[Prot Warrior] Newly Ding Level 85 gear...

Now that my Holy Paladin is just about fully VP geared, I plan on working on my baby Prot Warrior and will see him ding level 85 in a couple of weeks. Using the Failsafe Gear guide along with a few other things, this is the "I just dinged level 85 one hour ago" gear list that I came up with:

Head: 390 Ruthless Gladiator's Plate Helm, Mastery, 2,200 Honor Points (obtained while leveling)

Neck: 378 Twilight Amulet, Mastery/Dodge, BoE on AH

Shoulders: 359 BoE Shoulder, Mastery/Parry, BoE on AH

Cloak: 365 Mantle of Patience, Mastery/Dodge, Thrall Quest Line

Chest: 377 Vicious Pyrium Breastplate, Mastery, Crafted

Wrist: 378 Gigaform Bracers, Mastery/Hit, BoE from JP

Hands: 378 Eternal Elementium Handguards, Mastery/Parry, Crafted

Waist: 359 Hardened Elementium Girdle, Mastery/Dodge, Crafted

Legs: 378 Legguards of the Molten Giant, Mastery/Parry, 2,200 Justice Points (obtained while leveling from level 80 - 85)

Feet: 378 Mirrored Boots, Mastery/Parry, Crafted

Weapon: 365 Unbreakable Guardian, Mastery/Parry, Crafted

Shield: 359 Elementium Earthguard, Mastery/Hit, Crafted

Ring #1: 346 Felsen's Ring of Resolve, Mastery/Dodge, Revered Therazane

Ring #2: 346 Elementium Moebius Band, Mastery/Dodge, Crafted

Relic: 346 Notched Jawbone, Mastery/Hit, Crafted

- Need to run some Battlegrounds to gain the Honor Points for 1 piece
- Need to run instances to gain Justice Points for 1 piece
- Need to gain Revered rep with Therazane
- Need to do Thrall Level 85 Quest Line
- Everything else is gold.

Cata questing line goes Vash ==> Deepholme ==> Instances.

This gets me to about 368 item level gearing which is more than enough to run the 4.3 5-man instances for 378 gear for those slots that don't have it.

A couple of questions:

#1 = Anyone see any obvious upgrades that I should aim for instead? Weakest slots are, obviously, rings and trinkets.

#2 = On that note, what easy to obtain trinkets are out there? I am at a bit of a loss to find trinkets that fit well with a "failsafe, just dinged" mindset. This toon is a Blacksmith / Engineer.

#3 = Do I need to quest at all in Hyjal to open up the Trall Quest Line? I don't need Molten Front stuff, just the Thrall Quest Line.

Poptart

no relics for warriors. Need a gun, bow or thrown. ZA or End Time can get you a bow via quests

Flex wrote:no relics for warriors. Need a gun, bow or thrown. ZA or End Time can get you a bow via quests

there is also the JP thrown

that said, if you are able to get into endtimes without much farming of instances, do it and take a guildie healer
(or go in your dps os....you have one right?)

Flex wrote:no relics for warriors. Need a gun, bow or thrown. ZA or End Time can get you a bow via quests

Lol, haha. Right. No Relic (put that on the list)....

So much Pally on the mind. Hmmm, there are some 378 BoE thrown weapons floating around the AH I think. Might be Agility though....

Poptart

bldavis wrote:

Flex wrote:no relics for warriors. Need a gun, bow or thrown. ZA or End Time can get you a bow via quests

there is also the JP thrown

that said, if you are able to get into endtimes without much farming of instances, do it and take a guildie healer
(or go in your dps os....you have one right?)

Actually, I don't plan on having a DPS OS until I hit max level. This toon is only for tanking.

I fail as a tank on my current toons (Pally, Druid) because I leveled them as healers and do not feel comfortable at all in tanking with them. Keybinds and abilities are just too ingrain for healing.

However, my Warrior, I am only tanking with while leveling so I expect that will be the toon that I am most comfortable with in the tanking role. I will go DPS at level 85 for raid flexibility.

Poptart

poptart wrote:

Flex wrote:no relics for warriors. Need a gun, bow or thrown. ZA or End Time can get you a bow via quests

Lol, haha. Right. No Relic (put that on the list)....

So much Pally on the mind. Hmmm, there are some 378 BoE thrown weapons floating around the AH I think. Might be Agility though....

Poptart

Everything but the 359 BoE gun are Agi, so not worth it.

New heroics are easy enough and you can get a tanking and DPS 378 str ranged from the quests.

there is also a hit/mastery gun that is a quest reward from Twilight Highlands

As a Engineer, Elementium Dragonling isn't terrible. Mastery w/ on use threat

Also, I know it's only 333, but Impetuous Query is a decent starter trinket. It won't hold you back in getting into EoT dungeons as it's only 20 ilevels and it's got Mastery + Parry on use which I like.

DMF: Earthquake is usually quite cheap. Probably cheaper than any of the other BoEs save for Impetuous Query. The trinket itself is left wanting but a 359 piece might push one over the 353 level if lucky.

Indeed. The sheer level of quest rewards (e.g., the gun) and other 378 stuff in the new dungeons is enough that you might consider some crafted pvp rings rather than wasting your time in Deepholm to get far enough for Felsen's. YMMV and all that.

Kelaan wrote:Indeed. The sheer level of quest rewards (e.g., the gun) and other 378 stuff in the new dungeons is enough that you might consider some crafted pvp rings rather than wasting your time in Deepholm to get far enough for Felsen's. YMMV and all that.

Oh, that might be a good suggestion.

The Vicious Ruby Signet has:

338 Stam, 225 Str, 150 Critical Strike (reforges to 60 Mastery rating)

The 346 crafted/rep vendor rings have (on average):

252 Stam, 160 Str, ~220 rating points of defensive secondaries (Mastery/Dodge)

So, I am trading 86 Stamina (and some threat) for 160ish defensive secondary rating on each ring.

Is that going to make a big difference when it comes to running the initial 4.3 5-mans with a guild healer the first time through? Probably not.

On the flip side, since I have to unlock Therazane anyway for the shoulder enchants...

Poptart

Cogglamp wrote:As a Engineer, Elementium Dragonling isn't terrible. Mastery w/ on use threat

Also, I know it's only 333, but Impetuous Query is a decent starter trinket. It won't hold you back in getting into EoT dungeons as it's only 20 ilevels and it's got Mastery + Parry on use which I like.

DMF: Earthquake is usually quite cheap. Probably cheaper than any of the other BoEs save for Impetuous Query. The trinket itself is left wanting but a 359 piece might push one over the 353 level if lucky.

Ahhh, excellent suggestions. I will look at those.

I try to avoid the Earthquake trinket if possible. It is just not very strong and with the gear I am already looking at, I will be in the mid-360s for gear an hour after I ding level 85 so...

Poptart

For rings -

378 Theck's Emberseal dodge/hit BoE drop from FL, AH it.
353 Band of the Gurubashi Berserker hit/expertise BoE from Trolls, dirt cheap

Whilst that second ring isn't particularly tanky, the threat stats are the ones you are after.

So, next question.

When I started asking in /2 Trade yesterday to purchase the 359 BoE Tanking Shoulders, I got about 5 people who told me to just go ahead and get the 377 PvP Shoulders instead and that they would be fine for an Alt tank.

Heaving Plates of Protection (gemmed) = 2,570 armor, 410 Stam, 253 Str, 199 Mastery, 154 Avoidance (Dodge/Parry)

Vicious Pyrium Shoudlers (reforged) = 2,708 armor, 450 Stam, 300 Str,80 Mastery, 120 Expertise

Yuck, that appears to be a HUGE downgrade to me IF I can find a set of the 359 BoE that someone is willing to sell.

So, the question is, how easy is it to get 378 shoulders from the new 5-mans?

The only set that I found were Pauldrons of the Dragonblight that drop from Benedictius in the final 5-man and they are a pure avoidance combo (Dodge/Parry). My chances on seeing that are not great (i.e. final boss and random-wise, the least probably instance due to many alts being locked to it by not having finished the first two).

Anyway, just going through the logic. I think I am going to continue to look for a pair of the 359 BoE ones.

Poptart

lythac wrote:For rings -

378 Theck's Emberseal dodge/hit BoE drop from FL, AH it.
353 Band of the Gurubashi Berserker hit/expertise BoE from Trolls, dirt cheap

Whilst that second ring isn't particularly tanky, the threat stats are the ones you are after.

Nice! I forget about the Emberseal (sorry, Theck!)

And I have a JC that can make the crafted 346 dirt cheap with mats on hand so I would still go with that over the DPS ring.

But thanks for the suggestions!

Poptart

So,

With the dual 333 trinkets, a 318 ranged weapon (TH quest reward), retaining the 346 rings (if I don't find an Emberseal) and 359 shoulders (assuming I can find them to buy), my Prot Warrior will have an item level of 361 within an hour of dinging level 85 (after doing Thrall questline and purchasing Honor Point/Justice Point items with reforging, enchanting, gemming, etc).

Since you need 360 to queue up for the 4.3 5-man heroics, I am golden!

After reforging, gemming and enchanting, my base set (not counting Emberseal and is counting 359 shoulders) looks like:

6,358 Stamina
3,584 Strength
3,423 Mastery rating
890 Dodge rating
940 Parry rating
178 Hit rating

I will have to reforge some Dodge in Parry to maintain the "Hold the Line" ratio of about 1.3 or 1.4 Parry to Dodge (depending on Mastery rating) but that is easy to do.

Thanks all for the suggestions! If you have any more, keep them coming!

Poptart

Aren't the shoulder enchants BoA? Or is that only the head enchants? Cause that might save you some rep grinding, especially if you've got alternatives for the rings (which it appears you do.)

Skye1013 wrote:Aren't the shoulder enchants BoA? Or is that only the head enchants? Cause that might save you some rep grinding, especially if you've got alternatives for the rings (which it appears you do.)

Only the helm enchants are BoA. I'm currently finishing up all of Deepholm on my 9th character just to pick up the tabard. Kind of a bit sick of the zone by now.

Nikachelle wrote:

Skye1013 wrote:Aren't the shoulder enchants BoA? Or is that only the head enchants? Cause that might save you some rep grinding, especially if you've got alternatives for the rings (which it appears you do.)

Only the helm enchants are BoA. I'm currently finishing up all of Deepholm on my 9th character just to pick up the tabard. Kind of a bit sick of the zone by now.

I think the head enchants ARE BoA BUT I don't think you can USE them if you don't have the required Rep.

It just makes it easier to have someone buy 2 or 3 of them when at the QM and send them around instead of having to parade every toon over to the QM.

If I am wrong then WOOT! I don't have to go quest in Vash (which I find VERY annoying).

Poptart

poptart wrote:

Nikachelle wrote:

Skye1013 wrote:Aren't the shoulder enchants BoA? Or is that only the head enchants? Cause that might save you some rep grinding, especially if you've got alternatives for the rings (which it appears you do.)

Only the helm enchants are BoA. I'm currently finishing up all of Deepholm on my 9th character just to pick up the tabard. Kind of a bit sick of the zone by now.

I think the head enchants ARE BoA BUT I don't think you can USE them if you don't have the required Rep.

It just makes it easier to have someone buy 2 or 3 of them when at the QM and send them around instead of having to parade every toon over to the QM.

If I am wrong then WOOT! I don't have to go quest in Vash (which I find VERY annoying).

Poptart

Yep, you're wrong.

http://eu.battle.net/wow/en/character/q ... eputation/

That's my druid, and it's linked to her rep. She's neutral with Avengers of Hyjal but wearing the helm enchant from them.

Nikachelle wrote:Yep, you're wrong.

http://eu.battle.net/wow/en/character/q ... eputation/

That's my druid, and it's linked to her rep. She's neutral with Avengers of Hyjal but wearing the helm enchant from them.

Well, that is good news! Makes the 80-85 questing much less needed!

Guardians.....Avengers.....who is counting!

Poptart

Oh right. Oops. I meant Guardians of Hyjal.

[UPDATE]

Living Embers were down to 400 gold per on my realm so I picked up 8 in order to have the Mirrored Boots and Eternal Elementium Handguards crafted. Am mining all the rest of the Elementium I need in order to have the other crafted gear made.

Ran my first BG for honor, got 40ish HKs and still ended up only earning 35 honor since we did not win the match. Realized that it was going to be a LONG road to earning 2,200 Honor Points, went to WowHead to see if there was any alternative to that helm, scrolled down the list, saw the Reinforced Bio-Optic Killshades, said to myself "damn, only Engineers can make those" and went on my way.

Yes, it took me 3 minutes to realized that this toon WAS an Engineer and that I would be able to get these.

So, when I put my proposed toon in CharDev, it would not let me socket two identical Cogwheels in the helm. Does each Cogwhell need to be unique or can you put two Mastery Cogwheels in the helm?

If I can find the 359 BoE tank shoulders, CharDev returned a toon that had 31% avoidance and 90.05% CTC as a newly dinged level 85. That is with two 346 rings and two 333 trinkets. Lots of room to do better in those slots.

Poptart

Yeah, cogwheels are unique, so you need to put two different gems in; the cogwheels are really just Blizzard's solution to having to itemise the goggles for different specs - they have two secondary stats like every item in Cataclysm, but you get to choose what those stats are.

poptart wrote:So, when I put my proposed toon in CharDev, it would not let me socket two identical Cogwheels in the helm. Does each Cogwhell need to be unique or can you put two Mastery Cogwheels in the helm?

Cogwheels are unique-equipped.

Should be a pretty decent way for you to balance your dodge and parry (taking into account HtL) as you can swing it by 416 rating.

lythac wrote:

poptart wrote:So, when I put my proposed toon in CharDev, it would not let me socket two identical Cogwheels in the helm. Does each Cogwhell need to be unique or can you put two Mastery Cogwheels in the helm?

Cogwheels are unique-equipped.

Should be a pretty decent way for you to balance your dodge and parry (taking into account HtL) as you can swing it by 416 rating.

Indeed.

I suspect that for a Prot Warrior where Parry is always going to be a bit more valued than Dodge that the proper combo is going to be Mastery/parry 99% of the time.

My "paper napkin" numbers show that after I get the Thrall quest cloak and enchant it, I will be at 3,451 Mastery rating, 1,324 Parry and 921 Dodge rating for a ratio of 1.43 Parry to Dodge.

That ratio is about perfect for that level of Mastery.

I think it is somewhat crazy that I can reach 90% CTC within an hour of dinging level 85. Granted, I will probably have put about 10k gold into the gear ahead of time but to be able to jump into the 4.3 5-man heroics with only one PvP piece (chest) is pretty great.

Poptart