Advertisement

The Light and How to Swing It: Pre-epic plate healing gear, part 2

Elizabeth Wachowski
Updated ·5 min read

Two weeks ago, we explored the scarce amount of decent plate healing gear out there before raiding instances. This week, we'll be heading below the belt (not in that way) to find some plate healing or damage/healing gear for your belt, pants, boots, and rings. Okay, technically rings aren't below the belt ... or at least the rings we wear in this game aren't. And if you have a ring that is worn there, we really don't want to hear about it. The trinkets, weapons, shield and librams made this article run far over the word count, so those will have to be saved for Part 3. This is turning into an epic to rival Gilgamesh.

Belt:

  1. Girdle of Many Blessings: 24 stam, 22 int, 21 spell crit, 46 healing. 12% drop from Rokmar in heroic Slave Pens. Like the rest of the "Tier 2 redux with uglier colors" set, this is one of the best pre-epic belts. The spell crit is an especially nice touch for holy pallies.

  2. Girdle of Divine Blessing: 16 stam, 22 int, 18 spell crit, 48 healing. BOE world drop (35g) average. Or, if you're a lazy ass like me, you can just pick this up off the AH for cheap. A little less stam and crit is worth not having to find a group for heroic SP.

  3. Khorium Belt: 30 stam, 21 int, 8mp/5, 25 dam/heal. Crafted by blacksmiths. Or if you're REALLY lazy, you can find a blacksmith leveling up to craft one of these for you. Many will craft free with your mats, and some will even pay you if they get a skillup!

  4. Lightwarden's Girdle: 30 stam, 14 int, 23 def, 28 dam/heal. Quest reward from Deathblow to the Legion in Netherstorm. And if you're utterly desperate, there's this pally tanking belt that comes with a little dam/heal to help you out. At this point you should probably either pick up some cloth or green healing gear, or possibly just cry in the corner all night while listening to "Seventy Times 7."

Pants:

  1. Starcaller's Plated Legguards: 27 stam, 18 int, 17 spell crit, 7mp/5, 88 healing. Quest reward from Dimensius the All-Devouring in Netherstorm. What's a starcaller? I'm not sure, but they make some damn fine (and extremely easy to obtain) healing legs. This is just about every stat you could need for a healing pally, but the major downside is that they look like lederhosen.

  2. Cassock of the Loyal: 30 stam, 34 int, 25 spell crit, 68 healing. 12% drop from Hungarfen in heroic Underbog. Yes, it's time again to return to heroics for your pretty yet difficult to obtain recolored Tier 2. Has anyone actually gone and gotten all these pieces? It seems like it would be easier to just head to Kara.

  3. Consortium Plated Legguards: 23 int, 9mp/5, 51 healing, red, yellow and blue sockets. Quest reward from Undercutting the Competition in Mana Tombs. Socketed healing plate is hard to come by, so this relatively early dungeon quest reward is something to treasure. Properly socketed, it can help you customize your healing set to make up for deficiencies.

  4. Khorium Pants: 42 stam, 28 int, 11mp/5, 33 dam/heal. Crafted by blacksmiths. On their own, these aren't great healing pieces, but they serve as good fillers and the set bonus of 55 healing is nice.

Boots:

  1. Boots of the Watchful Heart: 23 stam, 26 int, 7mp/5, 55 healing. 11% drop from Captain Skarloc in heroic Old Hillsbrad. Pretty much the best boots out there, and the only real plate plus healing boots, but good luck getting a group for heroic Old Hillsbrad.

  2. Khorium Boots: 31 stam, 21 int, 8mp/5, 26 dam/heal. Crafted by blacksmiths. I promise, this is the last Khorium piece you need for that 55 healing bonus, but as one of the best healing boots out there, they're worth it in and of themselves.

  3. Ornate Boots of the Sanctified: 24 str, 18 stam, 20 int, 29 dam/heal. 14% drop from Ambassador Hellmaw in Shadow Labyrinth. Pretty hybridish, but grab them if you get them and don't feel like blowing the time on COT or the money on Khorium.

  4. Earthmender's Plated Boots: 20 str, 18 stam, 16 int, 23 dam/heal. Quest reward from Escape From Coilskar Cistern. Even more hybridish, and frankly pretty bad, but go for it if you have nothing else.

Rings:

  1. Ancestral Band/Ring of Convalescence: 15 int, 4mp/5, 57 healing. Reputation reward from revered with Thrallmar/Honor Hold. It doesn't have the most healing, but the intellect and mp/5 make this an excellent all-around healer ring for pallies. None of that spirit, too!

  2. Gift of the Talonpriests: 12 int, 66 healing. 8% BOE drop from Terokk. The very high plus healing on this ring makes up for the lack of stats or mana regen. And since it's BOE, like all of Terokk's drops, you might be able to find it on the AH.

  3. Ring of Fabled Hope: 12 int, 11 spirit, 59 healing. 11% drop from the Black Stalker in heroic Black Morass. Theoretically, this is a nice, balanced ring, but the effort required isn't really worth it. If it drops while you're running for something else, grab it, but otherwise look for something easier.

  4. Cosmic Lifeband: 7mp/5, 57 healing. 20% drop from Nethermancer Sepethrea in the Mechanar. The perfect piece of jewelry for those long, mana-intensive fights.

  5. Celestial Jewel Ring: 13 int, 4mp/5, 55 healing. Quest reward from Hitting the Motherlode in Netherstorm. Man, Netherstorm has all the good healing plate rewards. Were they preparing for the massive influx of belfadins looking to fight Kael'thas? Anyway, here's another good, balanced, easy to obtain ring.

That's all for this week, folks. In two weeks we'll be looking at the stuff you hold in your hand, plus your trinkets, wherever those are kept. I've always imagined it's the back pocket. Be nice to Chris, and I'll try to be somewhat on time for the next article!