Pre-Karazhan Gear
Posted 8 months, 3 weeks ago at 2:25 pm. 22 comments
By popular request, and by popular, I mean Cassieann via Big Bear Butt via Phaelia told me I should write up a Pre-Karazhan Gear guide. That’s like what? Three people? I’ll take what I can get. ^_^
So, you’ve just hit 70 and you’re ready to get into Karazhan and snatch up all the purples your bags can carry. Not so fast! You should really have as many of following to pull your own weight.
I tried to pick items that were easy to obtain through quests, world drops and 5-man instances. I avoided recommending the full Assassination or Wastewalker sets because they are difficult to collect and most of the gear you’ll be wanting from Karazhan is far superior. I also did not list any Heroics or Badge Loot as they can be very hard in mostly green and blues, but if you are adventurous and have four other Karazhan geared members, I’d look at the gear from Slave Pens, Mechanar and Botanica as they are the easiest of the Heroics, in my opinion.
Update: I added normal Magister’s Terrace drops as normal should be able to be finished by Rogues in most of the gear listed below. I also added the Shattered Sun Offensive rep gear as the quests are easy and it’s only a matter of time before repeating the daily quests gives you the reputation you need for the neck piece, which is better than practically everything else in the game.
Without further ado, here are my suggestions for each item slot. Many of these are the same pieces I used until I got my replacements from Badges or Karazhan+. If more than one item is listed, the first one is the one I preferred.
- Head: Helm of the Claw — Quest
- Neck: Shattered Sun Pendant of Might — Vendor - Exalted with Shattered Sun Offensive
- Neck: Talon Lord’s Collar — Quest
- Shoulders: Mantle of Perenolde — OH Drop
- Chest: Vest of Vengeance — BF Drop
- Chest: Auchenai Monk’s Tunic — Quest
- Waist: Naaru Belt of Precision — Quest
- Legs: Fel Leather Leggings — LW Only
- Legs: Leggings of the Betrayed — Magister’s Terrace Drop
- Legs: Clefthoof Hide Leggings — Quest
- Feet: Sunrage Treads — Magister’s Terrace Drop
- Feet: The Master’s Treads — World Drop
- Feet: Fel Leather Boots — LW Only
- Feet: Felboar Hide Shoes — Quest
- Wrist: Spymistress’s Wristguards — Quest
- Hands: Fel Leather Gloves — LW Only
- Hands: Handgrips of Assassination — BM Drop
- Finger: Band of Anguish — Quest
- Finger: Ravenclaw Band — SekH Drop
- Finger: Lightwarden’s Band — Rep (Aldor)
- Trinket: Abacus of Violent Odds — Mech Drop
- Trinket: Hourglass of the Unraveller — BM Drop
- Trinket: Bladefist’s Breadth — Quest
- Trinket: Core of Ar’kelos — Quest
- Back: Cloak of the Craft — World Drop
- Back: Cloak of Malice — ShaH Drop
- Ranged: Felsteel Whisper Knives — Crafted
- MH Sword: The Sunbreaker — Mech Drop
- MH Sword: Edge of the Cosmos — Mech Drop
- MH Sword: Latro’s Dancing Blade — Magister’s Terrace Drop
- OH Sword: Latro’s Shifting Sword — BM Drop
- MH Dagger: Whispering Blade of Slaying — SL Drop
- MH Dagger: Bombardier’s Blade — Vendor - Revered with Shattered Sun Offensive
- OH Dagger: Warp Splinter’s Thorn — Bot Drop
And after you’re done collecting these, you should head over to Dinaer’s site to learn your roles in Karazhan boss fights. He also highlights which Rogue gear you should keep your eyes open for from each boss!
I’m curious about a somewhat glaring omission. The Abacus of Violent Odds? I don’t play a rogue, but my fiancee does, and we’ve been working on getting her geared up. The bonus of the Abacus is, that same boss also drops Edge of the Cosmos and the Assassination chestpiece.
This is perfect timing. I just dinged 70 about a week ago and my guild is pushing me to get ready Kara asap. I’ve been struggling with figuring out what gear to get as this is my first lvl 70 character. This will definetely point me in the right direction. Thanks a ton.
I ommited the Abacus of Violent Odds out of spite because I never managed to get one after going to Mechanar a million times. ~_^ J/K Good catch.
Heh, my fiancee got hers on her first trip. Of course, the payback was when she bought her Aldor exalted rep, and then amassed all the honor she needed for the S1 quickblade, the night her honor was processing we ran Heroic Mechanar and Edge of the Cosmos dropped. She’s still bitter about it.
I got the Abacus on my first Mech run, but never managed to get either the Mantle of Perenolde or the Hourglass of the Unraveller despite many tries.
Dagger rogues might try to get the Whispering Blade of Slaying (SL drop) and Warp Splinter’s Thorn (Bot drop).
@Dinaer: Oh yeah. ^_^ I forgot about daggers. I included them in the list. Thanks, Dinaer!
@Malfean: Ugh. Yeah, I worked hard for Aldor Exalted but got my S2 weapons slightly before I spent money for the Brand.
@Aelfinn: Let me know if it works out.
Thanks so much for the list! I’m happy to say that I had about 75% of this stuff on the list I had worked up after hitting 70 and checking out various sites. But it’s good to know that I might be finally getting this gear stuff after 70 levels, lol.
Just a note that the Fel Leather gear is not for LWers only. It’s only that LWers get the set bonus for the Fel Skin (+20 Dodge). Still some awesome pieces with sockets that can rocket your hit rating to a reasonable level.
Nice Guide - I’d been hoping someone would do one of these guides for rogues to add to my collection of ‘Gearing for Kara’ links :)
I have a question. Wouldn’t the Oppurtunist set be good for Kara as well?
@Wichapi, sorry, but the opprtunists gear is PvP orientated and therefore really lacking in important stats for rogues, such as hit rating, which is VITAL for raiding rogues.
@Wichapi & Bledoc: I’m going to have to agree with Bledoc. The Opportunist set might be good to fill in one or two pieces in a pinch. However, because of the requirement of getting Honored with 5 factions, it isn’t worth it time-wise for some of the worst DPS gear available for Rogues at 70. Your time is better spent obtaining those key pieces of gear outlined in the post.
I’d just thought i would mention that your shoulder section seems pretty small, so how about the ‘Expedition Scout’s Epaulets’ or the Nagrand revered shoulders (depending on alliance or horde)
I would say http://thottbot.com/i31077 and http://thottbot.com/i30860 are better than Band of Anquish :) same stats but those got +2 agility.
Thanks much for this, I was so lost after the ding didn’t even know where to start.
I was wondering for the ringd section would the BAND of Exorcist be a good substitute it is the ring you can buy with spirit shards? Also I have 4 out 5 pieces of the Assasination set are those good enough for Kara? Finally what are my goal stats?
Im in full Merc. Is that better than this stuff?
I think a brilliant thing to do for your weapons is get 40 EotS marks and then grind AV to get 27k honour.
After this, buy your S2 MH and S2 OH…You can always go for something that isn’t swords if you prefer something else.