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style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-size: 11px;">Binds
when picked up
Main Hand Dagger
70 - 227 Damage, Speed...
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style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-size: 11px;">Binds
when picked up
Main Hand Dagger
70 - 227 Damage, Speed 1.80
(82.6 DPS)
+31 Stamina
+38 Intellect
style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Requires
Level 80
Increases
attack power by 386 in Cat, Bear, Dire Bear and Moonkin forms only.
Improves critical strike rating by 40
Improves haste rating by 27
Increases spell power by 408 style="font-weight: bold;">
As a pure damage dealing class we are lucky to not have to maintain
multiple gear sets for our different talent schools. We can focus on
improving our damage and utility by upgrading a basic set of attributes
as we level. Our unfortunate limitation of cloth only kind of makes us
a glass cannons, but that is why we have pets and tanks. There is
nothing better than sitting back and letting them take the hits as we
nuke and laugh.
What to Look For
As you level up you want to look for items that add to
your desired stats. The best stats for a leveling warlock are, in no
particular order:
-
Spell Power:
Adds to the base damage of your casted abilities. -
Intellect: Increases
your mana pool, Increases your critical strike rating. -
Hit: Increases
your chance to successfully hit your target. -
Critical
Strike Rating: Increases the chance your
abilities will cause extra damage. -
Haste:
Increases the speed ability is performed -
Spirit: Increases
the speed that health and mana regenerate when not in combat,
increases the amount of health converted to mana during lifetap,
increases the amount of spell damage when using fel armor. -
Stamina: Increases
your base health.
Knowing why these stats are important and what they contribute is as
important as having them. You are going to be given many chances to
choose rewards or roll for gear as you level and you want to balance
them with your play style.
Keep an eye
out for quest rewards that contain these attributes and crafting
professions that allow you to make these items. Your first few levels
are going to be limited to stamina, intellect and spirit. Ultimately
you want all the stats, and will have no problem finding them.
Earlier on, professions are a great way to acquire gear. Tailoring is a
simple profession because cloth is plentiful and drops off most of the
humanoids you will be tasked to defeat. Engineering will also provide
you with many items that will help you along the way but may be more
limited. I have found engineering’s biggest advantage is for
players more focused on PvP. The trinkets and bombs are invaluable and
the shock of someone being turned into a chicken by a warlock is
priceless.
The gear choices for PvP are also be different than gear choices for
PvE. The player focused on PvP would want to pay more attention to
survivability than a leveling or raiding warlock. This means a greater
priority on resilience and stamina would be needed. Resilience will
decrease the chance you will be critically hit and reduce the damage of
a critical hit, making this a must-have for any PvP player and Stamina
will increase the amount of health you have.
How does speccing affect
the gear you should go after?
Once at higher levels, the school or spec you choose can
have a big impact on the gear you should obtain. Each
school benefits from different attributes. For example, haste
rating would be more desirable by a destruction warlock then an
affliction warlock because the decrease in cast time would impact the
slower, harder hitting spell more than the instant cast DOTs. There are
many thoughts on how to prioritize which attributes to which build and
I have found the following to be the best.
colspan="4" rowspan="1"> style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Itemization
By School for Raiding Warlocks
colspan="1" rowspan="4">Priority
Power
Power
Power
Strike
Strike
Strike
Notice each school benefits greatly from hit. I often quote
“You can’t hurt that which you can’t
hit." When raiding, any boss encounter requires you to hit the boss to
damage it, Therefore hit is a massive priority. Second to hit is spell
power because spell power equals damage. After the first two it becomes
very subjective, but let me explain a few points. Each school will
benefit differently because of talents they include. Demonology has a
talent “Demonic Ages” which increases the
effectiveness of fel armor and demon armor up to 30%, therefore
effectively increasing spell power, which is more desirable than
critical strike. Hence, a demonology warlock would benefit more from
spirit than from critical strike because with fel armor, more spirit
equals more damage
How important is the DPS
of a weapon?
The actual DPS of any weapon is irrelevant. Caster classes
such as Warlocks, equip the weapons to benefit from the attribute
contribution it will provide, not for the physical damage it will do
from melee combat. Wands could be an exception to the rule for some but
I would never use a wand with good DPS over a wand that contributes
more to my spell casting abilities. A wand is a good item to use in an
emergency when you run out of mana and you are caught with your pants
down but should be prioritized to contribute to the base caster stats.
Weapon enchants should be used to increase your spell power or base
stats and you should avoid enchants that add to the actual physical
damage caused.
Useful Trinkets for
Warlocks
Trinkets play in important part especially in end game
content. This is true for both PvE and PvP. Trinkets can also provide
useful stats for a particular encounter. There are many trinkets
available and not all are specific to Warlocks but will help immensely.
PvP players will want to look for trinkets that boost the resilience
rating and can be used to remove movement impairing effects. PvE
players should look for trinkets that improve the spell power,
haste or critical strike when equipped and have a chance to increase
spell power, haste or critical strike on successful spell cast or
damage.
What level do you change
armor types?
Warlocks never progress beyond cloth armor. The only
upgrade to equipment they ever receive is if they train in additional
weapon types. Warlocks enter the world knowing how to use daggers and
wands but may train at a weapons trainer to learn to use swords and
staves. This can be done at any level and should be done during your
first visit to your local weapons trainer.
Staves vs. One
hand/offhand
Our journey to maximum level will offer us many choices
for weapons. There is no correct choice between using a staff or using
a dagger and off-hand. Both have advantages and you should make sure to
train in both so you can expand your options as the opportunity
presents itself. A Warlock’s weapon skill has no impact on
the spell damage you can cause. When you’re lucky enough to
win a roll on a new item, you can equip it immediately. I have found
myself changing between the two handed staff and a dagger/offhand
several times because the bonuses where much better.
How to get the gear
you're after.
Until max level, just keep plugging away at quests and
you’ll be able to keep yourself geared relative to the zones
you visit. By level 20 your professions will fill the gaps for gear
that you have not yet received. Around level 30, you can pick up a
quest that will reward you with an excellent robe and another quest for
an off-hand weapon that will last you until level 50 or so. At
level 60 it’s time to start looking for higher quality items
(blue) to replace the greens. There will also be some bargains on the
auction house; these are worth visiting for the next 10-15 levels to
help get you to and through Northrend. From 70-80 group up and grab as
much blue gear from instances as you can so you will be prepared to
start heroics when you hit 80. Once 80 jump into heroics and grab the
best blues and any epic loot you can. Finally, grind Northrend
reputation for the last few pieces and the item enhancements for head,
and shoulders. This will put you in good position for the start of ten
and twenty-five man raids.
See you in Naxx!
to Get
- Collect quest rewards and drops
- Quest rewards and drops
- Crafted items from tailoring and/or engineering
- Quest rewards and crafted items
- Search the auction house occasionally
- Replace green items with blue (superior) items,
quested and crafted - Watch the auction house for puple (epic) gear for
your trip to Northrend
- Continue watching for quest rewards
- Start collecting blue items from instances
- Heroic instances for best in slot blues
- Grind reputation for epic rewards and item
enhancements (head and shoulder glyphs) - 10 and 25 man raid instances
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