The War Within WoW Guide: How to Add Sockets and Choose the Best Gems

MMOGuides

Oct 29

*Image Credit: Blizzard, World of Warcraft: The War Within*

In The War Within expansion, gem sockets have made a big splash and added new ways to customize your gear for both PvE and PvP content. Simply put, if you’re looking to boost your stats then socketing is 100% the way to go. This guide will show you how to add sockets to your gear, explore the types of gems available, and explain how they can give you an edge in the game.

Adding Sockets in The War Within

Two new items let you add sockets to your gear, each designed for specific modes:

Magnificent Jeweler’s Setting: Use this for PvE items like rings and necklaces. It allows you to add up to six gems, giving you boosts in primary stats, critical hit chance, or movement speed. With two rings and one necklace, you can really power up your PvE setup.
Vicious Jeweler’s Setting: This setting is tailored for PvP gear and works on helms, belts, bracers, and more, letting you slot up to nine gems in total. It’s perfect for enhancing your PvP stats with bonuses like damage reduction and crowd-control resistance.

New Gem Types in The War Within

This expansion brings in some unique gems for PvE and PvP that give dual-stat benefits, so you can better fine-tune your character:

PvE Gems: Blasphemite Gems

These gems are focused on helping you in PvE environments:

Insightful Blasphemite: Increases your primary stat and boosts maximum mana based on unique gem colors equipped.
Culminating Blasphemite: Adds primary stats and increases critical effect, helping to hit harder.
Elusive Blasphemite: Boosts primary stats and movement speed, which is great for avoiding attacks in raids.
Cubic Blasphemia: Increases primary stats and gives fame and fortune boosts, perfect for reputation grinding.

PvP Gems: Bloodstones

For PvP, Bloodstone gems are tuned for durability and strategy:

Enduring Bloodstone: Reduces damage taken while under crowd control.
Cognitive Bloodstone: Gives you a bonus when opponents fail to interrupt you, helping keep your momentum.
Determined Bloodstone: Stacking snares power up your next attack, giving you an advantage in close battles.

Regular Gems

Traditional gems like Rubies, Sapphires, Emeralds, Onyx, and Amber are back, each offering dual-stat bonuses to primary and secondary stats. These gems are flexible across both PvE and PvP, so you can choose based on what you need:

Ruby: Boosts critical rating and primary stats.
Sapphire: Adds versatility, balancing out your stats.
Emerald: Enhances haste for quicker actions.

Why Sockets Matter in The War Within

The War Within’s socketing system gives you more control over your build, letting you adapt your gear for raids, dungeons, or PvP arenas. By trying different gem combinations, you can enhance your character’s offensive power, speed, or durability. This new level of customization is huge, especially as more content arrives in the game. Leveling up Jewelcrafting is now a game-changer, making it a must-have for anyone looking to get the most out of these gem enhancements.

In a nutshell, The War Within makes character customization deeper and more impactful than ever. Go ahead