Meta Gems

There are currently two optimal meta gems for Retribution in PvE:

[Relentless Earthsiege Diamond]
[Chaotic Skyflare Diamond]

It should be noted that every crit you have will be increased by 3% with either of these gems. That’s hard to beat.

[Relentless Earthsiege Diamond] has been shown to be higher dps than [Chaotic Skyflare Diamond] due to the fact that it only requires 1 blue gem. It is worth noting that since [Relentless Earthsiege Diamond] provides 21 Agility as opposed to 21 critical strike rating some might argue that the use of Kings might push it closer to equivalence with it’s counterpart where critical strike percentage is concerned. This assumption is incorrect, however, due to the fact that 1% critical strike chance at level 80 requires only 45.91 critical strike rating while requiring 52.08 Agility (for Paladins).

PVP is another story. While the Relentless Earthsiege / Chaotic Skyflare Diamonds is great, it works against your opponents if they wear Resilience gear. For PVP/Arena only builds snare or stun resist is better. The stun resist stacks with the protection talent Stoicism for a strikingly large amount

[Enigmatic Skyflare Diamond]
[Powerful Earthsiege Diamond]

Some might argue that 3% increased crit damage is best for both PVE and PVP. However, since any serious opponent will be stacking a respectable amount of Resilience, I’d almost rather be rocking some stun/snare resist. Damn Stunlock Rogues!

Socket Gems

Rare

As was the case with The Burning Crusade, Strength still dominates the gemming scene and is, point for point, your best statistic as a Retribution Paladin. As of the current Live build (3.1.x), here are your optimal gem options:

Epic

With 3.2 now live, standard epic gem options have been officially implemented. Although Stormjewels are still available as a result of the Dalaran fishing daily quest, their statistics have not been improved thus making them equivalent to the new epic gems choice where applicable. The best epic gems choices are as follows:

For PvE purposes, it is important to stay as close to expertise cap as possible. Dual color slots (Orange / Purple) could be substituted for Expertise / Hit should you need more of either stat.

NOTE: Unless Hit is desperately needed, it is not advisable to gem for hit as gear alone should be able to provide the majority needed if not all. The decision as to which gem to place will then often come down to whether or not the socket bonus is worth achieving. In the case of a Yellow slot and a desirable socket bonus, the best non-JC option is most often [Inscribed Flawless Ametrine].

Obtaining Epic Gems

Raw epic gems can be obtained through various means as follows:

• Prospecting them from [Titanium Ore]. The chance to prospect an epic gem seems to be around 25% to 30%. Additionally, it is possible to obtain multiple epic gems with one prospect. Rare gems can also be prospected from Titanium Ore although the drop rate for these seems on par with prospecting Saronite.
• Purchasing them for [Emblem of Heroism]. Primary colored gems (Red, Yellow and Blue) each cost 20 emblems while secondary gems (orange, green, purple) cost only 10 emblems.
• Having an Alchemist transmute them for 1 rare gem equivalent and an eternal of the same color. The cooldown for transmutation is 20 hours.
• Purchasing them from the Jewelcrafting PvP vendor in Stormwind for 10,000 honor each

Jewelcrafting-Unique Gems

A skilled Jewelcrafter has the ability to craft gems that are far superior to any other obtainable gems in the game. Although there are many JC-only gems available from which to choose, you may only socket a maximum of three such gems and therefore it is highly advised that all three of these gems be [Bold Dragon’s Eye]. (Note that at the time of this posting, the Wowhead primary database has not been updated for 3.2 as of yet. As a result, the above link may temporarily point to the deprecated version of this gem). Point for point, this is your best possible gem. An important consideration, as of the implementation of patch 3.2, is that these gems are no longer prismatic and thus are considered “red”. Gem accordingly!