Monday, March 16, 2009

Best-In-Slot v3.0: Gear of the Heroic Raider

The following is a slot-by-slot listing of the best gear available to a retribution paladin as of patch 3.0.8, limited to plate armor. This gear set has been discussed to death by people on EJ, and was compiled for Maintankadin by Questioner.

Head: Obsidian Greathelm
Enhancements - Arcanum of Torment, Relentless Earthsiege Diamond, Enchanted Tear

Neck: Favor of the Dragon Queen
Enhancements - Bold Scarlet Ruby

Shoulders: Valorous Redemption Shoulderplates
Enhancements - Greater Inscription of the Axe, Bold Scarlet Ruby

Back: Drape of the Deadly Foe
Enhancements - Major Agility

Chest: Valorous Redemption Chestpiece
Enhancements - Powerful Stats, Bold Scarlet Ruby x2

Wrist: Bracers of Unrelenting Attack
Enhancements - Greater Assault, Bold Scarlet Ruby

Hands: Valorous Redemption Gauntlets
Enhancements - Crusher, Bold Scarlet Ruby

Waist: Girdle of Razuvious
Enhancements - Eternal Belt Buckle, Bold Scarlet Ruby

Legs: Valorous Redemption Legplates
Enhancements - Icescale Leg Armor, Bold Scarlet Ruby x2

Feet: Iron-Spring Jumpers / Melancholy Sabatons (depending on raid buffs)
Enhancements - Greater Assault

Fingers: Ruthlessness & Surge Needle Ring

Trinkets: Darkmoon Card: Greatness & Fury of the Five Flights / Mirror of Truth

Weapon: Betrayer of Humanity
Enhancements - Berserking

Libram: Deadly Gladiator's Libram of Fortitude

12 comments:

Siha said...

Thanks for this list, Josh; now I know what I should be rolling offspec on!

Could you make a recommendation for second-best in slot for the neck item? Favour of the Dragon Queen being a quest item, many of us who only play Ret as offspec would have taken the tanking or healing neck instead. I know I did.

Shwitz44 said...

@Siha
Pendant of the Dragonsworn, the 10-man Malygos quest neck, is the second best necklace. But, if I was a betting man, I'd put money on that being unavailable to you at current as well.

I'll take a look at Wowhead tonight and make a recommendation.

Anonymous said...

I have a quick question. In regards to your best in slot gears, the total hit rating is pretty low. Is this something we need to ignore?? I'm in this situation and have most of the gears and worried about the hit rating. I saw another list replacing the belt with belt of chivary which has 40 hit rating or so. Would that work better?

Shwitz44 said...

@Anonymous
Nope, it's literally stack strength and win. As long as you don't go over 8% hit, you're fine with whatever number you end up with.

Strength scales leagues better than any other stat, which is why this set is best in slot. If you want hit rating, I'd suggest using a Grim Toll instead of FotFF/Mirror of Truth and equipping Iron Spring Jumpers instead of Melancholy Sabatons. Other slots I'd leave as is.

Shwitz44 said...

@Siha
If you have neither of the Malygos quest necklaces available to you, I recommend picking up a Fool's Trial.

Siha said...

Hmm, the 10-man Maly neck might be an option, but my guild rarely does 10s - I still haven't downed KT in 10-man format, nor Malygos. So at least I haven't done that quest yet :)

Solkaris said...

Hi, quick question. Wouldnt the Venture Co. Libram of Retribution be a better trinket in PVE? I don't know about most people but I tend to use Martyr alot more than Command during raids.

Shwitz44 said...

@Solkaris
I think you're a bit confused regarding the suggested Libram. The Libram of Reciprocation gives a bonus to Seal of Command, which is the libram I believe you're thinking of. However, I suggested the Deadly Gladiator Libram, which gives a bonus to Crusader Strike. The AP bonus on this libram is much more useful than the crit bonus from the Venture Co Libram.

Hope that answered your question.

Nova said...

If you stuff two 16 str gems in girdle of chivalry you end up with more strength than girdle of razuvious, so why not go with that one?

Shwitz44 said...

@Nova
Because the haste on the Chivalry as of WoW v3.0 is heavily outweighed by the crit on Razuvious. There is a point where crit or hit or expertise would be better than a few more points of strength. Saying "gear for strength" is an oversimplification for ease of communication.

The stat rankings will be changing in 3.1

Anonymous said...

Your gems need to be revised. Using the suggested gems you do not get the meta gem activated.

Shwitz44 said...

@Anonymous
Enchanted Tear in the helmet counts for both the yellow and blue requirements. The meta is fulfilled.