[Feral Bear] Pre-Raid Gear Guide

IntroductionAfter recently coming back to the game after nearly a years break, I struggled finding gear for my Druid Tank. My aim here is to draw from my ‘eventful’ experiance and hopefully make it easier for you to reach Mid to End Game Raids. Currently my Druid has a gearscore of 2571, based on Wow-Heroes, which puts him in range of ICC10. To start this guide off, I will assume that you have recently hit 80, and therefore split it into 4 parts:

• Basic Heroic Gear
• Raid Ready Gear
• Craftable Items
• Enchants / Enhancements

I should note here that there are 3 possible gems you could use for sockets;

• Blue: Solid Majestic Zircon – This is the MAIN if not the ONLY Gem you should need.
• Red: Subtle Cardinal Ruby – Only use if your Dodge rating is slacking. Aim for atleast 38% dodge.
• Meta: Austere Earthsiege Diamond – Needs at least 1 RED Gem to Work.

To Come:
Possible Raid Upgrades.

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Table Of Contents

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• Basic Heroic Gear
  • Head
  • Neck
  • Shoulder
  • Back
  • Chest
  • Wrist
  • Hands
  • Waist
  • Legs
  • Feet
  • Rings
  • Trinkets
  • Weapon
  • Idol
• Raid Ready Gear
• Craftable Items
• Enchants / Enhancements

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Basic Heroic Gear

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Aim to have iLevel 187 gear to start tanking Heroics, you could always go as DPS rather than tank, but this takes a bit longer to get groups. Alot of this gear can be crafted by leatherworkers, which is explained in the last section of this guide, including a couple of great epics that you wont really need to replace for a while.

Head

• Crafted: Eviscerator’s Facemask – RECOMMEND
• PVP: Savage Gladiator’s Dragonhide Helm
• Heroic: Mask of the Watcher – Occulus

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Neck

• Crafted: Titanium Impact Choker
• Normal: Amulet of Wills – RECOMMEND – Halls of Stone
• Heroic: Shadowseeker’s Pendant – Ahn’kahet

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Shoulder

• Crafted: Trollwoven Spaulders – RECOMMEND
• PVP: Savage Gladiator’s Dragonhide Spaulders
• Heroic: Spaulders of the Careless Thief – Nexus

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Back

• Crafted: Durable Nerubhide Cape – RECOMMEND
• REP: Cloak of Holy Extermination – Argent Crusade – Honored
• Heroic: Cloak of the Gushing Wound – Violet Hold

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Chest

• Crafted: Eviscerator’s Chestguard
• Crafted: Polar Vest – RECOMMEND
• PVP: Savage Gladiator’s Dragonhide Robes
• Heroic: Crystal-Infused Tunic – Nexus

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Wrist

• Crafted: Eviscerator’s Bindingd
• Crafted: Bracers of Swift Death – RECOMMED ASAP
• REP: Dragonfiend Bracers – Wyrmrest Accord – Exulted
• PVP: Hateful Gladiator’s Armwraps of Triumph
• Heroic: Bindings of the Tunneler – Utgarde Keep

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Hands

• Crafted: Eviscerator’s Gauntlets
• PVP: Savage Gladiator’s Dragonhide Gloves
• Heroic: Charged-Bolt Grips – Halls of Lightning – RECOMMEND

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Waist

• Crafted: Trollwoven Girdle – RECOMMEND
• PVP: Hateful Gladiator’s Belt of Triumph
• Heroic: Sharp-Barbed Leather Belt – Utgarde Keep

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Legs

• Crafted: Eviscerator’s Legguards
• REP: Mind-Expanding Leggings – Kirin’Tor – Revered – RECOMMEND
• PVP: Savage Gladiator’s Dragonhide Legguards
• Heroic: Gored Hide Legguards – Gundrak

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Feet

• Crafted: Polar Boots – RECOMMEND
• PVP: Hateful Gladiator’s Boots of Triumph
• REP: Boots of the Neverending Path – Argent Crusade – Exulted
• Heroic: Slag Footguards – Halls of Lightning

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Rings
Don’t worry too much about these, as they will get replaced pretty fast.

• Crafted: Titanium Earthguard Ring
• Heroic: Keystone Great-Ring – Drak’tharon Keep

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Trinkets
Like the rings, don’t worry too much about these, not a massive leap in stats just yet.

• Heroic: Essence of Gossamer – Azjol-Nerub

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Weapon

• PVP: Deadly Gladiator’s Staff
• REP: Stave of Shrouded Mysteries – Kirin Tor – Revered
• Heroic: Enraged Feral Staff – Utgarde Keep – RECOMMEND

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Idol

Again, don’t worry about this as we will be aiming for a better one soon enough.
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Raid Ready Gear

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This is a fairly simple task, farm, farm, farm heroics for Emblems of Triumph, and make sure you do the daily Random Heroic and Weekly Raids for the Emblems of Frost.

Theres only a few Drops that we actually need from dungeons;

• Neck: The Warlord’s Depravity – Trial of the Champion – The Black Knight – HEROIC
• Waist: Flayer’s Black Belt – Pit of Saron – Forgemaster Garfrost – NORMAL
• Trinket: Ick’s Rotting Thumb – Pit of Saron – Ick – HEROIC
• Trinket: The Black Heart – Trial of the Champion – The Black Knight – NORMAL
• Weapon: Marrowstrike – Trial of the Champion – Confessor – HEROIC

The rest will be aimed at full T9 – Rank 1 (iLevel 232) here which will set you back 210 Emblems of Triumph

• Malfurion’s Headguard of Conquest – 50 Emblems*
• Malfurion’s Shoulderpads of Conquest – 50 Emblems*
• Malfurion’s Raiments of Conquest – 50 Emblems
• Malfurion’s Handgrips of Conquest – 30 Emblems
• Malfurion’s Legguards of Conquest – 30 Emblems

*I should note here that for an extra 20 Emblems of Triumph, you can pick up TWO iLevel 245 items from the Triumph Vendor in Dalaran:

• Hood of Lethal Intent – 75 Emblems
• Duskstalker Shoulderpads – 45 Emblems

Both of these Items have a Horde equivalent.

For our rings, we are going to get iLevel 245 by spending another 70 Emblems of Triumph.

• Clutch of Fortification – 35 Emblems – RECOMMEND
• Dexterous Brightstone Ring – 35 Emblems – RECOMMEND
• Bloodshed Band – 35 Emblems

We also need 25 Emblems of Valor for our Idol: Idol of Mutilation These can be gained by exchanging your Emblems at the money trader near the Sewer Inn in Dalaran.

Now we can Tank in practically all the Raids. This is the exact gear I currently have on my Druid, Shiggsy.

I’ll point out here, that if you have all the top gear I’ve outlined in this guide you should be 2 items away from the EPIC achievement. Back and Trinket. You can upgrade your back to Platinum Mesh Cloak for 25 Emblems of Valor. (I’ll be purchasing this in the next couple of days)

So, what am I planning on using Emblems of Frost for? Well, the first 60 I collect (at time of writing currently have 53) will be used to replace The Black Heart with Corroded Skeleton Key

You could also save up another 50 Emblems of Frost and purchase Sentinel’s Winter Cloak.
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Crafted Gear

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Eviscerator Set [8] – iLevel 187
This first set I used as my starting point to start tanking Heroics, each pattern costs 3 Heavy Borean Leather [24 for all 8 patterns] to buy from the Fur Trader in Dalaran, located just outside the Leatherworking Shop, with Leatherworking skill of 425. Luckily my Leatherworker had them all already. The set contains the following items:

• Eviscerator’s Bindings – Heavy Borean Leather x8, Eternal Air x1
• Eviscerator’s Chestguard – Heavy Borean Leather x12, Eternal Air x1
• Eviscerator’s Facemask – Heavy Borean Leather x12, Eternal Air x1
• Eviscerator’s Shoulderpads – Heavy Borean Leather x10, Eternal Air x1
• Eviscerator’s Gauntlets – Heavy Borean Leather x10, Eternal Air x1
• Eviscerator’s Legguards – Heavy Borean Leather x12, Eternal Air x1
• Eviscerator’s Treads – Heavy Borean Leather x10, Eternal Air x1
• Eviscerator’s Waistguard – Heavy Borean Leather x10, Eternal Air x1

Total Cost – Heavy Borean Leather x84, Eternal Air x8

Raid Ready Gear – iLevel 200+
The following items will take you right up until your ready to raid, with the Trollwoven Girdle being the first to replace, the final item is an ultimate Crafted item which I brought on my Server (Emerald Dream – Alliance) for about 2200g. Both Factions have their own version with identical stats and materials required, and with an iLevel at 245 you won’t find any better for a while.

• Trollwoven Girdle – Heavy Borean Leather x10, Eternal Fire x5, Eternal Shadow x5, Frozen Orb x1
• Trollwoven Spaulders – Heavy Borean Leather x10, Eternal Fire x6, Eternal Shadow x6, Frozen Orb x1
• Durable Nerubhide Cape – Arctic Fur x2, Nerubian Chitin x40, Frozen Orb x1
• Polar Boots – Heavy Borean Leather x8, Eternal Fire x2, Eternal Water x2, Nerubian Chitin x4, Frozen Orb x1
• Polar Vest – Heavy Borean Leather x10, Eternal Fire x3, Eternal Water x3, Nerubian Chitin x8, Frozen Orb x1
• Titanium Earthguard Ring – Titanium Bar x2, Dragons Eye x4, Eternal Earth x4, Eternal Life x4, Frozen Orb x1
• Bracers of Swift Death – Heavy Borean Leather x20, Eternal Shadow x12, Arctic Fur x6, Crusader Orb x4

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Enchants / Enhancemets

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Now you have all your gear, you can think about making it even better with Enchants / Enhancements.
The following list is what I have on my Druid, and in my opinion is a good combination.

• Head: Arcanum of the Stalwart Protector – Argent Crusade – Revered
• Shoulder: Greater Inscription of the Gladiator – 10,000 Honor*NOTE – If like me your not a fan of PVP, you can turn in 150x Stonekeeper Shards to buy 5x Wintergrasp Commendation at the vendor in Wintergrasp. These are even tradeable between your characters, which is great if you don’t have that many Stonekeeper Shards on one character.
• Chest: Powerful Stats – Dream Shard x4, Abyss Crystal x4
• Waist: Eternal Belt Buckle – Blacksmith: Saronite Bar x4, Eternal Earth x1, Eternal Water x1, Eternal Shadow x1
• Legs: Frosthide Leg Armor – Leatherworking: Arctic Fur x2, Nerubian Chitin x2, Frozen Orb x1
• Feet: Superior Agility – Infinite Dust x16, Greater Cosmic Essence x4
• Wrist: Major Stamina – Greater Cosmic Essence x4, Abyss Crystal x1
• Hands: Major Agility – Greater Cosmic Essence x4, Dream Shard x1
• Back: Major Agility – Greater Cosmic Essence x2, Infinite Dust x8, Dream Shard x2
• Weapon: (2H) Major Agility – Greater Planar Essence x6, Large Prismatic Shard x8, Arcane Dust x20If your Druid is an Enchanter, you will also be able to do your Rings:
• Rings: Stamina – Greater Cosmic Essence x1, Infinite Dust x8 x2

Your shopping list for these Enchants / Enhancements will look something like this:

• Arctic Fur x2
• Nerubian Chitin x2
• Frozen Orb x1
• Saronite Bar x4
• Eternal Earth x1
• Eternal Water x1
• Eternal Shadow x1
• Abyss Crystal x5
• Dream Shard x7
• Greater Cosmic Essence x14
• Infinite Dust x24
• Large Prismatic Shard x8
• Greater Planar Essence x6
• Arcane Dust x20If you will be doing your Rings, then you will also need:
• Greater Cosmic Essence x2
• Infinite Dust x16

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Hopefully this guide will have helped find gear for tanking, and how to improve the gear with Enchants / Enhancements. You will probably find most upgrades for this gear in Trial of the Crusader 25. Happy Hunting!

*NOTE If your Alliance on the Emerald Dream Server, my Druid ‘Shiggsy’ can do all the above Enchantments, my hunter can even make you the Leg Armor just bring the mats 🙂