Tomorrow night I’m going to be doing my first Cataclysm raid and one of the biggest things I need to line up (in addition to enchanting some of my gear) is procuring some raiding consumables. Flasks, pots, food, the works–every little bit helps, especially when we’re going into raids with a mishmash of heroics and normal 5mans gear. Below is collected a list of various Cata-level consumables and recommendations of what to use, when.

Flasks

For survivability, go with Flask of Steelskin. The only choice for tanking.

For threat, or farm content, you can chug a Flask of Titanic Strength.

Elixirs

We have a few good options for guardian elixirs:

• Elixir of Deep Earth — A good, all-around elixir for most fights if you decide to forgo flasks
• Prismatic Elixir — Amazing for Sindragosa-style fights with a large portion of incoming damage being magical

As for battle, we have:

• Elixir of the Master — Best choice for survivability
• Elixir of the Naga — Best choice for threat
• Elixir of Impossible Accuracy — Best choice for threat if you’re expertise soft-capped

Potions

The one pot to rule them all is the Earthen Potion. Keep stacks of these handy and use them at clutch moments like a cooldown. You only get to use one per fight, so use them wisely.

If you’re looking for a boost in threat/damage, you can chug a Golemblood Potion.

Food

(Please note I’m only listing the 90-stat food. Don’t cheap out for the 60-stat kind!)

For survival food, you have a few good options:

• Blackbelly Sushi
• Lavascale Minestrone
• Mushroom Sauce Mudfish

Generally, you want to eat the Lavascale Minestrone for the mastery rating. If block capped (and that’ll not be for a while), then go for either Blackbelly Sushi or Mushroom Sauce Mudfish, depending on whichever avoidance stat is lower.

As for threat food, the standard priority order persists: expertise to soft-cap > hit to cap > expertise to hard-cap > strength. So, go with Crocolisk Au Gratin until you reach 26 expertise, then Grilled Dragon until hit capped, and then back to Crocolisk, and then (if by some miracle you are hit and expertise capped) you can have the Beer-Basted Crocolisk.

• Beer-Basted Crocolisk
• Crocolisk Au Gratin
• Grilled Dragon

Lastly, if you want to be cheap (or are working on farm content) you can go with the latest version of the fish feast:

• Seafood Magnifique Feast

But don’t use this for progression content!

While as easy as it may be to leech for the saps that bring Fish Feasts to the raid (just kidding–valuable raid service!), FF is the not the best option for any post-wipe munchies. Straight attack power and spell power are two of our weakest threat stats, and if you’re aiming to boost your tps, that’s not the way to go. Not to mention that stamina is not a factor thanks to all foods having the same amount. As such, you’re really eating buff food for that secondary stat, but which stat to go for?

First, let’s take a look at what you can use to sate that gnawing pre-attempt hunger:

Dragonfin Filet: Provides 40 strength, which works out to 20 Block Value (26 with Redoubt) and 80 attack power/28 white damage dps, along with 24 spell power.

Blackened Dragonfin: The 40 agility from this food imparts .67% dodge (before diminishing returns), .67% crit chance, and 80 armor. Great triple dip stat food.

Worg Tartare (or Snapper Extreme): Gives 1.22% chance to hit. Excellent choice for closing the gap on the melee hit cap.

Rhinolicious Wyrmsteak: The 40 expertise rating from this food translates to 4.9 expertise skill, or .82% reduced chance to have your attacks dodged or parried.

So, what is the best for threat?

Dragonfin Filet because strength triple dips as a threat stat. It gives you an increase to your dps directly, then more BV (increasing your Shield of Righteousness damage), and finally adds some spell power for icing on the cake. In fact, according to an analysis that Theck ran, Dragonfin Filet is worth 126 tps. That’s 30 tps more than its nearest competitor (Fish Feast).

And, what is the best for survivability?

Blackened Dragonfin for sure. You get avoidance and mitigation, all in one package. It’s the only real choice.