Druid of the Moon

So I ended my last post with concerns that collecting gear for my bear spec was going to be a scary proposition while trying to scrimp and save DKP and Emblems for my main cat spec. After further review I don’t think that is going to be the case. Lets go slot by slot and see how each item ties into our miser cat guide. Keep in mind that I am going for gear that will allow me to OT or even MT 25 man raiding content. For 5 man Heroics I could easily tank it in my current kitty gear if need be.

• WEAPON! – Same as kitty your largest single upgrade will be a new weapon and you will use it for both DPS and Tanking to boot. Gem for agility and chant Mongoose for dual purpose.
  • Archon Glaive / Hellion Glaive – Again, I favor these especially for bear tanking since the staff has haste. 25 man Anubarak.
  • Lupine Longstaff / Twin’s Pact – 25 man Twin Valkyrs

• Head – Hood of Lethal Intent – Ok, at 75 Emblems of Triumph this is not a cheap upgrade but it is a necessary one. Due to the nature of the helm slot and use of a meta gem we have to have a different helm for tanking and DPSing so we can use the Austere Earthsiege Diamond and Arcanum of the Stalwart Protector. The plan is to keep T8 helm for DPS and 2T8 bonus.

• Neck – The Arbiter’s Muse / Legionnaire’s Gorget – 25 man Twin Valkyrs Heroic or Normal. Spending DKP here is fine but don’t take it over your MT obviously and don’t break the bank for it especially if you have Mark of the Unyielding which is a pretty decent tanking neck.

• Shoulders – We are going to use the Duskstalker Shoulderpads here and double duty these bad boys giving us more bang for the buck. Although we can’t enchant them for strict tanking duty the DPS shoulder chant will just give us more threat. Gem with agility not Armor Pen since we are going to use them for both specs.

• Back – Pride of the Eredar / Pride of the Demon Lord from 25 man Heroic Jaraxxus is what we want… or the version from Normal mode… whichever, but both are big upgrades coming from Ulduar. I am not going to mention the cloaks for the tribute run which is essentially the new raids version of a hard mode imho nor point out the intermediate cloak upgrade from 10 man Heroic Icehowl… save up and get the Pride.

• Chest – Another dual use item here Cuirass of Calamitous Fate / Vest of Calamitous Fate from either normal or Heroic 25 man Jaraxxus. Chant is unchanged at +10 to stats and gem agility for DPS and tanking. This item was also on our Cat DPS list and is a good place to not have T8/T9 gear. Keep in mind I am still going with the premise that the 2T9 bonus is not a huge deal. I have not done a ton of research on this yet as far as the math goes with rake lasting 3 more seconds but I can’t imagine that bonus doing more than breaking even on the kitty side short of getting the Heroic T9 in 2 slots which from a DKP standpoint is most likely going to be pretty expensive. I am sticking with the opinion that 2T8 and no T9 for kitty DPS is the best way to maximize Emblems and DKP if you don’t play much.

• Wrist – Bracers of Dark Determination / Armbands of Dark Determination from Heroic or Normal 25 man Anubarak and are BiS. I would use DKP here because the alternative is gold for crafted Bracers of Swift Death and probably a lot of it. I am not a big fan of gold farming so spending DKP here would most likey be a better option.

• Hands – If you have Conqueror’s Nightsong Handgrips I would save Emblems and DKP for something else and just use these. If not, save DKP and use 30 Emblems and just get the cheap Malfurion’s Handgrips of Conquest. There are better gloves out there out of tier but they are found in 10 man so I am leaving them out.

• Waist – If you don’t have it already spend some time in WinterGrasp and pick up Titan-Forged Belt of Triumph unless you already have Relic Hunter’s Cord in your kitty set of which you could dual purpose. At only 15 marks it is quite a good deal. Belt of the Merciless Killer from either normal or Heroic 25 man Twin Valkyrs is a sizable upgrade but again don’t spend DKP on a belt if it puts getting something like a weapon in jeopardy.

• Legs – Leggings of the Broken Beast / Legwraps of the Broken Beast come from 25 man normal and Heroic Northrend Beasts (Icehowl). The likely hood is you will be doing this boss many… many…many times so you should be able to snag these for a small opening bid. Picking them up in either mode is the way to go and we don’t want to dual purpose legs for Cat and Bear because we want to use different enchants on each.

• Feet – Treads of the Icewalker / Icewalker Treads from 25 man normal and Heroic Faction Champions are nice but if you have Runed Ironhide Boots in your Cat DPS set double duty the bad boys with an agility gem and enchant and save the DKP.

• Finger – At 35 Emblems pick up Clutch of Fortification when you can, double duty the Dexterous Brightstone Ring and save DKP. If you end up with DKP laying around look at the Ring of Callous Aggression / Band of Callous Aggression from 25 man Heroic Faction Champions to replace the Dexterous ring.

• Trinkets – Unless you have some of the uber sweet trinkets from Ulduar you should run the new 5 man instance and grab the The Black Heart. Replace you Darkmoon card with Death’s Verdict and don’t worry about spending some DKP here since you will be using the trinket for both Cat and Bear.

• Idol – If you have not had Idol of the Corruptor drop in Ulduar go ahead and pick it up on the cheap for 19 Emblems of Conquest. Do not be fooled into picking up Idol of Mutilation for tanking.  Agility>Dodge you can read the details HERE

So our Total Emblems cost for bear gear…

• Idol of the Corruptor – 19 Emblems of Conquest
• Hood of Lethal Intent – 75 Emblems of Triumph
• Clutch of Fortification – 35 Emblems of Triumph
• Malfurion’s Handgrips of Conquest – 40 Emblems of Triumph

So a total of 150 Emblems of Triumph and 19 Emblems of Conquest. Add what we need for kitty gear and the Grand Total is a mind blowing 255 Emblems of Triumph.

Make sure to buy your helm first (after getting all your kitty gear of course if that is your main spec) and then the rest of the items later just in case you get lucky with drops and DKP spending.

At 255 Emblems that will take 100ish days of daily Heroics coupled with raiding Emblem drops… that is just a guess, I don’t do much theory math… it will probably end up being a little less than 100 days.