[Polar]

L80 Pre-Naxx guide - Polar's Easy Pre-Naxx Tank Gear List

Just hit level 70 and want to quickly gear up for tanking duties in Karazhan or heroics? Don't want to run 5-man instances over and over hoping for just 1 item to drop?

Here is a list of some of the better L70 pre-Karazhan plate tank gear that you can get by simple questing, the AH or reputation rewards up to 'revered'.

Please note: This is not the "ultimate" pre-raid tanking guide - It excludes gear that drops from bosses in the 5 man runs since such drops are random and often require many runs of the same instance to obtain such gear. It also excludes epic crafted gear and gear that requires exalted faction rep. This guide is the "easy-to-get" gear guide to start tanking heroics and Karazhan.

The aim of the items is to increase stamina, defense, dodge/parry and armor. 490 defense is the target value to minimize crit chance against you. Once you hit 490 you should be aiming for a good balance between armor, stamina and avoidance (dodge+parry). From a threat generation perspective, block value will come naturally with the gear you collect but if you find your miss rate a little high then you may want to consider substituting in some +hit rating gems. The head, chest, legs and shield contribute most to the tanking stats so aim to get these sorted above all else. 12k armor, 12k health and 30% dodge+parry is a good target for entry-level Karazhan.

Recommended green quality jewels are [item]Shifting Shadow Draenite[/item] (red slots), [item]Thick Golden Draenite[/item], [item]Enduring Deep Peridot[/item] and [item]Rigid Golden Draenite[/item] (yellow slots) and [item]Solid Azure Moonstone[/item] (blue slots). Remember that you do not have to match the jewel color to the slot color and you only give up the socket bonus if you take this approach. Suggested gems are shown as a guide only for each socketable item. Better quality gems are recommended if you can afford them.

*Highly recommended items - generally better than 5-man instance boss drops

v2.1 - Apr 29, 2008. Current for patch 2.4.1
Posted at -
http://tankspot.com/index.php?pageid...razhanTankGear
World of Warcraft - English (NA) Forums -> Polar's easy-to-get pre-Kara tank gear guide
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Head
[item]Felsteel Helm[/item]*
The World of Warcraft Armory
Source: Crafted/AH - Requires L70
Suggested Gems: [item]Solid Azure Moonstone[/item]x3
or
[item]Myrmidon's Headdress[/item]
The World of Warcraft Armory
Source: L67 Quest - Zangarmarsh: The Warlord's Hideout (SV)
Suggested Gems: [item]Shifting Shadow Draenite[/item] and [item]Powerful Earthstorm Diamond[/item]

Recommended Enchant: [item]Glyph of the Defender[/item] (Keepers of Time - Revered)
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Neck
[item]Strength of the Untamed[/item]*
The World of Warcraft Armory
Source: Cenarion Expedition quartermaster (Revered) - Requires L70
or
[item]Thalodien's Charm[/item]
The World of Warcraft Armory
Source: L67 Quest - Netherstorm: Shutting Down Manaforge Ara (Scryers)
or
[item]Natasha's Battle Chain[/item]
The World of Warcraft Armory
Source: L65 Quest - Blades Edge Mountains: The Hound Master
or
[item]Mark of the Ravenguard[/item]
The World of Warcraft Armory
Source: L65 Quest - Auch: Brother Against Brother (Sethekk)
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Shoulder
[item]Gladiator's Plate Shoulders[/item]
The World of Warcraft Armory
Source: PvP Vendor - Requires L70
Suggested Gems: [item]Solid Azure Moonstone[/item]x2
or
[item]Warchief's Mantle[/item]
The World of Warcraft Armory
Source: L66 Quest - KoT Old Hillsbrad: Return to Andormu
Suggested Gems: [item]Solid Azure Moonstone[/item]x2
or
[item]Savage Plate Shoulders[/item]
The World of Warcraft Armory
Source: Lower City Quartermaster (Honored) - Requires L70
Suggested Gems: [item]Solid Azure Moonstone[/item]x2

Recommended Enchant: Any Aldor or Scryer shoulder inscriptions
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Cloak
[item]Cloak of Eternity[/item]
The World of Warcraft Armory
Source: Crafted/AH - Requires L69
Recommended Enchant: +120 armor enchant or +12 agility enchant
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Chest
[item]Vindicator's Hauberk[/item]*
The World of Warcraft Armory
Source: Aldor quartermaster (Revered) - Requires L70
or
[item]Gladiator's Plate Chestpiece[/item]
The World of Warcraft Armory
Source: PvP Vendor - Requires L70
Suggested Gems: [item]Solid Azure Moonstone[/item]x3
or
[item]Breastplate of the Warbringer[/item]
The World of Warcraft Armory
Source: L66 Quest - Netherstorm: Forge Camp:Annihilated

Recommended Enchant: +150 HP enchant
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Wrists
[item]Sha'tari Wrought Armguards[/item]
The World of Warcraft Armory
Source: L68 Quest - Auch: Soul Devices (SL)
Suggested Gems: [item]Enduring Deep Peridot[/item]
or
[item]Junior Technician 3rd Grade Bracers[/item]
The World of Warcraft Armory
Source: L67 Quest - Netherstorm: You're Hired!

Recommended Enchant: +12 stamina (prefered) or +12 defense enchant
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Gloves
[item]Felsteel Gloves[/item]*
The World of Warcraft Armory
Source: Crafted/AH - Requires L70
Suggested Gems: [item]Shifting Shadow Draenite[/item] and [item]Solid Azure Moonstone[/item]
or
[item]Gauntlets of the Chosen[/item]
The World of Warcraft Armory
Source: Scryers quartermaster (Revered) - Requires L70

Recommended Enchant: [item]Heavy Knothide Armor Kit[/item] (+10 stamina) or +15 agil enchant or +2% threat
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Belt
[item]Sha'tari Vindicator's Waistguard[/item]*
The World of Warcraft Armory
Source: L70 Quest - Netherstorm: How to Break Into the Arcatraz
or
[item]Girdle of the Lost Vindicator[/item]
The World of Warcraft Armory
Source: L70 Quest - Netherstorm: Aldor No More (Aldor)
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Legs
[item]Timewarden's Leggings[/item]*
The World of Warcraft Armory
Source: Keepers of Time (Revered) - Requires L70
Suggested Gems: [item]Solid Azure Moonstone[/item]x3
or
[item]Felsteel Leggings[/item]*
The World of Warcraft Armory
Source: Crafted/AH - Requires L70
Suggested Gems: [item]Solid Azure Moonstone[/item], [item]Shifting Shadow Draenite[/item] and [item]Enduring Deep Peridot[/item]
or
[item]Legguards of the Resolute Defender[/item]
The World of Warcraft Armory
Source: L67 Quest - Netherstorm: Destroy Naberius!

Recommended Enchant: [item]Clefthide Leg Armor[/item] (+30 stamina, +10 agility)
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Feet
[item]Flesh Beast's Metal Greaves[/item]*
The World of Warcraft Armory
Source: L64 Quest - Mana Tombs: Someone Else's Hard Work Pays Off (Escort)
or
[item]Sha'tari Wrought Greaves[/item]
The World of Warcraft Armory
Source: L68 Quest - Auch: Into the Heart of the Labyrinth (SL)
Suggested Gems: [item]Solid Azure Moonstone[/item]x2

Recommended Enchant: +12 stamina enchant or [item]Heavy Knothide Armor Kit[/item] (+10 stamina)
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Rings
[item]Wind Trader's Band[/item]
The World of Warcraft Armory
Source: L68 Quest - Netherstorm: Dealing with the Overmaster

[item]Protector's Mark of the Redemption[/item]
The World of Warcraft Armory
Source: L68 Quest - SMV: Dissension Amongst the Ranks

[item]Delicate Eternium Ring[/item]
The World of Warcraft Armory
Source: Crafted/AH - Requires L70

[item]Andormu's Tear[/item]
The World of Warcraft Armory
Source: L66 Quest, KoT BM: Hero of the Brood
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Trinkets
[item]Dabiri's Enigma[/item]
The World of Warcraft Armory
Source: L68 Quest - Netherstorm: Dimensius the All-Devouring

[item]Regal Protectorate[/item]
The World of Warcraft Armory
Source: L58 Quest - HFP: Overlord(A)/Cruel's Intentions(H)
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Weapon
[item]Inuuro's Blade[/item]*
The World of Warcraft Armory
Source: Shattered Sun Offensive quartermaster (Revered) - Requires L70
or
[item]Grom'tor's Charge[/item]
The World of Warcraft Armory
Source: L68 Quest - SMV: The Cipher of Damnation
or
[item]Crystalblade of the Draenei[/item]
The World of Warcraft Armory
Source: World Drop/AH - Requires L66
or
[item]Crystalline Kopesh[/item] (slightly slow for a tanking weapon)
The World of Warcraft Armory
Source: L66 Quest - Nagrand: Wanted : Durn the Hungerer
or
[item]Seeker's Gavel[/item] (Pally Tanks)
The World of Warcraft Armory
Source: Shattered Sun Offensive quartermaster (Revered) - Requires L70
or
[item]Continuum Blade[/item] (Pally Tanks)
The World of Warcraft Armory
Source: Keepers of Time quartermaster (Revered) - Requires L70

Recommended Enchant: +15 agility or mongoose (prefered)
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Shield
[item]Gladiator's Shield Wall[/item]*
The World of Warcraft Armory
Source: PvP vendor - Requires L70
or
[item]Ogri'la Aegis[/item]
The World of Warcraft Armory
Source: Ogri'la quartermaster (Revered) - Requires L70
Suggested Gems: [item]Solid Azure Moonstone[/item]x3
or
[item]Netherwing Protector's Shield[/item]
The World of Warcraft Armory
Source: L70 Quest - SMV: Ally of the Netherwing (Zuluhed chain)
or
[item]Shield of the Wayward Footman[/item]
The World of Warcraft Armory
Source: AH - Requires L65

Recommended Enchant: +18 stamina enchant
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Ranged (warriors)
(any green bow/gun/thrown with +stamina or +stam/agility)
Source: AH
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Post a reply if you find this list useful or if you have any suggestions.

[Ciderhelm]

Let's get some feedback on this from the membership. In the future, this will probably be turned into a webpage similar to:
TankSpot - Warcraft Warrior's Reference - Armstrong Devastate FAQ

I may jump in there and do some formatting before I make this change. I won't edit any information, just the format of the post for readability on a lighter background (for instance, the separator lines).

[Kazeyonoma]

I suggested this to him on the US-WoW forums since he was getting flamed there for not including 5man drops. I think this can be incorporated into a "So You've hit 70, Now what?"

Kinda to pick up after Of Steel, but before Fortifications.

It would've helped me tons when I was trying to gear up for heroics.

[Faran]

Looks like a pretty good list, though the Netherwing trinket is harder (in my opinion) to get than a lot of 5 man things. That's probably because I've never been much good at making money though, heh.

[MasterWolf]

Yeah, I don't think the Netherwing one is all that easy to get.

Other than that, great list!

Also might wanna mention the Scryer Gloves - Revered. Those are pretty good. Although I see you completing the Felsteel set...

[Wartorn]

This list is great. I think I had just about all that gear at one point.

The only thing I would add is Natasha's Neck thingy.

[brain9h]

-- Constructive feedback --

First and all, excellent work, this strategy of going crafted items+quest items indeed rocks.

I have myself, last week, done a similar job. I took Berg's Tanking Gear guide and extracted the easiest gear I could get from quests/reputation/crafted
items. I took it to word, printed the 33 pages of it, and studied.

The result is EXTREMELY close to your guide.

I reached lvl 70 with my set ready to go, 498 defense and 10.5k HP unbuffed.

Some advice/criticism/comments:

1) I recommend this guide to everybody before they are 70, since questing for the items will help you level as well

2) Felsteel set: Don't overpay neither buy the materials, other people levelling blacksmith from 350-375 will often sell them at AH cheap, helm and gloves for 18-35g, and leggings can be acquired for around 50g. Check wowecon for prices of your server.

3) Cloak of Eternity: check often for people with this recipe, its not something tailors usually seek to acquire, therefore the plans for it aren't as popular as the felsteel set and you could have trouble finding a tailor that can do this.

4) Reputation items: That is still a problem to me, I don't know which faction to focus on. On your list, and on mine also, there are several factions that you need to be revered to get good items from: Aldors (or scryers), Keepers of Time, Ogri'la, Cenarium Expedition, Netherwing. And we know that Shat'tar offers a super shield at exalted, and HH offers a good tanking weapon at Exalted too. I have not developed any reputation with any faction beyond honored, therefore I don't have access to any item on your list, I use the alternatives. I don't know which to focus first, do you have a suggestion for that?

5) Aggro management and 490 defense: Since the items are weak individually, you have to spend too much slot space and gems with defense rating. I don't have access to +12 defense enchantments (no reputation). Since there's no room for strength and block value in this set, I have trouble keeping agro, and other players recognize that, and this is a trouble because people benchmark you bad if you lose aggro frequently, and yes, I'm using the correct rotation...

The thing is, the set above has to much items with just stamina and defense, and not strength. I know that doing Kara I will get items with more +defense rating individually and will be able to free some slots to aggro items. What is your experience with that?

Some of my own ideas to fix this problem:

(a) replacing some slots with PvP items (honor-bought) that provide strength, and slotting +defense rating gems on them. I think bracer and boots are good candidates. When those item are replaced I just re-gem them to use in my pvp gear set.

(b) replacing some slots with strength items and compensate stamina/defense with expensive gems in other slots. Rings and trinkets are good candidates.

(c) Farming a Sun Eater straightaway from mech and mech heroic: It's a tradeoff, I don't get revered with anything any time soon, don't get any revered enchants, but going this path not only I'll get a superb weapon, but I will be also working towards the sha'tar shield. Needless to say sword+shield are the foundations of the tank. This strategy is what I'm doing, what do you think about it? Do you think the sun eater itself will go a long way into improving threat generation?

(d) Going swordsmith and craft something: I think it could be a good alternative, but I'm not sure, haven't studied this path as I'm not following it (gonna be hammersmith -- thunde/deep thunder for pvp)

Best wishes, hope this guide lives long and I'm sure it will be useful to many tanks like me who are just starting and wanna reach the benchmarks for karazhan *as fast as possible*.

[Ciderhelm]

Brain, good response.

Stuck!


What?

[Polar]

Thanks for the comments and encouragement! I know my guildies have found the guide invaluable so I am glad to hear that it might have further appeal.

I will take all the suggestions on board and look at some enhancements to the list.

I attempted to avoid items that would take a lot of time/effort to achieve. This is why I have excluded and rep rewards that require exalted status. I agree that the Netherwing Commander's Badge might be a bit too much a of a stretch for the guide (given you really need an epic flyer to get the quests for the rep) so I will consider removing it.

Let me sleep on it

And yes, Brain, awesome response mate!

[Polar]

Source: brain9h 4) Reputation items: That is still a problem to me, I don't know which faction to focus on. On your list, and on mine also, there are several factions that you need to be revered to get good items from: Aldors (or scryers), Keepers of Time, Ogri'la, Cenarium Expedition, Netherwing. And we know that Shat'tar offers a super shield at exalted, and HH offers a good tanking weapon at Exalted too. I have not developed any reputation with any faction beyond honored, therefore I don't have access to any item on your list, I use the alternatives. I don't know which to focus first, do you have a suggestion for that? 5) Aggro management and 490 defense: Since the items are weak individually, you have to spend too much slot space and gems with defense rating. I don't have access to +12 defense enchantments (no reputation). Since there's no room for strength and block value in this set, I have trouble keeping agro, and other players recognize that, and this is a trouble because people benchmark you bad if you lose aggro frequently, and yes, I'm using the correct rotation... The thing is, the set above has to much items with just stamina and defense, and not strength. I know that doing Kara I will get items with more +defense rating individually and will be able to free some slots to aggro items. What is your experience with that?

Reputation Items - If I were to proritize reputation gains, I would go Aldor and aim for revered as soon as possible. The Vindicator's Hauberk is a very nice chest piece for tanking. 2nd, CE revered is not that difficult to hit since the general questing in Zangarmash gets you most of the way there. The strenght of the untamed neck piece is a nice CE rep reward. Sha'tar exalted gets you a nice shield (not listed) and is also nice to aim for if you have the time to get the rep.

Lack of strength and block value - I appreciate that some of the items have little in this regard but a few of them are not too bad. Myrmidon's Headdress, Warchief's Mantle, Sha'tari Armguards, Girdle of the Lost Vindicator and Sha'tari Wrought Greaves all have some strength. Some others have some block value as well. The guide also assumes you will be doing some 5-man runs to get rep for heroic keys so you are bound to pick up a few more goodies along the way. Also, most of the early bosses in Kara drop some great tanking epic upgrades so you tend to gear up quickly once you get started in there.

If anyone has other suggestions or other experiences then let us know.

[Ciderhelm]

Polar, I want to get a functioning Item Links mod working before I publicly post the webpage, as it will look a lot better. The current one was not functioning with the Arcade.

But, for your future reference, here is the page:
TankSpot - Warcraft Warrior's Reference - Pre-Karazhan Tank Gear

[psychostomp]

one thing on the rep grind i agree get aldor revered first but run BM about 4 times for 2 things first the timewardens second the helm enchant dead sexy and go ahead and get the kara key quest going so you kill many birds with one shotgun blast.

[Polar]

Updates-

Removed Commander's Badge
Added Scryers gloves

[brain9h]

Some more feedback on easy reputation that gives good gear:

I followed Polar's advice, started with Aldor revered reputation. Got my excellent chest piece as well as the +16 dodge shoulder enchant, very good advice. I didn't farm, I got a loan with a friend and spent 200g on marks of sargeras, if you buy in large quantities you get better price per unit (50s in my case)

Then I went for Karazhan attune, and with the quest chains at Caverns of Time, I got plenty of rewards, and it's pretty easy to do, I strongly recommend, do it as soon as possible.

The chain itself gives you Warchief's Mantle Thottbot World of Warcraft: Warchief's Mantle which is a good shoulder piece if don't have any better, and completing Black Morass gives you either Andormu's Tear (Thottbot World of Warcraft: Andormu's Tear) or Time-bending Gem (Thottbot World of Warcraft: Time-bending Gem)

You get to honored with Keepers of Time just by doing the quests and with just 4-5 more runs of either Durnholde or BM you can achieve revered and get the superb helm enchant with +17 dodge and +16 defense, as well as the Timewarden's Leggings which are equivalent overall to Felsteel but allows you to go much higher in stamina if you prefer.

[sherekhan]

yea this is a pretty decent list

[Heavyfeet]

As one who really wants to be good tank I found this list to be just what I needed - thanks !

Currently: lvl67 Tauren Warrior (16/5/37)

[Lazlar]

Hey guys, great guide, i was able to nab a few peices that really helped me alot from the work here. One question though, what would be the recommended ranged weapon for a new tank starting Karazhan, i've been using greens i find that give me stam and i'm working for the Gyro-balenced Khorium destroyer. But as it stands now i'd like to get a blue in there until then, any suggestions?

[Kador]

Thanks a lot for compiling the list. It's really helped me gear up this past week. Especially the rep. rewards.

[Gruffian]

Rep rewards and craftables are a warriors best friend.

EMBRACE THEM!

Awesome starter guide.

[Polar]

Source: Lazlar Hey guys, great guide, i was able to nab a few peices that really helped me alot from the work here. One question though, what would be the recommended ranged weapon for a new tank starting Karazhan, i've been using greens i find that give me stam and i'm working for the Gyro-balenced Khorium destroyer. But as it stands now i'd like to get a blue in there until then, any suggestions?

To be honest, I think the greens you get off the AH are superior to the blue ranged weapons out there. You can get * of stamina or * of the monkey that give far better tanking stats.

The Khorium Drestroyer is the ultimate weapon but costs a small fortune to craft. Go for the AH greens in the meantime.