Full Guide on Domination Gear in 9.1 | World of Warcraft GamePlay Guides

Overview

In patch 9.1 we are getting a new type of gear that is only available from Raid bosses, and one piece from the Death´s Advance Quarter Master in Korthia and one from the Archivist Codex Quartermaster in Korthia as well.

This gear is called Domination gear. The reason it is called Domination gear is because it has a special socket on it called Domination Socket.

Domination Socket can only be socketed by specific gems and there are only three types of gems:

Frost Shards
Unholy Shards
Blood Shards

Each Shard (gem) has a certain power on it (see below). This power works in all content of WoW.

There is another type of power that you can get, which is socket bonus. Adding 3 of the same type (Frost, Unholy or Blood) gems to 3 different Domination gear will also give a bonus. The socket bonus power is only active when in the Maw or inside Torghast.

There are 5 domination gear in total per amor set.

You can upgrade your gem (shard) at a vendor in Korthia (Bonesmoth Meirmir). You need the Shard that you want to upgrade, and 5 pieces of an item called 5 Stygian Ember.

Stygian Embers are obtained by killing and looting bosses in the new raid Sanctum of Domination.

The Base Shards (non-upgraded) do not have a source yet. We still don´t know where to get them.

How to get Domination gear

There is a reputation vendor that sells one piece of gear and requires reputation with Death´s Advance, and another piece from the Archivist Codex Quartermaster vendor that also requires reputation with them to buy it. It is the same type of piece tho (atleast for cloth), just the ilvl that differs.

But the main source are from bosses in the new Raid, Sanctum of Domination.

You can loot domination gear in all difficulties (Raid Finder/Normal/Heroic/Mythic).

The ilvl of the Domination gear does NOT affect the power from the gem/shard.

Based on armor type, you will be able to get different armor pieces, meaning different slots of gear. There are 5 domination gear in total per amor set.

All different armor pieces have Head, Shoulder and Chest domination gear. The last two pieces are either wrist, waist, hands or feet.

Cloth wearers have domination gear on

Head
Shoulder
Chest
Wrist
Waist

Leather wearers have domination gear on

Head
Shoulder
Chest
Hands
Feet

Mail wearers have domination gear on

Head
Shoulder
Chest
Waist
Feet

Plate wearers have domination gear on

Head
Shoulder
Chest
Wrist
Hands

Domination Gear from the Weekly Vault

The weekly Vault also have a chance on offering you Domination gear when completing the raid goal.

How to get domination socket gems/shards?

Domination Socket can only be socketed by specific gems and there are only three types of gems:

Frost Shards
Unholy Shards
Blood Shards

These Shards do not have a source yet. We still don´t know where to get them.

We do know where to upgrade them only (see below).

How to upgrade the Shards

You can upgrade a shard up 4 times (total 5) so they become more powerful.

There is an NPC in Korthia called Bonesmith Heirmir that upgrades the shards for you. To be able to upgrade a Shard you need:

The gem/shard that you wish to upgrade
Stygian Ember

You can buy an item called Soulfire Chisel to remove a gem/shard from a domination gear. This item costs 23 gold only and you only need to buy it once.
So, if you have a shard in your domination gear, you can just remove it by using a Soulfire Chisel.
The ilvl does not change when upgrading the power of it.

Stygian Embers are received by

1) Looting bosses in Sanctum of Domination Raid. On the PTR it was chance on loot, not a 100% loot. There are 10 bosses in the new raid, if you get super lucky or if they will change the drop chance to 100% loot chance, then you will get 10 Stygian Embers a week from bosses.

2) From minibosses in Sanctum of Domination Raid.

2) The weekly Korthia quest called Shaping Fate. This quest rewards 10 Stygian Embers.

Upgrading Domination gear

The first time you upgrade will cost 5 Stygian Ember.
The second time you upgrade that shard will cost 15 Stygian Ember.
The third time you upgrade that shard will cost 30 Stygian Ember
The fourth time you upgrade that shard will cost 50 Stygian Ember

What are the powers from the Shards?

Each Shard type has 3 different powers. No matter what class or spec you are, they are all the same 9 different Shards that you can obtain and choose which one you want to add in your domination gear.

Frost Shards

Shard of Cor
Your damage is increased by 3% for 20 sec after attacking an enemy you have not damaged yet.
Shard of Tel
Your critical hits cause a nearby ally to absorb the next 228 damage dealt to them within 6 sec.
Shard of Kyr
Gain 880 Absorb every 5 sec, up to a cap of 4400.

Unholy Shards

Shard of Oth
Your Speed is increased by 26.
Shard of Zed
Your helpful spells and abilities have a chance to grant your target Unholy Aura, draining 221 health from nearby enemies every 2 sec for 10 sec.
Shard of Dyz
Damaging a target increases your damage done to that target by 0.33% for 4 sec, stacking up to 3 times.

Blood Shards

Shard of Rev
Your Leech is increased by 26.
Shard of Jas
Incoming healing you receive is increased by 1%. Your maximum health is increased by 400.
Shard of Bek
Your damage is increased by 2% when you have 50% or more health than your target.

How does the socket bonus work on Domination gear?

Socket bonus is obtained when having 3 of the same type of shard, meaning 3 frost, or 3 Unholy or 3 blood.

There are 5 types of Domination gear in total for each armor type (cloth, leather, plate, and mail). Meaning, if you have all 5 domination gear, you can have a socket bonus with 3 pieces of gear and then choose what type of shard you want on the other two.

The socket bonus only works in the Maw and Torghast. Which means it also includes the new zone Korthia and the new Raid, Sanctum of Domination.

Frost Shards

Socketing 3 Frost Shards gives the socket bonus Winds of Winter.

While inside the Maw or Torghast, each time you deal a critical strike, the Winds accumulate 6% of that effect, up to a cap of 180 per critical strike.

Every 20 sec, the Winds unleash, dealing Frost damage equal to the total accumulation and surrounding you in the Winds for 20 sec, absorbing 100% of damage dealt by the Winds.

Unholy Shards

Socketing 3 Unholy Shards gives the socket bonus Chaos Bane.

While inside the Maw or Torghast, your spells and abilities have a chance to drain Soul Fragment from your target, granting you 10 Primary stat for 30 sec and stacking up to 15 times.

When you reach 15 stacks, unleash Chaos Bane, dealing 1683 Shadow dmg split between nearby enemies and granting you 300 Primary Stat.

Blood Shard

Socketing 3 Blood Shards gives the socket bonus Blood Link.

While inside the Maw or Torghast, damaging an enemy establish a Blood Link.

Blood Link pulses every 3 sec, dealing 540 Shadow damage and healing for 100% of damage dealt. If your Blood Link would overheal you, it instead heals a nearby ally. Limit 1.