Zoe's quick gear/enchant/gem/reforge guide.

Hi,

There seems to be a bit of confusion over how exactly to gear, enchant, gem and reforge nowadays, so perhaps breaking it down in a couple of steps might help.

In this post I'll describe the steps that practically every tankadin should take. Then in the following post I'll discuss different options depending on how you prioritize survival against damage output.



The mandatory steps:

Gear:
You want to use items that have Strength and Stamina on them, and preferably no Crit.

If you have to choose between two items, generally go for the item that is higher in ilvl. For example, a Dodge/Parry item that is 13 ilvls higher than a Haste/Expertise item is the better option.

Items with Crit are weaker than items without Crit, but if you have a Crit piece that is higher ilvl than any other piece in that slot, it might still be worth it, thanks to the increase in Stamina and Armor.

If the ilvls of two items are (nearly) identical, you preferably want to prioritize pieces with the following stats:
Haste > Expertise/Hit* > Mastery > Dodge/Parry > Crit.
*Assuming you can use the Expertise/Hit, and it will not bring you far above the cap without being able to reforge away decently.

The trinkets you should equip depends on your priority. More information about this in the next post.

Enchants:
The following enchants always apply, regardless of your priority:

Shield: [Enchant Shield - Greater Parry] - 170 Parry.
Head: None.
Neck: None.
Back: Tailors use [Swordguard Embroidery] in addition to the enchant.
Wrists: Blacksmiths use [Socket Bracer] in addition to the enchant.
Gloves: Blacksmiths use [Socket Gloves] in addition to the enchant.
Waist: [Living Steel Belt Buckle] - Extra Socket.
Feet: If you like the increased movement speed, use [Enchant Boots - Pandaren's Step] - 140 Mastery, increased movement speed. Note that the increased movement speed does not stack with [Pursuit of Justice].

Consumables:
Since consumables can easily be swapped from fight to fight, it's always a good idea to bring several options, so you are well prepared. Which consumables fit which priority best will be described in the next post.

Food:
[Chun Tian Srping Rolls] - 450 Stamina, or the cheaper [Twin Fish Platter] - 415 Stamina.
[Black Pepper Ribs and Shrimp] - 300 Strength, or the cheaper [Eternal Blossom Fish] - 275 Strength.
[Pandaren Banquet] - 415 Stamina, or [Great Pandaren Banquet] - 415 Stamina. (If you respec to Retribution before clicking the Banquet, they provide 275 Strength instead.)
[Tangy Yogurt] - 200 Haste. (More damage output than the Strength food at high vengeance levels.)
[Pearl Milk Tea] - 200 Mastery.
[Spicy Vegetable Chips] - 300 Expertise. (Incurs problems. See my comments below.)
[Spicy Salmon] - 300 Hit. (Incurs problems. See my comments below.)

The Spicy Vegetable Chips and Spicy Salmon provide the best possible increase to damage output, as they allow you to gem and reforge more gear towards Haste. However, this makes your gear set depend on this food, which means that you will not be hit or expertise capped whenever you do not have the food buff (which includes accepting a Combat Ress). If you do not gem and reforge more gear towards Haste, then this food becomes useless. Overall, this food is not recommended.

Flasks and Elixirs:
[Flask of the Earth] - 1500 Stamina (1980 for Alchemists). Battle and Guardian. Persists through death.
[Flask of Winter's Bite] - 1000 Strength (1320 for Alchemists). Battle and Guardian. Persists through death.
[Elixir of the Rapids] - 750 Haste (990 for Alchemists). Battle. (More damage output than the Strength flask at high vengeance levels.)
[Monk's Elixir] - 750 Mastery (990 for Alchemists). Battle.
[Elixir of Mirrors] - 750 Dodge (990 for Alchemists). Guardian
[Mantid Elixir] - 2250 Armor (2730 for Alchemists). Guardian.
[Crystal of Insanity] - 500 to all stats (500 for Alchemists). Battle and Guardian. Not consumed upon use.

Using either the Flask of the Earth or the Flask of Winter's Bite are probably the cheaper options, as you do not have to take a new Elixir after every wipe. If you are not wiping, and content is already on farm, then a simple consumable is not likely to matter much either way. Note that against magic oriented fights, there are no good Guardian Elixirs, which makes the Flasks a little more worthwhile.

While a cheap option, the Crystal of Insanity makes you give up 1000 Stamina for only 500 Strength, or give up 500 Strength for only 500 Stamina, which are worse trade-offs than swapping one flask for the other. It is therefor never a good option, but nice for situations where you wouldn't bother to flask otherwise.

Potions:
[Potion of the Mountains] - 12000 Armor for 25 seconds.
[Master Healing Potion] - Restores 12000 Health.
[Life Spirit] - Restores 12000 Health over 6 seconds.
[Potion of Mogu Power] - 4000 Strength for 25 seconds.
[Kafa Press] - 4000 Haste for 25 seconds. Not consumed upon use. (More DPS than Strength potions at decent vengeance levels.)

For survival purposes, a Potion of the Mountains is probably the best option, as it will likely mitigate a lot more than 12000 Health. You can also pre-pot one. It is useless against Magic, so use a Master Healing Potion or Life Spirit if you need to survive a heavy magic burst.

For damage purposes, if you pre-pot, it is best to use a Potion of Mogu Power. Midfight, if you are at decent vengeance levels, use the Kafa Press if you have it. If you are at low vengeance levels, or if you do not have the Kafa Press, or if the Kafa Press is on cooldown, use another Potion of Mogu Power.



A note on Haste:
Once Hit and Expertise are capped, Haste is the best secondary stat for both survivability and damage output. It is therefor logical to use Haste wherever you are unable to use Stamina, such as the stats on gear, reforging, and some enchants. Even if you are falling behind on the speed at which you should press your buttons, Haste still increases the refreshes of your Sacred Shield, and the amount of times Seal of Insight procs.

Priority 1: Full survivability.

Full survivability sacrifices every single grain of damage output for survivability. This is useful for tanks that are severely undergearing the content in a group that is much higher geared than themselves. If the entire raid group is undergeared, or of the tank is only slightly undergeared, it's best to switch to Priority 2.

Stamina is hands down the best option for survivability. However, there are a lot of mechanics that require you to have Shield of the Righteous up at the right times. Therefor, for Full Survivability, we'll use the following priority of stats:

Hit to 7.5% > Expertise to 15% > Stamina > Haste > Mastery > Dodge/Parry > Crit > Spirit.

Enchants:
Weapon: [Enchant Weapon - Colossus] - Your melee attacks have a chance to create a shield that absorbs 7500 damage, for low end content or [Enchant Weapon - River's Song] - Your melee attacks have a chance to grant 1650 dodge for 7 seconds, for high end content.
Shield: [Enchant Shield - Greater Parry] - 170 Parry.
Shoulders: [Greater Ox Horn Inscription] - 300 Stamina, 100 Dodge. Scribes use [Secret Ox Horn Inscription] - 750 Stamina, 100 Dodge.
Back: [Enchant Cloak - Greater Protection] - 200 Stamina.
Chest: [Enchant Chest - Superior Stamina] - 300 Stamina.
Wrists: [Enchant Bracer - Mastery] - 170 Mastery. Leatherworkers use [Fur Lining - Stamina] - 750 Stamina.
Hands: [Sha Armor Kit] - 150 stamina. Engineers use [Phase Fingers] - 2880 Dodge for 10 seconds ever minute, in addition to the enchant.
Legs: [Ironscale Leg Armor] - 430 Stamina, 165 Dodge. Leatherworkers use [Heavy Leg Reinforcements] - 430 Stamina, 165 Dodge.
Feet: If you like the increased movement speed, use [Enchant Boots - Pandaren's Step] - 140 Mastery, increased movement speed. Note that it doesn't stack with [Pursuit of Justice]. If you do not need the increased movement speed, use [Sha Armor Kit] - 150 stamina.
Fingers: None. Enchanters use [Enchant Ring - Greater Stamina] - 240 Stamina.

Trinkets:
Use two proper Stamina trinkets if you can. If not, try to use other heavy survival trinkets. If those are also not available, use trinkets with Haste, Hit or Expertise.

Meta-Gem:
[Indomitable Primal Diamond] 324 Stamina, chance on being hit to receive 20% physical damage reduction for 15 seconds, if you have it available to you.
[Austere Primal Diamond] 324 Stamina, 2% armor, if you do not have access to the legendary gem.
[Effulgent Primal Diamond] 324 Stamina, 2% spell damage reduction, for magic heavy fights, if you have a spare helmet, or don't mind swapping meta gems often, or notice that you have a lot more problems surviving the magic heavy fights than the physical heavy fights.

Gems:
Default gem: [Solid River's Heart] - 240 Stamina.
Yellow gem: [Nimble Wild Jade] - 160 Hit, 120 Stamina.
Red gem: [Guardian's Imperial Amethyst] - 120 Stamina, 160 Expertise.
Hit shortage: [Rigid River's Heart] - 320 Hit.
Expertise shortage: [Precise Promordial Ruby] - 320 Expertise.
Additional shortage: [Accurate Imperial Amethyst] - 160 Hit, 160 Expertise.
Hit overflow: [Forceful Wild Jade] - 120 Stamina, 160 Haste.
Expertise overflow: [Defender's Imperial Amethyst] - 120 Stamina, 160 Parry.

If any item provides a Stamina socket bonus, use a Solid River's Heart in the blue sockets, a Nimble Wild Jade in the yellow sockets and a Guardian's Imperial Amethyst in the red sockets.
If any other sockets currently contain gems that provides Hit or Expertise, replace those gems with a Solid River's Heart.
Wait with filling out the other sockets until after you have reforged.

Reforging:
First follow the gemming advise above. Then reforge your gear with the following priority:

Hit to 7.5% > Expertise to 15% > Haste > Mastery > Dodge/Parry > Crit > Spirit.

Gems:
If you did not manage to reach Hit cap through reforging, fill more yellow sockets with a Nimble Wild Jade, until you reach the Hit cap. If you do not reach the Hit cap in this way, fill blue and prismatic sockets with a Rigid River's Heart, or red sockets with an Accurate Imperial Amethyst, until you reach the Hit cap.

If you did not manage to reach Expertise cap through reforging, fill more red sockets with a Guardian's Imperial Amethyst, until you reach the Expertise cap. If you do not reach the Expertise cap in this way, fill red and prismatic sockets with a Precise Primordial Ruby, or blue sockets with a Guardian's Imperial Amethyst or an Accurate Imperial Amethyst, until you reach the Expertise cap cap.

If you have too much Hit, replace some of your Nimble Wild Jades with Forceful Wild Jades. If you have too much Expertise, replace some of your Guardian's Imperial Amethysts with Defender's Imperial Amethysts.

Once you've reached Hit and Expertise cap, fill all remaining sockets with a Solid River's Heart.

Enchants:
If after reforging and gemming, you are still short on Hit, use [Enchant Boots - Greater Precision] - 175 Hit, and [Enchant Cloak - Accuracy] - 180 Hit.

If after reforging and gemming, you are still short on Expertise, use [Enchant Gloves - Superior Expertise] - 170 Expertise.

Consumables:
Food: [Chun Tian Srping Rolls] - 450 Stamina, or the cheaper [Twin Fish Platter] - 415 Stamina, or a Banquet.
Flasks and Elixirs: [Flask of the Earth] - 1500 Stamina (1980 for Alchemists). Battle and Guardian. Persists through death.
Potions: [Potion of the Mountains] - 12000 Armor for 25 seconds. You can also pre-pot one. It is useless against Magic, so use a Master Healing Potion or Life Spirit if you need to survive a heavy magic burst.



Priority 2: High on survivability.

High on survivability focuses mostly on survivability, but becomes slightly more all rounded, sacrificing a small bit of survivability here and there for a more rounded character. If you are unsure which priority to choose, this is probably the best option to start out. If you notice that you have no problems surviving fights, but could use a little more damage output (for example, because enrage timers are really tight), consider moving down to Priority 3 or 4.

Changes from Priority 1 are listed in red.

Enchants:
Weapon: [Enchant Weapon - Dancing Steel] - Your melee attacks have a chance to grant 1650 Strength. At very high vengeance levels (above 170k on average for the entire fight), [Enchant Weapon - Windsong] - Your melee attacks have a chance to grant 1500 Haste, Mastery or Crit for 12 seconds, is the better option.
Shield: [Enchant Shield - Greater Parry] - 170 Parry.
Shoulders: [Greater Ox Horn Inscription] - 300 Stamina, 100 Dodge. Scribes use [Secret Ox Horn Inscription] - 750 Stamina, 100 Dodge.
Back: [Enchant Cloak - Greater Protection] - 200 Stamina.
Chest: [Enchant Chest - Superior Stamina] - 300 Stamina.
Wrists: [Enchant Bracer - Mastery] - 170 Mastery. Leatherworkers use [Fur Lining - Stamina] - 750 Stamina.
Hands: [Sha Armor Kit] - 150 stamina. Engineers use [Synapse Springs] - 1920 Strength for 10 seconds ever minute, in addition to the enchant.
Legs: [Ironscale Leg Armor] - 430 Stamina, 165 Dodge. Leatherworkers use [Heavy Leg Reinforcements] - 430 Stamina, 165 Dodge.
Feet: If you like the increased movement speed, use [Enchant Boots - Pandaren's Step] - 140 Mastery, increased movement speed. Note that it doesn't stack with [Pursuit of Justice]. If you do not need the increased movement speed, use [Sha Armor Kit] - 150 stamina.
Fingers: None. Enchanters use [Enchant Ring - Greater Stamina] - 240 Stamina.

Trinkets:
Use two proper Stamina trinkets if you can. If not, try to use other heavy survival trinkets. If those are also not available, use trinkets with Haste, Hit or Expertise.

Meta-Gem:
[Indomitable Primal Diamond] 324 Stamina, chance on being hit to receive 20% physical damage reduction for 15 seconds, if you have it available to you.
[Austere Primal Diamond] 324 Stamina, 2% armor, if you do not have access to the legendary gem.
[Effulgent Primal Diamond] 324 Stamina, 2% spell damage reduction, for magic heavy fights, if you have a spare helmet, or don't mind swapping meta gems often, or notice that you have a lot more problems surviving the magic heavy fights than the physical heavy fights.

Gems:
Default gem: [Solid River's Heart] - 240 Stamina.
Yellow gem: [Nimble Wild Jade] - 160 Hit, 120 Stamina.
Red gem: [Guardian's Imperial Amethyst] - 120 Stamina, 160 Expertise.
Hit shortage: [Rigid River's Heart] - 320 Hit.
Expertise shortage: [Precise Promordial Ruby] - 320 Expertise.
Additional shortage: [Accurate Imperial Amethyst] - 160 Hit, 160 Expertise.
Hit overflow: [Forceful Wild Jade] - 120 Stamina, 160 Haste.
Expertise overflow: [Defender's Imperial Amethyst] - 120 Stamina, 160 Parry.

Use a Nimble Wild Jade in all yellow sockets and a Guardian's Imperial Amethyst in all red sockets.
If any other sockets currently contain gems that provides Hit or Expertise, replace those gems with a Solid River's Heart.
Wait with filling out the other sockets until after you have reforged.

Reforging:
First follow the gemming advise above. Then reforge your gear with the following priority:

Hit to 7.5% > Expertise to 15% > Haste > Mastery > Dodge/Parry > Crit > Spirit.

Gems:
If you did not manage to reach Hit cap through reforging, fill blue and prismatic sockets with a Rigid River's Heart, or red sockets with an Accurate Imperial Amethyst, until you reach the Hit cap.

If you did not manage to reach Expertise cap through reforging, fill red and prismatic sockets with a Precise Primordial Ruby, or blue sockets with a Guardian's Imperial Amethyst or an Accurate Imperial Amethyst, until you reach the Expertise cap.

If you have too much Hit, replace some of your Nimble Wild Jades with Forceful Wild Jades. If you have too much Expertise, replace some of your Guardian's Imperial Amethysts with Defender's Imperial Amethysts.

Once you've reached Hit and Expertise cap, fill all remaining blue and prismatic sockets with a Solid River's Heart.

Enchants:
If after reforging and gemming, you are still short on Hit, use [Enchant Boots - Greater Precision] - 175 Hit, and [Enchant Cloak - Accuracy] - 180 Hit.

If after reforging and gemming, you are still short on Expertise, use [Enchant Gloves - Superior Expertise] - 170 Expertise.

Consumables:
Food: [Chun Tian Srping Rolls] - 450 Stamina, or the cheaper [Twin Fish Platter] - 415 Stamina, or a Banquet.
Flasks and Elixirs: [Flask of the Earth] - 1500 Stamina (1980 for Alchemists). Battle and Guardian. Persists through death.
Potions: [Potion of the Mountains] - 12000 Armor for 25 seconds. You can also pre-pot one. It is useless against Magic, so use a Master Healing Potion or Life Spirit if you need to survive a heavy magic burst. If you are not at risk of dying early in the fight, you can pre-pot a [Potion of Mogu Power]. If towards the end of a fight, you still have your potion available and aren't saving it for incoming burst damage, you can use a [Potion of Mogu Power] or [Kafa Press].



Priority 3: Balanced.

Balanced is similar to priority 2, but benefits from the fact that gems provide more secondary stats than Stamina, in contrast to regular itemization. It's a decent drop in Stamina, but this should net you a lot of Haste, and thus more damage output.

Note that while the increase in Haste also provides you with more Shield of the Righteous uptime, faster Sacred Shield refreshes and more Seal of Insight procs, these effects merely reduce the loss of survivability (towards a gain of damage output). Replacing Haste by Stamina is always a loss of survivability.

Changes from Priority 2 are listed in red.

Enchants:
Weapon: [Enchant Weapon - Dancing Steel] - Your melee attacks have a chance to grant 1650 Strength. At very high vengeance levels (above 170k on average for the entire fight), [Enchant Weapon - Windsong] - Your melee attacks have a chance to grant 1500 Haste, Mastery or Crit for 12 seconds, is the better option.
Shield: [Enchant Shield - Greater Parry] - 170 Parry.
Shoulders: [Greater Ox Horn Inscription] - 300 Stamina, 100 Dodge. Scribes use [Secret Ox Horn Inscription] - 750 Stamina, 100 Dodge.
Back: [Enchant Cloak - Greater Protection] - 200 Stamina.
Chest: [Enchant Chest - Superior Stamina] - 300 Stamina.
Wrists: [Enchant Bracer - Mastery] - 170 Mastery. Leatherworkers use [Fur Lining - Stamina] - 750 Stamina.
Hands: [Sha Armor Kit] - 150 stamina. Engineers use [Synapse Springs] - 1920 Strength for 10 seconds ever minute, in addition to the enchant.
Legs: [Ironscale Leg Armor] - 430 Stamina, 165 Dodge. Leatherworkers use [Heavy Leg Reinforcements] - 430 Stamina, 165 Dodge.
Feet: If you like the increased movement speed, use [Enchant Boots - Pandaren's Step] - 140 Mastery, increased movement speed. Note that it doesn't stack with [Pursuit of Justice]. If you do not need the increased movement speed, use [Sha Armor Kit] - 150 stamina.
Fingers: None. Enchanters use [Enchant Ring - Greater Stamina] - 240 Stamina.

Trinkets:
Use two proper Stamina trinkets if you can. If not, try to use other heavy survival trinkets. If those are also not available, use trinkets with Haste, Hit or Expertise.

Meta-Gem:
[Indomitable Primal Diamond] 324 Stamina, chance on being hit to receive 20% physical damage reduction for 15 seconds, if you have it available to you.
[Austere Primal Diamond] 324 Stamina, 2% armor, if you do not have access to the legendary gem.
[Effulgent Primal Diamond] 324 Stamina, 2% spell damage reduction, for magic heavy fights, if you have a spare helmet, or don't mind swapping meta gems often, or notice that you have a lot more problems surviving the magic heavy fights than the physical heavy fights.

Gems:
Default gem: [Quick Sun's Radiance] - 320 Haste.
Blue gem: [Lightning Wild Jade] - 160 Hit, 160 Haste.
Red gem: [Wicked Vermilion Onyx] - 160 Expertise, 160 Haste.
Hit shortage: [Rigid River's Heart] - 320 Hit.
Expertise shortage: [Precise Promordial Ruby] - 320 Expertise.
Additional shortage: [Accurate Imperial Amethyst] - 160 Hit, 160 Expertise.
Hit overflow: [Forceful Wild Jade] - 120 Stamina, 160 Haste.
Expertise overflow: [Fierce Vermilion Onyx] - 80 Strength, 160 Haste.

Use a Lightning Wild Jade in all blue sockets and a Wicked Vermilion Onyx in all red sockets.
If any other sockets currently contain gems that provides Hit or Expertise, replace those gems with a Quick Sun's Radiance.[/color]
Wait with filling out the other sockets until after you have reforged.

Reforging:
First follow the gemming advise above. Then reforge your gear with the following priority:

Hit to 7.5% > Expertise to 15% > Haste > Mastery > Dodge/Parry > Crit > Spirit.

Gems:
If you did not manage to reach Hit cap through reforging, fill blue and prismatic sockets with a Rigid River's Heart, or red sockets with an Accurate Imperial Amethyst, or yellow sockets with a Lightning Wild Jade until you reach the Hit cap.

If you did not manage to reach Expertise cap through reforging, fill red and prismatic sockets with a Precise Primordial Ruby, or blue sockets with an Accurate Imperial Amethyst, or yellow sockets with a Wicked Vermilion Onyx until you reach the Expertise cap.

If you have too much Hit, replace some of your Lightning Wild Jades with Forceful Wild Jades. If you have too much Expertise, replace some of your Wicked Vermilion Onyxes with Fierce Vermilion Onyxes.

Once you've reached Hit and Expertise cap, fill all remaining yellow and prismatic sockets with a Quick Sun's Radiance.

Enchants:
If after reforging and gemming, you are still short on Hit, use [Enchant Boots - Greater Precision] - 175 Hit, and [Enchant Cloak - Accuracy] - 180 Hit.

If after reforging and gemming, you are still short on Expertise, use [Enchant Gloves - Superior Expertise] - 170 Expertise.

Consumables:
Food: [Chun Tian Srping Rolls] - 450 Stamina, or the cheaper [Twin Fish Platter] - 415 Stamina, or a Banquet.
Flasks and Elixirs: [Flask of the Earth] - 1500 Stamina (1980 for Alchemists). Battle and Guardian. Persists through death.
Potions: [Potion of the Mountains] - 12000 Armor for 25 seconds. You can also pre-pot one. It is useless against Magic, so use a Master Healing Potion or Life Spirit if you need to survive a heavy magic burst. If you are not at risk of dying early in the fight, you can pre-pot a [Potion of Mogu Power]. If towards the end of a fight, you still have your potion available and aren't saving it for incoming burst damage, you can use a [Potion of Mogu Power] or [Kafa Press].



Priority 4: High on damage output.

High on damage output takes priority 3 one step further, swapping enchants, trinkets and the meta-gem towards more damage output related enchants, trinkets and meta-gem, for even more damage output. Note that because the secondary stats on enchants and trinkets aren't as high compared to Stamina than they are on gems, the damage output gained compared to the survivability lost is poorer than with the gems. Still, if you aren't in any risk of dying, or if berserk timers are a serious issue, you could go ahead and follow this priority.

Changes from Priority 3 are listed in red.

Enchants:
Weapon: [Enchant Weapon - Dancing Steel] - Your melee attacks have a chance to grant 1650 Strength. At very high vengeance levels (above 170k on average for the entire fight), [Enchant Weapon - Windsong] - Your melee attacks have a chance to grant 1500 Haste, Mastery or Crit for 12 seconds, is the better option.
Shield: [Enchant Shield - Greater Parry] - 170 Parry.
Shoulders: [Greater Ox Horn Inscription] - 300 Stamina, 100 Dodge. Scribes use [Secret Ox Horn Inscription] - 750 Stamina, 100 Dodge.
Back: [Enchant Cloak - Accuracy] - 180 Hit. (See comments below)
Chest: [Enchant Chest - Superior Stamina] - 300 Stamina.
Wrists: [Enchant Bracer - Exceptional Strength] - 180 Strength. Leatherworkers use [Fur Lining - Stamina] - 750 Stamina.
Hands: [Enchant Gloves - Greater Haste] - 170 Haste. (See comments below) Engineers use [Synapse Springs] - 1920 Strength for 10 seconds ever minute, in addition to the enchant.
Legs: [Ironscale Leg Armor] - 430 Stamina, 165 Dodge. Leatherworkers use [Heavy Leg Reinforcements] - 430 Stamina, 165 Dodge.
Feet: If you like the increased movement speed, use [Enchant Boots - Pandaren's Step] - 140 Mastery, increased movement speed. Note that it doesn't stack with [Pursuit of Justice]. If you do not need the increased movement speed, use [Enchant Boots - Greater Haste] - 175 Haste. (See comments below)
Fingers: None. Enchanters use [Enchant Ring - Greater Stamina] - 240 Stamina.

If you have too much Hit, use [Enchant Cloak - Greater Protection] - 200 Stamina.
If you are short on Hit, use [Enchant Boots - Greater Precision] - 175 Hit.
If you are short on Expertise, use [Enchant Gloves - Superior Expertise] - 170 Expertise.

Trinkets:
Use two damage trinkets, preferably trinkets that provide static Haste rather than static Strength, as Haste scales with vengeance.

You can use trinkets that provide static Hit or Expertise, but the problem is that you cannot swap them out for fights where you want more survivability, unless you have a survivability trinket that also provides Hit or Expertise. For example, you can use the [Brutal Talisman of the Shado-Pan Assault] and when needed, replace it with the [Ji-Kun's Rising Winds]. If the trinkets are of different ilvl, equip the trinket with the lowest ilvl as you try to gem and reforge your gear towards the Hit and Expertise cap. Be sure to reforge both trinkets in the same way.

Meta-Gem:
[Capacitive Primal Diamond] 324 Crit, your melee attacks have a chance to deal additional Lightning damage, if you have it available to you.
[Austere Primal Diamond] 324 Stamina, 2% armor, if you do not have access to the legendary gem.
[Effulgent Primal Diamond] 324 Stamina, 2% spell damage reduction, for magic heavy fights, if you have a spare helmet, or don't mind swapping meta gems often, or notice that you have a lot more problems surviving the magic heavy fights than the physical heavy fights.

Gems:
Default gem: [Quick Sun's Radiance] - 320 Haste.
Blue gem: [Lightning Wild Jade] - 160 Hit, 160 Haste.
Red gem: [Wicked Vermilion Onyx] - 160 Expertise, 160 Haste.
Hit shortage: [Rigid River's Heart] - 320 Hit.
Expertise shortage: [Precise Promordial Ruby] - 320 Expertise.
Additional shortage: [Accurate Imperial Amethyst] - 160 Hit, 160 Expertise.
Hit overflow: [Forceful Wild Jade] - 120 Stamina, 160 Haste.
Expertise overflow: [Fierce Vermilion Onyx] - 80 Strength, 160 Haste.

Use a Lightning Wild Jade in all blue sockets and a Wicked Vermilion Onyx in all red sockets.
If any other sockets currently contain gems that provides Hit or Expertise, replace those gems with a Quick Sun's Radiance.
Wait with filling out the other sockets until after you have reforged.

Reforging:
First follow the gemming advise above. Then reforge your gear with the following priority:

Hit to 7.5% > Expertise to 15% > Haste > Mastery > Dodge/Parry > Crit > Spirit.

Gems:
If you did not manage to reach Hit cap through reforging, fill blue and prismatic sockets with a Rigid River's Heart, or red sockets with an Accurate Imperial Amethyst, or yellow sockets with a Lightning Wild Jade until you reach the Hit cap.

If you did not manage to reach Expertise cap through reforging, fill red and prismatic sockets with a Precise Primordial Ruby, or blue sockets with an Accurate Imperial Amethyst, or yellow sockets with a Wicked Vermilion Onyx until you reach the Expertise cap.

If you have too much Hit, replace some of your Lightning Wild Jades with Forceful Wild Jades. If you have too much Expertise, replace some of your Wicked Vermilion Onyxes with Fierce Vermilion Onyxes.

Once you've reached Hit and Expertise cap, fill all remaining yellow and prismatic sockets with a Quick Sun's Radiance.

Consumables:
Food: [Chun Tian Srping Rolls] - 450 Stamina, or the cheaper [Twin Fish Platter] - 415 Stamina, or a Banquet.
Flasks and Elixirs: [Flask of the Earth] - 1500 Stamina (1980 for Alchemists). Battle and Guardian. Persists through death. Alternatively, you can use [Elixir of the Rapids] - 750 Haste (990 for Alchemists). Battle, in combination with [Mantid Elixir] - 2250 Armor (2730 for Alchemists). Guardian.
Potions: [Potion of the Mountains] - 12000 Armor for 25 seconds. You can also pre-pot one. It is useless against Magic, so use a Master Healing Potion or Life Spirit if you need to survive a heavy magic burst. If you are not at risk of dying early in the fight, you can pre-pot a [Potion of Mogu Power]. If towards the end of a fight, you still have your potion available and aren't saving it for incoming burst damage, you can use a [Potion of Mogu Power] or [Kafa Press].



Priority 5: Full damage output.

Full survivability sacrifices every single grain of survivability for damage output. Nice for when you are seriously overgearing content. Still, if you are overgearing content, it's not likely that berserk timers are a problem in any way. Think twice before considering this priority, then think a third time as well.

Changes from Priority 4 are listed in red.

Enchants:
Weapon: [Enchant Weapon - Dancing Steel] - Your melee attacks have a chance to grant 1650 Strength. At very high vengeance levels (above 170k on average for the entire fight), [Enchant Weapon - Windsong] - Your melee attacks have a chance to grant 1500 Haste, Mastery or Crit for 12 seconds, is the better option.
Shield: [Enchant Shield - Greater Parry] - 170 Parry.
Shoulders: [Greater Tiger Fang Inscription] - 200 Strength, 100 Crit. Scribes use [Secret Tiger Fang Inscription] - 520 Strength, 100 Crit.
Back: [Enchant Cloak - Accuracy] - 180 Hit. (See comments below)
Chest: [Enchant Chest - Glorious Stats] - 80 to all stats.
Wrists: [Enchant Bracer - Exceptional Strength] - 180 Strength. Leatherworkers use [Fur Lining - Strength] - 500 Strength.
Hands: [Enchant Gloves - Greater Haste] - 170 Haste. (See comments below) Engineers use [Synapse Springs] - 1920 Strength for 10 seconds ever minute, in addition to the enchant.
Legs: [Angerhide Leg Armor] - 285 Strength, 165 Crit. Leatherworkers use [Draconic Leg Reinforcements] - 285 Strength, 165 Crit.
Feet: If you like the increased movement speed, use [Enchant Boots - Pandaren's Step] - 140 Mastery, increased movement speed. Note that it doesn't stack with [Pursuit of Justice]. If you do not need the increased movement speed, use [Enchant Boots - Greater Haste] - 175 Haste. (See comments below)
Fingers: None. Enchanters use [Enchant Ring - Greater Strength] - 160 Strength.

If you have too much Hit, use [Enchant Cloak - Superior Critical Strike] - 180 Crit.
If you are short on Hit, use [Enchant Boots - Greater Precision] - 175 Hit.
If you are short on Expertise, use [Enchant Gloves - Superior Expertise] - 170 Expertise.

Trinkets:
Use two damage trinkets, preferably trinkets that provide static Haste rather than static Strength, as Haste scales with vengeance.

You can use trinkets that provide static Hit or Expertise, but the problem is that you cannot swap them out for fights where you want more survivability, unless you have a survivability trinket that also provides Hit or Expertise. For example, you can use the [Brutal Talisman of the Shado-Pan Assault] and when needed, replace it with the [Ji-Kun's Rising Winds]. If the trinkets are of different ilvl, equip the trinket with the lowest ilvl as you try to gem and reforge your gear towards the Hit and Expertise cap. Be sure to reforge both trinkets in the same way.

Meta-Gem:
[Capacitive Primal Diamond] 324 Crit, your melee attacks have a chance to deal additional Lightning damage, if you have it available to you.
[Reverberating Primal Diamond] 216 Strength, 3% critical effect, if you do not have access to the legendary gem.

Gems:
Default gem: [Quick Sun's Radiance] - 320 Haste.
Blue gem: [Lightning Wild Jade] - 160 Hit, 160 Haste.
Red gem: [Wicked Vermilion Onyx] - 160 Expertise, 160 Haste.
Hit shortage: [Rigid River's Heart] - 320 Hit.
Expertise shortage: [Precise Promordial Ruby] - 320 Expertise.
Additional shortage: [Accurate Imperial Amethyst] - 160 Hit, 160 Expertise.
Hit overflow: [Forceful Wild Jade] - 120 Stamina, 160 Haste.
Expertise overflow: [Fierce Vermilion Onyx] - 80 Strength, 160 Haste.

Use a Lightning Wild Jade in all blue sockets and a Wicked Vermilion Onyx in all red sockets.
If any other sockets currently contain gems that provides Hit or Expertise, replace those gems with a Quick Sun's Radiance.
Wait with filling out the other sockets until after you have reforged.

Reforging:
First follow the gemming advise above. Then reforge your gear with the following priority:

Hit to 7.5% > Expertise to 15% > Haste > Crit > Dodge/Parry > Mastery > Spirit.

Gems:
If you did not manage to reach Hit cap through reforging, fill blue and prismatic sockets with a Rigid River's Heart, or red sockets with an Accurate Imperial Amethyst, or yellow sockets with a Lightning Wild Jade until you reach the Hit cap.

If you did not manage to reach Expertise cap through reforging, fill red and prismatic sockets with a Precise Primordial Ruby, or blue sockets with an Accurate Imperial Amethyst, or yellow sockets with a Wicked Vermilion Onyx until you reach the Expertise cap.

If you have too much Hit, replace some of your Lightning Wild Jades with Forceful Wild Jades. If you have too much Expertise, replace some of your Wicked Vermilion Onyxes with Fierce Vermilion Onyxes.

Once you've reached Hit and Expertise cap, fill all remaining yellow and prismatic sockets with a Quick Sun's Radiance.

Consumables:
Food: [Black Pepper Ribs and Shrimp] - 300 Strength, or the cheaper [Eternal Blossom Fish] - 275 Strength. If you have Retribution as your offspec, you can respec, click a Banquet, and respec back to Protection once you have the Well Fed buff. Alternatively, If you are likely to have a high amount of vengeance for most of the fight, you should use [Tangy Yogurt] - 200 Haste.
Flasks and Elixirs: [Flask of Winter's Bite] - 1000 Strength (1320 for Alchemists). Battle and Guardian. Persists through death. Alternatively, you can use [Elixir of the Rapids] - 750 Haste (990 for Alchemists). Battle, in combination with [Mantid Elixir] - 2250 Armor (2730 for Alchemists). Guardian.
Potions: If you pre-pot, it is best to use a Potion of Mogu Power. Midfight, if you are at decent vengeance levels, use the Kafa Press if you have it. If you are at low vengeance levels, or if you do not have the Kafa Press, or if the Kafa Press is on cooldown, use another Potion of Mogu Power.

Reserved for possible future updates.

Updated.

Priority 2 is more or less the default gearing strategy, while those that feel confident about their survivability and want to push some more DPS could consider Priority 3 or 4. Priorities 1 and 5 are only useful in the extreme cases.

Feel free to comment.

I think Theck pointed out that Windsong was a higher dps increase at 150k+ vengeance compared to Dancing Steel.

The breakpoint was actually at 170k+ vengeance, and only if you can maintain that as your average throughout the entire fight. Not too likely, but I'll include it for completeness' sake.