Ret PvP - how to gem and reforge

[Deleted]

Just for fun, I grinded out a set of glorious PvP gear with the new season patch. I don't really do PVP and mainly tank PVE, so I am out of touch. How should I gem and reforge?

Without much thought, I instinctively gemmed and reforged for haste, as I do on my tank and PVE ret gear, allowing for the lower hit/exp caps and going for crit over mastery if there was a choice (usually there wasn't). Then it occurred to me, that may be this was wrong. What do ret PvPers do?

Reading some sites, opinions seemed to vary. One argument against haste is that you are so often CCed and kited, that it is not as valuable as it is in PVE. Better to make your hits, hit harder than try to squeeze in more. Some advocated crit as it has the chance to create some extra burst which might catch the enemy off guard and also because it affects heals. Some liked mastery as it was reliable, but against that it has the downside of affecting only some abilities (CS, TV, HoW?), which are mainly melee range ones. Noxxic likes strength, although I can't see why it would be better in pvp relative to secondary stats than it is in pve (where we prefer to gem with secondaries as they have twice the budget).

On balance, the arguments for crit seemed compelling - what do others think?

I guess I am thinking more of random battlegrounds, not serious PVPing with arena (I tried that and was awful at it).

[Demsi]

I usually go for haste, you get enough crit from INQ anyway, since haste lowers your Cd on your HP generators you will be able to use TV more often, crit dont really have much benefit other than it gives crit, 10% is enough

[Faesroll]

I'm going full crit, nearing 40% with inquisition and 5% crit buff. Mostly for fun though, not really sure what's better.

[Icecold3000]

Hi econ21. well for gems take a look on this.

Red Slot : Bold Primordial Ruby (+160 Strength) or Fierce Vermilion Onyx (+80 Strength and +160 Haste)
Blue Slot : Tense Imperial Amethyst (+80 Strength and +80 PvP Power) or Shattered Wild Jade (+160 Haste and +80 PvP Power)
Yellow Slot : Fierce Vermilion Onyx (+80 Strength and +160 Haste) or Quick Sun's Radiance (+320 Haste)

•Helm : Expertise to Haste •Shoulder : Expertise to Crit •Wirst : Mastery to Crit •Hand : Hit to Haste •Belt : Hit to Crit •Ring : Hit to Haste •PvP Trinket : Crit to Haste

Reading some sites, opinions seemed to vary. One argument against haste is that you are so often CCed and kited, that it is not as valuable as it is in PVE. Better to make your hits, hit harder than try to squeeze in more. Some advocated crit as it has the chance to create some extra burst which might catch the enemy off guard and also because it affects heals.

Haste > Crit
Why?
- All that extra haste produces more holypower. (faster CS and Sentence)
- Which you can in turn use for more TV which in turn increases DPS.
- Going pure haste to produce the extra holypower would allow more heals. (WoG)
Meaning, more Haste is asurvivability stat.

Some liked mastery as it was reliable, but against that it has the downside of affecting only some abilities (CS, TV, HoW?), which are mainly melee range ones. Noxxic likes strength, although I can't see why it would be better in pvp relative to secondary stats than it is in pve (where we prefer to gem with secondaries as they have twice the budget).

Crit > Mastery
Critical is much better because by the way which is the PvP today, situational and oriented to Burst.
Mastery do not apply to our ranged attacks as [Judgement],[Holy Prism] and [Exorcism] (These are the skills that the most frequently used in PvP).
Playing a 30 mins BG and checking a Recount metter , top dmg attacks that stand out are: 1.- Judgement , 2.- TV , 3.- Melee (White Swings)