Pre-Kara Tanking Gear

Friday's post reminded me that I promised I'd set out the tanking gear that I built up and where I got it from. Same rules apply to this list as applied to my DPS list:

• I'm a care-bear so PvP is out


• I hate farming the same instance for a rare drop so the focus is on quest and crafted items


• Badge items aren't covered because at this stage you're getting geared so you can go and farm some badges

Head
Stylin' Purple Hat - A 360 skill leatherworking recipe that drops from Blackheart the Inciter in Shadow Lab. It can normally be picked up quite cheaply from the AH if you can't find a crafter. Best tanking chant for it is Glyph of the Defender (Revered with Keepers of Time) but that's not easy to get without repeated runs in Caverns of Time. Glyph of Ferocity (Revered with Cenarion Expedition) is an easier substitute.

Neck
Necklace of the Deep is a great tanking neck with nice dollops of agi and stam and two (count 'em) gem slots. The only thing that stops this being ideal is that the slots are red when you really want to put be using stam gems. But hey, it's a BoE jewelcrafting item that doesn't need rep so easily attainable.

Shoulders
Shoulders are actually a pain if I stick to my rules about quests and crafted only. The best I could come up with was Living Grove Shoulderpads from the quest Protecting Our Own in Blades Edge. Do yourself a favour instead and pick up some Demon Hide Spaulders from the AH - they're a pretty common BoE drop from a number of places so you can normally get them quite cheap. Chant them with your Scryer/Aldor tanking chant and away you go.

Back
For my cloak I took the Cloak of the Valiant Defender from the Ar'kelos the Guardian quest in Netherstorm. This is a bit of a tricky choice though because the Core of Ar'kelos is also a nice DPS trinket. If you prefer to take the trinket then Cloak of Eternity is a tailor-crafted BoE that is a pretty fair alternative. Enchant with +12 agi.

Chest
Here we get to the no-brainer Heavy Clefthoof Vest. Leatherworking vendor recipe from our friends at the Cenarion Expedition (Honored). I put +6 all stats on it.

Wrists
Umberhowl's Collar from the Cipher of Damnation quest line in Shadowmoon Valley has a great lump of armour on it as well as some valuable strength for threat generation on top of the usual stam and agi. +12 stam is probably the best enchant but, at this stage, +12 defense is a viable alternative if you need the additional defense to get crit proof.

Hands
Verdant Gloves is from another group quest line in Shadowmoon Valley (Akama's Promise) and has nice dollops of armour, strength, agi and stam. Enchanted with another +15 agi these gloves will last you until you get the drop from Curator.

Waist

Manimal's Cinch is actually from a pre-quest so you should pick it up while working on Umberhowl's Collar. Don't let the fact that it's green fool you - this baby is better than many purples.

Legs and Feet
I've rolled these two in together because they are the remaining items of the Strength of the Clefthoof set. All the recipes are vendored from our Cenarion Expedition buddies. Chant the legs with the matching Clefthide Leg Armor and your favourite boot chant (I chose +12 stam) and you've got a solid tanking set that will last you a good while.

Rings

Wind Trader's Band is a good tanking ring from a soloable quest in Netherstorm (Dealing with the Overseer). Ring of the Stonebark is another decent ring from another solo quest, this time in Blades Edge (Exorcising the Trees).

Trinkets

One easy one here and one expensive one. The easy one is Mark of Tyranny. Yes, you are seeing correctly, that reward from a UBRS quest to kill Drakki. If you don't believe me, go check Emmerald's lists - this baby is better than a lot of lvl 70 instance drops.

The other one is Badge of Tenacity. There are two ways to get this: be incredibly lucky and have the Depleted Badge drop for you while doing dailies in Blades Edge; be incredibly efficient and buy it from the AH. Depending on your server, this will cost you around 900g but I have never regretted it.

Idol

Don't spend a lot of time worrying about this one. Idol of Terror for 20 badges will be an easy buy after a few trips to Karazhan. Idol of the Wild from the early quest in Hellfire Peninsula will be more than adequate.

Weapon

Earthwarden is the one to go for which is a good combined weapon for both tanking and dps. If the rep grind might take a while, though, check AH for Braxxis' Staff of Slumber. Like the Demon Hide Spaulders, it's a world drop that seems common enough to keep prices down. I got mine for 30g. Whichever staff you end up with +35 agi is the only chant really worth it.

Gems

Gem for as much stam as you can without sacrificing crit-proof. Solid Star of Elune wherever you can squeeze them in around +defense gems.

Summary

With this gear you should be around 23,000 in armour, crit-proof and around 12,000 unbuffed health. That's quite good enough to start tanking Karazhan. Enjoy it!