Whats the point of spell penetration?

[Korchinks]

I noticce in PvP you can gem up or enchant spell penetration - but our resisent Pro says never ever use it (mebbe just locks).

Who does use it? if no-one why is it available?

BTW - I am a noob at PvP but want to learn - this area seems like the place to learn.

[Aleila]

Um, who said never use it?

It gets through spell resistances and is a decent stat to gem or enchant for once you're pretty well kitted out for PvP and are happy with your other stats. It was probably better back when druids were more abundant, but I wouldn't say never use it. I've been out of the loop for a while where warlocks are concerned - do they get any from pvp talents?

[Templaar]

It gets through spell resistances and is a decent stat to gem or enchant for once you're pretty well kitted out

I always thought of it as the +hit of PVP, but since I don't PVP or DPS any more that put it firmly on my list of junk stats

[Thawte]

Wrote a long ass(ish) post then failed as it was supposed to submit

I'll do another one when I'm at home.

[Aleila]

Just read the post that probably spawned this thread.

Stacking resilience should definitely come first. Spell penetration (I think) only really enters the game when you have a pretty tasty PvP set and aren't worrying about your survivability anymore. It's a stat you should invest a little in along side your usual spellpower etc. As Temp says - the +hit of PvP, but less crucial than in PvE.

edit: Exactly how much resilience you will need is probably a point of contention. The soft cap is over 1300, but it doesn't seem worth aiming for that atm. Having inspected a few top players the usual range seems to be 700-900, with very few gemming for resilience once they have a full set of gear.
Also, once you are kitted out, the +35 spell penetration on cloak enchant combined with some already on your gear brings you to around 110, so probably not worth gemming for that either.

[Krid]

spell penetration basically counters the target resistance, so if you have 70 shadow resistance and get hit by some shadowpriest with 70 spell penetration your shadow resistance is set to 0. It will never go below 0.
PVE mobs don't have much if any resistance so it is a more a pvp stat. But also for pvp you don't want to stack it to high.

[Korchinks]

nice one thank you for the information all.