I have been doing some research into what I'm going to do with my justice points (that I regrettably didn't cap), reputations, and quests so that I can be ready to go for heroics at 85.
I have a great list of gear, and where it comes from, but... We all know how drops can be right? We Lurker Tanks know first hand how fickle the loot gods can be.
So, What if I don't see any drops? What if I need to rely solely on what I can get "guaranteed"? Here is the backup plan, slot by slot, for a setup that should put me borderline ready for raiding, but at least ready to go for good heroic stomping.
This list of gear is "Guaranteed" You aren't going to be busting your tail farming for drops. These are all quest rewards. I have omitted Crafted pieces that require Chaos Orbs at this time. This early in the Expac, they are BoP, which is going to drive the Price high. I have also omitted BoE World Drops, as that means you are farming the AH, when you should be farming dungeons / Questing.
Helm
Item Grinning Fang Helm Revered: Dragonmaw Clan.
Enchant for the enchant, you will need Revered Status with the Earthen Ring.
Gemming I will be gemming this helm with Austere Shadowspirit Diamond, and either a Defender's Demonseye or a Guardian's Demonseye Depending on what I need.
Shoulders
Item Sunburnt Pauldrons 1650 Justice Points.
Enchant For this enchant, You will need to be either Honored, or Exalted with Therazane. Due to Therazane having a tabard for dungeon championing, this will be an easy rep to run, unlike Hodir was at the beginning of WotLK.
Gemming+10 Dodge does not make me very excited as a Socket Bonus. I will be using a Solid Ocean Sapphire in this socket.
If you don't want to spend the Justice Points on these, a viable alternative is Pharoah's Burial Spaulders
Chest
Item Breastplate of the Witness - Quest - Grim Batol 5 man dungeon.
Enchant - 55 stamina The higher Stamina enchant requires crystals, and at this point, a blue item, and large price on crystals makes the extra 20 stamina overkill.
I don't list an alternative here, because... there aren't many good alternatives, and this quest can be done at 83 in the normal version of Grim Batol.
Bracers
Item Ankh Inscribed Bracers
Alliance has: Dunwald's Finest Bindings which are an upgrade, at least, over those, even if they're still green. There is not a comparable quest reward for horde.
These are a stepping stone piece AT BEST. There are woefully few guaranteed tank Bracers. You could luck into one of | the pairs from Halls of Origination, but they are all stepping stone to getting
Sanguard Bracers Exalted: The Ramkahen. These bracers are Raid level, and can last you into getting Heroic Quality raid bracers.
EnchantYou have several options for enchanting your bracers in Cataclysm. Because I'm a paladin, and strength pales in comparison to Hit and Expertise (all the way to the hard cap) for threat, I will be using Enchant Bracer - Precision or Enchant Bracer - Greater Expertise Depending on what I need more of. I'm not a very big fan of the 50 dodge enchant, mainly because the amount of dodge I get from the enchant as opposed to the hit or expertise is minimal.
Gloves
Item Gloves of Gnomebliteration Quests: Uldum
enchantEnchant Gloves: Mastery
These are the only guaranteed gloves. They are a little low in Ilvl, but they are better than nothing, and that is my main goal. I want to make sure I have a "default" list.
Again, there is a better enchant, but it again requires Crystals. Not something I'm willing to drop on ilvl325 gloves.
Belt
Item Girdle of the Mountains -1650 Justice Points
This is the only guaranteed Belt with a good ilvl. Everything else relies on drops.
We will want to add an Ebonsteel Belt Buckle and gem it with Defender's Demonseye or a Guardian's Demonseye Depending on what I need for the socket bonus, and a Puissant Dream Emerald in the Prismatic socket so that we have our 2 yellows to activate the meta gem.
Legs:
Item Stone Wrapped Greaves - Honored: The Earthen Ring
Gemming Defender's Demonseye or a Guardian's Demonseye Depending on what I need for the socket bonus, and a Solid Ocean Sapphire in the Prismatic socket.
Enchant Twilight Leg Armor There is a better Leg Armor than this, but I don't feel that the increase in materials / gold is worth it at this time.
Feet:
You will be wearing one set of boots, while you grind out your Dragonmaw Rep, which will allow you to wear those 359 epics.
Items Ramkahen Front Boots - Quest: The Lost City of Tol'vir - These boots can be accquired at level 83, in the Normal Lost City of Tol'vir Dungeon. You will want to wear these while grinding your dragonmaw rep to exalted to wear: Boots of Sullen Rock - Exalted: Dragonmaw Clan
Gemming As much as I don't care for the socket bonus because of how little it is, we need a second yellow gem to activate our meta. Queue using another Puissant Dream Emerald
Enchanting You have a couple of options for enchants. Mastery is a fantastic option for paladin tanks who pick up Pursuit of Justice. There is Lavawalker if you need the movement increase. I wouldn't put this on the ramkahen front boots, but if you need the movement speed, I think 359 epics will be worth the maelstrom crystal.
Cloak:
This is another situation where I would plan on wearing one cloak, until you get the other cloak. There is a nicer crafted cloak than what I'm listing, but it requires Chaos Orbs.
Items Cloak of War -Crafted: Leatherworking. You will want to wear this cloak until you can pick up Wrap of the Great Turtle - Exalted: Guardians of Hyjal
Both Cloaks are perfect for enchanting Protection on.
Rings:
Felsen's Ring of Resolve - Revered: Therazane
Red Rock Band - Revered: The Ramkahen
both of these rings are rep rings, and will be picked up along your normal rep grinds. There is no reason not to use them until you get better.
Enchant If you are an enchanter, you can use: Enchant Ring: Greater Stamina
Neck:
Yay for another slot with options!
Item The Lustrous Eye - 1250 Justice Points
Mountain's Mouth - Honored: Guardian's of Hyjal
I don't know if I would make this one of my first Justice points purchases since their is a piece comparable from rep. Yes, The JP piece is indeed better, But since we will be grinding Hyjal for the cloak, I don't see the 1250 Justice Points as being a good investment until we are closer to raiding, and only if you don't see a neck in heroics.
Relic:
there are plenty of Relics out there to be had.
Item
Blackblood Freedom Standard
Notched Jawbone - Crafted: inscription
Etched Horn - Crafted Inscription
All three of these are good choices. Obviously, the notched Jawbone is going to be the best, but it also requires the most mats, while Blackblood Freedom Standard is quested for in the first ~15 quests in Twilight Highlands.
Trinkets:
Tanking Trinkets are far more plentiful in cataclysm than they have been before. Especially while leveling up. If you see nothing else before heroics, you can count on questing for
Zab'rock's Lucky Tooth In the twilight Highlands, and Insignia of Diplomacy In deepholm.
Jewelcrafters should be on the lookout for Figurine - Earthen Guardian a BoP world drop that can drop from just about anything in the game.
engineers should be on the lookout for
Elementium Dragonling for a healthy dose of Mastery,
and alchemists should be on the lookout for Lifebound Alchemists Stone
There is also the Impatience of Youth Available from the Baradin's Hold Reputation vendor at exalted. Since you can't dungeon for this rep, I don't consider this a very 'plausible' rep to get for starting to grind heroics.
Weapon:
There are plenty of weapons out there that you can use. These two are the best from questing / guaranteed drops, and focus on more "tanky" / Threat stats
Mace of the Gullet - Quests: Twilight Highlands.
Riftrent Waraxe - Quests: Deepholm.
Enchants
There are plenty of enchants out there to use. At this point, I'm personally going to be using Mending, because the avoidance from Windwalk is far too sporadic to be counted on. If you wanted threat enchants, Avalanche Is the new fiery, while Landslide Is the bursty threat enchant, this time with no armor reduction[/url]
For the Death Knight Tanks who might be reading this.
Oversized Oblique Ogre Obliterator Comes from the new Ring of Blood Style Event in Twilight Highlands, and Axe of Earthly Sundering comes from questing in Deepholm.
Shields:
Honestly, to get a heroic ready shield, just do the intro quests for the twilight highlands. You end up back in org/SW, and you have a simple hunt and kill quest. This quest will reward you with
Twilight Mirrorshield - Quests : Twilight Highlands
Enchant: All of the Shield enchants for tanks are rather lacking right now.
Blocking is probably your best bet. It gives ~.50% block chance at 85.
Protection Was better early in the beta before the massive armor nerf.
There are still the stamina (marginal at best) and Dodge(even smaller bonus) enchants for shields.
There is a shield for Justice points, but I would ONLY get that shield if you are headed to raiding and have not seen one of the heroics shields drops (Halls of Origination, and Blackrock Caverns).
I have a great list of gear, and where it comes from, but... We all know how drops can be right? We Lurker Tanks know first hand how fickle the loot gods can be.
So, What if I don't see any drops? What if I need to rely solely on what I can get "guaranteed"? Here is the backup plan, slot by slot, for a setup that should put me borderline ready for raiding, but at least ready to go for good heroic stomping.
This list of gear is "Guaranteed" You aren't going to be busting your tail farming for drops. These are all quest rewards. I have omitted Crafted pieces that require Chaos Orbs at this time. This early in the Expac, they are BoP, which is going to drive the Price high. I have also omitted BoE World Drops, as that means you are farming the AH, when you should be farming dungeons / Questing.
Helm
Item Grinning Fang Helm Revered: Dragonmaw Clan.
Enchant for the enchant, you will need Revered Status with the Earthen Ring.
Gemming I will be gemming this helm with Austere Shadowspirit Diamond, and either a Defender's Demonseye or a Guardian's Demonseye Depending on what I need.
Shoulders
Item Sunburnt Pauldrons 1650 Justice Points.
Enchant For this enchant, You will need to be either Honored, or Exalted with Therazane. Due to Therazane having a tabard for dungeon championing, this will be an easy rep to run, unlike Hodir was at the beginning of WotLK.
Gemming+10 Dodge does not make me very excited as a Socket Bonus. I will be using a Solid Ocean Sapphire in this socket.
If you don't want to spend the Justice Points on these, a viable alternative is Pharoah's Burial Spaulders
Chest
Item Breastplate of the Witness - Quest - Grim Batol 5 man dungeon.
Enchant - 55 stamina The higher Stamina enchant requires crystals, and at this point, a blue item, and large price on crystals makes the extra 20 stamina overkill.
I don't list an alternative here, because... there aren't many good alternatives, and this quest can be done at 83 in the normal version of Grim Batol.
Bracers
Item Ankh Inscribed Bracers
Alliance has: Dunwald's Finest Bindings which are an upgrade, at least, over those, even if they're still green. There is not a comparable quest reward for horde.
These are a stepping stone piece AT BEST. There are woefully few guaranteed tank Bracers. You could luck into one of | the pairs from Halls of Origination, but they are all stepping stone to getting
Sanguard Bracers Exalted: The Ramkahen. These bracers are Raid level, and can last you into getting Heroic Quality raid bracers.
EnchantYou have several options for enchanting your bracers in Cataclysm. Because I'm a paladin, and strength pales in comparison to Hit and Expertise (all the way to the hard cap) for threat, I will be using Enchant Bracer - Precision or Enchant Bracer - Greater Expertise Depending on what I need more of. I'm not a very big fan of the 50 dodge enchant, mainly because the amount of dodge I get from the enchant as opposed to the hit or expertise is minimal.
Gloves
Item Gloves of Gnomebliteration Quests: Uldum
enchantEnchant Gloves: Mastery
These are the only guaranteed gloves. They are a little low in Ilvl, but they are better than nothing, and that is my main goal. I want to make sure I have a "default" list.
Again, there is a better enchant, but it again requires Crystals. Not something I'm willing to drop on ilvl325 gloves.
Belt
Item Girdle of the Mountains -1650 Justice Points
This is the only guaranteed Belt with a good ilvl. Everything else relies on drops.
We will want to add an Ebonsteel Belt Buckle and gem it with Defender's Demonseye or a Guardian's Demonseye Depending on what I need for the socket bonus, and a Puissant Dream Emerald in the Prismatic socket so that we have our 2 yellows to activate the meta gem.
Legs:
Item Stone Wrapped Greaves - Honored: The Earthen Ring
Gemming Defender's Demonseye or a Guardian's Demonseye Depending on what I need for the socket bonus, and a Solid Ocean Sapphire in the Prismatic socket.
Enchant Twilight Leg Armor There is a better Leg Armor than this, but I don't feel that the increase in materials / gold is worth it at this time.
Feet:
You will be wearing one set of boots, while you grind out your Dragonmaw Rep, which will allow you to wear those 359 epics.
Items Ramkahen Front Boots - Quest: The Lost City of Tol'vir - These boots can be accquired at level 83, in the Normal Lost City of Tol'vir Dungeon. You will want to wear these while grinding your dragonmaw rep to exalted to wear: Boots of Sullen Rock - Exalted: Dragonmaw Clan
Gemming As much as I don't care for the socket bonus because of how little it is, we need a second yellow gem to activate our meta. Queue using another Puissant Dream Emerald
Enchanting You have a couple of options for enchants. Mastery is a fantastic option for paladin tanks who pick up Pursuit of Justice. There is Lavawalker if you need the movement increase. I wouldn't put this on the ramkahen front boots, but if you need the movement speed, I think 359 epics will be worth the maelstrom crystal.
Cloak:
This is another situation where I would plan on wearing one cloak, until you get the other cloak. There is a nicer crafted cloak than what I'm listing, but it requires Chaos Orbs.
Items Cloak of War -Crafted: Leatherworking. You will want to wear this cloak until you can pick up Wrap of the Great Turtle - Exalted: Guardians of Hyjal
Both Cloaks are perfect for enchanting Protection on.
Rings:
Felsen's Ring of Resolve - Revered: Therazane
Red Rock Band - Revered: The Ramkahen
both of these rings are rep rings, and will be picked up along your normal rep grinds. There is no reason not to use them until you get better.
Enchant If you are an enchanter, you can use: Enchant Ring: Greater Stamina
Neck:
Yay for another slot with options!
Item The Lustrous Eye - 1250 Justice Points
Mountain's Mouth - Honored: Guardian's of Hyjal
I don't know if I would make this one of my first Justice points purchases since their is a piece comparable from rep. Yes, The JP piece is indeed better, But since we will be grinding Hyjal for the cloak, I don't see the 1250 Justice Points as being a good investment until we are closer to raiding, and only if you don't see a neck in heroics.
Relic:
there are plenty of Relics out there to be had.
Item
Blackblood Freedom Standard
Notched Jawbone - Crafted: inscription
Etched Horn - Crafted Inscription
All three of these are good choices. Obviously, the notched Jawbone is going to be the best, but it also requires the most mats, while Blackblood Freedom Standard is quested for in the first ~15 quests in Twilight Highlands.
Trinkets:
Tanking Trinkets are far more plentiful in cataclysm than they have been before. Especially while leveling up. If you see nothing else before heroics, you can count on questing for
Zab'rock's Lucky Tooth In the twilight Highlands, and Insignia of Diplomacy In deepholm.
Jewelcrafters should be on the lookout for Figurine - Earthen Guardian a BoP world drop that can drop from just about anything in the game.
engineers should be on the lookout for
Elementium Dragonling for a healthy dose of Mastery,
and alchemists should be on the lookout for Lifebound Alchemists Stone
There is also the Impatience of Youth Available from the Baradin's Hold Reputation vendor at exalted. Since you can't dungeon for this rep, I don't consider this a very 'plausible' rep to get for starting to grind heroics.
Weapon:
There are plenty of weapons out there that you can use. These two are the best from questing / guaranteed drops, and focus on more "tanky" / Threat stats
Mace of the Gullet - Quests: Twilight Highlands.
Riftrent Waraxe - Quests: Deepholm.
Enchants
There are plenty of enchants out there to use. At this point, I'm personally going to be using Mending, because the avoidance from Windwalk is far too sporadic to be counted on. If you wanted threat enchants, Avalanche Is the new fiery, while Landslide Is the bursty threat enchant, this time with no armor reduction[/url]
For the Death Knight Tanks who might be reading this.
Oversized Oblique Ogre Obliterator Comes from the new Ring of Blood Style Event in Twilight Highlands, and Axe of Earthly Sundering comes from questing in Deepholm.
Shields:
Honestly, to get a heroic ready shield, just do the intro quests for the twilight highlands. You end up back in org/SW, and you have a simple hunt and kill quest. This quest will reward you with
Twilight Mirrorshield - Quests : Twilight Highlands
Enchant: All of the Shield enchants for tanks are rather lacking right now.
Blocking is probably your best bet. It gives ~.50% block chance at 85.
Protection Was better early in the beta before the massive armor nerf.
There are still the stamina (marginal at best) and Dodge(even smaller bonus) enchants for shields.
There is a shield for Justice points, but I would ONLY get that shield if you are headed to raiding and have not seen one of the heroics shields drops (Halls of Origination, and Blackrock Caverns).
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