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World of Wardrobe: More plate look-alikes for death knights

Anne Stickney
Updated ·9 min read

Heading back to pick up some awesome armor sets from vanilla WoW or that dazzling weapon that'll have your enemies cowering in fear? Transmogrification makes it possible -- and World of Wardrobe shows you how.

The Burning Crusade was the first expansion for World of Warcraft, featuring a wholly foreign landscape to traverse and all-new armor to pick up and proudly wear. Well ... sort of. Though the zones, dungeons and quests were incredibly detailed and entertaining, the gear itself was a little lacking in variety. Green gear drops were simply recolored versions of existing models, and nothing really went together -- which led to the infamous Burning Crusade "clown suit" effect that most people experienced while leveling through the expansion.

That didn't mean there was a complete lack of matching gear, however. Burning Crusade dungeons contained plenty of recolored tier sets from classic World of Warcraft, to the delight of many players who simply didn't raid in vanilla and therefore didn't have access to that tier. The other nice part about the tier recolors was that they weren't class-restricted, so any class could pick up the look of another class with relatively little difficulty.

This turned out to be very good news for death knights, who didn't appear on the scene until Wrath of the Lich King. Though a class call was added to Nefarian over in Blackwing Lair for our death knight friends, tier sets were not. Last week, we covered a few of the recolored plate offerings that death knights can pick up -- but don't worry, death knights. Last week's offering of plate tier goodies was only part 1! There are a few more plate tier look-alikes to be had out there in The Burning Crusade.



Tier 2

Tier 2 is still a favorite of many players. The classic look and stylistic design of each set makes tier 2 a popular choice for the upcoming transmogrification feature. Though there is no death knight tier 2, there are a couple of plate recolor options for those death knights who would like to wear these iconic sets.

Battlegear of Wrath This is a recolor of the Wrath set for warriors in green and gold. Featuring massive axe-blades on the spaulders, Wrath is one of the most easily recognizable warrior sets out there. There are a full eight pieces available for this set, and all eight pieces are available in Burning Crusade dungeons, which should be a snap for a level 85 death knight to solo. Remember, heroic keys are no longer needed for heroic Burning Crusade dungeons -- you can simply walk right in and start killing.

  • Vambraces of Daring are the bracers for this set. They can be found in the chest that appears after beating Vazruden and Nazan, the final encounter in Hellfire Ramparts. These bracers drop in heroic mode.

  • Stop next door at The Shattered Halls for your next two pieces of gear. Greathelm of the Unbreakable drops from Grand Warlock Nethekurse, the first boss in the instance, and the Greaves of the Shatterer, the leg piece for this set, drops from Warchief Kargath Bladefist, the final boss. Both of these items drop in normal mode.

  • Girdle of the Immovable is the belt for this set. It drops from Quagmirran, the final boss in The Slave Pens, on heroic mode.

  • Fanblade Pauldrons, the shoulders for this set, drop from Shirrak the Dead Watcher in Auchenai Crypts. Shirrak is the first boss in the instance, and the shoulders drop on heroic difficulty.

  • Next door in the Mana Tombs, you can find the Boots of the Colossus on Pandemonius. Pandemonius is the first boss of the instance, and he must be defeated in heroic mode for the boots.

  • Fly out to Netherstorm and head to The Arcatraz for the gloves for this set. Thatia's Self-Correcting Gauntlets drop from Dalliah the Doomsayer, the third boss in The Arcatraz.

  • The final piece of this set can be found next door in The Mechanar. Jade-Skull Breastplate, the chestpiece for this set, drops from Nethermancer Sepethrea, a boss located at the top of the elevator in The Mechanar.

Judgement Armor It can be argued that no set has gathered quite the rabid popularity of paladin tier 2, and for good reason -- it's a gorgeous set. So gorgeous, in fact, that you will likely see a ton of people running around with various recolors of this set once transmogrification goes live. If you're looking for a set with amazing design, this purple recolor fits the bill -- but if you're looking for something unique, something not a lot of people will be wearing, you may want to look at other plate sets instead.

  • Head to Hellfire Ramparts for the first two pieces of this set, both found on heroic mode. Justice Bearer's Pauldrons, the spaulders, can be found on Omor the Unscarred, second boss in the instance. Life Bearer's Gauntlets are found in the chest that drops after defeating Vazruden and Nazan, the final encounter in the instance.

  • Next door in Blood Furnace, Virtue Bearer's Vambraces, the bracers for this set, can be found on Broggok, the second boss in the instance. These bracers drop in heroic mode.

  • Girdle of Many Blessings is the belt for this set, and it can be found on Rokmar the Crackler in The Slave Pens on heroic mode. Rokmar is the second boss in the instance.

  • Mask of Penance is the helm for this set, it drops from Mekgineer Steamrigger, the second boss in The Steamvault.

  • Cassock of the Loyal can be found in the heroic version of The Underbog. The legs for this set drop from Hungarfen, the first boss in the instance.

  • Breastplate of Many Graces can be found in Shadow Labyrinth -- this chestpiece drops from Grandmaster Vorpil, the third boss in the instance.

  • Boots of the Watchful Heart are the last item in this set, and they can be found on Captain Skarloc, the second boss of Old Hillsbrad Foothills. Skarloc should be killed on heroic mode if you're looking for these boots.


Tier 5

That's it for old-school tier sets. Sadly, there was never a recolored version of tier 3 offered to players during The Burning Crusade; that came later in Wrath. As for set 2.5 and its bizarre bug theme ... honestly, I'd be glad I didn't have one of those sets, if I were you! Tier 4's only recolor options were the PVP sets, and these were also class-restricted. Fortunately, tier 5 offered a couple of recolored looks for those death knights who would like to take advantage of the sets available.

Keep in mind that these are not full tier sets. As with their predecessors, they only include five items. But also keep in mind that sets don't always have to have an exact match; you can always check sites like WoW Roleplay Gear for off-set items that go with the set pieces.

Both sets listed here can be found in Serpentshrine Cavern and The Eye in Tempest Keep. We've already covered strats for the various bosses in these raid zones; while most classes may find it difficult to solo raid content, death knights are far better suited for the task. If you're up to the challenge, take a shot at soloing, but you may also want to take a look at the guides provided for Serpentshrine and The Eye for more information on defeating the various bosses in these raid dungeons before you go rushing in.

Destroyer Armor Warrior tier 5 has a look that is about as instantly recognizable as the Wrath set in tier 2. This green and bronze recolor keeps the imposing and menacing feel of the original, but I'd almost say that the different color palette highlights the level of detail in the armor model better than the original. This set includes the head, shoulders, chest, gloves and legs. The only really visible pieces missing are the belt and boots; the bracers aren't something you have to worry about.

  • Pauldrons of the Wardancer drop from Hydross the Unstable in Serpentshrine Cavern.

  • Krakken-Heart Breastplate drops from Lady Vashj in Serpentshrine. Lady Vashj isn't really a boss that is easily soloed; consider bringing a friend in to help out with the fight.

  • Fel-Steel Warhelm can be found on Void Reaver in The Eye.

  • Greaves of the Bloodwarder can be found on High Astromancer Solarian in The Eye. Remember to clear the trash around her before engaging the boss!

  • Royal Gauntlets of Silvermoon can be found on Kael'thas Sunstrider in The Eye. This is a fight with a lot of phases; check out the guide from Tempest Keep for more about this boss. I'd recommend also looking around for soloing guides on this boss if you're up to the challenge.

Crystalforge Armor This recolored version of paladin tier 5 is sadly lacking a few key pieces. While you can find the helm, shoulders, chest, gloves and boots, the legs for this set are missing. The set itself is in shades of silver and gold, so finding a set of silver and gold plate legs shouldn't be too much of an issue -- they may not be an exact match to the set, but there are options out there that should fit nicely with it. In the screenshot above, the character is wearing Legplates of the Innocent from Karazhan, as well as the Girdle of Truth from the same zone. All of the pieces for this set can be found in Serpentshrine Cavern, with the exception of the boots.


That's all for plate tier recolors. Death knights, we'll see you again in Wrath tier, where you should feel right at home among the other classes. Though death knights were absent for the original game and first expansion of WoW, nabbing recolored tier can at least give the impression that your character was there in one form or another. Next week, it's back to raiding content with a trip to Black Temple and a face-off against the not-so-final boss of the expansion, Illidan Stormrage.