The Care and Feeding of Warriors: Trial of the Champion Loot

Each week The Care and Feeding of Warriors discusses all sorts of warrior related topics. This week, Matthew Rossi discusses the gear options for tanks and DPS warriors in the new 5 man instance that dropped with Patch 3.2.

I was actually pleasantly surprised at the various gear options available in TotC and its heroic version. Some of the drops (trinkets, weapons) will draw the attention of even people in various stages of raiding, and it's all solid for someone just getting into the 80 game.

Since the loot list is fairly long, we'll just dig right into it. This week we cover weapons, trinkets and rings, and next week we attempt to wrap it all up.

Weapons
Weapons drop in the heroic version of the instance.

Marrowstrike

This is a very nice weapon for an Arms Warrior. Now, I won't lie to you, you're going to see a lot of competition for this from Feral Druids, Hunters, Ret Paladins and DK's, but the same could be said (save for hunters and druids, but throw fury warriors in) for Edge of Ruin, which we'll be talking about next. This is an iLevel 219 drop (I've seen reports that the DPS will be increased to match Ulduar 10 weapon drops, but so far when I see the weapon in game it's the same stats as Wowhead has listed - it's possible I need to clear my cache) but even if not, it's still as good or better than most Naxx 25 drops from an instance you can run every day. With high agi, a socket, decent crit and AP and ArP, it's definitely an option you should be considering if you don't have access to higher tier weapons from raids yet, and even if you do this can last you until Kel'Thuzad 25 or Ulduar 10 drops. (You might even keep it over some Uld 10 drops if they do increase/have increased the damage.) This weapon drops from the chest after you defeat Paletress.

Edge of Ruin

Both Arms and Fury are going to look at this favorably. If the damage increases to match its iLevel, you won't replace this axe until Ulduar 10 hardmodes or Kel'Thuzad 25. Even if it stays at the current level, it's definitely at least as good as if not better than Death's Bite or most of the 2h weapon drops from Naxx 25. Lots of strength, crit, ArP, and at 3.5 speed is better for Arms or Fury than the glut of 3.4 speed weapons currently available. This is a reward from the chest after the Faction Champions.

Aledar's Battlestar

I'm actually listing this 2.6 speed weapon for protection warriors. Why? The new Devastate, that's why. Imagine on a big trash pull where you need snap threat bloodraging, charging and then tab Devastating with this weapon, dealing 100% of weapon damage + an additional 202 per sunder application. As a tank, you're going to want a toolbox that includes threat weapons as well as avoidance/mitigation weapons, and the Battlestar is certainly well suited to the role of threat weapon. With Agi, Stamina, a yellow socket, hit rating and ArP it's a very, very nice choice for threat generation. Eadric the Pure leaves this in the chest after he wets himself. (Seriously, what is up with that?)

Peacekeeper Blade

Now, if you're looking for a tanking weapon that has the avoidance/mitigation stats, look no further. Expertise to reduce the bosses parries on you, parry and dodge to avoid damage (and if you get lucky and parry you'll even get a little more threat with your hasted counterattack) and the always lovely str/stam and socket. It's a fast weapon for HS spam as well. (I don't actually spam HS anymore, I have it macro'd to my Devastate key so that whenever I use Devastate HS is queued up.) Any aspiring raid tank looking for some gear should consider picking both these 1 hand weapons up and using them depending on the situation. Remember, you can switch weapons in combat, so tanking with the Peacekeeper and then burning a rage spike with beefy Devastates using the Battlestar is certainly worth considering. Both Eadric and Paletress leave this weapon in their caches.

True-aim Long Rifle

A solid weapon for DPS or tanking warriors (although most tanks running heroic TotC will probably have the Armor-Plated Combat Shotgun or better) - you should probably wait to see if the hunters need it. It has a very nice model, all told. This is dropped by the Black Knight. No, I don't know why a Scourge DK drops a gun either.

While all of these weapons drop in the Heroic, the next category of items only drops in the Normal mode instance, which makes them even more farmable.

Trinkets

The Black Heart

Really, it doesn't require much more than to point out that you can get a +126 stamina trinket by running a non-heroic 5 man. Tanks who don't have it by now are already signing on to do chain runs of the instance. Really, the proc effect doesn't even matter (but is actually very nice, I can attest). Consider that it is both superior to and easier to attain than Essence of Gossamer. The Black Knight drops this.

Banner of Victory

if you're an Arms or Fury warrior looking to stack some armor pen or a tank looking for a threat trinket this is a very nice one. I'd let DPS have it first, myself, but after you've run the instance sixteen or so times you'll probably have a shot at this very nice trinket. It's a static almost 7% armor penetration effect and the proc is very nice and seems to be up at least as much as Mirror of Truth. (It also stacks with Mirror, according to people who have both, but I can't confirm that yet.) Used with Grim Toll you end up with a potential for a lot of Armor Pen and a lot of Attack Power when both proc at once. I'm enjoying it immensely. This is found in Argent Confessor Paletress' cache.

Rings

There are two rings of note for warriors, one from the heroic and one from normal mode.

Mark of the Relentless

This drops from the Champion's Cache in Heroic mode. Frankly, it's a superb tanking ring with solid stats, a blue socket (so you could even put a +30 stam epic or more if you happen to be a JC) and very nice overall dodge/parry/expertise for those tanks who are doing fine on defense. You'll see a lot of people wanting this ring, so if you intend to try and get it you should probably try and be the tank on the run and argue priority that way: it's so good that even Feral Druids will want it despite the parry on it.

Uruka's Band of Zeal

This drops from the Black Knight on normal mode. While it's not itemized perfectly for DPS warriors, it does have the joint advantages of being farmable and helping you hit that important expertise cap if you're gearing up for raiding. Unlike contenders from heroics like the Hemorrhaging Circle you could chain run normal TotC all day until this ring dropped. So until you get a Circle of Death or Ruthlessness there's no reason not to look towards this ring.

Next week we'll continue with the variety of plate available from Trial of the Champion.

Check out more strategies, tips and leveling guides for Warriors in Matthew Rossi's weekly class column: The Care and Feeding of Warriors.