Prot: Back from pre-3.2 break, need gear advice

[Ashonn]

Hi all.

I just returned from a pre-3.2 break and now that the emblem system has changed it seems that my gear goals before the break are about to change drastically since I can pretty much skip ahead in content. Before the break I was just starting to get my feet wet in Naxx, so I have not really done much raiding and I would like to start raiding the high end content people are currently in once I can get the gear for it.

Hopefully you guys can point me in the right direction so I don't feel so lost in where to start. As it is right now I have put 5 man heroics on farm for Emblems of Conquest and I currently have 16 Conquest, 48 Heroism, 2 Triumph, and 3 Valor.

Here is my armory link: The World of Warcraft Armory

The one thing I was working on before the patch was the Indestructible Plate Girdle (Indestructible Plate Girdle - Item - World of Warcraft). Is this still worth it for me to craft? I'd still need to get the Runed Orbs and a few more Titansteel bars.

Anyways, any help you can provide would be greatly appreciated. As it is for now I will be stocking up on Conquest emblems. Thank you for your time.

[Toblerone]

As you've mentioned, Emblems of Conquest are the best way to essentially skip content.

There's several items you can get from Conquest Emblems which are Tier 8 chest and helm, a neck piece, gloves, and legs. If you really want to farm heroics then you can also get legs and shoulders of Tier 7 (by converting Conquest > Valor). I'd start with replacing your chest, then working on what would give you the biggest upgrade from there on.

I would definitely recommend getting the Indestructible Plate Girdle crafted as it's still a very good belt with 3 sockets. If you don't wish to spend the gold on this, there is also a belt available with Conquest Emblems.

There are some very good crafted tanking bracers (Saronite Swordbreakers) available with the latest instance that require Crusader Orbs if you have the gold. These won't be replaced for quite a while.

On top of that if you do the Heroic Daily or find yourself in a Toc10/25 group you'll gain Triumph emblems which have very good ilevel 245 items (helm and ring) and access to the next level of tiered gear.

[Fledern]

Badge ilvl 226 is great way to gear up fast. To help speed things up i'd suggest the following as "must". The crafts will cost quite a bit of cash but are well worth it.

Head: Conqueror's from badges
Neck: The badge neck is good enough. There's an alternativ ilvl 219 available from Trial of the Champion heroic
Shoulders: Triumph badge shoulders. Quite a bit expensive in terms of badge but well worth it imo. If you dont want to wait that long the ilvl 232 tier 9 shoulders will do. ilvl 219 ones from ToC heroic too but try to get the triumph ones.
Chest: Conqueror's from badges. There's a crafted one and it's great but i'd suggest first spending on the other crafted stuff.
Cloak: Cloak of the Iron Council, BoE Ulduar10 drop, you should be able to find it on AH
Wrists: Saronite Swordbreakers, crafted. Well worth the expense, get it.
Hands: Badge ones will have to do.
Belt: Indestructible girdle. The only better belt in the game drops from Grand Crusader (10man heroic CC)
Legs: Badge ones will have to do.
Boots: Spiked Deathdealers. Crafted, well worth the mats
Rings: You're sort of stumped there, i cant think of good ones. The old Valor-badgering lasts a really long time, the triumph badge one is also great
Trinkets: Farm trial of the champion NORMAL mode for one really great trinket. If you can manage to get spots for Onyxia runs AND manage to get her head, that gives another great trinket.
Shield: If you have the cash and are really lucky to find a Northern Barrier on AH, grab it, otherwise you're somewhat stuck
Weapon: Peacemaker sword from heroic ToC would do to start with.
Ranged: The engineering gun with an epic gem still holds its ground.

If you're gearing up solely from heroics, most of these will be easy to get. Your biggest problem will be on how to spend your triumphs. At 2 badges per day, you wont be aiming to gear up fully on tier 9. Besides, the tier 8.5 head & chest are so awesome that tier9 ilvl 232 pieces arent real upgrades. So i suggest aiming for the shoulder & ring, your choice on which to go first (i'd personally go for shoulders). There are also interim ilvl 219 items that you can get (including shoulders) from the ToC 5man instance for farm the hell out of that place.

All these will set you up for tanking crusader's coliseum

[Ashonn]

Thank you both for your posts. Very informative and is going to put me on the right track.

Thank you also very much for taking the time to do such a thorough gear listing Fledern. I really did not expect this, but regardless I will be using it in the coming weeks as I upgrade my pieces.