- Author: Zephan
- Date: July 8, 2022
- Expansion: WotLK Classic
Equipment will be the main source of your character’s power, contributing the biggest bulk of your stats. It is therefore very important that you choose the correct equipment for each slot — commonly referred to as “best in slot” equipment – in order to maximize your power.
This guide will help you choose the best equipment possible for each phase, but also the best equipment you can find outside of raids, known as “pre-raid” gear or “pre-BiS”.
Open accordions to see alternative options that are listed in order of upgrade!
Items are selected based on a balanced approach between personal DPS and raid DPS contributions.
Item | Source |
---|---|
Culling of Stratholme – Heroic | |
The Oculus – Heroic | |
The Sunwell | |
The Sunwell | |
Engineering | |
The Sunwell | |
Tailoring – BoE |
Forgotten Shadow Hood and Crown of Unbridled Magic both are available options from Heroic drops. They are better for Demonology Warlocks than all other available helms due to the fact that they are both high on spell power and spirit. Titan Forged Hood of Dominance is technically a little bit better than Crown of Unbridled Magic but doe comes at a significantly greater cost.
There are also plenty of helms that dropped in The Sunwell (including converted healer ones) that are still worthwhile options, namely Cowl of Light’s Purity, Helm of Arcane Purity, and Dark Conjuror’s Collar.
Visage Liquification Goggles are technically on par with the TBC helms, however seeing as how quickly you will replace them it doesn’t seem worth the cost.
Item | Source |
---|---|
25 Emblem | |
Naxxramas Trash – BoE | |
Jewelcrafting – BoE | |
38000 Honor Points | |
38000 Honor Points | |
38000 Honor Points | |
Stratholme – Heroic | |
Utgarde Keep | |
Ahn’kahet: The Old Kingdom – Heroic |
Chain of Latent Energie is a BoE drop inside 10-man Naxxramas, on par with Encircling Burnished Gold Chains.
Titanium Spellshock Necklace is the strongest necklace if we do not require any additional hit rating. It should be noted however that Titanium Spellshock Necklace doesn’t come cheap.
Item | Source |
---|---|
Utgarde Keep | |
The Sunwell | |
The Sunwell | |
Halls of Stone | |
The Sunwell | |
Halls of Stone | |
Halls of Lightning | |
Utgarde Pinnacle | |
Halls of Stone | |
Black Temple |
Amice of the Convoker from Sunwell is the best available shoulder for all other Warlock specializations except for Demonology. This is due to the fact that there are plenty of high spell power /spirit shoulders available. Runecasters is hands down the best pre-bis shoulder option for Demonology, closely followed by Shoulderpads of Knowledge.
Item | Source |
---|---|
Tailoring – BoE | |
Drak’Tharon Keep – BoE | |
38000 Honor Points | |
38000 Honor Points | |
The Old Kingdom – Heroic | |
Gundrak – Heroic | |
The Sunwell | |
38000 Honor Points | |
The Oculus – Heroic |
Deathchill Cloak is another bind-on-equipped crafted piece. It is significantly stronger than most other available cloaks. Reanimator’s Cloak is not too far off in value and might potentially be cheaper.
Item | Source |
---|---|
80 Emblem | |
Tailoring – BoE | |
Tailoring – BoE | |
The Sunwell | |
Tailoring – BoE | |
Tailoring – BoP | |
The Sunwell | |
Violet Hold- Heroic | |
The Sunwell | |
The Oculus – Heroic | |
Azjol-Nerub – Heroic |
Heroes Plagueheart Robe costs us a lot of emblems but moves us already a step closer to our two and four-piece tier bonus.
Following this is Spellweave Robe, Moonshroud, or Ebonweave Robe if you need a significant amount of hit rating. Both of these are tailoring crafted pieces.
Item | Source |
---|---|
The Oculus – Heroic | |
Wyrmrest Accord – Revered | |
31600 Honor Points | |
Utgarde Pinnacle – Heroic | |
The Oculus | |
Violet Hold – Heroic |
Cuffs of Winged Levitation and Ancestral Sinew Wristguard are two really good and close wrists options.
Black Duskweave is slightly worse on its own than any of the above-listed braces, but combined with Black Duskweave for the two-piece bonus of +18 spell power is another solid option.
Item | Source |
---|---|
Tailoring – BoE | |
The Nexus – Heroic | |
Drak’Tharon Keep – Heroic | |
Tailoring – BoE | |
Tailoring – BoE | |
The Sunwell | |
The Sunwell | |
The Sunwell |
Spellweave Gloves, Moonshroud, and Ebonweave Gloves are incredibly close in value depending on if are in need of the hit rating on Ebonweave Gloves. Gloves of Glistening Runes and Overlook Handguard are also on par in value and can be gotten from heroics instead of crafting.
Item | Source |
---|---|
Utgarde Pinnacle – Heroic | |
40 Emblem | |
Halls of Lightning – Heroic | |
40 Emblem | |
The Oculus – Heroic | |
49600 Honor Points | |
Ebon Blade – Exalted | |
The Culling of Stratholme – Heroic |
Plush Sash of Guzbah and Girdle of Bane is for all intents and purposes nearly equal in value, assuming you can fully make use of the hit rating. All other belts are significantly further behind in value, especially if you need a belt without hit rating.
Item | Source |
---|---|
The Sunwell | |
The Sunwell | |
Utgarde Keep – Heroic | |
The Sunwell | |
Violet Hold – Heroic | |
The Nexus – Heroic | |
Mountain Hyjall | |
Halls of Lightning – Heroic |
All four of the Burning Crusade pants listed above are really close to each other in value. The first Wrath of the Lich King pants that comes close in value is Breeches of the Caller.
Black Duskweave is also worth mentioning, this can be combined with Black Duskweave bracers for the two-piece bonus.
Item | Source |
---|---|
Wyrmrest – Exalted | |
49600 Honor Points | |
The Nexus – Heroic | |
Violet Hold – Heroic | |
The Sunwell | |
Sandals of Crimson Fury are relatively easy to get and by a good margin the best possible pre-bis boots. The next best shoes are both PvP related namely; Hateful Glad Salv and Titan-Forged Slippers of Dom. But don’t be afraid if you dislike PvP and reputation farming there still is Cleric’s Linen Shoes.
Item | Source |
---|---|
Drak’Tharon Keep – Heroic | |
8500 gold | |
8500 gold | |
The Culling of Stratholme – Heroic | |
Jewelcrafting – BoE | |
Jewelcrafting – BoE | |
Utgarde Keep – Heroic | |
Argent Crusade – Exalted | |
Jewelcrafting | |
Icecrown | |
Fishing |
There are a lot of options when it comes to our rings. Most of them can be bought, but one might already be more expansive than the other, looking at you Signet of the Kirin Tor. Ring of Northern Tears, Lost Ring of the Necromancer, and Titanium Spellshock Ring can also be bought for gold.
Band of Guile and Annhylde’s Ring are for all intents and purposes the same ring that drops from another Heroic.
Item | Source |
---|---|
40 Emblem | |
Violet Hold – Heroic | |
Brewfest | |
Halls of Stone – Heroic |
The Egg of Mortal Essence is not listed above, at the moment of this writing, it seems we can only proc this with Health Funnel, limiting its use as we do not want to be wasting cast time using this in combat.
Sundial of the Exiled and Mithril Pocketwatch are the same trinket for all intents and purposes, one easier to get than the other.
Item | Source |
---|---|
Blacksmithing – BoE | |
Drak’Tharon Keep – Heroic | |
Kirin Tor – Revered | |
Utgarde Pinnacle – Heroic | |
BoE – Random Suffix | |
Utgarde Pinnacle | |
The Sunwell |
If Titansteel Spellblade is out from release one-hand plus offhand will be the play. If it is not Cursed Lich Blade or any of the other listed one hands will work as well but Staff of Draconic Combat will be a closer option.
Item | Source |
---|---|
25 Emblem | |
25 Emblem | |
Inscription – BoE | |
The Nexus – Heroic | |
Inscription – BoE | |
Violet Hold – Heroic | |
Drak’Tharon Keep – Heroic |
Ward of the Violet Citadel really is the best option and at only a cost of 25 Emblem not too hard to get your hands on. That being said any of the others listed will last you until you get it.
Item | Source |
---|---|
The Oculus – Heroic | |
Utgarde Pinnacle – Heroic | |
Ahn’kahet: The old Kingdom – Heroic | |
The Sunwell | |
The Oculus | |
Stratholme | |
The Sunwell |
Staff of Draconic Combat drops from the last boss in The Oculus Heroic. If Titansteel Spellblade is out from release that combined with Ward of the Violet Citadel will be a tad bit better.
Item | Source |
---|---|
The Sunwell | |
Ahn’kahet: The Old Kingdom – Heroic | |
Gundrak – Heroic | |
The Sunwell | |
Halls of Lightning | |
Azjol-Nerub – Heroic | |
Utgarde Keep – Heroic |
Wand of the San’layn and Wand of Ahn’kahet are really close in value. If you are in need of hit rating, Ancient Measuring Rod would be your go-to, or one of the wands with a socket slot.
Item | Source |
---|---|
The Eye of Eternity | |
Naxxramas | |
The Obsidian Sanctum | |
Paldesse | |
Paldesse |
Item | Source |
---|---|
Eye of Eternity | |
Eye of Eternity | |
Naxxramas | |
Eye of Eternity | |
Naxxramas |
Item | Source |
---|---|
The Eye of Eternity | |
Naxxramas | |
Paldesse | |
Naxxramas | |
Naxxramas |
Item | Source |
---|---|
The Obsidian Sanctum | |
Naxxramas | |
Emblem of Valor | |
Crafted | |
Naxxramas |
Item | Source |
---|---|
The Obsidian Sanctum | |
Paldesse | |
Naxxramas | |
The Eye of Eternity | |
Naxxramas |
Item | Source |
---|---|
The Obsidian Sanctum | |
Naxxramas | |
Naxxramas | |
Magister Brasael | |
Naxxramas |
Item | Source |
---|---|
Naxxramas | |
Naxxramas | |
Paldesse | |
Tailoring | |
Naxxramas |
Item | Source |
---|---|
The Eye of Eternity | |
Naxxramas | |
Naxxramas | |
Paldesse | |
Utgarde Pinnacle |
Item | Source |
---|---|
The Eye of Eternity | |
Naxxramas | |
Paldesse | |
Naxxramas | |
Naxxramas |
Item | Source |
---|---|
The Eye of Eternity | |
Naxxramas | |
Naxxramas | |
Magister Brasael | |
Magister Brasael |
Item | Source |
---|---|
Naxxramas | |
Emblem of Valor | |
Naxxramas | |
Naxxramas | |
Naxxramas |
Item | Source |
---|---|
Naxxramas | |
The Obsidian Sanctum | |
Other | |
Other | |
Crafted | |
Naxxramas |
Item | Source |
---|---|
Naxxramas | |
Naxxramas | |
Naxxramas | |
Naxxramas | |
Deadly Gladiator |
Item | Source |
---|---|
Naxxramas | |
Naxxramas | |
Naxxramas | |
Naxxramas | |
Emblem of Heroism |
Item | Source |
---|---|
The Eye of Eternity | |
Naxxramas | |
The Obsidian Sanctum | |
Naxxramas | |
Naxxramas |
Item | Source |
---|---|
Naxxramas | |
Naxxramas | |
Naxxramas | |
Sunwell Plateau | |
Utgarde Keep |
T4 4P Information
The bonus from our four pieces of tier four provides an extra 300 Spirit whenever we use life tap for 10 seconds. This translates to an extra 150 amount of spell power through Fel Armor and glyph of life tap, even more if we account for Demonic Aegis. This raises the question if you should be using Life Tap more often to increase our total amount of Spell Power. The answer to this is relatively simple, Life Tap incurs a global cooldown, this means we lose roughly 1.5s of cast time every 10 seconds or approximately 15% (depending on our cast speed) of our DPS, there is no way that the additional 150 spell power results in an overall DPS increase that is bigger than this. Using life tap earlier can be worthwhile if you can make the buff align with other cooldowns, this doesn’t increase the total amount of global cooldowns spent on Life Tap, but instead shifts when we use it. The same goes for Demonic Pact, if you got other big Spell Power procs going on it might be worth tapping earlier to snap-shot the Spell Power with Demonic Pact.
In short whilst the four-piece bonus of Plagueheart Garb provides us with extra spell power we should not be seeking 100% uptime on the buff, rather we should keep on using life tap as we normally would during our rotation for mana and upkeeping glyph of life tap.
Ulduar | |
Ulduar | |
Ulduar | |
Paldesse | |
Ulduar | |
The Eye of Eternity | |
Ulduar | |
Paldesse | |
Naxxramas | |
Paldesse |
Ulduar | |
Ulduar | |
Ulduar | |
Ulduar | |
Ulduar | |
Emblem of Conquest | |
Eye of Eternity | |
Ulduar | |
Ulduar | |
Ulduar |
Ulduar | |
Paldesse | |
Ulduar | |
Ulduar | |
Ulduar | |
Ulduar | |
Paldesse | |
The Eye of Eternity | |
Naxxramas | |
Ulduar |
Ulduar | |
Ulduar | |
Ulduar | |
Ulduar | |
The Obsidian Sanctum | |
Ulduar | |
Ulduar | |
Naxxramas | |
Ulduar | |
Emblem of Valor |
Ulduar | |
Ulduar | |
Paldesse | |
Paldesse | |
Ulduar | |
The Obsidian Sanctum | |
Ulduar | |
Naxxramas | |
Naxxramas | |
Paldesse |
Ulduar | |
The Obsidian Sanctum | |
Ulduar | |
Ulduar | |
Ulduar | |
Ulduar | |
Naxxramas | |
Ulduar | |
Naxxramas | |
Naxxramas |
Ulduar | |
Ulduar | |
Ulduar | |
Ulduar | |
Arcanist Firael | |
Ulduar | |
Paldesse | |
Ulduar | |
Paldesse | |
Naxxramas |
Ulduar | |
Ulduar | |
Ulduar | |
Ulduar | |
The Eye of Eternity | |
Ulduar | |
Arcanist Firael | |
Ulduar | |
Ulduar | |
Naxxramas |
Ulduar | |
Ulduar | |
Paldesse | |
Ulduar | |
Arcanist Firael | |
Ulduar | |
Paldesse | |
Naxxramas | |
The Eye of Eternity | |
Paldesse |
Ulduar | |
Ulduar | |
Ulduar | |
Ulduar | |
Tailoring | |
Tailoring | |
Ulduar | |
The Eye of Eternity | |
Ulduar | |
Ulduar |
Ulduar | |
Ulduar | |
Ulduar | |
Ulduar | |
Other | |
Ulduar | |
Ulduar | |
Ulduar | |
Naxxramas | |
Ulduar |
Ulduar | |
Ulduar | |
Ulduar | |
Ulduar | |
Naxxramas | |
Ulduar | |
Ulduar | |
Ulduar | |
Naxxramas | |
Naxxramas |
Ulduar | |
Ulduar | |
Ulduar | |
Ulduar | |
Naxxramas | |
Naxxramas | |
Naxxramas | |
Emblem of Heroism | |
Crafted | |
Naxxramas |
Ulduar | |
Ulduar | |
Ulduar | |
Ulduar | |
Ulduar | |
Ulduar | |
The Slave Pens | |
Ulduar | |
Ulduar | |
The Eye of Eternity |
Ulduar | |
Ulduar | |
Ulduar | |
Ulduar | |
Ulduar | |
Naxxramas | |
Naxxramas | |
Naxxramas | |
Naxxramas | |
Sunwell Plateau |
Would love to see you make a 10 man only list!
Hello, nice list 🙂
Do you have lists for phase 2 and 3, too?
Cheers
what about plaguehearts gloves? you can get those pre raid with EoH
Looking at the 4 set for the tier bonus as a 15% loss in exchange for 150 SP is not the right way to look at it because you have tap regardless of the set bonus in order to not run out of mana.
Yeah, but he’s referencing it being used on cooldown to maintain uptime of the 4p bonus. If you’re tapping every 10 seconds, you’re going to be gaining too much mana. The GCD is more important than the minor buff to spellpower, EXCEPT when combined with other procs in order to snapshot your Demonic Pact