Topic
(Sticky)
So you just hit 85? A starter tank gear guide
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Edited by Skyfiredraco on 1/13/12 12:18 PM (PST)
**edit** updated for 4.3 (as its a "fresh 85" guide i only added a few cheap boe's and lower end jp pieces. New tanks note: you'll get rapid fire upgrades once you start the HoT heroics).
Hello my friends. I recently answered a forum post with a selection of tank gear for most slots that could be gained through quests, boe's and reputation and the thought occurred tome to put together a simple guide for fresh 85 tanks wanting to gear up. This is not a best in slot list. Nor is it a full guide to 359+ items. And nor does it include stupidly expensive epic boes. This guide is intended to be used to help a fresh 85 gear up to a decent tank set for starting heroics without resorting to pvp gear (a generally bad idea by the way). It is mostly leaned toward plate tanks but I tried to include suggestions for druids as well. Feel free to disagree with any of my suggestions about enchants etc. as i'm not a walking EJ handbook, but this should (hopefully) be useful to someone :) Note: gems are slightly different for plate vs. leather classes. Plate stacks mastery (all 3 of em). So, in general, yellow sockets =  Fractured Amberjewel, blue =  Puissant Dream Emerald and red =  Fine Ember Topaz. Druids, on the other hand, stack agility. In general: Yellow: Polished Ember Topaz, blue:  Shifting Demonseye and red:  Delicate Inferno RubyNote 2: To druids, expect to be reforging a good chunk of dps stats on your gear (haste especially) into dodge. Reforge haste to dodge first and mastery to dodge last (keep mastery if possible). Note 3: Again to druids; I mentioned that this is mostly plate focused with at least one leather suggestion for each slot. A poster on page two (Rikulata) posted a blog they created more focused on the pre-heroic Bear druid and so may be another/better resource to use :) http://blog.wuphonsreach.org/2010/12/wow-gearing-up-feral-druid-in-cataclysm.html Note 4: Many of these items will have direct upgrades from the justice point vendor. You CAN grind out JP through normals, but it will be much slower than heroics. It would, however, likely be worth your while to check your faction's jp vendor to look ahead at your next set of upgrades :) So let us begin, i'll break it down by slot: Helm Ideal:  Crown of Wings or Grinning Fang HelmSource: Wildhammer/Dragonmaw Revered. Fairly simple with dailies in Twilight highlands and a tabard. 346 item level Dropped:  Helm of SeteshSource: Setesh in norm Hall of Origination. Good if you are lucky but not as good as the above. 333 item level Backup:  Hardened Obsidium HelmSource: Blacksmithing. Low ilvl but decent stats for a starter. Gun for the above, though. 308 item level Honorable mention:  Redsteel HelmSource: Crafted. Cheap. Dps stats. But, you can reforge the crit and have access to a meta. Leather suggestion for druids:  Helm of Secret KnowledgeSource: Quest reward from norm Grim batol. http://www.wowhead.com/quest=28853 333 item level Enchant:  Arcanum of the Earthen RingSource: ER revered. Neck Ideal: ***UPDATE*** 4.2 has introduced a vendor in the molten front that you can access by doing a single day's worth of dailies (starting from the shrine of malorne.. you may have to quest some in hyjal to unlock the phase its in). One item on this vendor is  Fireheart Necklace which, with the expertise reforged, CRUSHES any other plate tank neck until firelands.Druid suggestion:  Acorn of the Daughter TreeSource: Guardian's of Hyjal, revered. You'll actually get revered with the Guardians if you completely clear hyjal. Simple to get. Item level 346 Shoulders Ideal:  Earthshape PauldronsSource: Dropped by Drahga Shadowburner in norm Grim Batol. Low drop rate. Item level 333 Backup: Pharoah's Burial SpauldersSource: Quest reward from uldum (http://www.wowhead.com/quest=28612) item level 325 Druid Suggestion:  Clandestine SpauldersSource: Quest reward from norm Lost city of Tol'Vir http://www.wowhead.com/quest=28781 item level 333 Enchant:  Lesser Inscription of Unbreakable Quartz or Greater Inscription of Unbreakable QuartzSource: Therazane rep in deepholm. Honored/exalted respectively. Side note: Scribes use http://www.wowhead.com/spell=86402 instead Cloak Ideal: There are two cheap boe 333's, one as a dungeon drop, one as a leatherworking item. Take your pick.  Shade of Death and Cloak of WarDruid suggestion:  Softwind CapeSource: Earthen ring revered. You'll be doing this for the helm glyph anyway. Item level 346 Alternatively: Cloak of Beasts (again, cheap, crafted boe 333) Honorable mention:  Wrap of the Great Turtle 359 epic tank cloak from Guardians of hyjal exalted. ***UPDATE*** 4.2 introduced the Thrall quest chain in hyjal (started by an earthen ring npc near the portals in SW and Org). The chain rewards ilvl 365 epic cloaks. Of note for both plate tanks AND druids from the chain are  Mantle of Patience and Mantle of Doubt.Enchant: Enchant cloak - Protection http://www.wowhead.com/spell=74234 (250 armor) |
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Edited by Skyfiredraco on 1/13/12 11:57 AM (PST)
Chest
Ideal:  Breastplate of the Witnesssource: Quest reward out of norm Grim Batol http://www.wowhead.com/quest=28854 item level 333 Backup: Flynn's Favorite Chestplate or Skyshredder Battleplate (same item, faction specific). Source: Quest rewards from Twilight highlands http://www.wowhead.com/item=63831 or http://www.wowhead.com/quest=28595 item level 333 Note: Reforge the haste into dodge or parry Druid suggestion:  Sly Fox JerkinSource: Guardians of hyjal, honored. item level 333 Enchant: Enchant chest - stamina (http://www.wowhead.com/spell=74200) +55 stam Bracers Ideal:  Terborus's Rotating BandsSource: BoE off a rare spawn in deepholm. Occasionally see them on the AH. Good luck. Item level 346 Backups: Alpha Bracers and Armguards of Unearthly LightSource: Dropped by Anraphet and Isiset respectively in norm Halls of Origination. Item level 333 Druid Suggestion:  Poison Fang BracersSource: Dropped by Temple Guardian Anhuur in norm Halls of Origination. Item level 333 Honorable mention:  Sandguard Bracers 359 epic tank bracers from Ramkahen Exalted. Great bracers but doubtful you'll be exalted just starting out.Note: JP and VP bracers are both BoE.  Bracers of Regal Force and  Flamebinder Bracers are both fairly affordable these days.Enchant: A selection of 40 stamina, 50 dodge, 50 hit or 50 expertise. Pick which you need more of :) (http://www.wowhead.com/spell=62256, http://www.wowhead.com/spell=74229, http://www.wowhead.com/spell=74232 and http://www.wowhead.com/spell=74239) Note: leatherworkers use http://www.wowhead.com/spell=85007 Note 2: Blacksmiths get an extra socket here Gloves Ideal:  Fingers of LightSource: Dropped by Rajh in norm Halls of origination. Item level 333 Backup: Gloves of GnomebliterationSource: A very amusing quest chain in Uldum. http://www.wowhead.com/quest=27779 Item level 325 Secondary backup: Oath-Bound GauntletsSource: BoE, maybe find it on the AH. Item level 325 Druid Suggestion: Again, slim pickings minus the JP gloves unfortunately. There are a couple decent 325 boe's though you can keep an eye out for:  Safecracker's Gloves and Thartuk's Inimitable GauntletsThat said, druids, if you manage to get exalted with Wildhammer or dragonmaw you get some nice 359 epic gloves :) (  Stormbolt Gloves or Liar's Handwraps)Enchant: Again a selection of 50 mastery, 50 expertise or a stamina armor kit: http://www.wowhead.com/spell=74132, http://www.wowhead.com/spell=74220 or http://www.wowhead.com/item=56517 Note: Blacksmiths get an extra socket here Belt Ideal: Two equally good 333's. One is BoE,  Belt of Guardianship and one is a drop from Lockmaw in norm Tol'Vir Sand Dune Belt. No real backups even close to those two.Druid suggestion:  Quicksand BeltSource: Ramkahen Revered. Item level 346 Note there is also a 333 that drops in norm Halls of origination off Rajh (  Red Beam Cord)Note: for both plate tanks and druids there is a crafted boe 359 epic. These can be slightly expensive but are more affordable these days for an annoying slot:  Hardened Elementium Girdle and  Belt of Nefarious Whispers respectivelyNo enchants but if you get a 333+ get an ebonsteel belt buckle:  Ebonsteel Belt Buckle
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Edited by Skyfiredraco on 1/13/12 12:01 PM (PST)
Leggings
Ideal:  Stone-Wrapped GreavesSource: Earthen Ring, honored. Item level 333. Easy Druid suggestion:  Swiftflight Leggings or Leggings of the ImpenitentSource: Wildhammer/dragonmaw honored. item level 333 Alternatively this quest in the twilight highlands: http://www.wowhead.com/quest=27788 or http://www.wowhead.com/quest=27787 gives a faction-specific 333 (  Garona's Finest Leggings or Shaw's Finest LeggingsEnchant: Charscale leg armor if you're rich  Charscale Leg Armor Twilight leg armor if you aren't  Twilight Leg Armor. Note for plate tanks: If rich (or when you get a 346/359 set of legs) get the new leg armor (since agility no longer helps plate tanks):  Drakehide Leg Armornote: Leatherworkers get a freebie here. Same stats only much cheaper. Boots Ideal:  Ramkahen Front BootsSource: Quest reward out of norm Tol'Vir http://www.wowhead.com/quest=28783 item level 333 Backup: Darksky TreadsSource: BoE, only 316 item level. Gun for the above. Druid suggestion:  Boots of the Hard WaySource: Quest reward out of norm Halls of origination http://www.wowhead.com/quest=28746 Item level 333 Alternatively there is a 333 with slightly better stats that drops from Siamat in norm tol'vir ( Crafty's Gaiters) but if you are unlucky the quest reward will do.Honorable mention:  Gryphon Rider's Boots or  Boots of Sullen Rock Epic 359 tank boots from Exalted with wildhammer/dragonmaw.Note: The molten front vendor mentioned above has a nice set of 365 plate tank boots... they don't have mastery and so might be slightly inferior to the wildhammer/dragonmaw ones, but hard to beat for 1 day's questing:  Pyrelord GreavesNote 2: Like bracers above, JP and VP boots are BoE. If you can find  Treads of Fleeting Joy or Rock Furrow Boots cheap, go for it. Though plate can just stick with Note 1 up there for free really.Enchant: Many, many options, won't post links to them all lol. 50 mastery, 50 hit, 35 agility, 30 stam/run speed (earthen vitality), a 44 stam armor kit. Take your pick. Rings Now we're getting into wider selections lol. First off, get to revered with Therazane (which you are doing for shoulder enchants anyway) and grab a 346 ring. For plate tanks get  Felsen's Ring of Resolve for druids get  Terrath's Signet of Balance its the same vendor.For your second ring you have many options. Plate tanks can get a  Temple Band (boe),  Ring of Three Lights (drops in norm tol'vir), possibly a  Red Rock Band (Ramkahen revered), etc.Druids look for things like a  Ring of Dun Algaz (drop in norm grim batol),  Ring of Blinding Stars (drop in norm halls of origination) or even maybe a  Signet of the Elder Council (359 epic from Earthen Ring exalted. Doubt it for starting but nice to shoot for). Note for druids: the molten front vendor mentioned previously has an agility based ring that is rather nice for a starter:  Matoclaw's BandNote: Enchanters put http://www.wowhead.com/spell=74218 on your rings. |
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Edited by Skyfiredraco on 1/13/12 12:10 PM (PST)
Trinkets
again there are many options here. You can run with any mix of stamina, avoidance and mastery trinkets. Here are some suggestions:  Za'brox's Lucky Tooth (stamina, quest reward in twilight highlands) Throngus's Finger (Parry, drop in Grim batol) Impetuous Query (mastery/parry, BoE) Skardyn's Grace (agility/mastery, drop in norm Grim batol) Tia's Grace (mastery/agility, drop in norm Tol'Vir) Leaden Despair (stamina, drop in norm stonecore) Porcelain Crab (dodge/mastery, drop in norm Throne of the tides, low item level) Baradin Footman's Tags /  Baradin Grunt's Talisman (kinda crappy "on use" ability but nice mastery boost. Tol'Barad factions, honored)Note: Jewelcrafters can potentially make a nice trinket in  Figurine - Earthen Guardian and alchemists can make  Lifebound Alchemist Stone. Both nice options if you have the profs.etc. note: regardless of what you grab, start your TB dailies.  Mirror of Broken Images is godly (available to both factions).Weapon Largely based on class. There are quite a few other options out there than my suggestions below (if you want to use another quest reward for an offspec for example). The Crucible of Carnage chain in twilight highlands can cover warriors, paladins and dk's with a 333 starter: http://www.wowhead.com/quest=27868  Oversized Oblique Ogre Obliterator,  Calder's Coated Carrion Carver, etc.Some other examples noted in a followup post for 1handed tanks include:  Dragonscorn Mace / Mace of the Gullet Same item, faction specificSource: Quests in Twilight highlands. Alliance: http://www.wowhead.com/quest=28282 and Horde: http://www.wowhead.com/quest=28133 Item level 333 And: Mace of Transformed BoneSource: Drop from the last boss in norm Grim Batol. Might be slightly better than the above due to actual tank stats (its one of the few weapons on the list with dodge). Item level 333 DK's also have access to a couple other 333 2handers, one from norm grim batol  Wild Hammer and one boe Sorrow's EndFor druids do the wildhammer/dragonmaw chains until you get  Staff of Draconic Pacification or Torth-Slayer's Staff (again, same item, just faction based).Note: Baradin's Wardens/Hellscream's Reach (the Tol'Barad factions, have a wide array of 346 weapons at revered... and nice trinkets at exalted for that matter... but have no tabard. Its worth grinding their dailies for awhile to go for something from these guys regardless of class). Enchant: Windwalk if you can afford it (http://www.wowhead.com/spell=74244) Otherwise whatever. I keep just slapping  Pyrium Weapon Chain on my weapons for the hit rating (i've also seen tanks use mending for the minor extra heals, elemental slayer for a random chance to silence annoying trash etc. Take your pick)Shield Ideal:  Truthbreaker Shield or Twilight Mirrorshield Same item, faction specificSource: Quest rewards. Alliance: http://www.wowhead.com/quest=27106 and Horde: hhttp://www.wowhead.com/quest=26830 item level 333 Backup:  Bulwark of the Primordial MoundSource: On the drop table for a couple bosses in norm Halls of origination. Item level 333 Alternative: Bulwark of the Scorned ManSource: BoE, item level 325 Enchant: enchant shield - mastery (50 mastery) (http://www.wowhead.com/spell=74226) relic/ranged At this point in the expansion there is no real reason to go with anything but the jp option here for pallies/druids/dks.  Deathclutch Figurine and  Covenant of the Flame are both 700 jp respectively (easily farmable even in norms). Also, their 397 ilvl counterparts are only 700 vp each as well (can get in a day of heroics). Warriors: Pre-4.0.6 you got the extreme short end of the stick here. The only real "tank" options were crap green quest rewards from twlight highlands (  Silenced Blunderbuss /  Muffled Blunderbuss) but as of said 4.0.6 patch blizzard actually put  Thundercall on the drop table of the last boss in vortex pinnacle. So now at least there is ONE pre-heroics. Get this one if you can and keep it till you can get the 346 version from heroic vortex pin Thundercall.Warrior update: Post 4.3, the first time you can get through the new HoT heroics you will pick up a quest reward here:  Bronze Blaster. Don't really stress this slot until then.Well, theres my list. Took longer than expected to type up but maybe someone will find it useful. I tried to stick towards quest rewards, rep items and boe's mostly for ease of aquisition but some drops are in there too. All are meant to be available BEFORE trying your luck in heroics. If you go in sooner expect things to be harder but better items to be available, of course :) Cheers everyone and good luck to my fellow tanks out there (and to our healer buddies and those few good dps out there, we love you too). |
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Thank you for writing this. It seems most posts are for already raid ready folks and don't generally cover the path to getting there.
A couple things I'd like to say, as a healer, I don't care if I see a big health pool. I would much rather see the avoidance stats as close to caps as possible. I've yet to come across a heroic dungeon encounter that hits a tank for over 100k that wasn't able to be avoided somehow so a big health pool is less important than Block/Dodge/Parry stats. Gem avoidance; 20 Parry 20 Mastery, 40 Mastery, 20 Dodge 20 Hit... for example (Hit seems to be tough to achieve and many tanks are sacrificing it for survivabilty vs lost threat) Chest enchant: +15 Stats (gives you the best all around benefit.) As for one handed tanking weapons; the concept of using a DPS weapon was mainly for the slower speed which through certain stats gave more threat on crusader strike. The tanking weapons, those with avoidance stats, found on the last boss' of Grim Batol and Stone Core, have the same slower speeds and similar dps stats making them a superior choice IMO. Great job over all |
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Might as well keep a newbie guide on the first page for a day or three :P
bump |
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It's a nice list, but could I make a suggestion? There is a new feature on the forums for linking items. For example, the first helm could be done as
Crown of Wings instead of the wowhead link. In the editor, it's the little sword icon to the right. The code is:\[item="62428" /\] without the \s, of course. |
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Thanks for your time and post :)
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85 Tauren Paladin
1210
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Nice. This will help me greatly when I get there. :)
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I am working on a DK tank and I read to reforge doge & parry into mastery for the Blood Shield. I know that BS is good and all, but it seems strange to me to be tanking with little-to-no avoidance. Was that just crap advice in the DK forum?
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Great thread. Will help me with both my Warrior tanks and also getting those last couple annoying greens gone on my Pally tank. And eventually my DK tank as well.
/Vote to Sticky this |
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Edited by Skyfiredraco on 1/4/11 7:05 PM (PST)
It's a nice list, but could I make a suggestion? There is a new feature on the forums for linking items. For example, the first helm could be done as Crown of Wings instead of the wowhead link. In the editor, it's the little sword icon to the right. The code is: heh, ty. I've been using wowhead for so long that i didn't even think to look at the forum coding for armory item links :P (and i wrote it as a text document before i broke it up into the forum posts... heh) Rather than re-work then entire post i'll just stick with the wowhead links for now, but i'm considering drumming up a similar "so you just dinged 85" healer guide sometime and might use it there :) Glad to see that some people can use this. I was bored the night i wrote it and there were like 3 different posts on the front page asking for gear advice so... yea lol. A note to people reading: there are other guides out there that are probably better organized than mine if you look (i think tankspot for example has a rather nice plate based one) but i couldn't find one solely based on newbie 85's that included druids so figured it wouldn't hurt :p cheers all :) edit: after some consideration and another suggestion to try the blizz item codes i reworked the guide for them. I'll admit it looks a helluva lot better lol. Cheers :) |
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Good post. I just hit 85 and I have almost all of the gear you mentioned. But a note, I remember seeing a green ranged weapon from Uldum from gave stam-strength, hit, expertise. Was a crossbow, might be good for warriors.
Also, my relic is awesome for prot paladins. But only a 316 Ilvl. I am surprised you didn't mention the quest in Twilight highlands that gives a dodge 1handed mace for warriors and paladins though. Or the weapon I am currently using from normal Grim Batol. |
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Edited by Skyfiredraco on 1/4/11 3:59 PM (PST)
I am surprised you didn't mention the quest in Twilight highlands that gives a dodge 1handed mace for warriors and paladins though. Or the weapon I am currently using from normal Grim Batol. rofl, by the time i hit weapons i was getting tired of typing honestly, and then i looked them up and found about a dozen 333's around there :P Might add those two if it doesn't word-cap me though :) update: added :) |
Nice :D Also, found the crossbow just in case. http://www.wowhead.com/item=65813 |
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Edited by Skyfiredraco on 1/4/11 7:03 PM (PST)
Lol, i tried to add the 312 quest reward crossbow and a 318 quest reward gun out of twilight highlands that are strength based but i hit the character limit and it wouldn't take the post edit :(
Its interesting to note that after looking around on wowhead a bit more, those are literally the LAST strength based ranged weapons until a 359 boe epic from Bastion of Twilight. Gear vacancies suck :( Since i can't add them to the guide itself i might as well link them here. The 312 crossbow (str based, hit/expertise) as mentioned above me: http://www.wowhead.com/item=65813 And a 318 gun (faction specific so there will be 2 links) from twilight highlands quests (alliance: http://www.wowhead.com/item=63739 and Horde: http://www.wowhead.com/item=63736 strength based with hit/mastery). Hopefully blizz will put a 346 tank gun/bow/xbow on the jp vendor in an upcoming patch or something :( edit: i re-coded the guide using the blizzard item codes to clean it up a bit and that gave me the room to include the last few str/stam ranged weapons available. Cheers :) |
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Edited by Whynot on 1/4/11 5:32 PM (PST)
Nice guide! I'm definitely putting it to use.
It would take some work but you could pretty it up quite a bit by using the [item] tag. Helm could look like Helm which is just this: but the <'s are replaced with ['s and >'s with ]'s. Helm Doing this would let you fit more in your posts as well. Sadly there's no spell tag or quest tag lol. --------- List of CC and Interrupts http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/1536335625 |
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Edited by Skyfiredraco on 1/4/11 7:02 PM (PST)
hmm... ty for the example... that DOES look quite a bit neater lol (i apparently underestimated the amount of mess that could cut lol).
Might have to work on that later tonight :) edit: cleaning it up now. gimme a few ;) edit 2: and finished. Yea, that does look a lot better lol. Cheers all :) |
