Blood Pact: Thundering on and on about raid gear in patch 5.2

Every week, WoW Insider brings you Blood Pact for affliction, demonology, and destruction warlocks. This week, Megan O'Neill maybe decides that commenter-suggested Zul'duar is the better name than Thund'uar for the troll-like Ulduar raid instance, Throne of Thunder.

I mentioned last week that I'd discuss the changes for warlocks while listing out loot in the new raid instance. I may have fibbed a little. I tried to slide in patch change discussion without it reading like I shoved two posts into the space of one, and I miserably failed.

You can read the latest patch notes for yourself, but the PvE DPS gist is that affliction's petless power days are diminished if not over and demonology might be the new top dog. PvP warlocks might be more interested in Blood Fear's metamorphosis from an offensive fear to the Nature's Grasp-like Blood Horror and Soul Leech's change from a trickle heal to a stacking shield.

Regarding of whether you chase Conquest or Valor Points, we warlocks will have a major problem in patch 5.2. I'm not talking about the endless debates of whether fire should be green or whether warlocks should always have a minion at their side.

I'm talking about the removal of the imp ability Blood Pact, due to Dark Intent gaining the 10% Stamina buff to its effect. Future warlocks will wonder what this column is named for!

I did promise something less boring both to read and to write than a straight loot list. So while you ponder the likelihood of the warlock column renaming to "Whiplash: the Sultry Secrets of Shadow and Fire," I suppose I'm stuck discussing either boss strats in a sentence or less, or the odd ingenuity of loot names.

Some tooltips continue to defy my punnery powers, but I assure you that clicking through to find the real item name will let my words pan out.

World Bosses

Within hours of posting last week's faction loot, the loot tables for the world bosses Oondasta and Nalak arrived at Wowhead. As far as I know, these bosses follow the LFR-style looting system and are tapped to Alliance or Horde faction rather than raid group.

Nalak the Storm Lord is a troll riding a Thundering Cobalt Cloud Serpent who may drop tier 15 gloves and leggings if you remember how to do some of Al'Akir's old Hokey Pokey dance moves. The PvP-inclined will also find ilevel 493 pieces from Season 13 Tyrannical Gladiator gear on his loot table: rings, belts, bracers, cloaks, boots, and of course, the Felweave handguards and trousers.

Oondasta maybe has the best loot table in the entire universe for plate, but the squishy spellcaster ilevel 522 items look like we got the unimaginative end of the stick. This trollish T-Rex with cannons will give you a ring to go with your Observer pet. Elder Falcarius has to be just as big as Oondasta if we can wear his belts like robes, but one of the real belts has an unexciting name. The amulet and the gloves both sound like easy attempts to slide "Tyrannosaurus Rex" in with Azeroth's magic system. Finally, we'll chew on some Greek roots in the Girdle of Dimorphodontics, which means roughly "two-formed teeth."

Last Stand of the Zandalari

I don't know who Al'set is or why Jin'rokh the Breaker has his pants, but you can also steal Jin'rokh's hit-crit ring while you're at it. In the meantime, dodge lightning fissures for shoulders and weave in and out of electrified voidzones for gloves.

On Horridon, you might spend your first extra loot roll coin, because while your raidmates want to click the Orb of Command that the dinomancer trolls drop, you just want the staff. Or maybe you want the wand off a Gurubashi troll; that's fine, just don't forget to clobber the Amani'shi Flame Caster for his helm.

I know those Burning Crusaders are already having a blast from the Zul'Gurub past, but this loot table suggests it's the last time. In case we have a spiritual comeback (again), you can dress your best, grab tier gloves, and please an old troll boss with a trinket off this hopping troll party.

Forgotten Depths

I'm going to let you finish this loot list, but the spinning turtles from Firelands were the best trash of all time. This round, you'll have your revenge with ExtraActionButton1 by your side, and make gloves, bracers, or a cloak out of their hides.

This next boss might be me; after all, both of us often sputter in rage and both of us can be nicknamed Meg if you dare. My ego won't accept that it's actually a double throwback to the ancient Greek myths. Therefore, I hope my raid understands when I snatch what's rightfully mine. You can have my ring, my sandals, and my fetish, and you better not mix up the wrong stats on my random bracers.

The last boss of the second quarter of Throne of Thunder combines the mythology and Firelands throwbacks into another bird boss who requires ExtraActionButton1. There are enough feathers to make a comfy robe or you can spring for the alliterative abdominal adornment. But what I really want from a coin roll are some tier legs.

Halls of Flesh-Shaping

Big Brother is watching you, so maybe bring out Little Brother to fight for you. Maybe your blood pulses for non-tier legs, or maybe you want to put your paws back on a draining filler spell. Either way, get some shoulders to protect you from poor loot circulation.

Primordius swam in the Yor'sahj pool for far too long, and it's his damaging nature to mix up the mutations like a super game of Plague Inc. Spread the love like a virus with tier lookalike robes and ward your wrists against osteoporosis.

Finally, spend a coin on the Dark Animus for an extra shot at a tier chest. Gobble up the golem loot like the critical trinket or the ceremonial dagger with a tier lookalike helm. Bonus internet cookies for the most mages you leave behind in your wake.

Pinnacle of Storms

You thought Ji-Kun was the last of Firelands' inspiration, didn't you! Shannox is back in spear-it to play musical chairs with Iron Qon's quilen mounts. Keep Dam'ren in the literal dead zone to loot his boots, but let the memory of Ro'shak burn through your phalangeal veins up your arm and past your tier shoulders to your cold, dark heart.

Invoke the help of the August Celestials to dance through dawn and dusk with the Twin Consorts. We warlocks may bide most of our time in the shadows, but we really just want to get ahead this tier on the meters with Suen's staff.

Finally -- well, at least the first time through -- don't be thunderstruck by how many wipes you'll give to Lei Shen, the Thunder King himself. He doesn't miss, so learn to embrace the powers of the mini-map when it come to running in the raid. Finally, you should convince your raidmates that they can keep that dinomancer's orb of command while you keep Lei Shen's.

Ra-den and beyond

We might not know exactly what transpires in the heroic-only bonus boss encounter, but we do have his loot table. While regular raid items have a chance of dropping in the slightly higher item level Thunderforged quality, Ra-den carries only Heroic Thunderforged loot.

As titanic lore rests in the origins of Azerothian life, we have the usual sky or star named items with a nova-lty thrown in for good measure. But don't discard the mystery that still surrounds what Ra-den is doing here; instead, summon your raid team to delve further into Azeroth's deepest knowledge vaults in patch 5.2.

Blood Pact is a weekly column detailing DOTs, demons and all the dastardly deeds done by warlocks. We'll coach you in the fine art of staying alive, help pick the best target for Dark Intent, and steer you through tier 13 set bonuses.