#0 - Sept. 6, 2007, 2:43 a.m.
The Gear
A general reminder: PvE =/= PvP. While some PvP items are an option, overall the stats which you value the most in PvE (in order: spellhit, spell damage and spell critical strike) are very different from the item point distribution on PvP items (typically Stamina and Resilience having high priority). Do not do the mistake of thinking purple color means you have good raiding gear just because you’re all set with Arena and BG items. Quite often every piece of PvP epic has a better rare option from heroics or easily obtainable (non-PvP) epic item.
The first thing you should do is get Tailoring, unless you already have it. The reason is the Frozen Shadoweave set. While Spellfire and the idea of a fire lock may sound interesting, the former will allow you more talent options and last you a very long time. Also, Shadowcloth will get you materials for Ebon shadowbag, which all raiding warlocks should have (40 plus shards before a raid is very nice).
So, get going on farming and crafting. Hopefully you already are a tailor and within a relatively short time you’re decked out in three epics: Frozen Shadoweave shoulders, robe and boots. Excellent start!
While you have been doing this, some time spent on heroic keys are a big plus. While it is certainly possible to push through Kharazan in quite crappy gear, running heroics before then helps a lot. Not only that: it is very viable to gear up for SSC/TK without ever setting your foot in Kharazan. Furthermore, heroic instances not only provide drops but also Badges of Justice (heroic badges). These are essential for gearing up outside Kharazan.
What should you buy with the badges then? Icon of the Silver Crescent (trinket, 41 badges) should be on top of that wish list. Then there is Orb of the Soul-Eater (off-hand, 25 badges) and Shawl of Shifting Probabilities (back, 25 badges), which should follow. You can also consider Manasurge Pendant (neck, 25 badges) and Ring of Cryptic Dreams (ring, 25 badges).
On top of this patch 2.3 brought some new goodies, including some that are a nice addition for those pushing for SSC/TK content fast. Many of these cost quite a bit but as they are comparable to T5 gear that should not scare you. The items are: Cloak of Subjugated Power (back, 60 badges), Runed Spell-cuffs (wrist, 35 badges), Studious Wraps (hands, 60 badges), Voodoo-woven Belt (belt, 60 badges), Pantaloons of Arcane Annihilation (leg, 75 badges), Fetish of the Primal Gods (off-hand, 35 badges), Carved Witch Doctor’s Stick (wand, 25 badges) and Battlemaster’s Audacity (trinket, 75 badges). What is really nice is the introduction of an alternative to the PvP-bracers, a very solid option for gloves (earlier lacking), a wand and another very good trinket as well as the opportunity to start gathering spell-haste (see more below).
From heroic instances there are a lot of good drops. Among them The Black Stalk (wand, Underbog), Belt of Depravity (belt, Arcatraz and Shadow Labs), Terokk’s Shadowstaff (staff, Sethekk halls), Bands of Negation (bracers, Mana-tombs), Talisman of the Breaker (neck, Blood Furnace), Bands of Rarified Magic (bracer, The Shattered Halls) and Boots of Blasphemy (boots, Slave Pens). On top of these epic drops there are some blue items that are really good as well. Among these some stand out, like the trinket Quagmirran’s eye, which is not far behind the Icon of the Silver Crescent and will last you a long time.
On top of this there are some Exalted reputation rewards that are very good. Reputation levels that you (often) with your grinding for heroic badges should be able to reach. In the top you find Ashyen’s Gift (ring, Cenarion Expedition) and a main-hand weapon, Blade of the Archmage (Honor Hold) for the Alliance and Stormcaller (Thrallmar) for the Horde. There is also the Seer’s Signet (ring, Scryer’s). There is one blue item from Revered with Scryer’s that will last you a very long time: Scryer’s Bloodgem.
Then it’s time for… more crafting. This time around the Spellstrike set and, if you haven’t been lucky with for example Belt of Depravity dropping or have gotten the Voodoo-woven Belt, Girdle of Ruination (of which the latter due to its sockets I would give higher priority). The Spellstrike set is an absolute must as I see it and will last you as long as the Frozen Shadoweave set. A decent rare (blue) crafting option is Bracer’s of Havok, which has one socket. If you have Engineering there are alternatives to the Spellstrike hood, either Gadgetstorm Goggles or Destruction Holo-gogs. The former are more valuable for raiding, although neither of the two bring as much as the Spellstrike hood. However, if you want to put your engineering skill to use, get one of them instead.
There are another grind of sorts that can be done: Darkmoon cards. Of these the Crusade card is one of the best raiding trinkets in the game for a warlock. You need the Blessings set to get this. It’s quite likely costly and can be bought only once per month (while the fair is up). If you have a chance to get it, do so.
The usefulness of PvP items can, as said above, be debated. It is easy to believe that the shiny purple colour makes the items good for PvE. This is no general truth. Some items can help to fill spots in your gear list that is missing, but overall PvP items allocate many points to Stamina and Resilience. The former is of limited use (and none after a certain point) and the latter of no use what so ever.
Of the available Arena items the one I would foremost recommend is the Vengeful Gladiator’s Spellblade , Merciless Gladiator’s Spellblade, or (if you have the rating), Vengeful Gladiator's Spellblade. The Gladiator’s Spellblade is an option – especially as it can be bought by Honor Points and is thus faster to grind - but the latter ones have spellhit – on top of higher spell damage – and thus adds a much more crucial stat (see below). There is also Vengeful Gladiator's Felweave Handguards. The earlier (season 1 or 2) gloves are also good, these are the ones that reasonably can compete with the gloves obtainable with heroic badges.
The BG PvP item that is a decent choice is Vindicator’s Silk Cuffs (not Dreadweave, as too many points go to Stamina and Resilience instead of Spell critical strike rating). There is also the Seal of the Exorcist – bought with Spirit Shards – that is a good option, due to its spellhit rating.
The only reason I would suggest getting any other PvP epic is if your total hitpoints (buffed) does not exceed 10k. You do not need much more starting to raid but if you’re woefully short (say 9k buffed), adding one or two items from BG's or Arena is an option.
Considering the above, you should be able to have something in more or less every item slot. Before 2.3 finding good gloves where kind of tough (rare drops in heroics instances – like Gloves of Oblivion (The Shattered Halls) and Gloves of the Deadwatcher (Auchenai Crypts) - used to be the ones offering the most valuable stats) but that is now easy through grinding heroic badges.
