How to Gear Your Disclipline Priest for PvP

Priests, PvP Comments Off

Oct 062013

Gearing your Discipline Priest (or any class) properly is essential to a better PvP experience. If you hope into the BGs (or, ack, arenas) in your item level 400ish greens, well, it’ll be tough. It’s not like dungeons or raids or heroics, where you need a certain minimum item level. Nope, you get to hope in with whatever you got.

If you’re not yet 90: You need to have accumulated 7,500 honor to get the PvP weapons, yet the weapon is the biggest possible upgrade. So as much Battleground PvP as you can before you hit 90. You will want to burn about 4k (maybe on mounts) and save 3,500. Then, when you hit 90, you immediately buy a Tyrannical Gladiator’s Energy Staff (or equivalent pair of weapons.)

If you’re already 90 you’ll have to work a bit harder.

At 90: You can either buy the Crafted Malevolent gear set, if you have lots of gold, or poke around the Timeless Isle for a couple hours, opening chests, and collecting your 496 PvE gear. Since everyone, regardless of gear, has 72% Resilience (as of patch 5.4) the PvE gear will be fine for honor grinding in the BGs. If you get both PvP trinkets you get an additional 10% Resilience.

Getting better PvP gear: PvE gear is downrated in the PvP settings (BGs, arenas, etc.) so the PvP gear is better. Yes, your ilevel 560 PvE gear is downrated to 496 or so. Grind up the points for the Tyrannical Honor gear.

The best Discipline Priest PvP gear for season 14 (Patch 5.4) is the Grievous set. If you’re going to do rated BGs and/or arena you will want to get this asap and the Tyrannical gear will be better for starting that than the PvE gear, though not by a lot. (Healers only get 50% of the value of the PvP Power on gear.)

Your stats:

Spirit before anything else, until you’re “Ok” with your mana use.
Mastery for the absorb shields on top of the heals.
Int for more powerful everything.
Haste is pretty nice, especially when you hit the breakpoints to get an extra tick on your “over time” spells. (Go here, scroll down to the Priest card.)
Crit is arguable. Some pan it, some love it (Divine Aegis effect.) Of course, you have to be able to get enough crit rating to make that worthwhile….
Hit is unnecessary
Reforge to Spirit, if you need the mana, Mastery before Haste for the rest.

Discipline Priest Gems and Enchants

Your PvP gear socket bonuses are all Int or PvP Power. Since, as a healer, you only get 50% of the value of PvP Power anyway, it might be worth your while to ignore socket matching on any pieces of gear with a PvP Power bonus and just gem for Int/Mastery: Artful Vermilion Onyx

Meta: Ember Primal Diamond for the Int bonus and more mana
Red & Yellow: Artful Vermilion Onyx
Zen Wild Jade if you’re matching socket colors, Artful Vermilion Onyx if you’re not.
Belt buckle and Blacksmithing sockets: Artful Vermilion Onyx

Enchanting

Go for Spirit, if you still need more, otherwise Int and Mastery. There are no head enchants, so ignore that part.

Everything in one pic

(Click image for a larger view.)

The Hunter 5.4 Changes, Good or Bad?

Classes, Hunters, Patch Notes Comments Off

Sep 022013

As with all the classes, the Hunter 5.4 changes are numerous. Some are pretty big (Readiness,) some are buffs or nerfs, and a few are just “quality of life” type stuff. So read on for the details.

Nate that tool tips (hover over the link) show the 5.4 patch info. (For all the official 5.4 patch stuff go here.) To get to level 90 ASAP and kick Hellscream out of Orgrimmar, go here.

General

New! Counter Shot is now a baseline interrupt ability learned by all Hunters at level 22. This makes up, somewhat, for Silencing Shot being removed from the talent trees and given to Marksmanship as an ability.
Dead! Readiness has been removed. Given the massive burst that people were using it for, maybe it needed to be removed. Various other abilities have been buffed to make up for some of the change. It’s probably a great change for game balance, but will force you to work a bit harder.
Arcane Shot now deals 125% ranged weapon damage (up from 100%) and had its focus cost increased by 50%. So it now hits harder and you’ll be tossing off fewer than before. You’ll get a harder hitting strike.
Deterrence now has a 3-minute cooldown (up from 2 minutes) but has 2 charges. This makes it more flexible than before. Need to use it and then again in 30 seconds? Now you can.
Disengage now has a cooldown of 20 seconds (down from 25 seconds). This is a nice change.
Explosive Trap had its overall damage decreased by 30%. Proportionately, more damage has been removed from the initial damage than the periodic effect. The glyph is unchanged and causes it to do knockback, which may be more useful anyway.
Hunter’s Mark now has a duration of 20 seconds while in PvP combat (down from 30 seconds.) No change for PvE and PvP doesn’t need a 30 second mark anyway.

Pets:

Revive Pet no longer requires the Hunter to have line-of-sight to their pet. This is a nice “style of life” change.
Stampede damage dealt by pets when the ability is used outside of an Arena or Battleground is no longer reduced by 75% (The tooltip is wrong.) It now does full damage anywhere else, such as PvE and World PvP.
The following Hunter pet abilities no longer cost Focus to use: Dash, Dive, and Charge. This gives you more incentive to go ahead and use them at the start of a fight.

Beast Mastery

Beast Cleave‘s range has been increased to 10 yards (up from 8 yards.) Great for burning down larger groups.
Kill Command damage has been increased by 34%. Another useful buff.

Marksman

Aimed Shot now deals 450% ranged weapon damage (up from 350%.) Ouch. Combined with your Careful Aim you will be doing major damage with your openers.
Binding Shot is no longer a Marksman Hunter ability and is once again a talent. Silencing Shot takes it’s place.

Survival

Explosive Shot damage has been increased by 27%.
Explosive Trap no longer shares a cooldown with Black Arrow, which is good, but can no longer activate Lock and Load. Sigh… Well, you’re get by.

Talents

A Murder of Crows now deals 40% more damage. This makes it very competitive with the rest of the tier and might make it the “go to” talent (for long fights) of the tier.
Aspect of the Iron Hawk now reduces all damage taken by 10%, down from 15%. 5% more damage won’t kill you (maybe,) but it will hurt a bit. Note that Spirt Bond was buffed.
Spirit Bond now regenerates 3% of total health every 2 seconds while the Hunter’s pet is active (up from 2%).
Glaive Toss no longer initiates auto-attack. (If you want it to start your auto-attack then stick it into a macro with /startattack and you get the old effect.)
- #showtooltip Glaive Toss
- /startattack
- /cast Glaive Toss
Lynx Rush‘s damage has been increased by 30%. Sweet. With the boost to Murder of Crows this tier has become more interesting.
Narrow Escape‘s root effect is now a nature spell (was a physical spell.) This will make it easier to dispel.
Silencing Shot is no longer a talent and is now an ability that replaces Counter Shot for Marksman Hunters. Other Hunters still have that Counter Shot for interrupts.
- Binding Shot is no longer a Marksman Hunter ability and is once again a (level 30) talent.
Wyvern Sting now has a range of 40 yards (up from 35 yards).

Glyphs

New Major Glyphs

Glyph of the Lean Pack: Reduces the range of Aspect of the Pack to 7 yards. Are there some of you that like smaller packs?
Glyph of Enduring Deceit: Camouflage also reduces spell damage taken by 10%. I can see how this will have some use here and there. All damage reduction effects are nice (unless they’re on the other guy, of course.)

Major Glyphs

Glyph of Mend Pet now has a 100% chance of cleansing 1 Curse, Disease, Magic or Poison effect from the Hunter’s pet on each tick (up from 50% chance.) This can help pet survival in certain situations.
Glyph of Mending now speeds up the periodic effect of Mend Pet to restore health to the pet every 1 second doubling the total amount healed over 10 seconds. Very nice change, a big boost for your pet.
Glyph of No Escape now increases the ranged critical strike chance against targets affected by the Hunter’s Freezing Trap by 100% (up from 20% chance.) Ouch. This may become a required buff depending on how often you use Freezing trap.

There are no new minor glyphs

Holy Paladin PvP Gear Guide

Paladin Comments Off

Jul 282013

Mists of Pandaria Holy Paladin PvP Gearing: How to Gear Enchant and Reforge a Holy Paladin in WoW PVP – Season 13 Patch 5.3

BY RUGMOUSE // APRIL 11, 2013

This guide is a collaborative effort with Necrolina, produced by SkillCapped. All of our written guides are available for free, and we encourage you to post them wherever you’d like as long as you use a link back!

Note: This guide was originally for patch 5.2 and has been updated by me for 5.3. Here is the original page. Also this guide assumes that you’re level 90. If you’re not yet there, then go here and get there.

Stat Priority
Adjusting Stats As You Grind
Optimal Final Stats
Getting Started
Honor Gear
Conquest Gear
The Best Holy Paladin PvP Gear in Season 12
Holy Paladin PvP Professions

STAT PRIORITY FOR HOLY PALADINS

Mandatory

Healing spells always land on your target, which makes Spell Hit rating obsolete for healing spells. Holy Paladins also have Holy Insight, which is more than enough additional Spell Hit to reach the 6% Spell Hit cap when trying to assist in damaging your team’s kill target, Holy Wrathto reduce damage output, or land a timely Hammer of Justice. It is also of note that although it is not mentioned in the tooltip, Hammer of Justice, Blinding Light, and other control abilities, benefit from Holy Insight as well.

There are no “Mandatory” stats for Holy Paladins.

Ideal Stat Gains

In this section, you will find a list of stats along with their descriptions; stats are ordered based on their importance. While gearing, you should focus on achieving the following stats based on this priority hierarchy:

Intellect
- Intellect increases your spell power and chance to Crit with spells. In previous expansions, Intellect also had the added benefit of increasing your mana pool, but mana levels are now static in Mists of Pandaria. Increasing Intellect will increase your healing throughput and your heals will return more health to your target per spell. In addition, Critical Strike is one of our top priorities in terms of secondary stats!

Spirit
- In Mists of Pandaria, mana pools have been capped at 300,000 mana and can no longer be increased by stacking Intellect. Spirit increases the rate at which mana regenerates. While mana efficiency is pretty solid for Holy Paladins, Spirit helps to ensure your mana pool is not depleted over the course of a PvP encounter.

PvP Resilience
- PvP Resilience reduces the damage your opponent does to you. In a PvP scenario, increasing your damage or healing output is amazing, but decreasing the amount of damage you take can dictate how a PvP scenario plays out. You can’t heal if you’re dead!
- In patch 5.3 Resilience has changed. The value of the gems has been cut in half (320 to 160) and everyone enters PvP with a base resilience of 65%, regardless of gear. In addition, Res. has been removed from most high end gear, though it’s still present on low level gear.

PvP Power
- PVP Power increases all of your healing against other players. This additional healing increases linearly and does not fall subject to diminishing returns, making this stat more and more effective as you gear your character.
- The additional benefit to healing spells is 50% of the damage increase PvP Power provides for dps classes, making this stat a bit less enticing for Healers, but still an effective throughput stat.
- PvP Power was also nerfed in 5.3, by a third, and the gems values were also cut in half. The PvP Power on your gear will be fine, but don’t gem for it.
Mastery
- Holy Paladins benefit from Mastery: Illuminated Healing, which creates an damage absorb shield on targets you cast direct healing effects on. This increases Holy Paladin throughput by a significant margin, as the overwhelming majority of Holy Paladin healing spells are considered direct healing. Mastery is an excellent secondary stat to allocate into.

Critical Strike
- Critical Strike, or Crit, is another decent stat to accumulate for a Holy Paladin. Critical Strikes when using Holy Shock activate our passive Infusion of Light. The reduced cast times on Holy Light, Divine Light, and Holy Radiance makes topping off you and your teammates much easier, and can make a huge difference in how a PvP encounter plays out.

Haste
- Haste reduces the cast time of your abilities and reduces the duration of the Global Cooldown (the minor cooldown that is invoked after casting spells). Haste helps to ensure your important spell casts go uninterrupted (Holy Light, Divine Light, etc.), an important factor in PvP, as there are several interrupt mechanics in the game. Although beneficial, the reduced cast times do not justify allocation out of other important secondary stats.
- Divine Favor can also be used in a pinch, when additional haste and crit is required for survival. This ability is quite potent, as it also increases the crit chance of Holy Shock even further, which could lead to even faster casts via Infusion of Light

Stat Priority

Intellect > Spirit > Mastery > PvP Power > Crit > Haste > PvP Resilience

ADJUSTING STATS AS YOU GRIND

Here we will be explaining exactly how to obtain, and what the optimal gear choices are while building up your character. While you are accumulating gear, it is important to recognize that until you have your completed set, your stats will constantly be changing. It is extremely important to be mindful of what stats are most important for your class as you work towards your optimal set, and make item selections based on what will have the most profound impact on your performance.

Always try to accumulate as much PvP Resilience as you can until you are in the best gear Season 12 offers. Being able to survive with enemy players on you is going to be extremely important. Without proper peeling techniques from your partners, you can be in trouble very quickly, so it is not advised to prioritize Intellect (or other throughput enhancing stats) until you reach a decent PvP Resilience level.
It is unnecessary to work for more resilience, unless you feel the need for it. With the base 65% and your heals you should be fine.
Mana efficiency is another concern, and maximizing your energy regeneration and throughput will also help to extend your life and the life of your partners. While stacking Spirit does help with this (and recommended), it is important to try and find a balance of Spirit, Intellect, and PvP Power that works with your play style. Remember, more Intellect means higher heal values, which will result in less healing necessary to keep your team topped off.

OPTIMAL FINAL STATS FOR HOLY PALADINS

These stats reflect what we have researched and believe to be the best obtainable stats for Season 13 using Conquest gear with the Elite gear set. These stats are here to give you a benchmark as you work towards completing your gear set.

Mastery: 3,345
PvP Resilience: 9,067
Spirit: 8,088
Intellect: 14,721
Haste: 3,302
PvP Power: 11,584
Crit: 2,991

GETTING STARTED

This section is geared towards people who have recently hit 90 for the first time, or have an under-geared alt that needs to be primed for beginning the PvP gear grind.

Upon achieving level 90, we do NOT advise you to just jump into an Arena, or start grinding Battleground’s, or do any sort of PvP for that matter fresh off of leveling in your leveling items. Chances are many of the enemies in a Battleground will significantly out-gear your fresh level 90, which means they will have a significant advantage over you in a PvP setting. Something that we promise will save you a lot of grief, speed up your grind, and make your PvP experience that much more enjoyable would be to obtain the crafted PvP gear right away. Here is a list of all of the items you should immediately obtain before you start PvP’ing in Mists of Pandaria:

Note: in patch 5.4 this will all be Malevolent Crafted gear, though the gemming and reforging should be the same.

Crafted Dreadful Gladiator’s Ornamented Gloves – Reforge Crit to Mastery
- Gloves are a solid first acquisition. Despite not having the highest stats available, many Paladins argue that the percent chance for your Flash of Light is well worth the lower stat levels when compared to other items.
Crafted Dreadful Gladiator’s Greaves of Meditation – Reforge Haste to Mastery
Crafted Dreadful Gladiator’s Ornamented Headcover – Reforge Crit to Spirit
Crafted Dreadful Gladiator’s Ornamented Legplates – Reforge Haste to Spirit
Crafted Dreadful Gladiator’s Ornamented Spaulders
Crafted Dreadful Gladiator’s Ornamented Chestguard – Reforge Haste to Mastery
Crafted Dreadful Gladiator’s Clasp of Meditation – Reforge Haste to Mastery
Crafted Dreadful Gladiator’s Drape of Meditation – Reforge Crit to Mastery
Crafted Dreadful Gladiator’s Bracers of Meditation – Reforge Crit to Mastery

Tip: It is normally much cheaper to get the materials for these items yourself and have someone craft them for you, rather than buying them off of the Auction House. Even if you just buy the materials off the Auction House and spam trade, it’s normally cheaper. Always check first for good deals on the Auction House, though!

Tip 2: Gemming and enchanting this gear is not really necessary, since (ideally) you won’t be in it very long. If you do want to gem & enchant it, and have the gold, then scroll down to the Conquest gear for recommendations.

HONOR GEAR

Should I get the Honor Gear?

The short answer: 0/2 Malevolent Season 12 gear is roughly in-line with Malevolent Season 13 gear. 1/2 and 2/2 upgraded Malevolent Season 12 gear is better than Malevolent Season 13 gear.

The detail: Not only is there a new arena season in patch 5.2, but also new PvE content. Blizzard did not want Honor PvP gear to have the same (or higher) item level as the PvE gear available from the Looking For Raid system. The decision was made to reduce the item level of the Malevolent Season 13 gear available for purchase, while increasing the Stamina, PvP Power, and PvP Resilience values to offset the differential. Season 12 gear that was earned last season is not effected by the change.

If you did not participate in Season 12, honor gear should be accumulated to increase your characters power. The stat differential going from the Crafted Dreadful set to Malevolent Season 13 gear is significant and will greatly increase you chances of success in a a PvP setting.

Malevolent season 12 gear that was not upgraded is essentially in line with the Malevolent season 13 gear. The differential between 0/2 upgrade Malevolent season 12 and Malevolent season 13 gear is miniscule, if any differential at all, so it is NOT NECESSARY to upgrade. If you have any upgraded season 12 gear (1/2 or 2/2), those pieces will be superior to the lower item level gear available for honor and those items should be retained.

What Honor Gear to Get, and What Order

If you did not participate in season 12, you should upgrade your gear using the Malevolent Season 13 set available at the honor vendor. Below you will find a list of all of the honor gear pieces you can obtain. They are listed in order of their stat benefits to you. That is, if you go follow this list in order, you will get the best stats first. This is not a huge deal in the grand scheme of things, but we feel if you are going to gear up, you might as well do it in an efficiently as possible.

If you already own the Season 12 equivalent of this gear, simply skip over that item and proceed to the next!

Gems for the Holy Paladin Honor Gear

Take the first gem if you feel like you need more spirit, the second choice is for more healing power.

Meta socket: Revitalizing Primal Diamond
Red: Purified Imperial Amethyst for the spirit or Brilliant Primordial Ruby if your mana is good.
Yellow: Zen Wild Jade for the Spirit and Mastery, Artful Vermilion Onyx for the Int & Mastery
Blue: Sparkling River’s Heart for Spirit, Purified Imperial Amethyst Int & Spirit
Belt buckle and Blacksmithing sockets: Purified Imperial Amethyst for the spirit or Brilliant Primordial Ruby if your mana is good.

For enchants scroll down to the Conquest gear for suggestions.

The Gear

Malevolent Gladiator’s Ornamented Legplates – Reforge Haste to Spirit
- Head, chest, and legs are all comparable. The order here was chosen due to the Mastery and Haste values on the Legs.
Malevolent Gladiator’s Ornamented Chestguard – Reforge Haste to Mastery
- The Chest is next due to its sizable Spirit allocation.
Malevolent Gladiator’s Gavel – Reforge Crit to Spirit
- Once you have earned 7250 honor points in Season 13, you may purchase your weapon, by far the largest damage increase you can purchase. The main hand/Shield combo offers the best stats for a Holy Paladin.
Malevolent Gladiator’s Redoubt
Malevolent Gladiator’s Ornamented Headcover – Reforge Crit to Spirit
- The Helm has a sizable Mastery weighting and benefits from a meta gem slot (Ember Primal Diamond is a strong choice here).
Malevolent Gladiator’s Ornamented Spaulders
- For the next tier, shoulders offer the largest upgrade with high Mastery and Spirit allocations.
Malevolent Gladiator’s Greaves of Meditation
- The Boots offers both Spirit and Mastery, two very important stats.
Malevolent Gladiator’s Clasp of Meditation – Reforge Haste to Mastery
- High Spirit values make the Belt a strong addition. You can also add a Living Steel Belt Buckle for an additional gem slot.
Malevolent Gladiator’s Ornamented Gloves – Reforge Haste to Mastery
Malevolent Gladiator’s Band of Meditation – Reforge Haste to Mastery
- Meditation Ring is appropriate here due to it’s spirit allocation
Malevolent Gladiator’s Bracers of Meditation – Reforge Crit to Mastery
Malevolent Gladiator’s Drape of Meditation – Reforge Crit to Mastery
Malevolent Gladiator’s Pendant of Meditation – Reforge Haste to Mastery
- Purchase the Wrists and Cloak next, followed by the Neck piece.
Malevolent Gladiator’s Band of Cruelty – Reforge Crit to Spirit
Relic of Chi Ji
- PvP Power does not benefit healers as much as it does for dps classes, as PvP Power’s effectiveness is 50% of the benefit awarded for healers when compared to damage dealers. If you have the cash flow, buying the Crane Deck and completing the quest for the Relic of Chi Ji yields better performance than PvP trinkets (due to the high passive Intellect and the massive Spirit buff proc).
- If you cannot afford the Darkmoon Fair trinket, use Malevolent Gladiator’s Emblem of Meditation for the added survivability, or Malevolent Gladiator’s Badge of Dominance for the additional throughput awarded.
Malevolent Gladiator’s Medallion of Meditation
- Due to this item’s lack of primary stats, this should be your last pick-up, provided you have a PvP trinket from a previous season. The Meditation trinket is used to ensure our Spirit levels stay high enough to prevent mana concerns. If you do not already have a trinket that removes movement impairing effects, THIS SHOULD BE YOUR FIRST PICK-UP.

CONQUEST GEAR

What Conquest Gear to Get, and What Order

This season, there are two tiers of conquest gear. In hopes of creating a more level playing field, Blizzard has decided to do away with rating requirements for all items (except for a weapon enchant to help differentiate players that have attained a high rating). This means that all players will have access to the best PvP gear available, provided they earn enough conquest points to purchase the items.

The second tier of conquest gear, or “elite” gear, is only available for purchase once you’ve amassed a certain number of conquest points for this season. Once 27,000 Conquest points are earned, it will unlock the “elite” tier gear. It is also important to mention that a new honor quartermaster will also be made available, which will have the non-elite gear available for honor points! This will be of particular value to hybrid classes, as they can participate in Battlegrounds to purchase their off-set PvP items.

If you have a mix of upgraded and non-upgraded gear from last season, prioritize the gear that has NOT been upgraded. The stat gains will be greater.

Gems for the Holy Paladin Conquest Gear

In patch 5.2 the best choice was to get as much Resilience as possible. In 5.3 everyone starts at 65% Resilience, so that advice is no longer useful. PvP Power is similar, in that the stat was nerfed and the gem values were cut in half (320 to 160.)

Go here if you need help getting enough gold for all your stuff.

Take the first gem if you feel like you need more spirit, the second choice is for more healing power.

Meta socket: Revitalizing Primal Diamond
Red: Purified Imperial Amethyst for the spirit or Brilliant Primordial Ruby if your mana is good.
Yellow: Zen Wild Jade for the Spirit and Mastery, Artful Vermilion Onyx for the Int & Mastery
Blue: Sparkling River’s Heart for Spirit, Purified Imperial Amethyst Int & Spirit
Belt buckle and Blacksmithing sockets: Purified Imperial Amethyst for the spirit or Brilliant Primordial Ruby if your mana is good.

Chest – 2,250 Conquest Points

Tyrannical Gladiator’s Ornamented Chestguard

Best Gems
- Red: Purified Imperial Amethyst for the spirit or Brilliant Primordial Ruby if your mana is good.
- Yellow: M Zen Wild Jade for the Spirit and Mastery, Artful Vermilion Onyx for the Int & Mastery
Best Enchants
- Enchant Chest – Mighty Spirit or Enchant Chest – Super Resilience – depending on play style
Reforge
- From Haste to Mastery

Head – 2,250 Conquest Points

Tyrannical Gladiator’s Ornamented Headcover

Best Gems
- Meta: Ember Primal Diamond Adds significant Intellect and also increases your mana pool – the only way in the game to do so. Revitalizing Primal Diamond adds to your spirit and the healing done by your crits.
- Red: Purified Imperial Amethyst for the spirit or Brilliant Primordial Ruby if your mana is good.
Best Enchants
- Head enchants were taken out of the game in Mists of Pandaria!
Reforge
- From Crit to Spirit

Weapon (Main Hand)

Tyrannical Gladiator’s Gavel

Best Enchants
- Enchant Weapon – Jade Spirit
Reforge
- From Crit to Spirit

Weapon (Off Hand)

Tyrannical Gladiator’s Redoubt

Best Enchants
- Enchant Off-Hand – Major Intellect
Reforge
- None

Legs – 2,250 Conquest Points

Tyrannical Gladiator’s Ornamented Legplates

Gems
- Red: Purified Imperial Amethyst for the spirit or Brilliant Primordial Ruby if your mana is good.
- Blue: Sparkling River’s Heart for Spirit, Purified Imperial Amethyst Int & Spirit
Enchant
- Greater Pearlescent Spellthread can be found on Auction House, or crafted by a Tailor if that’s too expensive.
Reforge
- From Haste to Spirit

Shoulder – 1,750 Conquest Points

Tyrannical Gladiator’s Ornamented Spaulders

Best Gems
- Yellow: Zen Wild Jade for the Spirit and Mastery, Artful Vermilion Onyx for the Int & Mastery
Best Enchants
- Crane Wing Inscription
Reforge
- None

Feet – 1,750 Conquest Points

Tyrannical Gladiator’s Greaves of Meditation

Best Gems
- Yellow: Zen Wild Jade for the Spirit and Mastery, Artful Vermilion Onyx for the Int & Mastery
Best Enchants
- Enchant Boots – Pandaren’s Step
Reforge
- None

Waist – 1,750 Conquest Points

Tyrannical Gladiator’s Clasp of Meditation

Best Gems
- Blue: Sparkling River’s Heart for Spirit, Purified Imperial Amethyst Int & Spirit
- Blue: Same – Additional Socket from Living Steel Belt Buckle
Reforge
- From Haste to Mastery

Hands – 1,750 Conquest Points

Tyrannical Gladiator’s Ornamented Gloves

Best Gems
- Blue: Sparkling River’s Heart for Spirit, Purified Imperial Amethyst Int & Spirit
Best Enchants
- Enchant Gloves – Superior Mastery
Reforge
- From Haste to Mastery

Ring 1 – 1,250 Conquest Points

Tyrannical Gladiator’s Band of Meditation

Reforge
- From Haste to Mastery

Wrist – 1,250 Conquest Points

Tyrannical Gladiator’s Bracers of Meditation

Best Enchants
- Enchant Bracer – Super Intellect
Reforge
- From Crit to Mastery

Back – 1,250 Conquest Points

Tyrannical Gladiator’s Drape of Meditation

Best Enchants
- Enchant Cloak – Superior Intellect
Reforge
- From Crit to Mastery

Neck – 1,250 Conquest Points

Tyrannical Gladiator’s Pendant of Meditation

Reforge
- From Haste to Mastery

Ring 2 – 1,250 Conquest Points

Tyrannical Gladiator’s Band of Cruelty

Reforge
- From Crit to Spirit

Trinket 1 – Crane Deck

Relic of Chi Ji

Reforge
- None

Trinket 2 – 1,750 Conquest Points

Tyrannical Gladiator’s Medallion of Meditation

Reforge
- None

THE BEST HOLY PALADIN PVP GEAR IN SEASON 13

Elite Gear is available for purchase after earning (not necessarily spending) 27,000 Conquest Points. Any piece of gear that actually alters the appearance of your character will have an Elite upgrade (in other words – chest, helm, legs, shoulders, gloves, belt, boots, and weapon).

Remember, once you earn 27,000 Conquest Points this season, you will also be able to purchase Non-Elite Conquest gear with Honor Points! This is of particular value to hybrid classes that would like to switch specs, from say a healer, to a dps class. Instead of having to use additional Conquest Points on your off-spec gear, you can farm Battlegrounds for your gear! Note: the 27,000 Conquest Point threshold is essentially a full set of conquest gear.

Follow the same gemming and enchanting template that was used in the previous section.

Tyrannical Gladiator’s Gavel – Reforge Crit to Spirit
Tyrannical Gladiator’s Redoubt
Tyrannical Gladiator’s Ornamented Chestguard – Reforge Haste to Mastery
Tyrannical Gladiator’s Ornamented Headcover – Reforge Crit to Spirit
Tyrannical Gladiator’s Ornamented Legplates – Reforge Haste to Spirit
Tyrannical Gladiator’s Greaves of Meditation
Tyrannical Gladiator’s Ornamented Spaulders
Tyrannical Gladiator’s Clasp of Meditation – Reforge Haste to Mastery
Tyrannical Gladiator’s Ornamented Gloves – Reforge Haste to Mastery

These items are already owned – Congratulations! You are fully geared!
Tyrannical Gladiator’s Band of Meditation – Reforge Haste to Mastery
Tyrannical Gladiator’s Pendant of Meditation – Reforge Haste to Mastery
Tyrannical Gladiator’s Bracers of Meditation – Reforge Crit to Mastery
Tyrannical Gladiator’s Drape of Meditation – Reforge Crit to Mastery
Tyrannical Gladiator’s Band of Cruelty – Reforge Crit to Spirit
Relic of Chi Ji
Tyrannical Gladiator’s Medallion of Meditation

HOLY PALADIN PVP PROFESSIONS

Our goal is to give you the absolute best gear set up you can achieve as a Holy Paladin in Season 12, and part of that is choosing the right professions. Before we tell you what the best professions are, we should note that when comparing professions, there is a very marginal benefit to your overall gear set, and you should not sacrifice a profession you really enjoy for the sake of a minor stat increase. Leveling a new profession can be costly!

That being said, here are the best professions for a Holy Paladins in Mists of Pandaria PvP:

Blacksmithing

This is the best Profession for a Holy Paladin because of the two extra gem slots that can be used to refine your stats. Blacksmithing offers you the best customization, as you are able to increase primary stats, along with the freedom to choose various secondary stats, such as Mastery, Spirit, or even PvP Power and PvP Resilience! Other professions simply do not offer this much customization for your character.

The next two Professions were a split decision between our pros, and are totally up to what you want to do.

Jewelcrafting

Jewelcrafting allows your character to use Willful Serpent’s Eye in two of your red slots. This offers you a boost to survivability along with some added damage. Mysterious Serpent’s Eye is also available to add even damage and healing throughput, if you feel your survivability is sufficient.

Engineering has the Synapse Springs gadget, which is pretty sweet.

Herbalism has Lifeblood, a massive Haste cooldown.

Good Luck!

Please let us know how the article was. Were we missing anything? Do you have any further questions? Was the format useful? Feel free to Like, Share, and Comment on this post.

Should You Play a Rogue in WoW?

Rogues Comments Off

Jul 012013

Well, I’m kinda biased, with two lev 90 Rogues and a 65 (somewhere, collecting dust he is.)

WoW Insider asks the question Should You Play a Rogue in WoW? Naturally my answer is, “Yes!” But read on to see what they have to see about it:

If you’re just getting started with World of Warcraft, don’t worry: you’re not too late to have plenty of fun. (In fact, we think this is a great time to be playing WoW.) But getting started can be a little tricky with all the choices you have to make. Which race you select is a primarily cosmetic choice, but the class you pick — and whether it’s a good fit for your preferred style of gaming — is a choice that will make all the difference.

But we’re here to help make that choice at least a little easier by talking you through WoW’s classes, one at a time. And on the menu for today is the rogue. In World of Warcraft, rogues are lightly armored meleers who use stealth to get in close and then hit their target with precision strikes. The rogue is one of four classes in the game that focuses solely on DPS: their three talent specializations only changing their preferred way of dealing damage.

If getting up close to the bad guys and always being in the middle of combat sounds like your thing, a rogue may be the ideal class for you. Read on for more about what to expect.

Just what is a rogue?

Don’t write rogues off as just another melee damage class, because rogue gameplay is definitely unique. Instead of focusing on heavy armor and heavier weapons, rogues are light on their feet with leather armor and tend to use smaller, one-handed weapons — most commonly daggers. But lighter weaponry — rogues can wield daggers, fist weapons, one-handed maces, one-handed swords, one-handed axes — doesn’t mean they aren’t hard hitting.

Rogues have lots of tricks up their sleeves, dual-wielding weapons coated with poison and striking from stealth for extra damage. Rogues have three talent trees, just like the other classes, but each one focuses on a slightly different way of dishing out damage: assassination focuses on poisons, combat focuses on general combat, and subtlety focuses on stealth abilities.

Click here for the rest

Now I like the concept of sneaking up, positioning yourself, and then attacking. I’ve always played Subtlety and Shadowstep just rules, even if any Rogue can now have that ability (since the start of Mists of Pandaria.)

Leveling is fast and easy. Rogues maybe only surpassed by Hunters in terms of leveling speed, but Rogues are more fun, IMO.

Have anything to add?

Druid Forms – Lions and Flyers and Bears, Oh My!

Basics, Druids Comments Off

Jun 122013

Druids are the one class in the World of Warcraft that can take on a variety of forms. Sure, the Shaman has her wolf forms, but your Druid forms amount to so much more. Your various forms can run, swim, fly, do massive damage, and so on. This shapeshifting is one of the things that makes the Druid so very versatile and effective in any aspect of the game.

Of course, if you’re going to use all of the Druidic forms well you’re going to have to put in some effort. The class is a little harder than others because of this same flexibility.

So what are these forms?

So let’s do a run down of the various Druid forms that are available to you and what they’re all about in the mists of Pandaria.

First off is your “Caster Form.” This is what you start with as a brand new character and, for a few levels, it’s all you will have. It’s the same as everyone else gets, too. You will be just your basic Night Elf, Worgen, Troll, or Tauren and you’ll be throwing the “Wrath” spell around a lot.

Cat form and belf friend Cat form comes in at level 6 and is where you can really start doing some damage. Of all the Druid’s various forms this is the one that does the most damage, right up close and personal. You get large bonuses to your attack capability and faster movement speed. At level 10 you get even better if you take the Feral spec.

Add in one of the Tier 1 talents and things get even better, movement-wise.

Bear form, at level 8, can also do some damage, but that isn’t the Bear’s main forte. Survival is, and when you hit level 10 you can pick the “Guardian” specialization (spec.)

The Guardian is a “Tank,” which just means that in dungeons and raids you get to be the center of attention and your job is to keep the attention of all the enemies in the immediate area. (See what I meant by Survival?)

You will never do as much damage as the Cat, but you will last a lot longer. For leveling, it’s not bad at all, since there are several times when you’re able to round up a group of enemies and destroy them. Too bad that doesn’t work with players. 😉

Travel form, at level 16, is a nice speed increase. You take the form of a Stag, antlers and all, and trot right along at the same speed as a basic mount. If you prefer the old Travel Form (prior to Mists of Pandaria) you can get a Glyph of the Cheetah.

Aquatic form, level 18 – kinda like SCUBA diving, now you can explore all those underwater places and swim around at a decent speed. As with all Druid forms you cannot be polymorphed by wandering mages while in this form. Want to swim even faster? Get a Glyph of Aquatic Form.

Moonkin, at level 29 – This form requires the “Balance” spec and if you aren’t Balanced you can’t do the Boomkin thing. Balance is the Druid’s version of the Mage, you stay at range and lob damage at the opposition as opposed to doing it “face to face.” While in this form you get more Arcane and Nature damage and take less yourself.

You also increase the spell haste of all your party and raid members, which is a nice perk.

Flight form, acquired at level 58, allows access to all those high places in the Outlands. You will have to wait until level 60 and then get a Flight Master’s License from your home city to be able to fly in the lands of Azeroth. Cold Weather Flying will be necessary to fly in Northrend and you have to wait till 90 to fly in Pandaria.

Epic flight form, at level 70, allows you to reach those high places even faster. You can keep the same licenses as before, you’re just faster now.

Glyph of the Treant teaches you the Tree Form. This used to be the form that Druid healers (Restoration) would take, but now it’s optional.

One advantage to the Tree, besides role-playing, is that you stand out in a group. Your team can more easily find you and aid you, such as in PvP or a raid.

One of the additional cool things about shapeshifting is that it allows you to immediately pop out of “Movement Impairing Effects.” If some player or other enemy slows you, for example, you can shift forms and immediately escape. Sometimes you can also escape from other effects. This is a very nice ability to have in PvP.

Lastly, just because you can shift to various animal forms it doesn’t mean that you can talk to them. They’ll treat you just as if you were any other class and will take no note of your awesomeness.

Oh well, can’t have everything, can you?

The Combat Rogue in Mists of Pandaria

Mists of Pandaria, Rogues Comments Off

Jul 182012

Worgen Rogue in Tier 13 with Legendary Daggers You’re the swashbuckling master of the flashing blades and are at or near the tops of the DPS charts. Maybe not so hot as an Arena machine, that’s Subtlety’s forte, but you can do just fine in the Battlegrounds. Leveling, of course, is quick, easy, and painless for you.

Due to the complete revamping of the talent system in Mists of Pandaria the Combat Rogue just might be interesting in PvP, as well as a DPS machine.

Rogues, all Rogues, have a pretty high skill cap. This means that it will take some work to get to the top, but you’ll rule when you do.

stats	weapons	poisons	gems	enchants
race	professions	raid build & glyphs

Stats

Primary: Agility, and then more Agility.
Secondary: 7.5% Hit > 7.5% Expertise > Haste
Weaker Stats: Hit over 7.5% > Mastery > Crit > Hit over 17%
Useless: Hit over 27%, Expertise over 7.5%, Int, Str, Spirit

Hit and Expertise now use the same progression:

3% for same level enemies
4.5% for +1
6% for +2
7.5 for +3, eg: raid bosses.

Reforge weaker stats to stronger stats.

Get that Hit and Expertise, then all else goes into Haste.

Weapons

Once upon a time Combat Rogues had talents giving them extra stats with particular weapon types. That is no longer the case. Use the best one-hand weapons you can find, if you have a choice between available weapons then pick the one that matches your racial (eg: Human expertise with Axe and Mace.)

Weapon speed is no longer a factor in Mists of Pandaria. Any one hand weapon should be fine in either hand, though you could put a dagger in the off hand if you want to experiment.

Poisons

Poisons are abilities and buffs, you no longer have to stock them in your bags or buy them from a vendor. You can use one lethal (eg; deadly) and one non-lethal (eg: Crippling) at a time. Each “dose” lasts for one hour and is weapon independent. You can switch weapons (and poisons) at any time and you’ll still have your poisons working, without having to re-apply them.

Lethal

Deadly (lev. 10, ability) does damage over time. You will use this one in all PvE content (ie: dungeons and raids.) In PvP you should only use it when the opposition is not being healed.
Wounding (lev 30, ability) does instant damage and suppresses enemy healing, which makes it more valuable for PvP.
Instant poison is dead and gone.

Non-lethal

Non-lethal: Crippling (lev 20, ability) slows your opponent’s movement. Nice for mobs (or players) that run away.
Mind Numbing (lev 28, ability) slows opponent spellcasting.
Leeching Poison (lev 45, talent) heals you for a percentage of the damage done. Harder hits from you = better healing.
Paralytic Poison (lev 75, talent) stacks up and on a 5th stack stuns your opponent for a few seconds.

Gems

Once you get into item level 417+ gear get into the M of P gems, even if they’re grimly expensive. They’re far superior to the Cataclysm gems.

In M of P the gems for secondary stats will have higher values than those with primary stats. For example, this quick gem vs the comparable delicate gem. In Cataclysm Rogues could stick with all Agility gems and be just fine, in M of P the gemming will be more interesting. You will probably want to match socket bonuses.

Go here if you can’t afford the gems.
Delicate Agility gems (Delicate Primordial Ruby) will probably be a good choice, but that remains to be seen.
Yellow “Quick” gems (Quick Sun’s Radiance) for the added Haste might well be a good way to go.
Yellow PvP gems (Mystic Sun’s Radiance) if you need added resilience for player smashing.
Blue PvP Power gems (Stormy River’s Heart) for added PvP damage.
Agile Diamonds for your meta gem (head piece.)

Enchants

As with gems, the Mists of Pandaria enchants are much better than the earlier enchants. Head enchants are gone, shoulder enchants come from the Inscription profession. Go for Agility first, then Haste, then whatever looks best according to the stats above.

MoP enchants require item level 372 or better and you’ll notice that they are somewhat better than their Cataclysm counterparts. New enchants (and gems) are always very expensive when the appear, and sometimes afterwards. If you need more cash to be able to buy these things then check our Tycoon review.

Back
- Enchant Cloak – Accuracy (MoP:) +180 Hit rating
Shoulder
- Secret Tiger Claw Inscription (MoP:) +520 Ag, 100 Crit, requires Inscription 600.
- Greater Tiger Claw Inscription (MoP:) +200 Agility, +100 Crit
Chest
- Enchant Chest – Glorious Stats (MoP:) +80 to all stats
- Enchant Chest – Super Resilience (MoP:) +200 Resilience
Bracers
- Enchant Bracer – Greater Agility (MoP:) +170 Agility
Gloves
- Enchant Gloves – Greater Haste (MoP:) +170 Haste
- Enchant Gloves – Superior Mastery (MoP:) +170 Mastery
- Socket Gloves – Self only, Blacksmithing, pop in a nice gem.
Legs
- Shadowleather Leg Armor (MoP:) +285 Agility & 165 Crit rating
- Sha-Infested Leg Armor (MoP:) +165 Agility & 100 Crit rating
Feet
- Enchant Boots – Greater Precision (MoP:) +175 Hit rating
- Enchant Boots – Pandaren’s Step (MoP:) +140 Mastery and Slight run speed increase.
Belt Extra Socket
- Ebonsteel Belt Buckle: put a Delicate Inferno Ruby or Queen’s Garnet or MoP gem into this slot.
Rings
- Enchant Ring – Greater Agility (MoP:) +160 Agility, Requires Enchanting 550
MH
- Enchant Weapon – Dancing Steel (MoP:) Sometimes add 1,650 Ag when striking.
- Enchant Weapon – Landslide: +1,000 Attack Power Proc
OH
- Enchant Weapon – Dancing Steel (MoP:) Sometimes add 1,650 Ag when striking.
- Pyrium Weapon Chain– Reduces duration of disarm effects, +40 Hit.
- Enchant Weapon – Landslide: +1,000 AP Proc

Race Choice for Combat Rogues

Pandarens can become Rogues, Draenei and Tauren still can’t.

Blood Elf

Arcane torrent restores some Energy and silences opponents. Skilled with Enchanting.

Dwarf

Can wash away bleeds and reduce damage. Ranged expertise is mostly useless.

Gnome

Expertise with (small) swords is nice and their escape ability has occasional use, especially in PvP.

Goblin

Rocket jump is a nice leap into or out of combat (it also breaks stealth.) Vendor discounts make compulsive buying less painful. A bit of added Haste is nice.

Human

Diplomacy makes for easier rep grinding, Mace/Sword expertise is nice, as is their escape ability (especially in PvP.)

Night Elf

Shadowmeld can save your butt if things go bad, since it drops aggro and is usable in combat. S’meld to stealth to escape. Quickness makes you a bit harder to hit and you also get slightly faster movement while stealthed.

Orcs

Blood Fury is a great burst racial, and expertise with Axes and Fist weapons is pretty cool.

Pandaren

Bouncy for less falling damage, faster leveling through longer lasting Rest XP, better buffs from food, skilled with Cooking, can choose to be either Horde or Alliance.

Troll

Berserking is a nice racial for bursts, ranged expertise is pretty useless.

Undead

Can wash away fear and such, drain life and be healed, eati dead bodies frees up a bag slot since you won’t have to carry basic food.

Worgen

An extra Sprint is sweet, added Crit is nice, but it’s not your best stat. Skilled with Skinning (which adds some Crit.)

Professions

Profession bonuses are much higher in Mists of Pandaria than previously and many crafts will requires Bind on Pickup items to create (requiring Spirit of Harmony, for example, though the finished item might well be Bind on Equip. Pretty much like the old Chaos Orbs from Cataclysm, but a lot more recipes will requires the Spirits. Maybe they’ll become BoE, like the orbs did, but they aren’t there now.

The Haste buff from Herbalism makes it worth considering.

Alchemy – You get better and longer effects from your own potions. For example, and extra 320 Agility and an extra hour for the best elixir.
Blacksmithing – Equip two more of the gems you can find.
Enchanting – Enchant your own rings for added agility. +40 to each ring in Cata, 160 in M of P.
Engineering – create useful items and equip Synapse Springs, for a big agility burst for 10 seconds. 480 in Cata and 2,940 in M of P. Beware of side-effects in PvE settings. Lots of generally useful gadgets and backfire don’t matter so much in PvP.
Inscription – Nice shoulder enchant. +130 Ag in Cata, 520 in M of P. In addition to making glyphs you (or some other scribe) will be making everyone’s shoulder enchants.
Leatherworking – The bonus is a pretty nice bracer enchant for added Agility. +130 Ag in Cata, 520 in M of P.
Jewelcrafting – create (and equip) better gems than otherwise available. +67 Ag in Cata, +320 in M of P.
Tailoring – Make your own flying carpet. Oh, you want damage. Well, you can add a nice cloak enchants that sometimes adds a nice chunk of attack power. +1000 AP in Cata, +8,000 Sp in M of P.
Herbalism – A small heal over time with a very nice Haste effect (+2880 Haste rating for 20 seconds at skill level 600.)
Mining – More stamina, 480 at max level.
Skinning – More crit rating, also 480 at max level.

Combat Rogue Raid Build

These are the abilities that you pick up from choosing Combat as your specialization (spec.)

10 Ambidexterity increases off-hand weapon damage.
10 Blade Flurry – strike additional oppnent, regen less energy.
10 Vitality – Increased energy regeneration and attack power.
20 Revealing Strike – Improves effectiveness of finishing strikes and Sinister Strike.
30 Combat Potency – off-hand and Main Gauche strikes have a chance to recover energy.
40 Adrenaline Rush
50 Restless Blades – your damaging finishing moves reduce several cooldowns.
60 Bandit’s Guile – Your Sinister Strike and Revealing Strike abilities increase your damage dealt
80 Killing Spree – strike many targets
80 Mastery: Main Gauche – chance for extra attacks

Talents are completely revised. Take all your Cata build and throw them away. You now have six tiers of talents, gained (one tier each) at levels 15, 30, 45, 60, 75, and 90. Any spec can pick any one talent from each row. Any level 60 Rogue can now take Shadowstep, for example.

Talents and glyphs are swapped in the same way. Tome of the Clear Mind is what you use to swap glyphs at 86+.

Combat Rogue Talents

Combat Rogue DPS build for Mist of Pandaria

Talent Descriptions:

Shadow Focus – Abilities no longer cost Energy while you are stealthed. Sap to Ambush (or any opener) at zero energy cost. Nightstalker might be better for leveling, with it’s speed and opening damage.
Combat Readiness – Take less damage as fight gets longer. Not really a great tier for PvE and CR’s probably the best of the lot.
Leeching Poison – your strikes heal you. Toss up between this and Elusiveness. Leeching might provide more general utility and take a bit of pressure off your healers.
Preparation – Finished cooldowns. More vanishes to energy free Ambushes. Also resets defensive cooldowns for added survival.
Prey on the Weak – When you disable an enemy with your stuns they suffer increased damage from all sources for the duration of the effect. If your opponent can be affected by Cheap Shot or Kidney Shot and and is being attacked by several people then it can take quite a bit more damage. Paralytic Poison might have value against trash that survives long enough. Dirty Tricks is more for PvP.
Anticipation – Stores excess CPs on target and applies them after a finishing strike.No more wasted Combo Points. If you do a lot of target switching then Versatility might be a good choice.

Glyphs are a bit different from before. Primes are gone, Majors modify damage and effects, Minors make small changes to some effects, such as increrased range. You can have three each, six total, at level 90. Tome of the Clear Mind is what you use to swap glyphs at 86+. Get supplies to changes talents and glyphs from your Inscription supplies vendor or off the Auction House.

Major Glyphs:

Deadly Momentum – Kills refresh Slice and Dice and Recuperate. Great for leveling and fighting trash. Leaves more Combo Points to spend on damage.
Adrenaline Rush – Reduces important cooldowns by a small amount.
Sprint – Faster sprinting, for the Usain Bolt Rogue, when you just have to be there right now.

Minor Glyphs

Distract – Increased range for this ability.
Blurred Speed – Run on water while Sprint is active.
Killing Spree – Returns you to the same spot which you started, for a bit more positioning predictability.

Blast through Mists of Pandaria to the level cap, Click Here to Start!

Subtlety Rogue in Mists of Pandaria

Rogues Comments Off

Jul 132012

A Quick and Dirty Subtlety Rogue Guide

An Undead Rogue in Vengeful Gear A lean, mean, backstabbing machine. Known for PvP ownage, Sub also can do very well in PvE, you just have to be good at managing your finishers and energy. Nothing wrong with Shadowdancing a boss, ya know.