Shifting Perspectives: Gearing a new restoration druid, part 3
Legs
As with any advice concerning the gloves slot, you may want to wait to see if Toravon coughs up the tier 10 legs for you before you spend a ton of gold or time on anything else.
Enchant Brilliant Spellthread
Sanctified Lasherweave Legplates The ilevel 264, tier 10 pants. Dropped by Toravon.
Leggings of Woven Death An Icecrown tailoring BoE. Very expensive to have made, but crammed full of useful stats (except, regrettably, spirit or MP5).
Leggings of Unrelenting Blood If you can get an ICC-10 PUG that makes it to Deathbringer Saurfang, this is a really nice piece.
Lightweave Leggings Another Icecrown tailoring BoE, and just as expensive as the first option listed. If you're haste-capped or need more mana regeneration, go for these.
Lasherweave Legplates The ilevel 251, tier 10 pants.
Legwraps of Unleashed Nature The leatherworking equivalent of Lightweave Leggings. Lightweave is slightly better, as it gives you a little more spirit and a little less crit, but the pieces are virtually the same.
Malfurion's Leggings of Triumph (Alliance)/Runetotem's Leggings of Triumph (Horde) The ilevel 245, tier 9 legs available for 75 Emblems of Triumph and 1 Trophy of the Crusade.
Wrathful Gladiator's Kodohide Legguards Dropped by Toravon.
Malfurion's Leggings of Conquest (Alliance)/Runetotem's Leggings of Conquest (Horde) The ilevel 232, tier 9 legs available for 50 Emblems of Triumph.
Wildstrider Legguards Available for 39 Emblems of Conquest.
Titan-Forged Leather Legguards of Salvation Available for 40 Wintergrasp Marks of Honor.
Leggings of the Snowy Bramble Drops from the Champion's Cache in heroic Trial of the Champion.
Rimewoven Silks Dropped by Scourgelord Tyrannus in normal Pit of Saron.
Boots
All hail a best in slot (well, pretty close to it, anyway) BoE item! If you're going to dump money on anything, make it the boots.
Enchant Tuskarr's Vitality is the way to go if you ever plan on raiding, and it can be helpful even for 5-man work. Otherwise, Enchant Boots -- Greater Spirit.
Blessed Cenarion Boots A leatherworking BoE from Icecrown. Hugely expensive to have made, but worth it; it's not something you'd realistically expect to replace unless you managed to get the boots off heroic Festergut-25 or the ToGC-25 ones off Faction Champs.
Sandals of Consecration The tailoring equivalent of Blessed Cenarion, but you can ignore them as you're getting the leather ones made (right?).
Boots of Unnatural Growth If you get an ICC-25 PuG, you may find these dropping off the Faction Gunship encounter, but they're not as good as the Blessed Cenarion Boots.
Boots of Fiery Resolution: If you get Flame Leviathian Must Die! as a weekly raid quest, try to find a 25-man PuG for a shot at these because they're still pretty amazing.
Boots of the Frozen Seed Dropped by Lady Deathwhisper-10. Oriented more toward moonkin, but still a fine resto piece.
Wrathful Gladiator's Boots of Salvation Dropped by Toravon. Otherwise, you'd better have 68,200 honor and a team/personal rating of 1400 in hand.
Spellslinger's Slippers (try saying that five times fast) If you're hurting for money but still need something good in the boot slot, try to get this older tailoring BoE. Lots of meaty stats to be had here.
Prelate's Snowshoes Dropped by Scourgelord Tyrannus in heroic Pit of Saron.
Boots of Wintry Endurance Also an older BoE, but this time from leatherworking. You'll get more out of the +haste on Spellslinger's, however.
Ice-Steeped Sandals Dropped by Forgemaster Garfrost in normal Pit of Saron.
Rings
This is definitely one of the easier slots to fill, if for no other reason than the existence of a great Triumph badge ring and the Ashen Verdict reputation ring.
Enchant If you're an enchanter, you'll want to slap Enchant Ring -- Greater Spellpower on both.
Ashen Band of Endless Wisdom You can get this even without raiding as long as you're willing to bore yourself silly farming Icecrown Citadel trash.
Marrowgar's Frigid Eye This is a BoE drop from Lord Marrowgar, and whether you'll find it on the auction house or not depends on your realm and circle of friends. Frankly, even though it's a good piece I wouldn't bother spending the gold on it, as there are plenty of good options here.
Ring of Maddening Whispers Dropped by Lady Deathwhisper-25. A good piece if you're haste-capped.
Ring of Rapid Ascent This drops from Faction Gunships in ICC-25, but it's oriented more toward caster DPS. Expect stiff competition.
Band of the Invoker The ilevel 245 ring available for 35 Emblems of Triumph. A very, very good piece.
Runed Signet of the Kirin Tor As I wrote on the bear post, I'm not a big fan of the Kirin Tor rings, because they're ridiculously expensive for what you get. But if you've got money to blow, this is a decent (albeit easily replaceable) option.
Runed Loop of the Kirin Tor See above.
Polished Dragonslayer's Signet One of the rewards from the quest started by the Head of Onyxia (25-man).
Band of Channeled Magic Available for 25 Emblems of Valor.
Wrathful Gladiator's Band of Dominance Dropped by Toravon, or available for 52,200 honor.
Glowing Ring of Reclamation Dropped by Flame Leviathan-25.
Heartmender Circle The other caster ring available for 35 Emblems of Triumph, but not really oriented toward restoration druids.
Polished Dragonslayer's Signet One of the rewards from the quest started by the Head of Onyxia (10-man).
Titan-Forged Band of Ascendancy Available for 15 Wintergrasp Marks of Honor.
Wyrmrest Band Dropped by Sartharion-25. As above.
Oath of Empress Zoe Dropped by the Captain's Chest in heroic Halls of Reflection. Really not a druid piece, but if all else fails ...
Trinkets
Blizzard is generally reluctant to make a lot of great trinket options available outside of raids, but you can limp along with badges pieces if needed. However, trinkets are hard to rank, and you should customize them to whatever your needs are at the time. If you're having regen issues, you should prioritize anything with an MP5 use or proc (or, failing that, intellect, due to how mana regen from spirit scales with intellect). If you're not, go for as much throughput as you can.
If you're an alchemist and just starting out, you may get some use out of a Mercurial Alchemist Stone.
If you're an engineer, you may get some use from a Noise Machine.
If you're a jewelcrafter, you may get some use out of a Figurine -- Sapphire Owl.
Althor's Abacus If you snag an ICC-25 PUG, be on the lookout for this lovely, lovely trinket off the Faction Gunships fight.
Purified Lunar Dust Available for 60 Emblems of Frost.
Sliver of Pure Ice Dropped by Marrowgar-10. If you use the trinket on cooldown, it amounts to a little less than 68 MP5.
Nevermelting Ice Crystal Dropped by Scourgelord Tyrannus in heroic Pit of Saron. The use effect is definitely more of a DPS thing, but it could be useful for tank healing in hairy moments.
Je'Tze's Bell A world-drop BoE. Much less expensive than it used to be, and still useful.
Ephemeral Snowflake: Dropped by Marwyn in heroic Halls of Reflection. Yes, it returns mana on EVERY HoT tick!
Darkmoon Card: Illusion Mostly useful for the spellpower, as the use effect isn't too worthwhile in any advanced content.
Tears of the Vanquished Dropped by the Black Knight in normal Trial of the Champion.
The Egg of Mortal Essence Available for 40 Emblems of Heroism.
Soul Preserver Dropped by the Dark Runed Chest (i.e., Mal'Ganis) in normal Culling of Stratholme.
Talisman of Resurgence This is a lot better for other healing classes than it is for us, but it's usable in a pinch. Available for 50 Emblems of Triumph.
Darkmoon Card: Greatness Because of how mana regeneration scales from intellect, this is actually a better card for us than the spirit version.
Spark of Life Dropped by Sjonnir in heroic Halls of Stone.
Shiny Shard of the Scale Dropped by Onyxia-25. On its own, it's nothing more than a chunk (albeit a large one) of MP5. If you manage to get Shiny Shard of the Flame as well, you get a 250 spellpower bonus and a free 2.5-3k heal on occasion. Obviously, the heal proc is less useful to us than to healers more reliant on direct heals, but I thought I'd mention it.
Purified Shard of the Scale Dropped by Onyxia-10. As above.
Staves
As a general rule, you'll get more out of using a 1H weapon and offhand than you will out of a staff, but this gets complicated if you're hurting for haste. Fact is, most of the really good haste weapons are staves.
Enchant Enchant Staff -- Greater Spellpower if you have a staff.
Mag'hari Chieftain's Staff If you find an ICC-10 PUG that can make it all the way to Deathbringer Saurfang, look for this.
Engraved Gargoyle Femur Dropped by Scourgelord Tyrannus in heroic Pit of Saron. It's got hit on it, so don't go for this ahead of a caster DPS.
Unspeakable Secret Dropped by Forgemaster Garfrost in normal Pit of Saron.
Blood Boil Lancet Dropped by the Devourer of Souls in normal Forge of Souls.
Staff of Restraint Keep an eye out for this if you get Sartharion Must Die! as a weekly and can snag a 25-man PUG.
Staff of Draconic Combat Dropped by the Cache of Eregos in heroic Oculus.
1H weapons
If you're just starting out, your best bets are drops from the new Icecrown 5-mans and possibly Onyxia; everything else is going to be pretty competitive (ICC drops) or pretty expensive (Battered Hilt).
Enchant: Enchant Weapon -- Mighty Spellpower
Frozen Bonespike In that wonderful, mythical Marrowgar-25 PUG where you get to win everything you want off the big galoot, this is your best bet for a one-hander (even though -- barf -- there's crit on it).
Hammer of Purified Flame One of the rewards from the Battered Hilt quest line, and very lovely. It's equally expensive.
Midnight Sun If you can get an ICC-10 PUG, this drops off of Faction Gunships.
Honed Fang of the Mystics Dropped by Onyxia-25.
Guiding Star If you get Razorscale Must Die! as a weekly, look for this.
Sharpened Fang of the Mystics Dropped by Onyxia-10.
Surgeon's Needle Dropped by Forgemaster Garfrost in heroic Pit of Saron.
Spectral Kris Dropped by the Black Knight in heroic Trial of the Champion.
Chilled Heart of the Glacier Dropped by the Captain's Chest in normal Halls of Reflection.
Bone Golem Scapula Dropped by the Captain's Chest in normal Halls of Reflection.
Mariel's Sorrow Dropped by the second boss (Eadric or Argent Confessor) in heroic Trial of the Champion.
Dagger of Lunar Purity (Alliance)/Scalpel of the Royal Apothecary (Horde) Available for 25 Champion's Seals from city quartermasters at the Argent Tournament.
Titansteel Guardian A blacksmithing BoE.
War Mace of Unrequited Love Dropped by Keristrasza in heroic Nexus.
Offhand
Honestly, there aren't really a ton of well-itemized offhands for us out there, and almost everything drops in a raid anyway.
Shriveled Heart Dropped by the Captain's Chest in heroic Halls of Reflection.
Antediluvian Cornerstone Grimoire Dropped by Onyxia-25.
Handbook of Obscure Remedies Available for 25 Emblems of Heroism. Guess what yours truly had to buy recently when Trauma dropped?
Temple Crystal Fragment Dropped by Novos the Summoner in heroic Drak'tharon Keep.
Faces of Doom A BoE from Inscription.
Prison Manifest A BoE zone drop from heroic Violet Hold.
Every week, Shifting Perspectives treks across Azeroth in pursuit of truth, beauty and insight concerning the druid class. Sometimes it finds the latter, or something good enough for government work. Whether you're a bear, cat, moonkin, tree or stuck in caster form, we've got the skinny on druid changes in patch 3.3, a look at the disappearance of the bear tank, and thoughts on why you should be playing the class (or why not).
