I’m currently sitting at halfway through 84 and need to start thinking about gearing myself for heroics and then raids. Personally, this is one of my favorite parts of the expansion, where the upgrades come fast, plentifully, and in great numbers. To ease the gearing process for myself and my beloved readers I have listed below iLevel 333 (or above) gear that I can use to get ready for heroics. I’ll be doing a separate post in the near future with gear that drops from heroics and elsewhere that you can use to gear for raids.
For stats, I looked for gear that had any combination of parry, dodge, hit, mastery, and expertise as secondary stats. Some will be better for threat, some for survivability, although granted that’s not as life-and-death as it might be in raids. Grab what you can, diversify sets where you will. Items are listed in descending order based on iLevel, not any arcane ranking system.
Head
- Grinning Fang Helm / Crown of Wings — Sold by Dragonmaw/Wildhammer quartermaster
- Helm of the Proud — Sold by a vendor in your capital for 2,200 Justice Points
- Helm of Setesh — Drops from Setesh in Halls of Origination
Cloak
- Wrap of the Great Turtle — Sold by Guardians of Hyjal quartermaster (requires exalted)
- Twilight Dragonscale Cloak — Made by leatherworkers
- Cloak of War — Made by leatherworkers
- Shade of Death — BoE world drop
- Shroud of Dark Memories — Zone drop in Grim Batol
Necks
- Elementium Guardian — Made by jewelcrafters
- The Lustrous Eye — Sold by vendor in your capital for 1,250 JP
- Mountain’s Mouth — Sold by Guardians of Hyjal quartermaster (requires honored)
Shoulders
- Sunburnt Pauldrons — Sold by a vendor in your capital for 1,650 JP
- Earthshape Pauldrons — Dropped by Drahga Shadowburner in Grim Batol
- Pharoah’s Burial Shoulders — Quest reward in Uldum
Chest
- Chestplate of the Steadfast — Sold by vendor in your capital for 2,200 JP
- Breastplate of the Witness — Quest reward in Twilight Highlands
Wrist
- Sandguard Bracers — Sold by Ramkahen quartermaster (requires exalted)
- Terborus’s Rotating Bands — Dropped by a rare gyreworm named Terborus (in Deepholm, I assume)
- Alpha Bracers — Dropped by Anraphet in Halls of Origination
- Armguards of Unearthly Light — Dropped by Isiset in Halls of Origination
Gloves
- Numbing Handguards — Sold by vendor in capital for 1,650 JP
- Fingers of Light — Drops from Rajh in Halls of Origination
- Gloves of Gnomebliteration — Quest reward in Uldum
- Oath-Bound Gauntlets — BoE world drop
Waist
- Girdle of the Mountains — Sold by vendor in capital for 1,650 JP
- Belt of Guardianship — BoE world drop
- Sand Dune Belt — Drops from Lockmaw in Lost City of the Tol’vir
Legs
- Greaves of Splendor — Sold by vendor in your capital for 2,200 JP
- Stone-Wrapped Greavers — Sold by the Earthen Ring quartermaster (requires honored)
Feet
- Boots of the Sullen Rock / Gryphon Rider’s Boots — Sold by your Twilight Highlands faction quartermaster (requires exalted)
- Ramkahen Front Boots — Quest reward from an in-dungeon quest in Lost City of the Tol’vir
Rings
- Elementium Moebius Band — Made by jewelcrafters
- Felsen’s Ring of Resolve — Sold by Therazane quartermaster (requires revered)
- Red Rock Band — Sold by Ramkahen quartermaster (requires revered)
- Ring of Three Lights — Drops from Siamat in Lost City of the Tol’vir
- Temple Band — Zone drop in Halls of Origination
- Umbriss Band — Drops from General Umbriss in Grim Batol
Trinket
- Darkmoon Card: Earthquake — Made by scribes
- Lifebound Alchemist Stone — BoP, made by alchemists
- Mirror of Broken Images — Sold by Hellscream’s Reach/Baradin’s Wardens quartermaster (requires exalted)
- Earthen Guardian — BoP Jewelcrafting item
- Elementium Dragonling — BoE Engineering item
- Impetuous Query — Zone drop in Lost City of the Tol’vir
- Throngus’ Finger — Drops from Forgemaster Throngus in Grim Batol
- Za’brok’s Lucky Tooth — Quest reward in Twilight Highlands
- Heart of Thunder — Drops off Asaad in Vortex Pinnacle
- Leaden Despair — Drops off High Priestess Azil in the Stonecore
Relic
- Notched Jawbone — Made by Scribes. Best pre-heroics option.
- Halted Clock — BOE world drop, check your local auction house
- Blackblood Freedom Standard / Shore-Cleansing Standard — Quest reward from Twilight Highlands
Weapon
- Mace of the Gullet /Dragonscorn Mace — Quest reward in Twilight Highlands. Easy starter weapon!
- Sun Strike — Dropped by Rajh in Halls of Origination
- Mace of Transformed Bone — Dropped by Erudax in Grim Batol
Shield
- Elementium Earthguard — Made by blacksmiths (requires a Chaos Orb)
- Shield of the Four Grey Towers — Sold by vendor in your capital for 950 JP
- Twilight Mirrorshield / Truthbreaker Shield — Quest reward in Twilight Highlands
- Bulwark of the Primordial Mound — Drops randomly in Hall of Origination
@resonate1794
“Engineering-only goggles (though, requires one Chaos Orb which you’ll need to buy if you want this pre-heroics)”
Are they actually purchasable with JPs now? I’ve not found any information on them being available outside of non-guaranteed heroic end-boss drops. It’d be really nice; I can’t understand why they’re usable at level 81 if you have to be 85 to get the orb.
.-= Resonate’s last blog ..A New Day- A New Expansion =-.
@Rhidach
Doesn’t look it so far. Maybe in the future, but they’re probably keeping them off vendors now to “gate” crafted gear acquisition.
Chaos Orbs are BoP – you have to run a heroic to get one. Unless that got hotfixed.
@Rhidach
It didn’t, I just hadn’t noticed. That’s too bad they’re BoP.
@wockadb
Was disappointed that we didn’t have more options on the engi trinket slots.
There’s also the DMC:Earthquake that looks interesting, but I’m not sure the cost.
@Rhidach
Ah, I didn’t even think of the cards. I’ll add that one.
I’m sure it’ll cost an arm and a leg once people start making them.
@yzfingers
Don’t forget Agi jewelry and cloaks with hit/expertise/mastery on them. They can work quite well for a tank.
is it possible to buy jp gear now and stash it till 85 so as to free up jp’s?
@yzfingers
No you have to be 85 to purchase any new JP items.
Awesome list, thanks very much for sharing!
Thank you Hernus
Thanks for the list, Rhidach! This will come definitely be referred to numerous times, as I prep for heroic cata dungeons!
.-= Nehmen’s last blog ..-insert “Oooh… Aaah… Cata” title here =-.
@Anafielle
Bookmarked.
So glad you did this work so I don’t have to! GOGO LAZINESS!
.-= Anafielle’s last blog ..anafielle- I still cant believe the day weve been awaiting for so- so long has come and gone =-.
I hit 85 late Saturday night/early Sunday morning, and the first thing I did (after sleeping-in Sunday) was to check out this list and road-map the dungeons, reputation grinds and professions I need to complete to get myself ready for heroics. Thanks for putting this all together!
Also, I agree, this is an exciting time to gear-up, knowing there are multiple ways to get better gear (rather than run just 1 raid over and over again!)
And I’ll be checking out your more recent post once I finally get the gear to get into heroics…
Thanks for the gear listing Rhidach this will help a bit without having to do allot of forum digging on the MT boards. Al least gives me a idea what gear is where and available and where the gear i picked up so far stands.
So far have already got some the pieces on the list so work in progress.
.-= Ardent Defender’s last blog ..lvl 84 and onto Uldum =-.