Stat Priorities
Stat Outline
Strength is your primary stat, increasing the potency of all attack power scaling abilities, the armor provided by Shield Of The Righteous, as well as granting a small amount of parry
Haste reduces your global cooldown, as well as the cooldown of several rotational abilities including Judgment, Hammer Of Wrath, Blessed Hammers, Hammer Of The Righteous, and Avenger's Shield
Critical Strike increases your damage output and grants parry, thanks to the Riposte passive
Mastery grants additional attack power and block chance, as well as causing double that amount of block chance to be effective against spells and periodic effects
Versatility provides a flat percent increase to your damage and healing, while also granting half of that value as damage reduction
Stat Ranking
As with many other specs, when initially gearing your character you’ll want to focus strictly on item level, as increases in Strength, Stamina, and Armor tend to be significantly more important than the differences between secondary stats. This of course is less true for jewelry pieces and trinkets as they tend to lack multiple of these traits.
When comparing gear of similar item level, you can use the following general stat priority for a decent mix of damage and survivability, however if you’re looking to optimize your offensive output you should always sim your character.
Item Level > Haste > Mastery until 52% Block Chance (M+ only) > Crit > Mastery > Vers
Races
For the most part your choice of race can be entirely based on aesthetic preferences, however in competitive content many players opt to play either Dwarf and Dark Iron Dwarf as they have the unique ability to remove debuffs on a 2min CD using Stoneform or Fireblood, which can be extremely valuable in certain dungeons and raid encounters.
Enchants
Cloak: Chant of Leeching Fangs
Chest: Crystalline Radiance
Bracers: Chant of Armored Leech
Boots: Scout’s March
Legs: Stormbound Armor Kit
Rings: Radiant Haste
Weapon: Authority of the Depths (ST) or Authority of Radiant Power (AoE and Defense)
Gems
Algari Diamond: Elusive Blasphemite (speed increase) or Culminating Blasphemite (very minor damage increase)
Other Gems: To maximize the benefits of your Algari Diamond (and Elemental Focusing Lens embellishment if you’re using it) you’ll want to insert 1 of each gem colour outside of ambers. This means you’ll want one each of Quick Ruby, Quick Sapphire, Quick Onyx, then fill out the rest of your sockets with Deadly Emeralds.
Consumables
Food: Feast of the Midnight Masquerade (Primary)
Phials: Flask of Alchemical Chaos
Potions: Tempered Potion
Health Potions: Invigorating Healing Potion
Weapon Oil: Algari Mana Oil (Templar) or Rite of Sanctification (Lightsmith)