World of Warcraft at Ten Ton Hammer

What should you drool over for your Mage when it comes to gear in World of Warcraft? There are a lot of pretty purples swimming around the pool that is endgame raiding. When it comes to what’s hot and what’s not you’ll find yourself banging your head against the table trying to crunch the numbers and figure out what’s going on. Well let’s keep you from doing that and help out when it comes to figuring everything out.

Goals

A lot of spell power, critical strike rating, and a good bit of haste. Everything else that follows is gravy when you’re gearing up a Mage. Stamina (for health), Intellect (for damage/mana), and Spirit (which can beef up Molten Armor as of 3.1) come along with those stats, but don’t neglect to calculate Intellect for its value in boosting your damage.

Progressive Raiding

When you’re progressing through the game you’re going to want to upgrade your low-purps and high-end blues (probably the stuff from this guide). It then becomes a battle of morality (what to take when you have plans of replacing it) and of stats. Let’s get a few basics out of the way.

The best in slot items pre-ulduar and the stuff that drops from various bosses are going to be close, but not the best. Most best in slot items will come from Kel’Thuzad, Malygos, Sartharion, Archavon, Ulduar, etc. So there isn’t a lot of reason to worry about getting something and then the best in slot being a slight upgrade.

Now for a general guide of what to look for in regards to loot while you progress through dungeons. There are two kinds of cloth drops and they lean one way or the other. Healing cloth and damage cloth. Mages only need damage cloth which is heavy on things that affect damage (critical strike, spell power, haste, Intellect, and Stamina). Healing cloth is similar, but focuses more on spell power, haste, and MP5 and is also loaded down with Spirit. So it basically comes down to wanting more damage and less mana regeneration.

Oh let’s not forget Hit Rating. You’ll need to maintain enough to cap out, but our previous guide goes into more detail on that (click here to read it). Healers never need Hit Rating except for their damage sets.

That doesn’t mean a piece of gear with MP5 shouldn’t be picked up if you’re progressing and it’s an upgrade, but anything with a heavy focus on mana regeneration should go to the healers. Everything else is fair game for the Mage.

Some good items to look for while progressing are Robes of Mutation from Noth, Faerlina's Madness from (no duh!) Faerlina, Gloves of the Fallen Wizard from Noth, Boots of Forlorn Wishes from Instructor Razuvious, and well you get the idea. A lot of the “lesser” bosses drop most of the progression gear. As for non-heroic Naxxramas? It’s all fair game, you’ll find a lot of good items drop but none of them will come close to the heroic purples as far as bang for your slot buck.

Best In Slot

Telling you what’s best for you is hard because when you get to gear with just a few points of difference you’re going to get a headache figuring out where your spec gets the most bang for its buck. In general there are a few pieces that can out and out be heralded as the best gear out there for patch 3.1.

The entire Tier 8.5 set is best in slot. When you have all four going you not only get the massive stats but the set bonus of being able to cast two really fast Arcane Missiles, two instant Pyroblasts, or two instant Fireballs all depending on your spec. That’s pretty major in itself, but the stats are where they shine. So if you’re looking for the best right now then set sights on Tier 8.5.

Staff of Endless Winter is the highest item level staff in the game right now and probably best weapon in slot when combined with Greater Spellpower (81 spell power anyone?).

Boots of Fiery Resolution is the highest item level shoe in the game which beats out Arcanic Tramplers (from Heroic Malygos) which is best in slot pre-ulduar.

Pendent of Fiery Havoc from hard mode Flame Leviathan might be near impossible to get, but it’s the current DPS caster best in slot for neck.

Drape of Mortal Downfall is the highest item level for a cloak and drops from the Iron Council in hard mode. Another very, very, very hard to get item but it’s the best you can shove there. However, argument stands for the Pennant Cloak from Sartharion as being best in slot. Either one will not get frowns from anyone if you keep it there.

For a belt you’re going to aim at Sash of Ancient Power from Tailoring. Expensive but whatever, it’s something craftable. If you can’t get crafted Ulduar gear then the Plush Sash of Guzbah is probably your best bet. It’s from Emblems of Heroism.

Flare of the Heavens, Scale of Fates, and Eye of the Broodmother are the trinkets you’ll be craving after. Both drop in hard mode Ulduar. Of course, if near best in slot is good enough for you then you’ll want Dying Curse which is really good no matter what.

A wand you say? Well, the finest wand in WoW right now is the Petrified Ivy Spring from Ignis.

For hands you might want to save tier 8.5 for the head and go for some Grasps of Reason which come from Ulduar.

In general when you think best in slot you’ll want to think who is the hardest, baddest, most difficult boss in the game and that’s where the gear will come from. Of course, things like Dying Curse can or were best in slot and drop from the easier boss. Remember that you spec also will play a key role. These examples may not play directly into how you’re building your character and research is the most valuable thing you can do.