***NAXXRAMAS/MALYGOS/SARTHARION EDITION***

Head:
1. Valorous Dreamwalker Cover - Kel'thuzad (H)
2. Heroes' Dreamwalker Cover - Kel'thuzad
3. Hood of Rationality - Malygos (H)
4. Gothik's Cowl - Gothik the Harvester (H)
5. Headpiece of Reconciliation - Sartharion + 2 drakes (H)
Honorable Mention: Cowl of Vanity, Headpiece of Fungal Bloom, Enamored Cowl

Comments: Not much to say about this slot, the tier 7 helm is very well itemized and you will want to use it if you can get your hands on it for both the stats on it and the set bonus. The two cloth helms listed here make decent alternatives, but ideally if you can work out an arrangement where you pass on them to the warlocks/mages so they will let you have your pants, that is the best thing. They are much more worthwhile upgrades for these classes (as in best in slot for them) from the tier piece than they are for us.

Neck:
1. Wyrmrest Necklace of Power - Malygos Quest Reward (H)
2. Chain of the Ancient Wyrm - Malygos Quest Reward
3. Cosmic Lights - Sapphiron (H)
4. Chain of Latent Energies - Naxxramas trash (BoE)
5. Circle of Arcane Streams - Sartharion

Comments: The 5 amulets listed here are the only ones I can find at level 80 with multiple secondary DPS stats. Not much else to say here.

Shoulders:
1. Valorous Dreamwalker Mantle - Loatheb (H), 60 Emblems of Valor
2. Heroes' Dreamwalker Mantle - Loatheb
3. Mantle of the Corrupted - 4 Horsemen, others?
4. Mantle of the Eternal Sentinel - Sartharion (H) (BoE)
5. Mantle of Dissemination - Malygos (H)

Comments: See helm comments. There are some decent off set pieces that will get you by until you can get it but since you can buy the valorous t7 shoulders with Emblems of Valor, this slot is pretty much a non-issue.

Back:
1. Pennant Cloak - Sartharion + 2 drakes (H)
2. Deathchill Cloak - Crafted
3. Shroud of Luminosity - Naxxramas zone drop (H)
4. Shroud of the Citadel - Sapphiron
5. Cape of the Unworthy Wizard - Kel'thuzad (H)

Comments: Deathchill is the best cloak you can get until Sartharion + 2 drakes. Everyone and their mother is going to want the Pennant Cloak if and when it drops. The bottom line: get a Deathchill Cloak, you're gimping yourself if you don't.

Chest:
1. Valorous Dreamwalker Vestments - 4 Horsemen (H), Archavon (H)
2. Heroes' Dreamwalker Vestments - 4 Horsemen, Archavon, 80 Emblems of Heroism
3. Heigan's Putrid Vestments - Heigan the Unclean (H)
4. Gown of the Spell-Weaver - Malygos
5. Gown of Blaumeux - 4 Horsemen

Comments: See helm/shoulder comments. There isn't much explanation needed here, the tier chest is very good, and most of the alternatives are more valuable for someone else. If you can pass on an off set chest to build good relations with your other clothies and make it more likely they will pass on the legs you want then more power to you.

Wrists:
1. Unsullied Cuffs - Sartharion + 2 drakes (H)
2. Bindings of the Expansive Mind - Instructor Razuvious (H)
3. Esteemed Bindings - Instructor Razuvious (H)
4. Bands of Impurity - Noth the Plaguebringer (H)
5. Swarm Bindings - Anub'Rekhan (H)

Comments: Bindings of the Expansive Mind are the only option with hit rating as well as another secondary DPS stat, so if you can use the hit rating then they would be best in slot (and for taurens with other best in slot gear, offer the smallest sacrifice of other stats for hit). If you are hit capped from other pieces, then Unsullied Cuffs are top but again are best in slot for many different classes and you have to kill Sartharion + 2 drakes to get them. If you are hit capped and can't get the Unsullied Cuffs, then Esteemed Bindings are your best bet as they are leather so you will likely only have to compete with other druids and they are the next best thing anyway.

Main Hand:
1. Torch of Holy Fire - Kel'thuzad (H)
2. Wraith Strike - Maexxna (H)
3. Hammer of the Astral Plane - Kel'thuzad
4. Haunting Call - Naxxramas trash (H)
5. The Soulblade - Kel'thuzad
Honorable mention: Ice Spire Scepter, The Impossible Dream

Comments: Some guilds are going to be fussy about letting you roll on the Torch before healers have theirs. Otherwise the rankings here are pretty straightforward.

Off Hand:
1. Surplus Limb - Patchwerk (H)
2. Ward of the Violet Citadel - 25 Emblems of Heroism
3. Matriarch's Spawn - Maexxna (H)
4. Accursed Spine - Noth the Plaguebringer (H)
5. Urn of Lost Memories - 4 Horsemen (H)

Comments: #1 and #2 are the only level 80 off hand items with multiple secondary DPS stats. This is also one of the best slots to get hit rating since there is a distinct lack of good alternatives without it. Since you can get the Ward really easily, there's not much reason to look at anything here other than the #1 and #2 items here unless for some reason you cannot figure out any other place to lose hit rating.

2-hand (not recommended):
1. Greatstaff of the Nexus - Malygos
2. Spire of Sunset - Thaddius (H)
3. Damnation - 4 Horsemen (H)
4. Staff of Restraint - Sartharion (H)
5. Staff of Draconic Combat - Ley-Guardian Eregos (H Oculus)

Comments: Nexus staff is the only one that might be worth using. Everything else has item points wasted on Spirit or mp5 and doesn't offer as much in the way of damage stats as a MH/OH combo.

Ranged:
1. Idol of the Shooting Star - Instructor Razuvious (H)
2. Idol of Steadfast Renewal - 15 Emblems of Heroism
3. Ivory Idol of the Moongoddess - Grand Warlock Nethekurse (Shattered Halls)
4. Idol of the Raven Goddess - Swift Flight Form quest line reward
5. Idol of the Avenger - Shadowmoon Valley quest reward

Comments: Itemization for this slot is teh suck. Either you have the Razuvious idol or you make do with something that isn't nearly as good. Sorry to disappoint.

Hands:
1. Valorous Dreamwalker Gloves - Sartharion (H), Archavon (H)
2. Heroes' Dreamwalker Gloves - Sartharion, Archavon, 60 Emblems of Heroism
3. Gloves of Grandeur - Sapphiron (H)
4. Gloves of Token Respect - Grand Widow Faerlina (H) (BoE)
5. Gloves of Peaceful Death - 4 Horsemen (H)

Comments: Tier 7 gloves all the way here. Gloves of Grandeur are a bit better if you don't account for the set bonus, but the only thing you gain is more hit rating, which is questionably useful and not as good as what you can get by upgrading the leg slot instead. None of the other items are really worth looking at.

Waist:
1. Leash of Heedless Magic - Malygos (H)
2. Cincture of Polarity - Thaddius (H)
3. Plush Sash of Guzbah - 40 Emblems of Heroism
4. Shackled Cinch - Gothik the Harvester (H)
5. Sash of Blood Removal - Gal'darah the Prophet (H Gundrak)

Comments: The cloth Emblem of Heroism belt (#3) is a really good place to get hit capped while working up toward a set of best in slot gear. This here is one of the most important slots where guilds NEED to let their moonkins roll on the best in slot cloth items. It is quite difficult to find a straightforward upgrade path from the Emblem belt in leather, the only way it becomes possible to do so is if all the hit rating on the emblem belt is going to waste, and it is better itemized than any leather belt in the game for moonkins.

Legs:
1. Leggings of the Wanton Spellcaster - Malygos (H)
2. Leggings of Atrophy - Anub'rekhan (H)
3. Leggings of Mortal Arrogance - Kel'thuzad (H)
4. Legwraps of the Defeated Dragon - Sapphiron (H)
5. Legguards of the Boneyard - Sapphiron (H)
Honorable mention: Valorous Dreamwalker Trousers, Leggings of the Winged Serpent

Comments: This slot is where it's at when it comes to off set pieces to wear with 4 piece t7. The Malygos 25 leggings are far and away the best item in this slot; Anub's legs come in a distant second, and everything after that is an even more distant third. Valorous trousers would rank #6 on this list. As you can see, the top 4 items here are cloth, so seeing as how it's by far the #1 slot to upgrade from the tier 7 piece as well as an amazing caster piece in cloth, it's the place where moonkins are going to get into the most arguments with their guild over armor class-based loot policies. While I'm not an expert on mage or warlock itemization, my thinking is that they get a more meaningful upgrade from an off set helm or chest piece, and a min/maxing raid should give these to moonkins and shadow priests first because they have the weakest tier legs. That said, there are some guilds that will not let moonkins bid on some of these top items, and that is just pure facepalm.

Feet:
1. Foosteps of Malygos - Malygos
2. Boots of Impetuous Ideals - Loatheb (H) (BoE)
3. Arcanic Tramplers - Malygos (H) (BoE)
4. Boots of the Escaped Captive - Naxxramas trash
5. Sandals of Crimson Fury - Wyrmrest Accord (exalted)
Honorable mention: Boots of Septic Wounds, Xintor's Expeditionary Boots

Comments: Boots of Impetuous Ideals would be #1 but due to being over hit capped in a full set of best in slot gear I put them as #2. They are certainly a good option if you are missing a few pieces of the best stuff. Footsteps of Malygos are the best if you're hit capped from other gear. Arcanic Tramplers are probably a little bit better than the Wyrmrest exalted boots but they are a really small upgrade for us and a large upgrade for some other classes. Get the Wyrmrest boots and then upgrade to either Footsteps of Malygos or Boots of Impetuous Ideals.

Finger:
1. Signet of Manifested Pain - Kel'thuzad (H)
2. Signet of the Malevolent - Gothik the Harvester
3. Band of Channeled Magic - 25 Emblems of Valor
4. Signet of the Kirin Tor - Vendor
5. Ring of the Fated - Noth the Plaguebringer
Honorable mention: Titanium Spellshock Ring, Lost Jewel, Band of Guile, Annhylde's Ring, Ring of Northern Tears

Comments: I'm not sure about the #5 slot, there are a lot of rings that are all really close there. Signet of the Malevolent is really good if you aren't hit capped from other gear, but since there are good non-hit alternatives in this slot more so than other slots, it probably won't see use in a full best in slot set. Band of Channeled Magic isn't the smartest itemized ring in the world but the stats are still really high due to the higher item level. Obviously if you can get the KT25 ring then get it, that is a no-brainer.

Trinket:
1. Illustration of the Dragon Soul - Sartharion (H)
2. Embrace of the Spider - Maexxna
3. Dying Curse - Naxxramas zone drop (H)
4. Extract of Necromantic Power - Sapphiron (H)
5. Sundial of the Exiled - 40 Emblems of Heroism
Honorable Mention: Mark of the War Prisoner, Pendulum of Telluric Currents, Forge Ember

Comments: Dying Curse is probably the best if you can use the hit, but you probably can't use the hit if you have best in slot gear, so I put it at #3. Embrace and Illustration are the two you want in the end; Sundial is a good choice until you can get those drops.

*This is based on numbers crunched by Randomsmo, Murmurs, Wisprunner and others. I am ONLY considering stats that add DPS here; other stats like Stamina and mp5 add no weight to an item's value. The reason you don't see a specific formula is due to the need to account for things like the hit cap and 4t7; I tried to take these things into account in rankings. I know it makes some people's heads hurt since you can't just say "well this one is worth 117 dps and this one is worth 112 dps". I think those kinds of comparisons are stupid, you need to look at 2 or 3 numbers to figure out which item is best in slot, rather than just one.

**Any combination that gives you the 4 piece t7 set bonus is better than the upgrade provided by any of the off set items on this list, e.g. if you do not have a t7 helm then the t7 pants with an off set helm is better than using 2 off set pieces. These rankings assume you are getting your 4 piece set bonus from helm/shoulders/gloves/chest since that is the optimal combination; some of the individual tier pieces might rank lower on the list if consideration is not given to the set bonus, but there is no way to build a best-in-slot gear set without it.

***Obviously pieces that put you over the hit cap with whatever buffs you have might not be as good as alternatives that are listed lower without hit.

****Gluth has a chance to drop any of the t7 chest, shoulder, or leg tokens, as well as most of the other items that drop in Naxxramas other than Sapphiron and Kel'thuzad drops.

reserved

please add your comments below!

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Q u o t e:

im sure many others would argue, but i think Crit > haste so im not sure if some of your pieces could be changed out a bit, like i said id really rather not look at each one and go that much into it lol.

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Most people will tell you haste > crit and I personally fall into this school of thought so I'm going to go with the majority on this one. Going back over all the rankings to adjust for crit > haste would take a lot of effort, and I don't feel there are enough situations where that is true to make it worth it.

I do plan on going back in at some point and adding stats for all the items, although that will take a bit more time than I have currently, and for now people can look them up easily enough if there is some confusion or dispute about an item's ranking since the drop locations are listed for each item.

Nice post =). I'll definately look into the rankings of these later myself.

As for crit vs haste, I personally favor crit over haste BUT NOT POINT FOR POINT. I forget the exact conversion ratio of haste vs crit, but I will choose crit over haste IF THEY'RE OF EQUAL NORMALIZED VALUE.

This does NOT mean that I gem for crit. Point for point, haste will give you more DPS for the gem slot. so 16 haste > 16 crit, while 1 haste ~=~ 1.2-1.3 crit.

EDIT: You should mention that these rankings may change depending on your other gear... i.e., whether you're hit capped. These vary by faction and composition (e.g., alliance + draeni). But then again, I haven't really looked into much of this.

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Q u o t e:

Legs:
1. Leggings of the Wanton Spellcaster - Malygos (H)
2. Leggings of Atrophy - Anub'rekhan (H)
3. Leggings of Mortal Arrogance - Kel'thuzad (H)
4. Legwraps of the Defeated Dragon - Sapphiron (H)
5. Legguards of the Boneyard - Sapphiron (H)

Finger:
1. Signet of Manifested Pain - Kel'thuzad (H)
2. Signet of the Malevolent - Gothik the Harvester
3. Band of Channeled Magic - 25 Emblems of Valor
4. Signet of the Kirin Tor - Vendor
5. Ring of the Fated - Noth the Plaguebringer

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Just a few suggestions:

I understand they may not be the optimal setup, but some items (piece vs piece) with +hit are better then the actual "best in slot".

Since you are ranking item's with +hit equally with other non-+hit items, swap:

Legs:
3. Legwraps of the Defeated Dragon - Sapphiron (H)
4. Leggings of Mortal Arrogance - Kel'thuzad (H)

Finger:
1. Signet of the Malevolent - Gothik the Harvester
2. Signet of Manifested Pain - Kel'thuzad (H)

As a general guide this looks fine but the implication in the post is that equipping the #1 item in each slot will give you the best possible gear layout.

Depending how you gem your gear some of the gear in other slots move up or down in ranking.

I'd say that if you got one of any of those listed in each slot you would be just fine, and then you can use RAWR to optimize your gear set.

So what you're saying...is if we cannot get into a raid too often, that farming Mal would be the next best thing? :o

EDIT: Thought Mal' was in a non-raid heroic. My bad..was thinking of Occulus >.<

At baseline 1% crit is worth more than 1% dps due to Nature's Grace and meta gem, but its value is diminished by the fact that crit rates are far from baseline. Haste doesn't give you any bonuses other than casting spells faster (well I guess technically it can make things proc faster too) but haste buffs and talents, unlike crit buffs and talents, also do not diminish the value of the haste rating on your gear.

Crit will improve your Eclipse uptime with faster procs, but so will haste, and haste also helps more for getting more Starfires in during an Eclipse proc. I don't think you can really conclusively use Eclipse as a reason to favor either crit or haste, although again from where I stand I prefer haste because I notice a big difference when I land more Starfires during a proc but only a really really tiny difference in how long it takes to proc Eclipse (the statistical difference really is tiny) or how many of my Starfires crit during a proc (diminishing returns ftl) when adding or subtracting crit.

So if you are choosing between 1% crit and 1% haste (from talents, say), it's going to be pretty close. Since haste rating gives you a larger % per point, In a functionally mana-unlimited situation such as a 25 player raid with multiple replenishers, which is what best in slot gear is for and what the best in slot rankings are based on, haste is always going to be much better than crit point for point.

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Q u o t e:
As a general guide this looks fine but the implication in the post is that equipping the #1 item in each slot will give you the best possible gear layout.

Depending how you gem your gear some of the gear in other slots move up or down in ranking.

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The # 1's are the best in slot set .
This gives 273 + hit. You could adjust 1 item max depending on your raid comp (i.e. spriest/draeni)

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Q u o t e:
As a general guide this looks fine but the implication in the post is that equipping the #1 item in each slot will give you the best possible gear layout.

Depending how you gem your gear some of the gear in other slots move up or down in ranking.

I'd say that if you got one of any of those listed in each slot you would be just fine, and then you can use RAWR to optimize your gear set.

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I'm not sure if it was clear, but these rankings aren't based on a specific mathematical formula - if they were then Eothlorien is correct that some of the +hit items that are listed as #2 or #3 would be #1 as well. I tried to keep a holistic perspective and take into account in choosing the rankings which pieces would put you over the hit cap and also which ones offer smaller or larger sacrifices of other damage stats for hit rating.

Also please see this caveat at the bottom:

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Q u o t e:

***Obviously pieces that put you over the hit cap with whatever buffs you have might not be as good as alternatives that are listed lower without hit.

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Nice list. I liked it when I saw it a month ago here:


http://graymatterwow.blogspot.com/2008/12/my-christmas-wish-list.html


lol

Graylo explains the reasoning behind each piece and how it affects overall stats a bit more in depth but essentially the list of #1 items is the same.

Also you need to ask yourself, is my mana regen enough to cover my haste? With a lot of haste you do more damage, yes. But you also consume mana faster.

I just mention this becasue I was in 10 Nax last night w/o our guilds SPriest and my mana regen was just enough to cover myself w/o using vate (I try to save it for the healers). During the longer boss fights I was really getting down to my last little sliver of mana.

All the # 1's are accurate IMO. They only thing that can be swapped out is either the OH or a ring, replacing +hit with other stats.

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Q u o t e:
Nice list. I liked it when I saw it a month ago here:
http://graymatterwow.blogspot.com/2008/12/my-christmas-wish-list.html
lol
Graylo explains the reasoning behind each piece and how it affects overall stats a bit more in depth but essentially the list of #1 items is the same.

Also you need to ask yourself, is my mana regen enough to cover my haste? With a lot of haste you do more damage, yes. But you also consume mana faster.

I just mention this becasue I was in 10 Nax last night w/o our guilds SPriest and my mana regen was just enough to cover myself w/o using vate (I try to save it for the healers). During the longer boss fights I was really getting down to my last little sliver of mana.

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If you are considering this gear list, mana is not a concern.

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Q u o t e:
Nice list. I liked it when I saw it a month ago here:


http://graymatterwow.blogspot.com/2008/12/my-christmas-wish-list.html


lol

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There are dozens of best in slot lists out there that basically all tell you the same thing. This isn't a best in slot list, it's a top 5 list, it is supposed to be a resource that people can use when their raid leaders say "you can't roll on this because it's cloth" and/or draw people's attention to some of these items since they might not specifically be on someone's "wish list" but still might be worthwhile upgrades.

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Q u o t e:


There are dozens of best in slot lists out there that basically all tell you the same thing. This isn't a best in slot list, it's a top 5 list, it is supposed to be a resource that people can use when their raid leaders say "you can't roll on this because it's cloth" and/or draw people's attention to some of these items since they might not specifically be on someone's "wish list" but still might be worthwhile upgrades.

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Wasn't busting chops (ok maybe a little) was just trying to point ppl to a more in depth reasoning behind some of the items on the list.

Also in my experience a guild that won't let druids roll on cloth (even if some are clearly superior) is also a guild that won't look at a list of items with no explanation behind them made by a boomkin and suddenly have the light bulb flipped on and "get it" by your list here.

But yes it is a good list of things to be on the look out for. I'm happy to say i have quite a few myself. :)

I think "no explanation" is a little harsh, these are based on actual numbers and formulas crunched by other people like Murmurs, Wisprunner and Randomsmo, I just adjusted the rankings a little bit to account for hit cap and 4t7 and went to the trouble of looking at lists of items to see which ones actually had the stats in question. It should be fairly obvious why the rankings are the way they are to someone familiar with the types of stats moonkins want. If someone can cite a list to their raid leaders demonstrating that there are no worthwhile leather upgrades in a slot and that guild still will not let them roll on cloth, there are bigger problems at hand than how much information/math is contained in the list versus assumed based on numbers that have already been crunched.

Like I said I plan to go back and add the actual stats and then I think it will be more clear. I'm not trying to debate crit vs. haste vs. spell power here, IMO those types of debates are already settled.

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Q u o t e:



*This is not based on anything scientific except some vague formula I made up in my head

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I know it's based on math and fact, YOU know it's based on math and facts, anyone on these forums who knows the spec knows this. But a raid leader who isn't allowing rolls on cloth, the above quoted sentence is all they are going to see, then they are going to stop reading. Am i right? Raid leaders who don't listen to reason will read that line and think "Oh here's a self serving boomkin" and stop there, if they even bother to listen to their boomkin and read the post in the first place.

Not slamming you, Badegg, and I do hope more links and comparisons in the 2 saved posts. But I also think if you are trying to convince ppl about a balance need for cloth, the sentence I quoted is actually counter productive.

I added a brief explanation for each slot, hopefully that will help to address some of the issues you are raising Stark.

Also revised the explanation for what the rankings are based on.