Outland gems

Crafted (C)
Jewelcrafters (skill levels 300-325) can craft most gems. Those with skill level 350+ can also craft many gems. Finally, jewelcrafters with skill level 365+ can craft meta gems.

Vendors (V)

 * V
 * gems can be purchased from the following vendors for
 * in Honor Hold
 * in Thrallmar
 * on Aldor Rise, Shattrath City
 * on Scryer's Tier, Shattrath City
 * in Stormspire
 * gems can be purchased from the following vendors for 40 Apexis Shard
 * in Blade's Edge Mountains


 * Vp
 * Some and  gems are available for purchase from PvP Quartermasters in Honor Hold, Thrallmar, the Champions' Hall and the Hall of Legends, or as drops.  These gems are typically unique.


 * Vl
 * Some gems can be purchased from  in very limited-supply, for  each.


 * Vl : Hb
 * The Halaa Blade Merchant sells the rare gems Don Rodrigo's Heart and Don Amancio's Heart.

Epic gems

 * Hd
 * Dropped gems like Tanzanite, Fire Opal and Chrysoprase drop from outland instance bosses on heroic mode and are Bind on Pickup.


 * V
 * Patch 2.4 - The Shattered Sun Gem merchant Shaani sells raw gems for  each.  She also sells the designs for cutting these epic gems.


 * Q
 * Quest reward

Meta
Meta gems match meta sockets. These gems have special requirements that must be met for the gem's bonus to activate. For example, in order to gain the benefits of a Destructive Skyfire Diamond there must be a minimum of 2 gems of the listed colors (Red, Blue & Yellow in this example) between all the items currently equipped on the character.

It should be noted that gems which match multiple socket colors can fulfill meta gem requirements for any color they match (a Green gem counts as a blue gem and a yellow gem, Orange = yellow + red, and Purple counts as red + blue). For example, if a meta gem needs 3 red and 2 yellow to activate, 3 orange (red/yellow) gems can activate this gem. Also, a gem does not have to match its socket to contribute to a meta gem; therefore, the player may choose to lose an item's gem bonus in order to activate the meta gem's bonus. As mentioned at the top of this article, so far, only high-end helms have meta sockets.