Lichborne: Patch 5.2 Last Stand of the Zandalari loot preview for death knights

Every week, WoW Insider brings you Lichborne for blood, frost, and unholy death knights. In the post-Cataclysm era, death knights are no longer the new kids on the block. Let's show the other classes how a hero class gets things done.

With the PTR getting closer to release, it's about time to start looking forward to that most cherished of patch rituals, the changing of the gear. Today, we will look at the first few bosses of Throne of Thunder and see what they have in store for death knights.

There are a few words of warning to offer here. First, this is based off PTR Info, which means they may or may not decide to adjust, remove, or add loot before it goes live. Second, this information is based off normal mode raid loot. You may find monkey wrenches thrown into the gearing process courtesy of both heroic gear and Thunderforged gear, which can be 6 ilvls higher than usual for the item. You will have to make your own judgement calls in cases where you have access to that gear. Adding to the complication is the fact that tier gear won't be Thunderforged, meaning you may have to give up some Thunderforged gear despite the higher ilvl in order to keep set bonuses.

We'll first look at the bosses in the The Last Stand of the Zandalari, the first section of the Throne of Thunder.

Jin'rokh the Breaker

• Cloudbreaker Greatbelt - The haste on this belt makes it a very solid choice for any DPS spec, especially once you add in the 2 gem slots.

• Bracers of Constant Implosion will have a random modifier on them, so essentially you'll just have to hope one drops with 2 stats you want. The yellow socket is also pretty nice since that means it'll take a haste or haste/strength gem and give you a good chunk of strength in return.

• Chestplate of Violent Detonation has hit and mastery, meaning that it could be used by a DPS or a tank in a pinch. Dual wield frost DPS or tanks that like a little hit rating would get the best use out of it.

• Jin'Rokh's Soulcrystal has dodge and expertise, meaning it's not really close to the optimal stat layout for a death knight tank.

• Worldbreaker's Stormscythe is your first opportunity to replace that Sha-touched weapon if you're a dual wielder. Yes, I know giving up the legendary gem is painful, but the extra weapon DPS will probably be worth it.

Horridon

• Spark of Zandalar has that lovely haste, making it especially nice for two-handed frost and unholy DPS, and that strength proc is looking like a lot of fun. I've always wanted a new Deathbringer's Will, and this kind of comes close.

• Frozen Warlord's Bracers come with haste and expertise, making them a great choice, again, for two-handed frost and unholy DPS. Note that a properly modified Bracers of Constant Implosion will probably be better, but these will be easier to get.

• Bloodlord's Bloodsoaked Legplates have haste and mastery, which means they should be solid for duel wielders, though not optimal for other DPS. Still in a pinch, they're better statted than tier legs, so these may end up holding you over for a while until you need the tier bonus.

• Horn-Rimmed Doomcloak has hit and mastery, making it a solid dual wield DPS cloak or a fair tanking cloak. It does suffer from the lack of a gem slot, which later offerings in the zone do have.

• Puncture-Proof Greathelm has dodge and parry, meaning it's not incredibly well statted for blood tanks. Reforge the dodge to mastery if you use this.

Council of Elders

• Zerat, Malakk's Soulburning Greatsword, has hit and critical strike, making it fair to middling stat wise, but still a solid upgrade for two-handed DPS. Greatsword of the Frozen Hells is better, but there's no indication of where it drops yet. Likewise, Bo-Ris, Horror in the Night, will be a better choice for tanks, but still has no known drop source.

• Talisman of Angry Spirits suffers from a lackluster combination of mastery and critical strike for secondary stats. You can reforge one of them to haste in a pinch though.

• Gauntlets of the All-Consuming Maw have hit and critical strike, continuing the tradition of tier pieces with somewhat middling to medicore secondary stats. Still, the red gem slot doesn't hurt, and it is tier gear. You want your set bonuses.

• Handguards of the All-Consuming Maw are the same thing for tanks. The secondary stats aren't great, but if you need your tier bonuses, it's still worth using.

• Overloaded Bladebreaker's Carapace has parry rating and hit, which makes it a bit on the mediocre side for blood tanking. If you pick this up, replace it with tier ASAP.

• Fortitude of the Zandalari has a nice solid chunk of base mastery, which should make it a desirable tank trinket. The extra health on use is a bonus.
  

  Learn the ropes of endgame play with WoW Insider's DK 101 guide. Make yourself invaluable to your raid group with Mind Freeze and other interrupts, gear up with pre-heroic DPS gear or pre-heroic tank gear, and plot your path to tier 11/valor point DPS gear.