Insider Trader: Dope raid-doping (or, consumables for raiders)

Insider Trader is your inside line on making, selling, buying and using player-made products.

Now that the furor over patch 2.1 changes to elixirs has died down, most raiders have settled into a routine with their favorite fix of consumables. A few reluctant players are still debating whether pots, flasks and elixirs should be expected for raiding at all, but most have come to accept consumables as part of the raiding experience. Flasking up and "chugging" pots every two minutes is widely accepted as common practice when learning new encounters: healers chug mana pots, tanks chug for armor, DPS casters chug destruction pots, melees chug haste ... Once content is on farm status, most raiders ease off the throttle and drop pot-chugging and routine flasking.

Raid consumables lists used to resemble literary epics. The sheer variety of possibilities and combinations was overwhelming. Players felt whiplashed by the increasing speed of the treadmill and accelerating investments of farming and gold, as growing awareness of these performance-enhancers drove expectations higher at all levels of raiding. Patch 2.1 changed all that, standardizing the types and timers for elixirs and limiting the number of performance-enhancers that could be used at any given time. This simplified the possibilities for frazzled raiders who were lugging bags stuffed with a virtual cornucopia of consumables.

Still, for new raiders, figuring out what to bring and what to use can be a daunting task. A huge proportion of these boosters are player-made items from various professions. Insider Trader is here to help you comb through the possibilities, bringing you an outline of the basic principles of raiding consumables plus links to an exhaustive list of performance-boosters. Read on for the most dope performance-dopers for raiders.

Let's cut to the chase: Nightshroud of Alleria's new, encyclopedic guide to raiding consumables is a must-read. We'll recap the basic principles here – but if you're serious about raiding at all, you'll want to visit her exceptional thread.

Doping for raiding
The thoroughly prepared raider will bring and use the following basic set of consumables at every raid:

Flasks and/or elixirs You may use a flask or a battle elixir and a guardian elixir at any given time (but not both a flask and either/both types of elixir). Flasks last two hours and persist through death. Elixirs last for 30 to 60 minutes and do not persist through death.

Buffing food or drink You may use one buffing food or drink item at a time. Durations vary from 10 to 30 minutes, and effects do not persist through death. You'll likely want different choices for different situations (trash, bosses on farm, new encounters, etc.).

Weapon buffs You may use one weapon buff per wielded melee weapon (so yes, dual-wielders get double the fun!). Most weapon buffs last 30 minutes and persist through death. However, they do not stack with rogue poisons or shaman weapon buffs such as Rockbiter or Windfury.

Potions Potions now share a common two-minute cooldown timer. Expect to chug a pot every two minutes when learning new material.

Buff items on the two-minute timer cycle If you're really interested in max performance, you'll want to investigate the little tidbits in this category.

Buff items on the one-minute timer cycle This category includes leatherworking drums and PvP-focused buffs from player-made items.

Scrolls Scrolls stack with other consumables but not with class buffs, making them good fillers for situations where a buffing class may be missing or for stats not affected by class buffs. They do not persist through death.

Bandages Yeah, you better be ready!

When you're ready to cobble together a personal consumables inventory, visit Shadowpanther's consumables charts. Zodar of Earthen Ring has assembled a half-dozen charts covering consumables for various class types and raid roles that will greatly simplify your search. Don't overlook newer additions such as Bottled Nethergon Energy and Bottled Nethergon Vapor, which can be used in Tempest Keep instances, and Cenarion Healing Salve and Cenarion Mana Salve for Coilfang instances, available through quests or item turn-ins.

Lisa Poisso is a writer and editor, when she's not farming materials for her next round of pots.