With the new gem craze, a lot of people will be wondering which gems fit best with the character they're making. And while there are some gems that will obviously be better for your character, in most cases there are a lot of different gems which are all viable in your equipment. As such, I'm going to go through all classes and the possible gems you can use for them.
NOTE: This is only for honor/valor sets, I'm not going to go into the potential of reinforced/exalted sets with substats in their head/arms/boots as this will become way too long. I also have no experience with the exalted sets as I've never used any of them.
Did a few edits to scouts and raiders after some 'advice' (a lot of telling me to go away, but I'm used to that).
1) Champions:
Champions are probably the most diverse in terms of equipment usage due to there being three weapon types, all three of them being inherently different in what they're strong at.
Zircon (25hp regen) can be an OK buy and is cheap due to it being available in the valor shop, but out of the four of them I recommend it the least.
Rosasite (25 damage reduction) is also not bad, but like zircon not the best buy for champions.
The best one is in my opinion mesolite because 75 movement speed is too good to pass up and it outclasses the hp regen and dmg reduction.
Gloves:
Peridot (20% aspd) is good on both sword and spear champions, particularly spear champions due to their tendency of using auto attacks as main damage source when it comes to single target combat. That said, I think there are better options, but peridot is not a bad starter choice due to it being cheap (500 honor).
Tanzanite (2%+50, 100 or 4% at lv230) is a good pickup for axes and sometimes swords, but it's kind of outclassed by most.
Sunstone (25accu +8% aspd) and staragate (25accu+5%ap) are decent if you focus dodge classes a lot but aside from that not the best. They are cheap though as they're available in the valor shop. Platinum (5%+200 defense pierce) is a good pickup on all three types in case you target mid-range defense classes a lot, as piercing is at its strongest in that level of defense. Particularly axes and spears benefit from having a bit of piercing due to them having no passives for it.
Malachite (4.5%+110 melee attack power) is the best gem for spear champions due to them mainly using auto attacks for 1v1 situations, and is also decent on sword champs.
Enargite (4.5% enhance damage) is a possibility since champions generally do a lot of damage, benefitting greatly from damage enhancers.
Face:
You're better off with a substat.
Body:
There are not a lot of options here for the new gems, but the one gem that IMO is incredibly powerful is the rosasite one here (4.5%+110) dmg reduction. Recommended for all three champion classes. In case you don't want this one or can't afford it, the normal gem (7)'s still have plenty of good options to choose from.
Weapon:
Enargite (4.5%+110 enhance damage) is particularly powerful on spear champions as enhance damage ignores defence as a stat, and scales well on fast attacks. The spear champion, who lacks piercing and has high aspd benefits a lot from this. AoE spamming spear champions also benefit a lot from enhance damage because the cast times and cooldowns are short.
Citrine (30% crit damage) is kind of overrated (and overpriced) compared to most other gems, but it's very effective on axe champs thanks to their inherently high crit rates.
Spectrolite (4.5%+200 skill power) isn't that great imo, since axes and swords already have high enough % skill power and spears benefit more from enhance damage due to lack of innate piercing/dmg enhancement. It's still a possibility and you could test it out, I might be wrong here.
Malachite (4.5%+290) is great on spears if you mainly auto attack rather than AoE, and also a possible pickup on sword champions.
If none of these suit your fancy, there's always still the gem 7's, which are plenty in amount.
Headpiece:
Spectrolite (4.5%+30 skill power) is OK on spears if you mainly AoE, due to the other options just being weak. The other two classes have enough % skill power and don't benefit much from this.
Staragate (5%ap +30accu) is the go-to gem for axes and swords as no other option is good for them, sunstone (8%aspd +30accu) is for spears if you auto attack a lot.
Back item:
Just get a substat.
2) Knights
A few different options depending on being melee or xbow, but not much of a difference in most parts.
Three options here:
Mesolite (75 mspd) is always decent for PvP, but for knights it's rather pointless cause you don't move around often.
Rosasite( 25 dmg reduction) is honestly your best bet because knights scale very well with damage reduction, and stacking this stat makes you pretty much unkillable to most classes.
Zircon (25 hp regen) is OK but rosasite is just much better imo.
Arms:
Peridot (20% aspd) is good on crossbows if you mainly find yourself auto attacking, but other than that it's uses are little. Cheap to get though, good starting gem.
Tanzanite is another good starter, and is good both offensive and defensive (protecting against crits) but there are better gems around.
Sunstone (8%aspd +25accu) and staragate (5%ap+25accu) are the cheapest ones due to being in valor shop, but the boss dropped ones outclass them hard.
Platinum (5%+200 def pierce) is a decent pickup on both swords and crossbows if you mostly use physical attacks.
Palladium (5%+120 mdef pierce) I have tested personally and it seems to be rather pointless, you will benefit more from most of the other gems.
Malachite (4.5%+110 melee attack power) is the better version of the peridot if you auto attack a lot, and with that also more expensive.
Face:
Nothing good, substat is better.
Body:
Rosasite (4.5%+110) is ridiculously overpowered on a knight due to them being able to easily stack dmg reduction, get this gem no matter what.
Weapon:
Enargite (4.5%+110 enhance damage) is good on both types of knight. The flat 110 enhance damage is good on knights because they generally do quick but not very hard hitting attacks, as their base attack is low. With all these hits doing a guaranteed 110 additional damage, you can increase your DPS by a rather large amount.
Citrine (30% crit damage) is good if you build a ton of crit (luna set, tanzanite gems, etc.), but aside from that rather pointless. Not recommended overall though.
Spectrolite (4.5%+200 skill power) is similar to enargite, although this gem in particular is better for crossbows than for melee knights. Melee knights have decently high skill powers already, while crossbows magic and fire shot (most of the time their main source of damage) is rather low. 4.5%+200 is a welcome addition then, although I'd still recommend enhance damage over this one.
Malachite (4.5%+290 melee attack power) is again for those focused on auto attacks and single target damage. Not recommended overall, but not a bad option, particularly effective on crossbow knights when paired with another malachite or platinum (def pierce) gem in arms.
Headpiece:
Staragate (5%ap+30accu) is your best bet for sword knights and also decent for crossbows. It's cheap too.
Sunstone (8%aspd+30accu) for if you have an auto attack based build.
Spectrolite (4.5%+30 skill power) is OK on crossbows, but imo not worth the money. For melee knights it's utterly terrible.
Back item:
Substat.
Shield: Personally I prefer a substat in this one, but you can also go for gems if you want to build more defensively:
Rosasite (4.5% dmg reduction) is very strong on knights due to being able to stack dmg reduction very efficiently.
Braunite (4.5% block rate) is strongest against physical damage dealers due to not needing physical block (have plenty from base+passives) to block their attacks.
Opalite (385mdef block) is good against mages and BC's as your magical block is rather weak with just a shield, but I'd personally get rosasite over opalite.
3) Raiders
Big difference between katar and dual raiders, and as dual in particular wether you build more defensively or offensively.
Mesolite (75 mspd) is good for dual raiders, and sometimes for katars. Generally you'll already have enough movement speed as raider though, so you can leave it out.
Starquartz (30accu+5%+30dodge) is a good pickup for both types of raiders if you don't value the movement speed on mesolite as much, and it's also cheap as it's in the valor shop.
Arms:
Malachite (4.5%+110 melee attack power) is a great choice for katars as they pretty much only auto attack for DPS.
Peridot (20% aspd) is bad since they already have so much passive attack speed that even more is pointless.
Tanzanite (2%+50 crit) is OK if you want to maximize crit chance, but I think that melee attack power will just be much more beneficial than a bit of crit. It's a cheap alternative though and works well with citrine. If you're planning to run a citrine gem in your weapon, this gem is a great pickup to combine it with.
Sunstone (8%aspd+25accu) and staragate (5%ap+25accu) are always cheap alternatives but they just aren't as good as the other ones.
Starquartz (25accu+5%+30dodge) is decent on duals but I don't recommend it, the boss dropped gems are stronger.
Platinum (5%+200 pierce def) is your best bet for duals, as it'll boost their def piercing up to 35%+250 in total, making them very potent against low-mid level defense targets.
Face:
Substat.
Body:
Rosasite (4.5%+110dmg reduction) is always a good bet because the amount of dmg reduction it gives is just so high, but I think overall it's not that great on katar raiders as the dmg reduction won't do them much. It's decent on duals though who can get a good amount of defensive stats with def+dodge from evasive guard. Is very effective when paired with a hunter set (dex+def).
You can always run a classic gem 7 in body armor, so if you don't see the point in rosasite there's plenty of options to choose from.
Weapon:
Citrine: I think this gem is overrated compared to some other options, but on katars it is still a great gem due to them being able to get a lot of crit (and removing a lot of crit from their opponent via stacking debuff+crit down).
Enargite (4.5%+110 enhance damage) is very good on duals as they don't need the additional skill power from spectrolite, with their skill power being massive enough as it is. Not advised for katars.
Malachite (4.5%+290 melee attack power) is together with citrine the best option for katar raiders, as their pretty much only source of damage is auto attacks.
In case of duals, you can also use a gem 7 of your choosing if none of these suit your fancy.
Spectrolite (4.5%+200 skill power) is possible on duals but I do not believe this will give you more than enargite does. When your skill power is already so high, more skill power won't do much.
Headpiece:
Sunstone (8%aspd+30accu) is probably the best pickup for katars together with staragate (5%ap+30accu).
Starquartz(5%+30dodge+30accu) is decent for duals based on survival/defenses, for more offensive builds staragate (5%ap+30accu) is your best bet.
Back item:
Gypsum (summon gauge) is OK in case you're one of those few dudes who try out different things, like summoning several beasts to fight for you (*cough* sorry Feuer, no one uses summons *cough*).
You're better off with a substat.
4)Scouts
Generally benefit from same gems, only slight differences between crossbows and bows (mainly crossbows having the option of gemming a shield).
Mesolite (75 mspd) is an option, if you don't need the additional mspd then starquartz (5%+30dodge+30accu) is the best choice.
Rosasite (25dmg reduction) is a possibility for crossbows who want to build semitank, but I do not recommend it. If you want to be a tank, make a knight.
Arms:
Tanzanite (2%+50crit) is cheap and one of the best gems you can get for in your gloves. Very good on bow scouts, decent on crossbows who go a crit build. Usually paired with a citrine.
Staragate (5%ap+30accu) is cheap, but not that great. Other gems are better.
Platinum (5%+200) is decent on crossbows who have some innate piercing, but pretty pointless on bow scouts since the 5%+200 is too low to do anything by itself.
Malachite (4.5%+110 melee attack power) is OK for aspd focused scouts, but I value other gems more as scouts tend to use skills often.
Enargite (4.5% enhance damage) is the go to gem for those who don't focus as much on crits. Generally combined with high AP focused equipment.
Face:
Substat.
Body:
Rosasite (4.5%+110) is good for crossbows as they are naturally tanky and benefit from the flat dmg reduction a lot, but on bow scouts it's kind of pointless as they'll be squishy regardless of using this gem or not. For bows just use a gem 7.
Weapon:
Enargite (4.5%+110) is very good for both bow and crossbow scouts who like doing sustained DPS with their autos and skills, as both their melees and skills are relatively fast.
Citrine (30% crit dmg) is overrated but a decent option on bow scouts who want to maximize their burst damage with high crit damage skills (particularly impact arrow, which is guaranteed to crit). Crossbows can run this gem if they go for a high crit focused build, but generally they'll prefer enargite.
Spectrolite (4.5%+200 skill power) has been tested and labelled pointless, enargite is better in pretty much all cases.
Malachite (4.5%+290 melee attack power) for auto attack focused bow scouts, although I do not recommend it personally.
Headpiece:
Spectrolite (4.5%+30) is bad, I personally don't like it since the flat portion is so little. If you use the low skill power skills a lot as bow scout, spectrolite is OK.
Staragate (5%ap+30accu) is the go-to gem for headpiece in most situations, while sunstone (8%aspd+30accu) is only for those who build attack speed based.
Back item:
If you like birds, use a gypsum (60 summon gauge) one to get a lot of hawks out, but generally a substat will be a better choice.
Shield:
Rosasite (4.5%dmg reduction) or braunite (4.5% block rate) are good if you want to be more defensive, but generally I prefer a substat here.
5)Bourgeois
Offensive gems rather different depending on weapon type, aside from that not much of a difference.
Mesolite (75 movement speed) is the only good choice, the flat damage reduction from rosasite (25 dmg reduction) is just too weak to do much on a low defense class like a bourg.
Arms:
Tanzanite (2%+50crit) is good for a launcher, since they focus mostly on crit and crit damage for their DPS. It's also cheap to get.
Platinum (5%+200 def pierce) is also good for launchers, as all their attacks deal physical damage, yet they have no inherent def piercing of their own. On gun bourgs I don't think this stat is very good as they already get enough def pierce from their passives, so the little extra won't give them as much as the other possible gems do.
Malachite (5%+110 melee attack power) is the best for guns, as they gain insane amounts of attack speed thanks to their selfbuff, they don't need the aspd from peridot and gain more from melee attack power.
Face:
Substat.
Body:
Rosasite (4.5%+110 dmg reduction) is a possibility, although I don't recommend it since bourgs are too weak defensively to benefit much from only a bit of dmg reduction. Gem 7's will generally be better.
Weapon:
Enargite (4.5%+110) can be good if you target high def targets a lot, but aside from that it doesn't have much use on bourgs.
Citrine (30% crit damage) is good on launchers as their main damage comes from high burst with increased crit damage.
Spectrolite (4.5%+200) is somewhat good on launchers, but I value citrine more in this case.
Malachite (4.5%+290 melee attack power) is for guns, same reasoning as to why we get malachite in our arms.
Headpiece:
Staragate (5%ap+30accu) for launchers (and occasionally guns if you value AP over aspd), sunstone (8%aspd+30accu) for guns. Spectrolite (4.5%+30 skill power) yields too little to be worth it.
Back item:
If you feel like getting additional hunter summons will benefit you, gypsum (60 summon gauge) is always a possibility, but I value a substat more for bourgs, especially launchers benefit way more from having a 30/50 substat.
6)Artisans
This section is only for battle artisans, as crafters do not benefit from any of the new gems that are available.
Mesolite (75 mspd), rosasite (25dmg reduction) is pointless, just like with bourgs.
Arms: Peridot (20% aspd) gives a lot to artis as they mainly use autos with occasional skills, yet do not have as much innate aspd as bourgs, katars or bc's do. As such, having slightly more aspd can be rather efficient.
Malachite (4.5%+110 melee attack power) is the other option aside from peridots, as artis auto attack a lot.
Platinum (5%+200 pierce def) is an OK alternative for artis who use their skills more than auto attack, but I personally think this def pierce isn't that great as you already get 55% def piercing from passives.
Face:
Substat.
Body:
Rosasite (4.5%+110 dmg reduction) is the only real option here and I don't value it very highly for artis as their def is too low to benefit from it. Just get a gem 7 here.
Weapon:
Enargite (4.5%+110 enhance damage) is an OK gem as artisans generally don't have much base attack power, benefitting decently from the flat enhance damage.
Malachite (4.5%+290 melee attack power) will generally be a better option though, unless you rely more on skills, in which case enhance damage will be more useful.
You can also go for a gem 7 of your choosing if none of the gems are to your liking.
Headpiece:
Sunstone (8%aspd+30accu) is the best choice here, although staragate (5%ap+30accu) is also decent if you use skills more often.
Back item:
Gypsum (60 summon gauge) is actually rather OK, since it allows you to have an extra summon next to your judgment. Substats are also a fine choice though.
7)Mages
Pretty straightforward options, not much to say here.
Mesolite (75 mspd) is your only option, you're far too weak in terms of defense to benefit from rosasite (25dmg reduction). You could try a starquartz (5%+30dodge+30accu) to build dodge combined with the wind mastery dodge, but I do not recommend this. Most classes have too much accu to be able to reliably dodge them, as mage you want the mspd from mesolite to run away from danger as quickly as possible.
Arms:
Tanzanite (2%+50) is OK since it allows you to build crit as an offensive stat against low crit classes and defends against the higher crit classes. Not the best option but a possibility.
Enargite (4.5% enhance damage) is a gem that I recommend solely for mages and no other class. It looks kind of weak at first sight as it has no flat enhancement, however 4.5% enhanced damage is nothing to laugh at when you deal 5-7k dmg skills. 4.5% of that will increase that damage by another 250-300.
Palladium (5%+120 mdef pierce) is decent, but most classes you target have weak mdef, so this gem will not make you benefit from it that much. Aural pierce will drop mdef by enough most of the time. It's still ok overall though.
Staragate (5%ap+30accu) is also OK since mages have such high skillpowers they benefit a lot from flat attack power.
Body:
You could make a case that since mages take so much damage, the % dmg reduction from rosasite (4.5%+110dmg reduction) would be decent, but I doubt that will do much. Maybe the person attacking you would need one more hit to kill you cause of this, but I don't think it's enough to really matter. Just get a gem 7 here.
Weapon:
Enargite (4.5%+110 enhance damage) is again rather strong thanks to mages doing such massive amounts of damage, benefitting a lot from %enhancement.
Spectrolite (4.5%+200) could be decent since mages only use skills, but enhance damage or flat attack power scales better on mages as they already have massive skill power ratios as it is.
Headpiece:
Staragate (5%ap+30accu) is pretty much the only option here, as spectrolite (4.5%+30) is too little to benefit much from.
Back item:
Substat.
8) Battle cleric
Going to separate the battle cleric from the support cleric since both use drastically different gems.
Mesolite (75 mspd) is decent on basically every class as it makes chasing enemies and running dungeons easier, but a rosasite (25 dmg reduction) is also rather effective since clerics are considerably good at tanking damage. If you tend to stand still often and don't move much, rosasite will be that much more valuable.
Arms:
Tanzanite (2%+50crit) is a good option for both offensive and defensive purposes and rather cheap.
Peridot (20%aspd) is a cheap alternative to the melee attack power gem, but still a good option for BC's since their main form of damage is auto attacks (somewhat silly for a magic class).
Palladium (5%+120mdef pierce) brings your piercing up to 35%120, and is decent against those with midlevel magic defense, but I personally don't think this gem is good for you since you'll mostly target low mdef classes, for which your 30% base piercing is enough.
Malachite (4.5%+110 melee attack power) is the go to gem for battle clerics as they mainly auto attack, yet have enough base aspd to not need the 20% from a peridot.
Face:
Substat.
Body:
You have to get a rosasite (4.5%+110) gem here. Clerics being natural tanks benefit greatly from the damage reduction, after knights being the best tanks in the game.
Weapon:
Enargite (4.5%+110 enhance damage) is always a decent option thanks to battle clerics attacking fast, and as such benefitting a lot from the flat enhance damage.
Malachite (4.5%+290 melee attack power) however is just too good to pass up as you rely mostly on autos to deal damage.
Headpiece:
Sunstone (8%aspd+30accu) is the most obvious choice, but staragate (5%ap+30accu) is always a possibility.
Back item:
Gypsum (60 summon gauge) is a must. Having 6 phantom swords out at once greatly augments the damage you deal against mages (due to them dealing physical damage rather than magical) and raiders/scouts (phantom swords have more accuracy than its caster, and as such are very good against the hawker classes).
Magic tool:
As a battle cleric, you value offensive power over defense. As such, you shouldn't put a gem here, and just go for a substat.
9)Supportive cleric
When I say supportive cleric, I do mean a cleric that supports a team in CD/wars. Not a buffslave, as they only care about stacking cha and don't need the new gems.
Mesolite (75mspd) is good in the chaos of TG wars where people run around often and you have to run after them to heal them up. In CD you'll mostly be standing still (unfortunately), but it's still good in case your team is losing and you have to pack up and run to the hills. Rosasite (25dmg reduction) is also great, since supports have to be able to take a lot of damage to survive all those gangbangs.
Arms:
Tanzanite (2%+50crit) is your only option here, as all the other gems have a solely offensive purpose or aren't worth it for you (your dodge is too low to benefit from starquartz). The crit you get from this will help to not get critted as often, although slightly. Get this gem last in your set, since it matters the least.
Face:
You will generally want a charm substat.
Body:
Rosasite (4.5%+110 dmg reduction) all the way. I don't care if you have to drop a beryl for it, the defensive stats you get from this are way too good to pass up. A dead cleric will heal less than a live one, even when the live one has 30 less charm.
Weapon:
Since the weapon gems are solely offensive, just stick to a beryl 7 here. You can also put a 30cha/mp rec sub or any other 30cha substat.
Headpiece:
Hyalite (8%+60 heal power) is pretty much the only choice here.
Rose quartz (25 mp recovery) for those who think mana flames and mp recovery passives are pointless, and then wonder why they lose the fight cause they're out of mana to use their skills. But seriously, get some mp rec.
Back item:
Gypsum (60 summon gauge) man, gypsum. Flames are overpowered, plant some more flames on the field. In case you don't get any flames, just stick to a 30charm/mp regen substat.
Magic tool:
Rosasite (4.5% dmg reduction) to survive gangbangs.
Hyalite (4.8%+25 heal power) to heal up the damage you took from those gangbangs.
Pink opalite (385 physical block) if you want to block some more in those gangbangs. (not recommended for shield users, your block rate is too low to benefit from this)
30cha/mp rec substat if you think you don't need any more defense to survive the gangbangs, and you value the combined buff/heal power more than the heal power.
Edited by jerremy, 05 November 2014 - 06:15 AM.