On the sixteenth episode of the Molsan Method podcast, I talk about taking a break from end-game. (5:57)

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 Molsan Method Podcast - Episode 16 [5:57m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (34)

On the fourth episode of the Molsan Method podcast, I talk about the expectations today’s players have on tanks in heroics (4:53).

 

 Molsan Method Podcast - Episode 4 [4:53m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (68)

I’ve recently decided to level up my Shaman, changing his main spec from Enhancement to Restoration. Thanks to World of Warcraft patch 3.3, I can queue for random dungeons as a healer while I’m out questing. I put together a quick guide for itemizing a Resto Shammy using nothing but crafted items or bind-on-equip gear. The only exceptions are trinkets and the Shaman relic. Upgrades for these slots can be found by running the Venture Company dailies in Venture Bay.

Before reading this guide, please be aware of some assumptions:

• This guide is intended for players leveling up in Northrend, in preparation to run heroic dungeons
• Yes, I realize that there is better gear from quests and dungeons
• You are going to use only the best available gems and enchants
• The prefix/suffix random BoEs might be better in some cases, but ignored because of their uncertain availability

Here is the breakdown by slot. There are some cases where crafted items from Burning Crusade recipes are viable for leveling, especially Leatherworking’s Netherfury set. C = crafted, WD = world drop, DQ = daily quest. Now, on with it!

Head

Helm of the Lightning Halls (WD, 80)
Stormhide Crown (C, 78)
Duskweave Cowl (C, 75)
Nerubian Helm (C, 74)

Neck

Blood Sun Necklace (C, 75)
Crystal Citrine Necklace (C, 70)

Shoulder

Epaulets of Market Row (WD, 78)
Duskweave Shoulders (C, 77)
Nerubian Shoulders (C, 73)

Back

Wispcloak (C, 80)
Cloak of the Moon (C, 74)
White Remedy Cape (C, 69)

Chest

Revenant’s Breastplate (C, 80)
Stormhide Hauberk (C, 78)
Dark Nerubian Chestpiece (C, 76)

Wrist

Stormhide Wristguards (C, 78)
Bracers of Sizzling Heat (WD, 75)
Bracers of Havok (C, 69)

Hands

Stormhide Grips (C, 78)
Duskweave Gloves (C, 76)

Waist

Sash of Jordan (WD, 80)
Stormhide Belt (C, 78)
Netherfury Belt (C, 67)

Legs

Stormhide Legguards (C, 78)
Netherfury Leggings (C, 67)

Feet

Scaled Icewalkers (C, 77)
Netherfury Boots (C, 69)

Finger

Titanium Spellshock Ring (C, 80)
Runed Mana Band (C, 80)
Ring of Northern Tears (C, 78)
Shadowmight Ring (C, 77)
Sun Rock Ring (C, 70)

Trinket

Arcane Revitalizer (DQ, 74)
Goblin Repetition Reducer (DQ, 74)

Two-Handed Weapon

Zabra’s Misplaced Staff (WD, 77)
Lola’s Lifegiving Branch (WD, 71)

Main Hand Weapon

Titansteel Guardian (C, 80)
Cudgel of Saronite Justice (C, 77)
Melia’s Magnificent Scepter (WD, 75)
The Essence Focuser (WD, 70)

Off-Hand

Zom’s Crackling Bulwark (WD, 80)
Faces of Doom (C, 77)
Saronite Protector (C, 73)
Crystal Pulse Shield (WD, 69)

Totem

Totem of the Bay (DQ, 74)

So I’ve learned that I don’t tank fast enough. I know I’m probably more of a conservative player, but even I know when I’m pulling packs of mobs at a decent pace… especially since the “Molsan Method” was named after yours truly. However, what I didn’t know was that PUGs formed by the glorious “Looking for Dungeon” tool expect an even more rapid pace. Chain pulling, zerging, and engaging bosses without mana are now standard.

Halls of Lightning – I Don’t Have All Day

In my last two random heroics, I was called out for my slow and lazy approach. In Halls of Lightning, I pulled the first group with Avenger’s Shield. While that was on cooldown, I pulled a stray mob with Exorcism. My tanking abilities were immediately questioned: “Why are we killing unnecessary mobs and pulling with Exorcism?” I stopped to think about this. Am I doing it wrong? While contemplating justifying my skills and approach to tanking to this complete stranger, the person decided to quit the group, leaving us with a “lol I don’t have all day. thanks. bye” parting shot.

Since they were DPS, they were replaced by my friend, LFD, in a matter of seconds with a new person. After we buffed the new guy up, I went ahead and pulled the next pack of mobs, General Bjarngrim, and his adds. We then continued on, skipping the other three corners of the platform, and breezed through the rest of the instance. We stacked up on Loken, took him down with no trouble, and disenchanted all of his loots. I apologized to the group for taking too long.

The Nexus – I Have a Raid Starting in a Minute

I figured that these kinds of people are few and far between… right? Wrong. In The Nexus, we were moving right along, having taken down the first three bosses with little effort. We had a great pace going; there were no deaths and lots of shards passed around (not by me, but by the aforementioned LFD). As I headed down the hallway towards Ormorok the Tree-Shaper, a player asked, “Can we please hurry it up?” I asked, “Why?” and the player responded with, “I have a raid starting in a minute.” Now, me being the literal person that I am figured, “Gee, no way we can finish this thing in under a minute. I hope he doesn’t bail on us… oh wait, he’s DPS, and there are probably fifty DPS players in line for a random.” I confidently told the group, “Ok, I’ll pick up the pace. Let’s go.”

I skipped a few Crystalline Frayers and let the rest of the party deal with them while I headed for the boss. I patiently stopped to tank the elites, and then moved right in on Ormorok. Without any trouble, he went down; we then proceeded into the tunnel, hopped down, and headed towards Keristrasza. We decided to stack up in front of Keristrasza, and we smacked her around regardless of how intense her Intense Cold was (it really wasn’t that intense). Before I could finish typing, “Sorry I took so long” for the second time, the hardcore raider rolled greed on everything, and quickly left the party. I’m going to setup a macro for my apology… I wonder what the macro syntax is for targeting the top whiner of the party? “/target QQ?”

My second Paladin just hit level 80 over the weekend, so it’s time to start itemizing for a fresh level 80 Holy Paladin. As with my Death Knight gear checklists, I will be targeting pre-raid gear sources in this series. You could also classify these as “non-raid” or even (gasp!) “casual” upgrade lists. I didn’t say “welfare” though.

Like most players these days, you’ll find very significant upgrades in the regular and heroic version of the Trial of the Champion dungeons. For your head slot, you’re in luck as the best pre-raid helm is available in the regular version of ToC. If you prefer to farm Battlegrounds rather than instances, the Deadly Gladiator helm is a nice pickup, even for PvE.

1. Helm of the Bested Gallant
   Trial of the Champion - Champion’s Cache
2. Deadly Gladiator’s Ornamented Headcover
   PvP - 49,600 Honor
3. Helm of Purified Thoughts
   Argent Crusade - Exalted
4. Brilliant Titansteel Helm
   Blacksmith - 540 Gold
5. Titan-Forged Plate Headcover of Salvation
   PvP - 40 Wintergrasp Marks of Honor
6. Helmet of the Constructor
   Heroic Utgarde Keep - Skarvald the Constructor
7. Faceguard of the Hammer Clan
   Heroic Ahn’kahet: The Old Kingdom – Jedoga Shadowseeker

Current prices obtained from Wowecon as of this post.

Here is a general progression of one-handed weapons for a DPS Death Knight in Northrend for World of Warcraft.

Now that patch 3.2 is out, it’s time to take a look at one-handed weapons for dual-wielding specs. If you’re going to dual-wield, you’ll want two slow weapons, so I’m only showing progression for weapon speeds of 2.4 and above. What’s nice is you have crafted, bind-on-equip, non-unique weapons available to you at levels 71, 73, and 74 from a Blacksmith. If you’re a Weaponsmith yourself, you can pickup another pair of weapons at level 78.

Entering Northrend at level 68, you can obtain a Soldier’s Spiked Mace and Edge of the Tuskarr from quests very early on. These two weapons should carry you for three levels. Then at level 71, find two Cobalt Tenderizers until you hit Dragonblight and two Notched Cobalt War Axes when you hit level 73. The crafted Savage Cobalt Slicer is a fantastic upgrade at level 74. At level 75, you should find a couple of friends (especially a healer), and complete The Champion of Anguish quest chain in Zul’Drak. You can swap out one of your two crafted weapons for the Crimson Cranium Crusher.

Unless you are a Weaponsmith, or you can find a group willing to farm regular Utgarde Pinnacle at level 78, you’ll be waiting until level 80 to upgrade your weapons. If money is no object, check the auction house for a Krol Cleaver. In the meantime, start saving up gold or materials for a Titansteel Bonecrusher for your main hand. The TB is a main-hand-only weapon, so you’ll need to find an off-hand weapon to compliment it.

Finding a new off-hand at level 80 can be time-consuming depending on which faction you want to grind rep with. The Reaper of Dark Souls has a slight DPS edge over the Stalactite Chopper, but the Chopper comes with Armor Penetration. You’ll most likely be doing quests for both The Sons of Hodir and Knights of the Ebon Blade anyway, so pickup whichever one you get access to first.

1. Level 68 Soldier’s Spiked Mace (8966)
   Obtained by: Quest Reward – Cutting Off the Source (Borean Tundra)
2. Level 68 Edge of the Tuskarr (9020)
   Obtained by: Quest Reward – The Tides Turn (Borean Tundra)
3. Level 71 Cobalt Tenderizer (9262)
   Obtained by: Blacksmith or AH (15 gold)
4. Level 71 Spiked Coldwind Club (9508)
   Obtained by: Quest Reward – Where the Wild Things Roam (Dragonblight)
5. Level 73 Yoke Slasher (9531)
   Obtained by: Quest Reward – Filling the Cages (Grizzly Hills)
6. Level 73 Notched Cobalt War Axe (9850)
   Obtained by: Blacksmith or AH (15 gold)
7. Level 74 Savage Cobalt Slicer (11240)
   Obtained by: Blacksmith of AH (80 gold)
8. Level 75 Crimson Cranium Crusher (12216)
   Obtained by: Quest Reward – The Champion of Anguish (Zul’Drak)
9. Level 78 Corroded Saronite Edge (12427)
   Obtained by: Weaponsmith BoP
10. Level 78 Ymiron’s Blade (13104)
    Obtained by: King Ymiron (Utgarde Pinnacle)
11. Level 80 Stalactite Chopper (14299)
    Obtained by: The Sons of Hodir (Revered)
12. Level 80 Reaper of Dark Souls (14366)
    Obtained by: Knights of the Ebon Blade (Revered)
13. Level 80 Krol Cleaver (15718)
    Obtained by: World Drop or AH (5000 gold)
14. Level 80 Titansteel Bonecrusher* (15865)
    Obtained by: Blacksmith or AH (1000 gold)

* Main-hand only

Prices and links provided by Wowhead. Gear score provided by Loot Rank (based on the PvE Death Knight template).

I was really enjoying my Death Knight prior to patch 3.2. He was a Blood-spec, two-handed axe smashing fool. My last run was a 4-man regular Violet Hold, where I was doing 1300+ DPS at level 77. Our tank was a Death Knight, and one of the other DPS was a Death Knight. They were each doing around 780 DPS. I thought I really had something special going: the correct build, properly itemized gear, and a tight rotation.

The Death Knight rumor casting a cloud over this patch was that my spec would be “dead.” That’s a silly way to describe a Death Knight spec, but I bought into it, and replaced my build with a dual-wield Unholy build. I really like the look and feel of a melee player dual-wielding big weapons. What I didn’t like was that I had a hard time breaking 750 DPS in Sholazar Basin! I think the rhinos and tigers were laughing at me, wondering what I was doing out there slapping them around.

The Build: 0/18/53

I decided on this build after sifting through a 34-page thread on the Elitist Jerks forums. Skeleton Jack confirmed this build on his site, but stated that “the Frost tree is officially the ‘Dual Wield Tree’ as of 3.2 for PvE DPS.” I understand that, but what attracted me to Unholy was some of the soloing utility, including Master of Ghouls and Summon Gargoyle.

After going back and reading more about this spec, it seems that this is more suited for raiding. You maximize your output by stacking Armor Penetration, which is really only available from well-itemized Ulduar-level gear. So is it back to the drawing board already? Probably.

The “New” Build: 0/53/18

I refuse to give up on a dual-wield spec, and will try again going deeper into the Frost tree. This also requires me to manage two rotations, as opposed to the one rotation I used with Blood. In order to maximize this spec, you need to manage a “setup” rotation and a “main” rotation. This idea was explained in detail by Skeleton Jack in a comment, and I will spell it out even more clearly here.

The Setup Rotation

Icy Touch -> Plague Strike -> Pestilence -> Blood Strike -> Obliterate -> Frost Strike -> Frost Strike -> Obliterate -> Obliterate -> Obliterate -> Frost Strike

The Main Rotation

Obliterate -> Pestilence -> Blood Strike -> Obliterate -> Frost Strike -> Frost Strike -> Obliterate -> Obliterate -> Obliterate -> Frost Strike -> Frost Strike

The Frost Strikes in both rotations act as your runic power dump. I will try out this build and rotations at some point and report back on my findings. Thanks to Elitist Jerks and Skeleton Jack for the information and explanations.

Our second night of 25-man Ulduar didn’t start out quite how I expected. I was asked to tank because one of the main tanks no-showed, but I declined. I’ve been a Retribution Paladin with this group for about a month now, filling in as a tank on certain fights when needed. We had three Protection Warriors in the raid so we were covered anyway.

I used to be one of the main tanks back when we started our 10 and 25-man Naxxramas raids, but was eventually squeezed out after the raid leaders recruited additional tanks. I don’t know if I was doing a poor job for them as a tank, wasn’t vocal enough on Vent, or just smelled funny. I probably will never know, but don’t really care at this point anyway since I’m enjoying playing with this spec.

Ignis the Furnace Master

We started out with Ignis since we had cleared the other three Siege of Ulduar bosses on the previous night. The path down to Ignis is huge! It definitely felt epic, and the homage to Molten Core with the two Molten Colossus giants was a nice touch. Dancing around the whirlwinds cast by the fire revenants was pretty fun. After our raid leader performed the thankless job of explaining the fight to everyone, and from their perspective (how he knows all this I’ll never understand), we engaged Ignis and began the fight.

The attempts — all seven of them — were chaotic with the tank dying early and often. We had some difficulties with aggro management, mainly because there is no aggro reset (sorry, old joke). I was tasked with slapping Ignis in the leg with my mace and staying alive when I was put “on the pot.”

I Out-heal Priests

What was most surprising was the amount of passive healing I was doing with Judgement of Light. I was showing up third on Recount under “Healing Done.” Come to find out, this is getting nerfed in 3.2:

Judgement of Light: Now heals for 2% of the attacker’s maximum health instead of a variable amount based on the spell power and attack power of the judging paladin.

Although I got a kick out of the Priests whispering me and wondering if I had changed specs again, this really doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. I’ll enjoy being able to simultaneously DPS and heal until this gets changed in the upcoming patch. Who needs a combat medic hero class anyway?

Raid Reassurance Time

We were reminded again that we wouldn’t be one-shotting bosses, even though all of us already knew that. Although I don’t think anyone is concerned that we’re not doing well and learning on each attempt, plenty of reassurances of how many attempts and wipes it will take us to defeat a boss were given out.

After the sixth attempt, the raid leader put out a vote to stay for another attempt, or move on to Kologarn. The majority voted to stay on Ignis, so we tried again. The main tank and off-tank switched, and the attempt was our best yet. We had Ignis down to 70% before any deaths occurred. We ended up wiping, and the raid leader put up another vote. This time, the majority voted to move on to Kologarn. This was strange to me because the last attempt on Ignis was clearly one where we had made some serious strides towards learning the fight.

Kologarn

We hit the trash hard on our way to Kologarn. When I say hard, I mean hard like you ran as fast as you could right into a brick wall. We attempted to sheep two of the mobs, but those were quickly broken by AoE. An exasperated voice on Vent pleaded for players to not break crowd controlled mobs, but this is probably some of our raiders first experience with a 25-man dungeon with crowd control. In Naxxramas, AoE was used on everything, so I don’t blame them for using AoE in their rotations.

We eventually made our way to Kologarn and had some decent attempts, four in total. We basically re-spawned the right arm once on each attempt, but called it there due to time constraints. I didn’t feel like everyone (including me) knew exactly what they were supposed to be doing on this fight, but hopefully we’ll be able to build on our experiences for next week. All in all another night full of learning experiences and several servings of humble pie.

Here is a general progression of neck pieces for a DPS Death Knight in Northrend for World of Warcraft.

The progression path here is probably the most straight-forward of any slot. One of your first rare items from Northrend will come from the group quest “Breaking Through” in Borean Tundra, available at level 68. Completing this quest will reward you with the Choker of Forceful Redemption which will carry you to at least 72, if not 75.

At level 75, you’ll want to find a Jewelcrafter and make friends with him or her. You can pick up the Jewelcrafter-made Jade Dagger Pendant until you finish the Oracles/Frenzyheart quest chain in Sholazar Basin for the Spiked Collar of Servitude.

If you are questing in Icecrown and need a buffer for this slot in the mid-70s, The Severed Noose of Westwind is available to you from a quest at 78. When you hit level 80, find that Jewelcrafter friend of yours and get the Titanium Impact Choker crafted for you.

1. Level 68 Worgtooth Pendant (668)
   Obtained by: Quest Reward – The Walking Dead (Howling Fjord)
2. Level 68 Choker of Forceful Redemption (909)
   Obtained by: Quest Reward – Breaking Through (Borean Tundra)
3. Level 72 Wyrm-slave Collar (946)
   Obtained by: Quest Reward – Neltharion’s Flame (Dragonblight)
4. Level 75 Jade Dagger Pendant (1167)
   Obtained by: Jewelcrafter or AH (40 gold)
5. Level 76 Spiked Collar of Servitude (1276)
   Obtained by: Quest Reward – A Hero’s Burden (Sholazar Basin)
6. Level 78 The Severed Noose of Westwind (1409)
   Obtained by: Quest Reward – The Admiral Revealed (Icecrown)
7. Level 80 Titanium Impact Choker (1915)
   Obtained by: Jewelcrafter or AH (1200 gold)

Prices and links provided by Wowhead. Gear score provided by Loot Rank (based on the PvE Death Knight template).

Here is a general progression of chest pieces for a DPS Death Knight in Northrend for World of Warcraft.

Starting out in Borean Tundra, you’ll want to focus on obtaining the Battle Leader’s Breastplate. This will carry you for three levels until you can hit Dragonblight for the Chestplate of the Ruby Champion.

Your first opportunity to pick up a rare item will be at level 76 with the Kalu’ak. If you’ve completed all of the quests for this faction in at least two out of the three zones where Kalu’ak quests exist, you should have no trouble reaching honored.

You can then run Gundrak for the Forlorn Breastplate of War from Moorabi, or hold off until 80 and complete the quest “Whatever it Takes!” in the Halls of Lightning. Although you can pick up this quest at level 77, you’re more likely to find a heroic HoL group at 80, then you are a regular HoL group at 77.

• Level 68 Mightstone Breastplate (1436)
  Obtained by: Quest Reward – Bury Those Cockroaches! (Borean Tundra)
• Level 68 Battle Leader’s Breastplate (1601)
  Obtained by: Quest Reward – What the Cold Wind Brings… (Borean Tundra)
• Level 71 Chestplate of the Ruby Champion (1815)
  Obtained by: Quest Reward – On Ruby Wings (Dragonblight)
• Level 73 Carapace of the Fallen (1932)
  Obtained by: Quest Reward – A Minor Substitution (Grizzly Hills)
• Level 74 Chestplate of the Altar (1971)
  Obtained by: Quest Reward – Precious Elemental Fluids (Zul’Drak)
• Level 75 Links of the Terrified Deity (2001)
  Obtained by: Quest Reward – Convocation at Zol’Heb (Zul’Drak)
• Level 76 Whalebone Carapace (2194)
  Obtained by: The Kalu’ak (Honored)
• Level 76 Forlorn Breastplate of War (2413)
  Obtained by: Moorabi (Gundrak)
• Level 77 Breastplate of Jagged Stone (2812)
  Obtained by: Quest Reward – Whatever it Takes! (Halls of Lightning)

Prices and links provided by Wowhead. Gear score provided by Loot Rank (based on the PvE Death Knight template).