and I used to only put +50 spell power on my weapon (back when I used Titansteel Guardian!). If your weapon has +461 spell power on it, then there is no reason to not get Mighty Spellpower enchanted on it. The only real upgrade to a +461sp weapon is the +520 weapon off KT in Naxx25, and chances are, you are not next in line for that item. I have been running Naxx25 each week since WoTLK, and I have never seen it drop in my life 
Gloves
This one is self-explanatory. Get Exceptional Spellpower on your gloves, no workaround on this one.
Belt
I’ll be honest here. I don’t think I even realized that the Eternal Belt Buckle existed till maybe a month after WoTLK hit. Anyways, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE, do NOT put a prismatic gem in the prismatic socket! I’ve seen this a few times, and every time I see it, a baby moonkin dies. Not kidding. Put a +19sp gem in this socket.
Pants
There are really two of these. There are the ones that give spell power and stam, and ones that give spell power and spirit. Given what I mentioned above about blue gems, which one do you think you should use? 
. Brilliant Spellthread is what you should have enchanted on your pants. If they are expensive on the AH on your server, consider getting the mats, they are only 4 Eternal Life, 1 Frozen Orb, and some of that spider silk.
Boots
+12 hit, +12 crit for a boot enchant wins. Icewalker is the way to go. No questions asked.
CONCLUSION
I have been doing spot gear checks on my guildies before raids and stuff to see if they are gemmed/enchanted as they should be. It reflects poorly on a player to see someone wearing green gems in tier gear (or any good gear, for that matter), or seeing them with cheap enchants when they have near BIS gear. If you want to PvE, I recommend you guys take it seriously, and farm gold to purchase the appropriate enchants. In my opinion, the gems and enchants equipped on your gear, for the most part, reflect the type of player you are, and your commitment and willingness to perform well in raids.
Macbook
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Very much agreed. I personally need to get back to grinding Hodir rep — been too busy leveling my mage recently.
If for whatever reason you absolutely have to use a yellow gem, use a spell power hybrid (obviously). As for whether to go with haste or crit, well, the jury’s still out on this one. I *think* the answer is “go with whatever you have less of, percentage-wise”. Also, remember that the crit% you see in your character window does not take into account the 4% from talents or the 5% from 4T7. Similarly, the haste% you see in your character window does not take into account the 6% you get from Celestial Focus and Improved Moonkin Form.
Tangentially, I have only seen Torch of Holy Fire drop once. At the time, I had (and still have) Wraith Strike and wanted to save up for my T7.5 helm (the missing piece of my 4T7 — was still using Battlemap Hide Helm or whatever). Anyways, ended up passing it off to another moonkin who raids far less often than I. Maybe someday…
Thank you for this. I’ve been toying with building Balance as my dual-spec, but hadn’t really gotten much gear. As I start getting offset items, it’s good to know what I should be putting in there for gems and enchants. It’s nice to have a reference for when I get more gear and can swap those hit gems out.
Hiya – just wondering:
If I have no intention of raiding post-80th, is there really such a huge need to be hit-capped? I’m open to heroic instances and the like, but my play will (probably) never include raiding. Is it still as necessary?
Cheers!
@ Xiera –
Yeah, I am too lazy to grind rep, I bought all the relics to get mine to Exalted in a day
Good point on the yellow gems, I’ve never equipped one onto my gear. For the most part, while the math indicates that Haste > Crit (point for point), but its definitely not advisable to stack one too significantly over the other.
Sucks about the Torch. While I am the raid leader and ML’er in my raids, and we use loot council, I doubt I will be getting one soon. I use Wraith Strike, and its pretty fun to use anyways
@Maerdred –
I’m glad you thought this was helpful, thanks for stopping by!
@Coram –
No. If you don’t plan to do 10/25 mans, you don’t need much hit at all. Don’t quote me on this one, but if you spec into Balance of Power, I *believe* you only need around 50ish hit, to hit a heroic bosses.
You should raid though!!!
Macbook
@Coram -
The “hit cap” for level 82 mobs is a mere 53 hit rating (after Balance of Power). Don’t even waste points in IFF here, as 53 hit rating is extremely easy to get. For example, the hit trinket (heroic Oculus, I think) will cover this and then some.
If all you’re planning on doing is PvP, I think you’re all set with Balance of Power (no hit rating required).
@ Xiera – I think Mark of the War Bringer (the hit trinket you mentioned) drops in Heroic Nexus and has a fairly high drop rate.
I blame lack of coffee.
Mark of the War Prisoner*
drops in Heroic Violet Hold*
@ Fear.Win –
Lol. It happens, I didn’t even notice the mistakes till you pointed it out, it looked right to me lol.
Macbook
I personally saw the +520 mace drop off of KT – only to see it go to someone less geared but with a higher roll. Oh well, at least it dropped. I also managed to roll in the single digits for another druid item from the same Boss. It was a great raid, but somehow I left with an empty feeling.
@ Dran —
That sucks bro. It is why I don’t think I can deal with free rolls. Funny enough, even the mace dropped for me at some point, I wouldn’t even be the one to get it next (we use loot council in my guild, and even though I’m on it, I couldn’t give it to myself).
FML
Macbook
“Gloves
This one is self-explanatory. Get Exceptional Spellpower on your gloves, no workaround on this one.”
Dont forget precision, nice extra hit if you need it for cap.
in 3.2 at least a few more yellow/red(=orange) gems will show up for us. If they are not jc bound. Most notably …
Veiled Flawless Ametrine +12 Spell Power +10 Hit Rating
Durable Flawless Ametrine +12 Spell Power +10 Resilience Rating
Luminous Flawless Ametrine +12 Spell Power +10 Intellect
Potent Flawless Ametrine +12 Spell Power +10 Critical Strike Rating
Reckless Flawless Ametrine +12 Spell Power +10 Haste Rating
Some of these will be a must have for me. I can replace my 3x+16hit +30sp on gloves to 3x+12+10hit with precision on gloves and still come out +6sp and +2hit ahead.
Now when I get hit capped it’ll be a toss up of int or crit or haste. maybe one of each.
Hi, I’m curious what you’ve said about the meta gem in the helm slot. I’m currently using Ember Skyflare Diamond (+23sp & 2% int), and considering you said raw SP > any other stat (considering I’m fully hit-capped) I wonder what reasoning there is to use the chaotic +crit one. (My crit + haste are fab, and sp is the area I’m trying to include more of.)
Sorry thats +25 spellpower not +23.
@ Ramiala –
There is math somewhere – the crit + 3% increased crit damage gem outweighs any other gem possible. Think of it this way — the crit gem basically gives you 3% extra DAMAGE to your crits (which is easily over 50%), which is a larger DPS increase than +25 spell power.
Find the math if you work like that, but defeinitely know its a must have.
Mac