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New craftables and valor BoEs for patch 4.3

Fox Van Allen
Contributing Editor
Updated ·5 min read

Every week, WoW Insider brings you Gold Capped, in which Fox Van Allen and Basil "Euripides" Berntsen aim to show you how to make money on the Auction House. Feed Fox's ego by emailing him, tweeting him at @foxvanallen, or sacrificing your first-born to him.

With every new patch comes new opportunity. And when patch 4.3 goes live today, there will be plenty of opportunity in the form of selling new i397 gear.

But what's the right route to maximizing your profits? Tailoring snazzy new pants for the fashionable mage? Sewing wristpieces for all those boomkin who are really into leather? Or maybe you're going to trade comfort for fashion and have your blacksmith hammer out a pair of Truegold pants?

Let's take a look at all your options, both crafted and BoE.



The basic materials

If you're itching to craft any of the new-for-patch-4.3 gear, you'll need some basic materials to get you started. Crafting the best, most up-to-date gear requires Essences of Destruction, this patch's equivalent of Living Embers. If the PTR is any judge, they won't be available for valor or justice points, but they will be available on the Auction House. Just be aware that they're likely to be extraordinarily expensive in the opening days of the new patch.

That's not all you'll need, however. You'll need plenty of your profession's best crafting material, whether that be Truegold, Hardened Elementium Bars, Pristine Hides, or Dreamcloth (which is staying soulbound). Volatile Fire, Air, Life, Earth, and Water all factor heavily into these craftables, as well. Finally, you'll need plenty of Chaos Orbs. Don't worry about needing to chain heroics, though -- they'll be purchasable on the Auction House in 4.3 just like the rest of the materials.

New tailoring patterns

Tailors are getting four new patterns in patch 4.3: two i397 bracers and two i397 legpieces. As you might expect, two of the pieces are itemized for DPS casters (Bracers of Unconquered Power, Lavaquake Legwraps), and two have spirit for healers (Dreamwraps of the Light, World Mender's Pants). All require Dreamcloth (either five or eight pieces) and Essences of Destruction. Just as importantly, all require you to find their respective patterns off of Dragon Soul trash.

Before you go crafting anything, check to make sure the crafted end product is worth more than the materials. And be sure to factor in any costs it took you to get the pattern, whether you bought it off the Auction House or could have otherwise sold it on the Auction House. Factor in the cost of materials for your Dreamcloth as well, whether you used the now-valuable Chaos Orbs or cooldown-gated Volatile Elementals.

New leatherworking patterns

Leatherworkers are getting a number of new patterns in patch 4.3 as well. Eight, in fact -- four different i397 bracers and four i397 legs:

All of the bracers require four Pristine Hides, four Essences of Destruction, and two Chaos Orbs; all the legs require eight hides, eight essences, and four orbs each. You'll also need a handful of volatiles for each, and the mail pieces will require Blackened Dragonscales.

Like the new tailoring patterns, you'll need to find the leatherworking patterns in the Dragon Soul raid -- or on the Auction House, if you're looking to take a gamble.

New blacksmithing plans

Blacksmiths are getting six new plans of their own. Predictably, this includes three i397 bracers and three i397 legs:

All of the legs require eight Truegold and Essences of Destruction; the bracers require four of each. You'll also need Volatile Life for the healing pieces, Volatile Fire for the DPS pieces, and Hardened Elementium Bars to make the tanking gear.

The patterns come from -- surprise -- the Dragon Soul raid trash.

Know the Competition: Valor gear

The selling of BoE valor gear is always big business at the beginning of a patch. This should be no surprise -- it's one of the quickest ways to (moderate) riches.

It's a simple plan to execute. You grind the maximum number of valor points for the first week of a patch, then quickly grind a few hundred more when point limits reset the next Tuesday. You use those points to buy a raid-quality BoE, and then turn around and sell it as quickly as possible to the highest bidder. Rinse and repeat on all level 85 alts, and you can score a quick 10,000 to 20,000 gold on each.

In patch 4.3, valor vendors will have two different i397 BoE choices: bracers and boots. Obviously, the valor BoE bracers will have some overlap with the craftable BoE bracers from the professions above. It's hard to see the craftable BoE bracers being worth significantly more than the valor BoE bracers, and it's hard to see the valor BoE bracers being worth more than 10,000 or 15,000 gold. So be very careful before you go out paying top dollar (top gold?) for a BoE bracer pattern -- it may be next to impossible to earn your money back.

On the other side of the coin, those who are interested in selling BoE valor gear should do a quick back-of-the-napkin calculation to see what's offers a better return on investment: selling BoE bracers or boots. Just keep in mind that raiders will be unable to buy tier with valor points in patch 4.3, so there may be more sellers next Tuesday than usual.

Maximize your profits with more advice from Gold Capped. Do you have questions about selling, reselling, and building your financial empire on the auction house? Fox and Basil are taking your questions at fox@wowinsider.com and basil@wowinsider.com.