Blood Pact: Dungeon gearing for warlocks in patch 4.3

Every week, WoW Insider brings you Blood Pact for affliction, demonology and destruction warlocks. For those who disdain the watered-down arts that other cling to like a safety blanket ... for those willing to test their wills against the nether and claim the power that is their right ... Blood Pact welcomes you. Send questions, comments, or requests to tyler@wowinsider.com or via Twitter to @murmursofadruid.

If I did not know any better, warlocks, I would think that the world was conspiring against me. Last week I had promised that I would be doing a gear list from the newest 5-mans to be released with patch 4.3, but I was deterred by not having access to Wowhead's marvelous PTR site. This week, it's Blizzard itself attempting to knock this train off the tracks by releasing the ability list and talent calculators for Mists of Pandaria. While the talents are important in their own right, nothing from said ability list was really all that shocking; indeed, a majority of it I had predicted rather well in last week's issue.

Therefore, despite all attempts to get me to focus otherwise, I will actually be keeping up my promise and providing you with a cleanly laid-out gearing list for the next patch (which should be coming out tomorrow, truth be told). To prevent you from wasting your days farming for an item that you might replace, valor point items will also be listed given that you can earn the currency through 5-man content. Let's be on with the show!

Quick Mists abilities breakdown

To give a small aside to the important changes that were brought up by the revealing of the ability lists, here's a quick rundown of anything that you might be interested in. Only demonology has Bane of Doom; in fact, each spec only has access to a single Bane. It seems Wild Imps will happen, and yes, it sounds adorable -- I mean evil ... it sounds evil. Illidan's Whatever was changed to Mannoroth Fury -- same effect in that it gives all your direct damage abilities splash damage, but now deals 10% splash passively and 100% on activate.

The level 60 talents were completely revamped and still focus on survival, though now at the cost of health instead of mana, which is pretty interesting. Yes, for those who doubted, Malefic Grasp does deal damage just like any other channel. Our new ability for the expansion is Demonic Portal, which is essentially a Demonic Teleport except anyone in the group can use it. Destruction keeps Fire and Brimstone, only it's totally reworked and now awesome. Demonology's Immolation Aura has been virtually removed and now replaces the Inferno talent -- oh, and they get Carrion Swarm, which is totally awesome. Finally, all DoT refreshes have been removed. That's all folks, now -- on with the gears!

Helm

Hood of Hidden Flesh 2,200 VP
Cowl of Highborne Sorcerors Mannoroth and Varo'then, Well of Eternity

Neck

Opal of the Secret Order 1,250 VP

Back

Nanoprecise Cape 1,250 VP

Shoulders

Mantle of False Virtue Archbishop Benedictus, Hour of Twilight

Chest

Robes of Searing Shadow 2,200 VP
Robes of Fate Murozond, End Time

Wrists

Chronoboost Bracers 1,250 VP

Hands

Clockwinder's Immaculate Gloves 1,650 VP

Pants

Time Traveler's Leggings Any Echo, End Time

Belt

Tentacular Belt 1,650 VP
Chillbane Belt Arcurion, Hour of Twilight

Boots

Kavan's Forsaken Treads 1,650 VP
Slippers of Wizardry Queen Azshara, Well of Eternity

Rings

Seal of the Grand Architect 1,250 VP
Horned Band Peroth'an, Well of Eternity

Trinkets

Bottled Wishes 1,650 VP
Foul Gift of the Demon Lord Mannoroth and Varo'then, Well of Eternity

Weapons

Orb of the First Satyrs Peroth'an, Well of Eternity
Fanged Tentacle Archbishop Benedictus, Hour of Twilight
Stalk of Corruption Archbishop Benedictus, Hour of Twilight
Jaina's Staff Echo of Jaina, End Time

Wands

Hungermouth Wand 700 VP


Points or farming

For a majority of slots, you're going to either have to waste precious valor points or continue to farm up gear from past heroics or via justice points, there's just no other way around it. I would have to say that this time around, cloth DPSers (and just cloth in general, to be honest) seriously took a gearing hit in terms of what can drop for us. Perhaps it is the grass is always greener complex, but it certainly feels as though there are more plate DPS or leather DPS drops than there are for cloth. Maybe I'm just going crazy.

One thing you certainly won't want for is a weapon, though. While two of them do come from the same boss -- one being a one-handed weapon, the other being a staff -- there's also another chance at a staff should you encounter Jaina while traveling through End Time.

If you were hoping for a quick way to be able to farm gear up for your alts in order to shoot them off into the Raid Finder in an attempt to get some Dragon Soul loot, then be prepared to do some lower dungeon farming if you haven't already fully decked them out from the current set of heroic instances. At a cap of 1,000 valor points per week, it's going to take some time to fill out your gear.

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 encounters such as Blackwing Descent and The Bastion of Twilight.