Guide to finding gems on the auction house

All crafted socketable gems are named in a particular two-part pattern:

 

Where
 * 
 * a name that defines what stats the gem have. All gems with that name share those attributes, though the values will vary.


 * 
 * the base material used to make the (socketable) gem. The better the base material, the greater the resulting attributes.

Generally:
 * Gems introduced with Wrath of the Lich King have better stats than those from Burning Crusade
 * Gems with a rarer item quality have better stats than those with lower quality.

While there may be some overlap between Epic BC cuts and Uncommon Wrath cuts, generally the Wrath cuts are still marginally stronger (and easier to acquire).

To find the gem you want, you can search for the &lt;Stat_prefix&gt; part of the name, depending on what socket and stats you are looking for, then use the quality selector on the Auction House UI to specify what amount of the desired stats you want (and how much gold you are willing to spend). Alternately, you can choose in the subset of gem the color you want and specify the quality, then it will produce a longer list of gems you can choose from.

Patch 4.0.1 revised the gem system to be a little simpler. Several stats were removed along with existing stats being moved to a different color, causing the corresponding green, orange, or purple gem to either be removed, changed, or added. Biggest change was hit rating, intellect, and dodge rating moved to blue, red, and yellow (previously yellow, yellow, and red) respectively. Yellow stormjewels were removed and mastery rating will premiere on yellow gems for patch 4.0.3a.

Blue Gems

 * Stormjewels,, ,
 * Stormjewels,, ,

Red Gems

 * Stormjewels,, ,
 * Stormjewels,, ,

Green Gems
(Matches a Yellow or Blue Socket)

Orange Gems
(Matches a Red or Yellow Socket)

Purple Gems
(Matches a Red or Blue Socket)

Meta Gems
While meta gems also use the " " naming scheme, there are many effect combinations, making a table by attributes impractical. See Meta gems for a full listing.
 * Starflare Diamond, Earthshatter Diamond (not crafted, can only be bought)
 * Starflare Diamond, Earthshatter Diamond (not crafted, can only be bought)
 * Starflare Diamond, Earthshatter Diamond (not crafted, can only be bought)

Pearls
Both of these can be crafted into purple 'Purified' gems (Spell Power and Spirit)

Both of these can be crafted into prismatic Enchanted varieties that add a value to all stats.

Enchanting created Gems
These grant additional resistance to all realms of magic.