Gearing up for DPSing

This coming Sunday, as I previously mentioned, Shattered Dreams and Sacred Pack will be pwning face in Naxx 25 man.

I'm stoked.

No really. I am excited to be running with old friends and excited about the possibility of tanking my first ever 25 man.

I would like to point out, I am capable. I have the gear, I have the stats, and I have the know-how. What I lack is someone who has given me the opportunity to tank a 25 man. Because apparently pre-Wrath, Druids were only capable of tanking 10 mans. I'm not sure who came up with that theory, but in my guild, us bears were dps only unless a tank that couldn't be sheeped was required for a certain fight. i.e. the High King fight in Gruul's Lair.

I have fought hard to prove that I'm a respectable tank since I first decided to go bear butt forever ago. By no means do I think I'm the best bear tank out there, but I know I can hold my own. I'm nothing without my awesome healers though, and I know I'll have several of them in the upcoming 25 man run.

However, tanking aside, I've decided to work on a DPS set...just in case. I'm really hoping when the chips are down I have a chance of tanking at least on a rotating schedule or some such, but I forsee a kitty in my near future. Thus it's time to get prepared!

First things first...stat check.

For all of you feral cats out there, here's what you need to be shooting for:

Hit Rating Cap - 295.2
Expertise Rating Cap- 132 (cat only assuming 2/2 in Primal Precision)

The theories out there vary as to what stats are more important. Restro4Life does a really nice breakdown as to what caps are better to be working towards and why here. The flow looks like this:

hit > expertise > strength > agility > attack power > crit > armor penetration > haste

Notice strength is above agility on the list. Seems kind of strange doesn't it? Especially since strength only = attack power and agility = attack power + crit + dodge (which we're not too concerned with being feral kitties). Reason being, since Wrath, Strength actually gives us more attack power per Strength versus per Agility.

Sucks for trying to get a set together since I'm going to have to gem and enchant things a little differently for dps gear versus tank gear. But very cool because that's going to cut our crit down quite a bit. Some of you may argue with me, but I'm still a supporter of the less you crit in raids, the better. That stems from the fact that I play tank and if you're a crit machine, you're more than likely going to pass my threat up and I'm going to be fighting you for aggro thus making me what to chuck you across the dungeon. Therefore low crit = happy tank.

That should give you a nice idea of what stats to look for when gearing up for feral kitty.

Next on the list: gear.

Here comes the fun part...Personally I have used several different references to get a nice pre-Naxx dps set going. Notice I said pre-Naxx. I have been blasting through Naxx, but being primarily a tank, all of those upgrades are still going for the tank part of me so I'm not even attempting to get DPS gear in there yet...yet. So here we go...

Helm
$$%^&*$%^&$&%$^&$*#@^%#$%^*$#$&*$%^#%$^@
/sigh
Mask of the Watcher

I STILL do not have this for my tank set and it is the helm everyone seems to be recommending for freaking cat too. I finally gave up for my tank set and bought a PVP helm with extra badges. No, it's not the best, but it is better than what I had and not too short of the heroic dungeon drops that are recommended for pre-Naxx gear. I haven't decided if I'm going to break down and do that for my dps set as well or just use the helm I have for both sets. It'll probably be easier to pray the helm upgrades from Sapp or Kel drop at this point in my tanking career...

Anywho...moving on...

Neck
Here's a toss up...go figure, some toss up as my tank set!...between Titanium-Impact Choker and Pendant of the Outcast Hero. Depending on how many badges I can get, I'll probably elect for the badge Pendant of the Outcast Hero just to save on gold that the Choker will eat up.

Shoulders
Spaulders of Egotism are the top on the lists I've checked out, so if you're lucky enough to find them on the AH for a reasonable price...gratz! I will be electing to have another crafted Trollwoven Spaulders made. Luckily I had them made for about 400 gold on my server before and the price of mats have dropped quite a bit as of late, so I'm hoping to lucky out and get them for about 200 this go around.

Back
This one is a little tricky. Embrace of Sorrow is the highest Hit Rating cloak on the list but the Shroud of Revirbiration is the highest Expertise Rating cloak on the list. If we use the flow chart above, we're going for the Embrace of Sorrow right off the bat. But the Cloak of Gushing Wound has a nice amount of Agility on it and is second on the list with concerns to Hit Rating and the same as the other four cloaks with Expertise Rating. Notice I've yet to mention the Ice Striker's Cloak as an option. Comparing my stats with each of these Cloaks listed out on LootRank and Shifting Perspectives site, I probably will be grinding out one of the four that Dan lists out instead of having the crafted piece made. As far as I can tell the Ice Striker's Cloak gives me more straight up AP and that's about it. Personally I'd rather have the Hit Rating or Expertise Rating since I can enchant for AP a lot easier than the other stats. So all in all I will most likely being grinding out Embrace of Sorrow from the Maiden in Halls of Stone. Thankfully...it's a normal HOS so it should be fairly easy to get.

Chest
I contimplated picking up the Darkheart Chestguard for this piece since it's the number one pick from LootRank. However, I hopped on my Druid at lunch today and checked out the stat differences with the tank piece I have right now (my Tier piece gemmed up with Dodge, Agility, and Hit) and my Tier piece was better, even with the dodge that my DPS gear won't need. Therefore, I'm going to be grinding Heroics in the next few days for lots and lots of badges to get my tier token for a second chest piece. Yipee!

Wrist
Dragonfiend Bracers from the Wyrmrest Accord. Gee that's easy!

Gloves
Tier token gloves. Yay for more badges!

Waist
Jorach's Crocolisk Skin Belt is from badges as well. It won't break the bank at 40, but it is more Heroics that you'll have to do. If you're not in the mood for those, head over to Utgarde Keep and give Ingvar a run for his money for the Sharp-Barbed Leather Belt.

Legs
/sigh. Awesome. Another piece that I'd like to have two of for both sets and I can't seem to get ONE of the stupid thing. Gored Hide Legguards seem to be the top running for the pants slot. So strap on your patience and go hit up Heroic Gundrak again...and again...and again...

Feet
Boots of the Neverending Path from the Argent Crusade. /easymode Go.

Rings
Since we're going to be running Gundrak anyway...I'm going to shoot for the Hemorrhaging Circle as well as the pants since I'm sure the stupid ring will drop about five times before my pants will. And unless you can afford the awesome Band of the Kirin Tor...go get the Titanium Impact Band made.

Trinket
Darkmoon Card: Greatness. Yes, I want this for both sets as well. Other than that I will probably be picking up the Mirror of Truth.

Weapon
Staff of Trickery seems to be winning as the top for now, but Titansteel Destroyer is a close runner up. The AP on the mace is unreal, so I definitely see why it would be worth your time having it crafted. The staff drops off the last boss in Heroic Violet Hold, so it really just depends on if you want to have something crafted or farm a dungeon.

And there you have it. That's a breakdown of what I'm shooting for anyway. Now you need to gem and enchant everything up.

For your gems, the best advice I can give is that I've gleaned from the advice I've read. Socket everything with a Bold Scarlet Ruby or a Delicated Scarlet Ruby regardless of the socket bonus. That should make life a little easier for you and I hope those lovely gems are going for less than they are on my server.

Now to enchant everything. Let's see...we want a Arcanum of Torment on our helm, Greater Inscription of the Axe from Sons of Hodir on our Shoulders, Major Agility on our cloak, Powerful Stats on our Chest, Greater Assault on our Bracers, Precision on our Gloves, Icescale Leg Armor on our Pants, Icewalker on our Boots, since I'm an enchanter I get the added bonus of Assault on my rings, and Berskering on our weapon.

With all of those lovely items, gems, and enchants here's my final gear stat output:

AP - 7221
Agility - 975
Strength - 304
Crit Rating - 373
Hit Rating - 197
Expertise Rating - 255
Haste Rating - 43
Armor Penetration Rating - 45

Notice I am Expertise capped but not hit capped. That's where hit food, flasks, and raid buffs are going to come in handy. Plus I'm still in a 0/60/11 build for tanking.

Change all that up and here's what we're looking at:

Attack Power - 7895
Agility - 1172
Strength - 512
Crit Rating - 373
Hit Rating - 197
Expertise Rating - 255
Haste Rating - 43
Armor Pentration Rating - 45

Not too shabby. Not too shabby at all. That above is not including food or pots either btw.

If I included hit food and flask I could get to 282 hit rating which is pretty dang close to the cap.

So with the build above, we'd be doing about 3k dps in a typical fight with an 83 boss mob. That is awesome I think. I'd be up there with the big rogues and dk's. And that is well worth the effort if I'm going to be doing serious dpsing in a raid.