I'm new to the endgame, what should I do for starters? (gear-related mostly)

B

Ben Reed

Veteran X
Hey all,

This weekend I will finally be hitting level 60 on my main (a Warrior on Illidan) for the first time, and while I have a general idea of where I'm headed from there, I'd appreciate any advice you might have.

For starters, which raid dungeon is the easiest of the bunch, and what kind of gear do I need for it besides the general rule of "don't go wearing nothing but crappy greens"? (I'm assuming ZG is easiest for raid newbies, but correct me if I'm wrong.)

Also, what other gear should I add to my instance-run "shopping list"? So far I'm looking at:

- FR gear (which I don't know much about...what kind of stuff should I stay away from, and what kind of stuff should I go for? Do I need to hit up the AH for my FR gear needs, or can I load up on a decent amount of stuff from instances like DM/UBRS/etc.?)

- Valor set
- Golem Skull Helm
- A new, non-crappy 2H sword...best I've been able to manage so far is a 179-200-something dmg 2h sword with +30 attack power.

Basically, just give me the rundown of the bare minimum gear needed to ease my way into endgame raiding.
 
- don't be too worried about FR gear before you get to do rag
- i don't think it's worth bothering to collect valor items unless you really need to replace some crappy greens until you get something better. golem skull helm is good, try to get other defense stuff as well, that's what matters. crystal encrusted greaves and cenarion reservist's legplates are quite decent, they're from a raid quest in silithus. deathbone chestplate from scholo is good too. evil eye pendant from dm, some blue def shoulders from dm (have int too, heh), draconian deflector is a must, and so on. you can also get some +15 def legplates from brd.
- if you really want a sword you could always consider trying to get darkstone claymore. drops from a duke in silithus.

if you are in a guild that does zg you could try dragging along and get some pretty good stuff from there. zg isn't something you do with random pickups but it's not that hard either i guess.

i'd post more but i really have to get some sleep now
 
That link is exactly what I was looking for since I just got my mage to lvl 60. Thanks! I always hear about high high lvl items but never the first upgrades for a class at 60 and that lets me know which instances I should go for which things. Awesome!
 
Ben Reed said:
For starters, which raid dungeon is the easiest of the bunch, and what kind of gear do I need for it besides the general rule of "don't go wearing nothing but crappy greens"? (I'm assuming ZG is easiest for raid newbies, but correct me if I'm wrong.)
Click to expand...

aside from strath/scholo/DM/BRS (i don't know if you're counting those), molten core is the easiest. zul'gurub is a step up in difficulty from there imo (less people means everyone has to pull their weight, and some of the later fights are very taxing if you dont have epic gear), and BWL is the hardest.

the link RK posted is excellent in terms of how to gear yourself up before you get epics. make sure you have a script, macro, or addon that exchanges all your gear at the push of a button, because a good warrior will know when to DPS and when to tank and not waste time switching his gear manually to switch roles.

Also, what other gear should I add to my instance-run "shopping list"? So far I'm looking at:

- FR gear (which I don't know much about...what kind of stuff should I stay away from, and what kind of stuff should I go for? Do I need to hit up the AH for my FR gear needs, or can I load up on a decent amount of stuff from instances like DM/UBRS/etc.?)

- Valor set
- Golem Skull Helm
- A new, non-crappy 2H sword...best I've been able to manage so far is a 179-200-something dmg 2h sword with +30 attack power.
Click to expand...

FR: you're going to want 150 FR as your first step. While you won't be tanking, say, ragnaros with 150 fr, you won't get yourself killed DPSing in ten seconds by him with that much. to tank heavy fire raid mobs like rag and vael, you'll need dark iron gear (epic armorsmithing crafts that you can only get with very high reputation with the thorium brotherhood). these are extremely costly and will likely require a guild effort to outfit you in, so don't expect to get these very quickly. you'll also want fire resist jewelry, cloak, trinkets, etc. and a grand total of over 250 FR, up to a max of 315.

http://evilempireguild.org/guides/ is another good resource for finding FR gear, tanking gear, etc.

2h weapon: barbarous blade from DM or darkstone claymore from a silithus boss. those are pretty much the best weapons you can easily get without raid involvement.

blue gear: for the love of all that is holy, save yourself the trouble and skip farming for valor completely. the set is trash for tanking and isn't anything to write home about for DPSing. mix and match pieces you find across every instance for the best results. golem skull helm is great blue tanking piece.

gearing up a warrior is an extremely long and ongoing process. you can tank most of MC with all-blue defense/stamina gear, but you're going to want to stock up on Might gear before tanking the big stuff in the next instances.

edit: to get the most of your warrior you're going to want a DPS set for soloing, PVP, and DPSing mobs you're not tanking. you're going to want a physical tanking set for most mobs, and you'll eventually want either a light FR set for fighting fire mobs you won't be tanking, or a heavy FR set with dark iron gear for tanking the biggest and baddest.

after ahn'quiraj opens in 1.9, don't be surprised if nature resist gear becomes the next big thing.
 
Last edited:
Your number one priority as a warrior, as I'm sure you know, should be to get FR gear (that is, if you plan to do high-end raiding). This includes any Dark Iron gear you can get crafted (I think the chest piece and shoulders can be made with non-MC materials), Draconian Deflector, and any other miscellaneous FR gear you can get from instances. Check the auction house periodically for FR rings and Blazing Emblems. Get your DM Warrior trinket.

Your next priority should be to get the best quality 1-handed weapon you can find. You can't tank with a 2-hander (well, shouldn't).

Beyond that, just try to find a raiding guild that's willing to take you in and help you with your Onyxia quest, etc. You don't have to shoot for the top raiding guild on the server. Trust me, earning your way through raid content is MUCH more satisfying than having it handed to you on a silver platter. I would try to stay away from guilds that raid via alliances with other guilds, however. They rarely work out and end in drama for all involved (although there are a few exceptions).
 
well if you are in a good guild...do ZG with them and you can get blue items better than most other instance blues (barring DM somewhat)

and you can pick up some pretty swell epic weapons/shields from ZG with not too much effort
 
RamataKahn said:
http://69.41.171.43/warrior.htm
Click to expand...
That's pretty much what you need. Work on getting the tanking gear on that list if you can Ben. Also work on your FR set so we can take you to BWL.

Your one handed weapon isn't too important really. I've tanked UBRS with a 16 DPS Last Week's Mutton mace just because I could. Ideally you want something at least 40 DPS (it helps with rage generation), 2.0 speed or faster and preferably some stamina.

Weapon: Doesn't matter but the best you can probaly get is Timeworn Mace.
Helm: Golem Skull Helm, nothing else even comes close to it (it's fugly though).
Boots: Get something with a lot of stamina. Green Boots of Stamina off the AH would probaly work here.
Legs: Warmaster Legguards are probaly the best you can get here. Leggplates of the Eternal Guardian used to be pretty awesome but since the defense nerf they aren't worth it IMO.
Wrist: Fel Hardened Bracers are the best for this slot having both good stamina and some defense. However, they're also pretty damn hard to get as they only drop off a mob that is summoned for the Warlock epic mount quest (he can be resummoned any time the warlock with the materials runs the instance). He's also in DM West which isn't run all that often. Next best thing is Vigorsteel Vambraces because they have a lot of Stamina.
Back: Redoubt Cloak is handsdown the best. Cloak of Warding is pretty cheap to make overall if you can't get Redoubt.
Neck: Get the Medallion of Grand Marshall Morris. I think we might (or used to) have one on our guild back. It's debatably better than the Medallion of Steadfast Might which is a relatively rare MC drop.
Shield: Draconian Deflector is a must have. It's pretty much perfect in that it has Fire Resist, Defense and Stamina.
Chest: Ornate Adamantium and Kromcrush's Breastplate are the best. Ornate Adamantium you have to 5 man Scarlet Strath for which is a pain. Kromcrush you have to kill Kromcrush in DM North which people rarely do (he's hard). Deathbone is ok. If you're going to use the Deathbone chest I'd say go ahead and use the boots too (they have good stamina) for the +3 defense bonus.
Hands: Force Imbued Guantlets or Stonegrip Guantlets. Stonegrip usually go for about 60g on the AH but are worth it. Especially considering how many times we've had Might guants drop (1).
Shoulders: Stockade Pauldrons rape face. Bile-etched Spaulders and Bulky Iron Spaulders are both quite good though.
Waist: Stalwart Clutch. It's an easy quest, get the belt and use it.
Rings: I use 2 Bands of the Ogre King (lucky drops). Just get anything with high stamina.
Trinkets: Force of Will and for the second one I use Demon's Blood (http://www.thottbot.com/?i=3720). If you take Mark of Tyranny over Blackhand's Breadth I'm going to punch you in the face.

As far as fire resist gear goes don't be afraid to wear mail, leather or even cloth. Most of the time you want the FR so you don't get raped by AOEs.

Chest: Hydralick Armor, you have to buy it but it's worth it (unless you're an armorsmith you can make Dark Iron Chest).
Wrist: Bracers off Incendius
Shoulders: Flamescarred Shoulders (leather from DM East) and Dark Iron Shoulders
Back: Smokey's Drape with +7 FR enchant or Onyxia Scale Cloak once you get one.
Neck: Onyxia Key
Rings: Ocean's Breeze (once you get it) and some green FR ring. You might not be able to get a good green FR ring since they go for like 200g on our server.
Trinket: Ward of the Elements, Warrior DM trinket and Blazing Emblem.

Don't use green shit with no stats for FR.
 
Ben Reed said:
Hey all,

For starters, which raid dungeon is the easiest of the bunch, and what kind of gear do I need for it besides the general rule of "don't go wearing nothing but crappy greens"? (I'm assuming ZG is easiest for raid newbies, but correct me if I'm wrong.)
Click to expand...
Technically UBRS is a raid but it's pretty damn easy. ZG is about equivalant to MC in difficulty, maybe a little harder or easier depending (we still wipe on a few of the bosses in ZG).
- Valor set
Click to expand...
Garbage. Shoulders are nice for DPSing and so is the chest. Most of it there is far better shit elsewhere.
- A new, non-crappy 2H sword...best I've been able to manage so far is a 179-200-something dmg 2h sword with +30 attack power.
Click to expand...
Are you dead set upon using a sword? If not go for an Ice Barbed Spear (http://thottbot.com/?i=40261) for Alterac Valley. All you have to do to get it is be in a winning AV (which is pretty damn rare on our sever :/).
[/QUOTE]
 
False: Yeah, I'm dead set on swords. I'll start looking for a Barbarous Blade as soon as I hit 60 (probably sometime tonight or tomorrow), and woe to any Hunters who try to take it from me when it drops.

Dyno: I have no intention of tanking with a 2-hander, of course. I just want a better one for PvP (not that I've ever been to AB or AV, but someday I will have to go in there, and I can't exactly fight off gankers worth a crap with just my tanking sword/shield).

I haven't ground my blacksmithing far enough to become an Armorsmith yet, I'll have to do that so that I can start making some DI gear. :-/ (Well, I have the Armorsmithing quest, but I don't have all the recipes yet to complete it.)
 
Ben Reed said:
False: Yeah, I'm dead set on swords. I'll start looking for a Barbarous Blade as soon as I hit 60 (probably sometime tonight or tomorrow), and woe to any Hunters who try to take it from me when it drops.

Dyno: I have no intention of tanking with a 2-hander, of course. I just want a better one for PvP (not that I've ever been to AB or AV, but someday I will have to go in there, and I can't exactly fight off gankers worth a crap with just my tanking sword/shield).

I haven't ground my blacksmithing far enough to become an Armorsmith yet, I'll have to do that so that I can start making some DI gear. :-/ (Well, I have the Armorsmithing quest, but I don't have all the recipes yet to complete it.)
Click to expand...
Blodbath (Sidfarkus) can make all of the Dark Iron gear. It takes a LOT of work and money to get them all. The recipes themselves are also quite expensive requiring rare material drops from MC. I mentioned the Dark Iron Chest because it is relatively easy to get (I think), doesn't require extreme mats but it bind on pickup.

On swords, looks like a Barbarous Blade would be your best bet (with World Destroyer from ZG being the best if you ever get one). http://www.thottbot.com/?i=25876 Corruption is pretty nice for a Warrior but requires you to be a Swordsmith.
 
Ben Reed said:
False: Yeah, I'm dead set on swords. I'll start looking for a Barbarous Blade as soon as I hit 60 (probably sometime tonight or tomorrow), and woe to any Hunters who try to take it from me when it drops.

Dyno: I have no intention of tanking with a 2-hander, of course. I just want a better one for PvP (not that I've ever been to AB or AV, but someday I will have to go in there, and I can't exactly fight off gankers worth a crap with just my tanking sword/shield).

I haven't ground my blacksmithing far enough to become an Armorsmith yet, I'll have to do that so that I can start making some DI gear. :-/ (Well, I have the Armorsmithing quest, but I don't have all the recipes yet to complete it.)
Click to expand...

Not to dissuade you, but I would suggest going hammer or axesmith if you want to keep going with BS. I've got most of the high end armorsmithing recipes, and there are some other people in the guild that can pretty much fill in the rest. What we don't have are hammer and axesmiths, so if a nice weapon plan drops for that, you'd pretty much have first dibs. I think we have a swordsmith, but I can't remember who it is (maybe deathe).

Anyways, as for gear, most of the information here is pretty good. From valor I like the BP, Helm, and Legs, everything else probably isn't worth your time. Good tanking boots are the Corpselight greave (from scholo) or the Master cannoneer boot (from strat sm). Lots of stam is generally good. Try and get in on a ZG run so you can grab some bloodsoaked items, the boots, shoulders and legs are all excellent for both pvp and pve.

Most importantly, take the initiative to get your ony/MC/BWL attunements done EARLY. Find pickup groups if you must, just get them done. We're already denching warrior loot in MC, and a wrath helm got denched tonight from ony.
 
if your server isn't too inflated with a million people going for grand marshal, you should just aim for your blue pvp set. rank 10 gets you all the pieces, but if you buy a lionheart helm and wear the AB exalted shoulders you only need to get rank 8 (which includes the pants and chest piece)

the only thing that sucks about warrior once you get 60 is the gap between you and every other warrior in an MC guild. not to sound mean, but for ahwile you will kinda be useless. but everything will get better once you get a few pieces of might and maybe an epic weapon or two :D
 
Surge said:
if your server isn't too inflated with a million people going for grand marshal, you should just aim for your blue pvp set. rank 10 gets you all the pieces, but if you buy a lionheart helm and wear the AB exalted shoulders you only need to get rank 8 (which includes the pants and chest piece)
Click to expand...

I haven't yet been to AB, ever, because of the insanely long queue and the fact that I wanted to wait to try it in-guild at some point, but I will definitely give it a try next chance I get now that I'm 60.

the only thing that sucks about warrior once you get 60 is the gap between you and every other warrior in an MC guild. not to sound mean, but for ahwile you will kinda be useless. but everything will get better once you get a few pieces of might and maybe an epic weapon or two :D
Click to expand...

You don't have to worry about sounding mean, I knew what I was getting into. I know how huge the gap is between green-geared 60 Warriors and epic-encrusted 60 Warriors. I am fully prepared for a rough start.
 
filsinger said:
ABs queue is about 30 seconds long. Something I would not call "insanely long"
Click to expand...


I dunno, every time I've queued myself up for a random AB (no group or anything) I've sat in line for over an hour. I know I should be looking for a group for this stuff, but I'm lazy, and besides, I have resist gear to bone up on. Stupid Incendius needs to drop those fucking bracers...
 
Back
Top