Who doesn’t love spreadsheets, am I right? Deep down inside you know you love them. Reading them. Editing them. Pouring over them to eek out the last smidgen of dps from your gear set.

Are… are those crickets?

So not everyone is as enthralled by spending hours tweaking data fields in Excel as I am. However we all need to optimize our gear. Even if you are a not a hardcore theorycrafter it’s great to know what pieces to reforge and what gems to socket to get the most out of your gear.

There is of course the ever present Ask Mr Robot. But sometimes you want more specific and focused information to your class. Playing a Rogue I use Shadowcraft, the site dedicated to Rogue gear and talent optimization.

Shadowcraft is clean, easy to use, intuitive, and feature packed. And best of all, it’s darned pretty.

You start by selecting your character from the opening page and your gear will appear as above. You will get your optimal dps output (note that this is based on party buffs and maximum time on boss, make certain to adjust what buffs you will be receiving in the settings tab). Make certain to refresh from armory to get the most accurate data. I forgot to do so here:

All of those gem slots are filled and all gear has been reforged. You can see how much of an increase proper gemming and reforging can be.

To get the most accurate information make certain, as I said, to go into settings and remove any buffs you’ll not be receiving, which is fairly easy to determine, if there is no Shaman in your group, you’ll not be getting Strength of Earth or Wrath of Air (mores the pity >.> ).

If you are of the Rogue-ish persusasion, and why the heck would you not be, really? head over to Shadowcraft and start using the site to optimize your gear and talent selections. You’ll not be disappointed by the results!

Cheers!

~Ril

You can follow me on twitter at twitter.com/rilandune | check out my blog – Heroically Random | Listen to the other Twisted Nether podcast, The OverLores, of which I am the host