Pimping out the Silk

Naranan spent some of her hard(ly) earned gold and bought up the blue quality PvP set that recently became available from the quartermasters of Honor Hold, Cenarion Expedition, Sha'tar, Lower City and Keepers of Time. Let's look at the PvP set and how it is an improvement over her PvE gear collection. Is resil and health gain worth the loss in crit and purple shoulders? Find out below!

Evoker's Silk Battlegear (5/5), that's what we are! Sometimes, I think we forget about all the changes that come out in patches, and it had slipped my mind that all that questing I had done and instance running had probably unlocked some new gear. So, I went around and spent about 65g or so and bought up the full set of Evoker's Silk for nar. (I even picked up a few pieces of the dreadweave set for Rahr, see a future post for his PvP asperations). Let's look at the pieces and some socketing possibilities that I'm exploring.

Evoker's Silk Cowl (head) - One, it's one of the cooler looking hoody headpieces I've found for nar. Certainly better than her Exorcist's Silk Hood which looks super stupid. Compare the stats. With the socket bonus on the Evoker's, you will get +23 resil as opposed to the +14 you get from the silk. Even if you got the Exorcist's Dreadweave Hood which has a +20 resil, you'd still be missing the resil that you get from the socket bonus. +39 stam instead of +34 is great for extra health, but of course, the loss is in spell crit. Exorcist gives you +25 spell crit vs. the +17 here for the evoker's piece. I'll probably still be using my Exorcist's for PvE, but definitely going to right click this head piece in for PvP pwnage. Plus, the extra socket in the piece is nice. I can throw on some more +Spell Dmg. or get a hybrid gem. We'll talk about gems later down.

Evoker's Silk Amice (shoulders) - This is a little bit more of a challenge decision, because I have two other options here. The first was my first piece of epic crafter gear, the Frozen Shadoweave Shoulders. Just one less intel and the same stam for those. The jacked up damage of those shoulders is ridiculous. +50 to frost, which is basically all I use vs. the +25 generic spell damage of the Evoker's. Same socket options and the bonus is a +3 in hit instead of resil for the PvE focused Frozen Shadoweave. Since I don't have the robe yet, (but do have the boots), I'm not going to get the set bonus anyway of the 2% of dmg heals me, so I'm not missing those if I drop them, and the added +18 resil with the socket bonus is a nice addition. I'm loosing half of the spell damage by using the Evoker's here, so it's a tough trade off there for resil and crit, but probably better while I am still a little n00by at BGs. The other option is a drop from last night's BM run, the Mantle of Three Terrors. +9 more intel and +7 more stam is nice. Spell hit is more than either of the other pieces at +12 with spell dmg up a bit at +29 vs. the +25 of the Evoker's. Obviously this still falls short of the Frozen piece but it's still nice. The lack of resil and crit though is troubling which makes me lean towards the Evoker's still for the PvP application with the Shadoweave the clear choice in PvE where I don't need the resil. Once I get the robe, it'll be hard not to keep that equiped though.

Evoker's Silk Raiment (Chest) - We're looking at this versus the Warp-Infused Drape which has red, blue and yellow sockets instead of two yellows, way more intel at +28 but way less stam at +27. The socket bonuses are the same but the Warp Drape affords +12 hit and +30 dmg. So, you do see a dmg and hit reduction with the Evoker's, but the extra resil and an actual increase in crit, (to balance some of the other losses from other gear we've already talked about), works well. It's a really nice chest piece and is the clear winner for PvP choice.

Evoker's Silk Handguards (Hands) - You can't miss the extra stat on equip on this item, because it's straight ballin'. Improves the range of your fireblast spell by 5 yrds. That's awesome. I'm always sitting at max cast distance if I can and can't finish with a little fireblast, so the extra yardage will be a nice addition. However, these handguards are up against my latest aquisition, the Tempest's Touch with two blue socket options and +20 intel, +6 spirit and +10 stam. It stacks on some spell penetration, that always missing stat to the tune of +10, increases spell dmg by 27 and adds +3 Spell crit with the socket bonus. You take a serious reduction in +spell dmg with the Evoker's, but gain way more crit: +17 and the resil as well, +17. The stam is also much more substantial as you'd figure on the Evoker's, sitting at +33 with +12 intel. The resil and crit is certainly nice, but taking the hit in the loss of the two sockets is a tough sell. Tempest's are the definite choice for PvE and I'm still up in the air about the others. If I use 4 other pieces of the Evoker's set, this might be the item I drop. I'd still get the set bonus, but just have those blue gem slots rockin' out.

Evoker's Silk Trousers (Legs) - This is the big resil piece, only matched by the head piece, and that's with the socket bonus. Compare to Incanter's Trousers with +30 intel, +17 spirit and +25 stam. More damage on the Incanter's at +42 but less crit at +18 and no resil. I don't have any of the other incanter's pieces, so there is no set bonus that I'm loosing to equip the silk trous', so it seems like they're the obvious choice. The big question becomes whether I take the Evoker's in PvE as well. In some ways, they might be an improvement. Even though I don't need the resil, the extra life is nice for those occasional shots so I'm not as much of a liability to the healer, and the extra crit is always appreciated. The loss in damage isn't substantial so they might make the better PvE piece as well.

Gems

So, with these new pieces come new gems to equip. Let's see how much money the AH is going to take of mine to bling out these new pieces. Here's a list of relevant gems for caster types of uncommon and rare quality:

Red - Runed Living Ruby (+9 Spell Dmg)
Red - Runed Blood Garnet (+7 Spell Dmg)

Blue - Stormy Star of Elune (+10 Spell Pen)
Blue - Eye of the Sea (+15 Stam)
Blue - Solid Azure Moonstone (+9 Stam)
Blue - Stormy Azure Moonstone (+8 Spell Pen)

Yellow - Brilliant Dawnstone (+8 Intel)
Yellow - Gleaming Dawnstone (+8 Spell Crit)
Yellow - Great Dawnstone (+8 Spell Hit)
Yellow - Mystic Dawnstone (+8 Resil)
Yellow - Quick Dawnstone (+8 Spell Haste)
Yellow - Brilliant Golden Draenite (+6 Intel)
Yellow - Gleaming Golden Draenite (+6 Spell Crit)
Yellow - Great Golden Draenite (+6 Spell Hit)

Purple(R/B) - Glowing Nightseye (+5 Spell Dmg, +6 Stam)
Purple(R/B) - Glowing Shadow Draenite (+4 Spell Dmg, +4 Stam)

Green(Y/B) - Dazzling Talasite (+4 Int, +2 mp5)
Green(Y/B) - Forceful Talasite (+4 Spell Haste, +6 Stam)
Green(Y/B) - Notched Deep Peridot (+3 Stam, +4 Spell Crit)
Green(Y/B) - Radiant Talasite (+4 Spell Crit, +5 Spell Pen)
Green(Y/B) - Steady Talasite (+4 Resil, +6 Stam)
Green(Y/B) - Unstable Talasite (+4 Stam, +4 Spell Crit)
Green(Y/B) - Dazzling Deep Peridot (+1 mp5, +3 Int)
Green(Y/B) - Radiant Deep Peridot (+3 Spell Crit, +4 Spell Pen)
Green(R/Y) - Unstable Peridot (+4 Int, +6 Stam)

Orange(R/Y) - Potent Noble Topaz (+4 Spell Crit, +5 Spell Dmg)
Orange(R/Y) - Reckless Noble Topaz (+4 Spell Haste, +5 Spell Dmg)
Orange(R/Y) - Unstable Topaz (+5 Spell Dmg, +4 Int)
Orange(R/Y) - Veiled Noble Topaz (+4 Spell Hit, +5 Spell Dmg)
Orange(R/Y) - Potent Flame Spessarite (+3 Spell Crit, +4 Spell Dmg)
Orange(R/Y) - Veiled Flame Spessarite (+3 Spell Hit, +4 Spell Dmg)

Meta - Chaotic Skyfire Diamond (+12 Spell Crit, +3% Crit Dmg)
Meta - Destructive Skyfire Diamond (+14 Spell Crit, +1% Spell Reflect)
Meta - Ember Skyfire Diamond (+14 Spell Dmg, +2% Int)
Meta - Imbued Unstable Diamond (+14 Spell Dmg, +5% Stun Resist)
Meta - Insightful Earthstorm Diamond (+12 Int, Chance to restore mana on spellcast)
Meta - Mystical Skyfire Diamond (Chance to increase spell cast speed)
Meta - Powerful Earthstorm Diamond (+18 Stam, +5% Stun Resist)
Meta - Swift Starfire Diamond (+12 Spell Dmg, Minor run speed increase)

Possible Gem Configs for Evoker's
Here's a couple of ways to maximize different stats you might be lacking in, just with the gems and these items. We can get into enchants at another time, but honestly, if you're interested in that, I might just head over to my post about warlock enchants, because for a PvP purpose, you've got a pretty similar value set.

In this set we've got the following spaces:

Head: Meta, Red
Shoulders: Blue, Yellow
Chest: Red, Yellow, Yellow

6 standard gems, plus a meta. Unless I've otherwise noted, I've tried to put the right kind of gem in the right socket to give you the bonus throughout these recommendations.

Resil in the Hizzil:

If you really wanted to stack resil and ignore everything else, including socket bonuses, you could throw in 6 Yellow Mystic Dawnstones at +8 Resil a pop. This would give you +48 Resil from gems alone. Without any of the socket bonuses, your set will sit at 174 Resil. Not bad for having no epic PvP pieces. Of course, you are missing out on +7 resil that you get by the socket bonuses, but you make up that much in one gem, so if you seriuosly need the resil, just plug those yellow gems in there and enjoy your nearing 200 resil.

An alternative Resil heavy socketing with stam buffed to increase your HP:

Head:
Meta - Powerful Earthstorm Diamond (+18 Stam, +5% Stun Resist)
Purple(Red) - Glowing Nightseye (+5 Spell Dmg, +6 Stam)

Shoulders:
Green(Blue) - Steady Talasite (+4 Resil, +6 Stam)
Yellow - Mystic Dawnstone (+8 Resil)

Chest:
Purple(Red) - Glowing Nightseye (+5 Spell Dmg, +6 Stam)
Yellow - Mystic Dawnstone (+8 Resil)
Yellow - Mystic Dawnstone (+8 Resil)

Spell Damage, yeah, we gots it:

Head:
Meta - Imbued Unstable Diamond (+14 Spell Dmg, +5% Stun Resist)
Red - Runed Living Ruby (+9 Spell Dmg)

Shoulders:
Green(Blue) - Radiant Talasite (+4 Spell Crit, +5 Spell Pen)
Orange(Yellow) - Reckless Noble Topaz (+4 Spell Haste, +5 Spell Dmg)

Chest:
Red - Runed Living Ruby (+9 Spell Dmg)
Orange(Yellow) - Reckless Noble Topaz (+4 Spell Haste, +5 Spell Dmg)
Orange(Yellow) - Reckless Noble Topaz (+4 Spell Haste, +5 Spell Dmg)

As time goes on, I might come up with some more scenarios for this little silk darling. In the meantime, let's all be looking over those gems and see what we are most lacking and try to make up for it. Gems and enchants provide great customization if we use it properly.