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17 commentsPlate tank gear you can get from emblems, BoEs from the AH or professions. Useful to plan gearing up a new or alt tank without having to actually raid. Helps you decide which items to buy with gold or emblems.
Exclusions: the gear which requires tokens you can only get in a raid, such as from TotC-25 for tier 9.5, and excludes most Emblem of Heroism items (i200) since they’re out-dated.
For 3.3 BOP items, I have another list.
Where do I get emblems?
With patch 3.3, all Emblem of Triumph (EoT) gear will be attainable from 5-man heroics. In live 3.22, you get Emblem of Conquest (EoC) in 5-mans and EoT from the Coliseum raid. The legacy badge Emblem of Valour no longer drops anywhere, and is only available by trading-down from another emblem.
What’s an emblem worth?
There is an opportunity cost to Emblems, since they can all be traded-in for a valuable item you could auction:
- EoT: 15x crusader orb ~1400g wowecon (93g/ emblem)
- EoC: 18x gets runed orb ~220g wowecon (12g /emblem)
- EoV: 60x gets BOE wrist guards ~1500g wowecon (25g /emblem)
Obviously, runed orbs are not a good return per emblem, you’re better to trading-down and sell a BOE i213 wrist guard.
Crusader Orbs value will change as 3.3 gets closer, and then very distinctly once its live. I don’t know where their price will end up. But because EoT will be freely available in 5-mans, you would expect the supply to far outstrip demand and we’d find a lower value on crusader orbs and therefore a lower opportunity cost on buying gear with those emblems.
Do I use emblems or gold to buy gear?
In patch 3.22, on strictly this basis, Wapach’s i200 for 2000g is not great value compared to Thassarian’s Pauldrons i232 for 30 EoT (=2790g equivalent).
However, you need to factor in (a) the value of your time to get 30 EoT plus (b) what alternative tank items those 30 EoT could buy you. You may be better buying Wapach for 2Kg, then saving the 30 EoT towards leggings since you can’t buy any legs with gold.
Gear list
Head
- Headplate of the Honorbound i245, 75 EoT
- Thassarian’s Faceguard of Conquest | warrior | paladin | i232, 50 EoT
- Conqueror’s Darkruned Faceguard i226, 58 EoC
- Helm of the Crestfallen Challenger i219, Totc(5h) ~12% drop rate
- Tempered Titansteel Helm i200, BOE ~750g crafted
- Armored Titanium Goggles i200, engineering BOP
- Item comparison
Neck
- Shard of the Crystal Forest i226, 19 EoC
- The Warlord’s Depravity i219, Totc(5h) ~13% drop rate
- Chained Military Gorget i200, 25 EoH
- Titanium Earthguard Chain i200, BOE ~630g crafted
- Item comparison
Shoulders
- Shoulderguards of Enduring Order i245, 45 EoT
- Thassarian’s Pauldrons of Conquest | warrior | paladin | i232, 30 EoT
- Regal Aurous Shoulderplates i219, Totc(5h) ~5% drop rate
- Valorous Scourgeborne Pauldrons i213, 60 EoV
- Wapach’s Spaulders of Solidarity i200, BOE ~2000g world drop
- Item comparison
Back
- block Cloak of the Iron Council i219, BOE ~2000g Ulduar drop
- Platinum Mesh Cloak i213, 25 EoV
- Durable Nerubhide Cape i200,
- Comparison
Chest
- Breastplate of the White Knight i245, BOE ~10000g crafted
- Thassarian’s Chestguard of Conquest | warrior | paladin | i232, 50 EoT
- Conqueror’s Darkruned Chestguard i226, 58 EoC
- Comparison
Wrist
- Saronite Swordbreakers i245, BOE ~8000g crafted
- Bracers of Dalaran’s Parapets, i213 60 EoV or BOE 1500g from someone selling
- Bracers of the Herald – 5-man BOP Herald Volazj, Old Kingdom (H)
Gloves
- Thassarian’s Handguards of Conquest | warrior | paladin | i232, 30 EoT
- Gauntlets of the Royal Watch i226, 28 EoC
- Mercy’s Hold i200, ToC(5 normal) ~13%
- Fireproven Gauntlets i200, rep Kirin’Tor
- Horn-Tipped Gauntlets – 5-man BOP Gal’darah, Gundrak (H)
Waist
- Indestructible Plate Girdle i226, BOE ~4500g crafted
- Shieldwarder Girdle i226, 28 EoC
- Girdle of the Pallid Knight i200, ToC(5 normal) ~16%
- Ancient Aligned Girdle – Anub’arak, Azjol Nerub (H)
- Comparison (remember wowhead doesn’t weight empty gem sockets; the Girdle is actually the best)
Legs
- Pillars of Might, BOE crafted
- Thassarian’s Legguards of Conquest | warrior | paladin | i232, 50 EoT
- Wyrmguard Legplates i226, 39 EoC
- Valorous Scourgeborne Legguards i213, 75 EoV
- Legguards of Abandoned Fealty i200, ToC(5 normal) ~16%
- Bolstered Legplates – Cyanigosa, Violet Hold (H)
Feet
- Boots of Kingly Upheaval, i264 BOE crafted
- Spiked Deathdealers i226, BOE ~3800g crafted
- Kyzoc’s Ground Stompers i213, 40 EoV
- Inexorable Sabatons, i213 BOE ~3000g
- Boots of Heartfelt Repentance i200, ToC(5 normal) ~13%
- Tempered Titansteel Treads i200, BOE ~550g crafted
Rings
- Clutch of Fortification i245, 35 EoT
- Band of the Traitor King i245, BOE value unsure, but a lot
- Mark of the Relentless i219, Totc(5h) ~13% drop
- Signet of the Impregnable Fortress i213, 25 EoV
- Earthshaker i226, BOE 3000g
- Signet of the Accord i200, BOE ~1200g
- Titanium Earthguard Ring i200, BOE ~750g crafted
- Keystone Great-Ring – The Prophet Tharon’ja, Drak’Tharon
Trinkets
- The Black Heart – i200, ToC(5 normal) ~5%
- Valor Medal of the First War i200, 40 EoH
- BOP profession trinkets alchemy, engineering, jewelcrafting
About the list
I have included a few BOP i200 epics from 5-mans, so on a new tank you might buy those slots with emblems last since there’s a chance you’ll get a lucky drop. They’re in grey text. The often excellent 5-man Coliseum items are in green.
If you can buy an item with gold, it’s marked with BOE. They’re the sure-bets you can have for yourself with a good gold income.
A few times I used a wowhead weighted comparison. Note it’s a rough weighting, not based on any good science really, didn’t include block value (ooops) and wowhead can’t rate gem slots so… just consider it another way to look at the items and not as a balanced judgement.
This list would not be possible, and owes a debt of recognition and thanks to the full DK gear list at dk.info. If you want to plan for raid drops, that list is better. My list is for making decisions about buying with gold or emblems.
3.3: I will update this with any new relevant items.
Warriors/Paladins: let me know if I missed any key block-tank items (I probably did, haven’t cross-checked it yet).
DPS BiS from emblems? See this on dk.info.
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Twitter: gravitydk
Good point Chev. Also updated OP with the new inclusions from comments, will tidy its ugly formatting later.
[...] Emblem changes in 3.3 mean we can get some wonderful raid-quality loot from heroic 5-mans, and the new LFG system will make that even easier, and helps old guys like me gear up their new [...]