Phat Loot Phriday: The Boreal Guard
Haven't done a shield in a while, so here's a cool-looking one to try for in Ulduar this weekend.
Name: The Boreal Guard (Wowhead, Thottbot, Armory)
Type: Epic Shield
Armor: 7960 (223 Block)
Attributes:
+39 Strength, +92 Stamina. Pretty standard for a tanking shield.
Two sockets: Red and Blue. This is what pretty much puts this baby over the top in terms of endgame tanking shields -- get some extra Strength, Stamina, and/or Defense in there, and this shield matches up against stuff that drops from the very hardest bosses in the game.
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Also increases defense rating by 35, parry rating by 37, and shield block rating by 33. Very nice shield.
Plus, it's got a dude's face on it. That means that you can be like Homer when he went to jury duty -- just hold this up in front of your face, and people will think you're still awake while you're grabbing some sweet Zs during a raid!
How to Get It: Drops from the Rare Cache of Winter, which you get from finishing off Hodir's 10-man hard mode. Hodir, as you probably know, is the guy who's Sons we've been helping out in Storm Peaks, and you may not have known that it is suspected that he is the guy whom "Greatfather Winter" is based on. Except that he's nuts and trying to kill you. For his hard mode, just don't wake up any of the NPCs in his chamber and finish him off yourself utilize the NPCs and their buffs, and beat Hodir before he blows up the cache. Do it on 10-man, be the tank (or a tank, I guess, if your MT already has this one), and this shield is yours.
Getting Rid of It: Sells back to vendors for 13g 97s 68c, or disenchants into an Abyss Crystal. But you'll probably keep it -- like I said, it's comparable to some of the best shields in the game, at least until the next patch comes down.
