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Phat Loot Phriday: Hand of the Deciever
The Warglaives get all the glory for being all Legendary, but when you want a mainhand melee and you're raiding at the top of the game, this is really what you'll want.Name: Hand of the Deciever (Wowhead, Thottbot, WowDB)Type: Epic Main-hand Fist WeaponDamage/Speed: 238-357/2.60 (114.4 DPS)Abilities: +28 Stamina, and you know by now what Stamina gives you. There's no Agility on it, so the Warglaive set is still likely a better option for Rogues if you were lucky enough to get that. But for anyone who needs a fist weapon in the main hand for melee, this is the Cadillac you want to be driving. Two Yellow sockets, and there is where you can get everything you need that's not in the usual stats (some more crit, some extra Strength for Fury Warriors, or even some hit if you still need it). +6 Attack Power socket bonus, which is pretty weak, so socket with what you want on this one, and only go for yellow if it's all you need. Increase Attack Power by 54, and your attacks ignore 196 of your opponent's armor. We need to mention Enhancement Shamans at this point -- while Rogues and Warriors pretty much get their pick of the litter for weapons, this kind of fist weapon is aimed squarely at Shammies, who aren't able to use the Warglaives or any of the other crazy swords at this level. That doesn't mean that this isn't a good weapon for a Warrior or a Rogue -- in certain situations and specs, it does rival the Warglaives for them. But this is an Enhancement Shaman weapon first and foremost -- because they aren't able to wield swords, this one's for them. Ignoring armor is a tough mechanic to wrap your head around (and since you all know that I'm bad at math, I have a harder time with it). If you do have an item that ignores armor, it's best to stack it as much as possible with other items -- taking just a little armor off of a target that has tons of it won't help you too much. But taking a nice chunk of armor off, say, a clothie, helps your DPS out more. Here's a quick chart (that probably isn't necessarily up to date, but can probably work as a good guide). So as little as 500 armor ignored can help your DPS out by a few percentage points, but as you get further into more heavily armored targets, that DPS number goes down. How to Get It: Drops from one of the last bosses in the game, Kalecgos Kil'jaeden (sorry, I've never been to either, mixed them up). Do we have to say anything besides that? If you're already in Sunwell, you know exactly where he is, and if you're not yet, then get to Sunwell first and then you can figure out. Odds are that if you're not raiding Sunwell by now, you probably won't see him before Wrath anyway. Drop him, have about a 15% chance that this item drops, be an Enhancement Shammy and convince all the Warriors and Rogues that this is really an item you deserve, and the Hand is yours.Getting Rid of It: Fully socketed, you probably won't -- even in Northrend, this is a nice weapon to have in the main hand. Though you probably will be done with it before raiding gets underway at level 80, so then you can sell it back to vendors for 15g 65s 3c, or disenchant it into (probably two) Void Crystals.
Pirate Loot Phriday: Foror's Eyepatch
Yaaaarrrr maties, that scurvy-ridden deck-scrubber Schramm was made to walk the plank during the last plunderin' voyage on the South Seas, so I, Capt'n' Blackbeard, be here to tell yer about my favorite Pirate Loot in the game today. Ye may remember me from such posts as my Piratical quest guide, and if ye really want to dress up like a pirate, maybe ye'll be interested in some Savory Deviate Delight. But enough high seas promotin' -- let's get to this Epic eyepatch!Name: Foror's Eyepatch (Wowhead, Thottbot, Wowdb)Type: Epic Leather HeadpieceArmor: 183Abilities: Yaaar maties -- this eyepatch increases yer Stamina by 19, which is good, because you'll need as much Staminer as ye can manage to drink toe to toe with ol' Blackbeard. O'course, +19 Stamina ain't much now that ye're sailing around the cosmos in Outland and such, but back when we pirates ruled the seven seas of Azeroth, it were plenty! It also increases yer crit strike rating by 28 (which'll help ye stab yer rapier right under the shirt folds of those bastards in the Royal Navy), and increases attack power by 44. Plus, it's as stylish an eyepatch as ye'll find. While there be plenty of eyecovers hidden in treasure chests all over the world, this be the only Epic one ye can wear (at least until our ships set sail again t'Northrend). Which reminds me, ye scurvy landlubbers -- did I ever tell ye how I lost my own eye? It was the first day I had me hook. Arrr, but that's a story for another day. How to Get It: Ah, to nab this beautiful booty for yerself, ye need to bring down the biggest freshwater kraken that ever terrified the trolls of Zul'Gurub. Aye, lads and lasses, Gahz'ranka, the dreaded Hydra that swims in the ancient Troll city. Once upon a time, the beast required a whole crew of 25 pirates to kill, but nowadays, with the shiny cutlasses and bootstraps ye adventurers have, ye can do it with just a few folks.But bringing the beast up from the swirling waters of Zul'Gurub is a quest in itself -- ye've first got to go into the instance and get the measuring tape of ol' Nat Pagle. Now, Nat Pagle isn't a pirate by any means, but those of us swashbucklers have to respect a man who's tamed as many fish as he has, even if he is a lousy landlubber. Give him the tape (last the echoes of Davy Jones' locker told us, he was in Dustwallow Marsh), and ye'll find him with a Mudskunk Lure. Then ye've got to go back into Gurubsville, fish out five Mudskunks from the pools in the water, and finally ye'll be able to face Gahz'ranka. Ye'll see the eyepatch once out of every ten kills, so get to farming, scallywags! That eyepatch ain't going to pull itself from the beasts' guts on its own!As for who Foror is, ye captain haven't a clue. But he must be a cursed yellow-belly landlubber if he's going to go leaving his eyepatch in the belly of Gahz'ranka! A real pirate would have taken off his boots (Posiedon knows ye don't want to get yer boots dirty), and climbed right down the throat of the beast to get it back!Getting Rid of It: Disenchants into a Nexus Crystal (yer pirate ain't so sure of disenchanting -- fishing is his only profession, and voodoo is better left to those who know how it's done), and will sell back to vendors for 2g 59s 33c. But real pirates don't sell -- if ye got treasure ye don't need, just bury it on a remote island somewhere! That's the pirate way!
Phat Loot Phriday: Crossbow of Relentless Strikes
BM Hunters, here's something you can spend those Badges on.Name: Crossbow of Relentless Strikes (Wowhead, Thottbot, Goblin Workshop)Type: Epic CrossbowDamage/Speed: 182-339 / 2.80 (93.0 DPS)Abilities: It can strike relentlessly, obviously. Improves hit rating by 14 and crit strike rating by 18, and increases attack power by 32. The hit is very nice for a bow and it takes up a good chunk of the +hit you need to meet the hit cap, which means you probably will have a gem or two free elsewhere to add more Agility into the mix. The crit is nice, and more attack power is always a good thing obviously. But the real stat on this bow is its speed -- while the damage ain't the best, the lower speed makes it easier for BM Hunters especially to match up their Steady Shot/Autoshot rotation, which means more DPS overall. This bow is a gift from Blizzard to Beastmaster Hunters, How to Get It: It's relatively easy -- just lug 150 Badges of Justice (those things have to be heavy, right?) to the Badge Vendors in Quel'danas or Shattrath. There's 22 Badges in a full Karazhan clear, and Heroics have about 3-5 each (plus a few more for the daily quest), so run Kara and the daily Heroics all week long, and it should only take you about two or three weeks to pick up all the badges you need. Throw in some ZA if your guild is running that one, and add in the fact that you probably already have a few badges in the bank, and this baby's almost in your hands. It'll last you at least until Sunwell, too, and even if the expansion rolls around before you can make it in there, you should at least be able to get a level or two under your belt before it eventually gets replaced by a green. If you're looking for something to do ingame before the expansion, this bow's not a bad goal to have -- think of all the rep, other gear, and gold you'll pull out of running all these instances, too.Getting Rid of It: Disenchants into a Void Crystal, but just like most Badge gear, vendors won't buy it back from you. As I said, odds are that if you don't replace it with a Sunwell piece, you'll probably replace it at some point in Northrend. But the thrill of gear isn't in having it, it's in chasing it, right?
Phat Loot Phriday: The Booterang
I've been grinding as much Netherwing rep as I can lately, and this is definitely the most fun of the quests down there, if not the most fun daily quest ever.Name: Booterang (Wowhead, Thottbot, Armory)Type: Quest itemDamage/Speed: N/AAbilities: Gets Disobedient Peons back up and working again, and fast. As you might expect, the Booterang is a boot you can throw that will come back to you, whereever you are. It's part of the Netherwing rep questline, and involves a daily quest where you must search out Disobedient Dragonmaw Peons on Netherwing Ledge, toss the Booterang at them to give them an attitude adjustment, and then the boot flies back to you (and as you catch it, you do a great fist pump motion). It's great, great fun -- while the bombing daily quests are always a good time, and the Murloc de-mind-controlling on Sunwell Isle always brings a smile to my face, the Booterang is the best. Unfortunately, the Booterang only works on Disobedient Peons on Netherwing Ledge, so using it to knock some sense into raiders who aren't paying attention or battleground members who aren't fighting at the flag is, unfortunately, out of the question. But maybe we'll see an upgraded Booterang in the expansion? There is also a technique called "Booterang chasing" -- you can use the item from your mount, and since an epic mount is required to do the Netherwing quests, you actually move faster than the Booterang can come back to you. Since you can use it 20 times in a row, you can throw out 20 Booterangs at various peons, and as long as you keep moving, you can trail all 20 Booterangs behind you, spinning around you as they try to find their way back. The 'rangs can be trailed anywhere, too, so people can be seen flying around Shadowmoon Valley with a trail of spinning boots behind them. How to Get It: There are lots of Netherwing quest line guides around (including an official one) -- to start the quests, you've got to first have a 300 riding skill, and then you'll have to grind a few dailiy quests until you get to Friendly reputation with the Netherwing Faction (by masquerading as a Dragonmaw Orc grunt). Once you hit Friendly, you'll get upgraded to an Overseer, and with the promotion comes your very own Booterang (which you've got to assemble with a quick quest that requires you to get some Knothide Leather, easily attained on the AH if you're not a skinner, and the hide of Tyrannus, a dinosaur hiding in the northernmost ecodome in Netherstorm).Make your Booterang (the "There are many like it, but this one is yours" inscription, along with the text of the quests, comes straight from the great Full Metal Jacket), and then the next quest requires you to bust some Peon heads. And let me tell you -- after a day of slogging through the Netherwing mines dealing with all those Flayer respawns and fighting with other players over drops and mobs, there is nothing better than slinging a booterang around and telling some lazy orcs to get back to work.Getting Rid of It: Unfortunately, you don't actually get it -- even though you "make" it by getting the mats together, the Overseer who gives you the quest keeps it when you turn the quest in. It sure is fun while you have it (and note to Blizzard: this would be a great leatherworking pattern, especially if you threw a stun or even a debuff on it), but when the quest is gone, so is your Booterang. Until the next day, anyway, when you can do the quest again.
Phat Loot Phriday: Gadgetstorm Goggles
See, this is (one reason why) everyone wants to be an Engineer. Why can't us Leatherworkers get some sweet gear like this?Name: Gadgetstorm Goggles (Wowhead, Thottbot, Wowdb)Type: Epic Mail HeadpieceArmory: 726Abilities: +28 Stamina A meta and blue socket, with a socket bonus of +5 spell damage and healing Requires Engineering 350 to wear -- if you lose your Engineering skill for some reason, you won't be able to wear these anymore. See "How to Get It" below. On equip: improves spell hit rating by 12, spell crit rating by 40, and increases damage and healing up to 55. Pretty sweet for a helm. Also on equip: shows the location of all gas clouds on the minimap, very useful if you've got a mote extractor (and if you're Engineering at this level you should). And on use, allows you to see into the distance. This is similar to the Shaman Farseeing spell -- only really useful in certain instances, but kind of a little added bonus to wearing the goggles. Very good gear for caster Shaman Engineers, which admittedly is a small group. But Blizzard catering to historically ignored gear specs like this is good to see. How to Get It: You've got to be an Engineer to make and wear these -- they are trainable from the regular Engineer trainer at around level 350, and you need to be 350 to actually make them. Total ingredient list is pretty steep: thirty Knothide Leather, 120 Adamantite ore, six Khorium ore, a Primal Fire, forty-eight Fel Iron ore, thirty-two Eternium ore, two Living Rubies, and one Primal Nether, which will run you a few hundred gold just picking them up off the AH. Not to mention the costs of actually leveling up Engineering, although there are tons of costs and advantages to leveling up any manufacturing profession anyway.But get the skill, train the recipe, grab the mats, and the Goggles are yours. In my humble opinion, it's one of the cooler-looking crafted helms out there, too. Assimilate or die!Getting Rid of It: Sells to vendors for 5g 83s 63c, and of course with the Engineering requirement on it, it's BoP. Does disenchant into a Void Crystal however. But it'd be an expensive Void Crystal.
Phat Loot Phriday: Blade of Eternal Darkness
Wait, there's an actual reason to go to Mauradon and do a Princess run?Name: Blade of Eternal Darkness (Wowhead, Thottbot, Goblin Workshop)Type: Epic One-hand DaggerDamage/Speed: 33-70/1.50 (34.3 DPS)Abilities: It's only got one: landing a direct damage spell has a chance to deal 100 Shadow damage and restore 100 mana to you. So basically every time you hit with a DD spell (not a DoT), you have a chance to do damage and restore mana. Pretty awesome. There's no apparent cooldown on the proc. As mentioned, it doesn't work on DoT tics, but it sometimes does work on AoE, and it does work with spells like Lightning Shield (though it doesn't work with totems). So depending on your situation, the dagger might be worth keeping around even into the higher levels. Until downranking is killed off, it might be a way to build back up some mana. Oh, and the minimum level is 49, which makes this definitely a twink item -- while it's great for leveling, it's most likely twinks who are going to be asking for Princess runs to grab this one. Trivia: For a long time, this was the first non-World epic item in the game. As of 2.3.0, Blizzard redid the loot for a lot of lower level instances, and now it's a ring in Scarlet Monastery. But this is the original Epic drop, baby! How to Get It: Yes, you've got to go in and kill the Princess in Maraudon (which is probably my favorite, pre-BC instance, though Dire Maul is a good one, too). As you probably know, there are really three parts of Mara -- there are two paths that go through the instance (one full of orange crystals and one purple), and then they meet up in the middle for a third section that leads to the main boss of the instance, the extremely ugly Princess Theradras. If you've done the quest for both sides of the instance, you can get the scepter that will let you use the portal at the beginning of the instance to warp right to the last part. Doing just the last part is called a Princess Run, and that's what you'll need to do to get this item.It drops from the lovely lady at a rate of about 2%, so it's definitely a rare drop to come by. But twinks have proved that it's farmable, so if you really, really want it, you can get a higher level to run you up to the Princess and drop her a few dozen times, and you'll probably see it. If not, keep farming -- a coin has to fall tails sometime, right?Getting Rid of It: Sells to vendors for 4g 67s 96c (which isn't a lot at 70, but is a whole lot of money at level 49). Disenchants into a Small Brilliant Shard.
Phat Loot Phriday: Torch of the Damned
We've been a little husky the past few weeks here at Phat Loot Phriday, so this week we're aiming to fix that, and get back to what this column is all about: gigantic spiky, glowy things that you can kill with.Name: Torch of the Damned (Wowhead, Thottbot, Retribution)Type: Epic Two-hand MaceDamage/Speed: 396-595 / 3.80 (130.4 DPS)Abilities: +51 Strength, +45 Stamina Improves crit strike rating by 38, improves haste rating by 50. Great for Paladins, and any other class that uses weapon damage for certain abilities. Warning: this gets into some deep math, and you guys know I'm bad at that, so expect to see some more number crunching in the comments. Basically, Seal of Command, a Ret Pally talent, gives a chance to add 70% of the weapon's damage to any normal attacks, and since most weapons trade off speed for damage (as in, the slower the weapon, the higher the damage), slow weapons are better -- you'll get more damage output when SoC procs. And since this weapon is very slow and very powerful, you'll get more damage overall out of Seal of Command. The Haste rating is also good for Paladins, not because it will help with Seal of Command (SoC is a procs-per-minute talent, so no matter how many times you hit, you can't get it to proc more often), but because it'll let you hit more often, which means more white damage. Any class that benefits from big swing damage (Windfury is awesome when it procs with a huge weapon like this) will love this mace. Oh, and anytime we mention a two-handed weapon, Matthew Rossi's eyebrow twitches until we mention Titan's Grip. Imagine seeing a Warrior wielding this baby... and something else at the same time. Yeah. How to Get It: Drops from the Essence of Anger, which is part of the Reliquary of Souls in the Black Temple (which, trivia for you, was influenced heavily by Sinistar, an old arcade game). Essence of Anger is the third phase, so get your 25 man raid up to that point, be one of those silly Ret Paladins (silly Paladins -- DPSing is for Hunters, Locks, Mages, and Rogues!), and spend your DKP or win the roll, whatever you need to do. Then you too can haul around this big purple spiky Mace, swinging it at will and bringing your enemies to their knees with just one proc.Getting Rid of It: You probably won't, for a while. But it does disenchant into a Void Crystal, and vendors will buy it back for 18g 43s 86c
Phat Loot Phriday: Star's Tears
"Water?" I hear you asking. How could plain old mana water be Phat Loot? But this is no ordinary water, my friends -- it's also known as Cheater's Juice. This, dear readers, is Arena water.Name: Star's Tears (Thottbot, Wowhead)Type: Common ConsumableDamage/Speed: N/AAbilities: Requires level 65. On drinking, restores 7200 mana over 30 seconds. Which isn't that great -- you can get this water from any Mage, right? But this water doesn't come from a Mage, and that's what's so special about it. It's the cheapest vendor water you can buy -- just 25s and two (that's right, two) Honor points per 5, in stacks of 20. Just one BG will earn you enough to not worry about the Honor points, and overall, you'll save money (probably even cheaper than that Mage you're tipping every time you log in) every time you buy it. And, as Arena players all know, this is the only non-Mage water usable in the Arenas. As the tooltip says, it's "carefully extracted for warfare use," so Arena players who can duck out of combat (Hunters, for example, can Feign Death out of combat and drink) can get back some mana fast even without a Mage in the group. Plus, as all Warcraft players (and bloggers) know, tears are the tastiest drink of all. Mmmmm tears. QQ moar pls. How to Get It: This tasty drink is just a vendor away -- you've got to run to the Officer Accessories Quartermaster in each capital city to pick up your couple of stacks. That's Brave Stonehide in Orgrimmar, and Master Sargeant Biggins in Stormwind City. Give them your money and a couple of Honor points, and the drink is yours. Who needs Mages anyway?Getting Rid of It: You could, um, drink it? Otherwise, you can sell it back to the vendor for 1s 25c, which is suprising -- these are the tears of stars, people! Famous people cried their eyes out just so you could have these!
Phat Loot Phriday: Orb of the Blackwhelp
This is the perfect hefty loot item -- it's easy enough for almost anyone to get, but relatively secret enough that most people don't know exactly where it is. When I came across it leveling up my Hunter this week, I knew it belonged right here.Name: Orb of the Blackwhelp (Wowwiki, Thottbot, Wowhead)Type: Common ConsumableDamage/Speed: N/AAbilities: Transforms you into a helpless Blackwhelp dragon for up to 15 minutes. You can't attack or cast spells while transformed. In fact, it's pretty limiting -- you can't even take damage while in this form. You can use self-buff abilities and drink potions and such (rumor is that Winterfall Firewater looks funny while the Orb is on), but the disguise is pretty fragile. And Wyrmcultists will see right through you in this disguise, as will any other mobs. We'll get to why that's important in a second. Oh, and coincidentally, Blizzard's item ID number for this item is 31337. Cute. How to Get It: Up in Blade's Edge, in the Wyrmcultist chain of quests leading out of Evergrove, you'll eventually find your way to Blackwing Coven, a cave west of the Grishna Arrakoa settlement (through the Wyrmskull Tunnel). There's a quest called "Meeting at Blackwing Coven," that requires you to kill Wyrmcultists, get "Costume Scraps" from them, and then use five of those to make a costume that will make you look like one of them.The actual quest has you meeting with an NPC and then leaving, but if you hurry (the costume only lasts three minutes), you can run over and also chat with another NPC on the opposite side of the cavern from the quest target. The NPC is called the "Wyrmcult Provisioner," and if you're in costume, he'll be friendly, and act as an actual vendor. Among a few other general goods (I stocked up on bullets while there), he also sells this item for a mere 2g 50s.And the good news is that even if you've done the quest already, you can go back, murder more Wyrmcultists for more Costume Scraps, and go visit the provisioner again. So even if you didn't catch this the first time around, it's still waiting for you in Blade's Edge.The Provisioner also sells the Wyrmcultist's Cloak, which is a nice Fire Resistance cloak, especially since it's so easy to get.Getting Rid of It: It's only got 3 charges, so use those and it's out of your life forever. You could also sell it back for 62s 50c, but unfortunately it's BoP so no auction house profits off of this one.
Phat Loot Phriday: Verigan's Fist
Before Death Knights show up and take all of the Paladins' glory, let's take a look at the weapon that originally defined Human Paladins, the two-handed mace of heroes.Name: Verigan's Fist (Wowhead, Thottbot, WoWWiki)Type: Rare Two-hand MaceDamage/Speed: 65-99 / 3.20 (25.6 DPS)Abilities: +7 Stamina, +6 Intellect, +12 Spirit. A Paladin hammer of justice if there ever was one, and not just because it's only for Pallies. The quest you can get it at (see below) is at level 20, and the weapon is so nice for the level it'll easily last you most of the way towards the 30s. There's no two ways about it -- any Paladin poking around midlevel should be wielding this hammer. Unless you're healing all the time, this is the thing to hit bad guys with. As soon as you get it, enchant it, because odds are that you'll keep it for a while. And it's one of the best quest rewards before 60 -- in my opinion, one of the best for-the-level weapons in the game. How to Get It: You've got to be an Alliance Paladin, which means Human (Update: or Dwarf or Draenei, of course, thanks commenters. But you still have to go to Westfall to run the quest). And at level 20, you'll get a quest called The Tome of Valor from your Paladin trainer, which will take you on a journey to save a lovely lass, and into a few instances for the level to do some weapon material fetching. It's a nice, and fairly simple quest chain, it'll get you not only this sweet weapon, but a nice shield and the Sense Undead ability, and, most importantly, it'll teach you how to be a Paladin and stand up for the Light wherever darkness encroaches (which doesn't include, strangely enough, QQing about ret gear itemization).Blood Elf Pallys have a much easier quest, and can nab the Blood-Tempered Ranseur. But Verigan's Fist is a classic, so we're featuring that one. The Whirlwind Weapon is a good one for Warriors, but that's three different weapons -- no other weapon exemplifies a class, in our humble opinion, as much as this one. Disagree? Sound off in the comments.Getting Rid of It: Sells to vendors for 74s 59c. Disenchants into a Small Glowing Shard. But don't get rid of it -- good Paladins always walk softly and carry a big hammer.
Phat Loot Phriday: Digested Hand of Power
Now this is a real offhand! The stats aren't so great, but wait until the next expansion -- surely the most disgusting item in the game will get a nice upgrade, right?Name: Digested Hand of PowerType: Epic Offhand Hand (Ha! Wowhead, Thottbot, Armory)Damage/Speed: N/AAbilities: +10 Stamina, +14 Intellect. Restores 10 mana per 5 seconds. Which isn't great in this day and age, but was pretty nice back at 60, when this thing first came out. But don't worry -- considering that Naxx will be updated, chances are that either the stats will change or that we'll see another version of this one. Looks like, well, a disembodied, digested hand. And considering who did the digesting, yeah -- that's pretty gross. But here's what I'd like to know: whose hand is it? How to Get It: Drops from Gluth, the Abomination boss in Naxxaramas. He's not very appetizing at all, though I don't think he's quite as disgusting as the Abominations in the Undead side of Stratholme -- those guys are really gross. Still, Gluth is no pushover.And as you probably already know, Naxxaramas is being retooled to work as one of the first endgame dungeons in Wrath of the Lich King, which means Gluth will likely find new life, and hopefully his loot along with him. Right now, this offhand (Ha! again) gets dropped at around 15%, though of course we have no idea how the new version of the loot will work.Getting Rid of It: Sells for 9g 13s 52c, and disenchants into a Nexus Crystal (remember those?). Here's hoping we'll see this baby again in the future -- in fact, let's shake on it.
Phat Loot Phriday: Perpetual Purple Firework
For the Fourth, we're going with the obvious choice: a hot little infinite fireworks trinket that isn't all that easy to get.Name: Perpetual Purple Firework (Wowhead, Thottbot, TCGLoot)Type: Epic (sometimes Uncommon) TrinketDamage/Speed: N/AAbilities: Use: Shoots a purple fireworks display into the air that explodes into a rain of sparkles. It has infinite uses (hence the "perpetual"), and a 30 second cooldown. The whole display itself lasts about 4 seconds, but it does like pretty purty. No level requirements, so anyone can use it -- provided you can get it. How to Get It: Yes, it's a TCG item, but not one of the normal ones, where you just buy a booster and hope you pick it up. Nope, this fireworks trinket is part of Upper Deck's "points" program, in which points is just a fancy word for "spend more money!" Every booster pack you buy has a certain number of points in it, and when you've collected enough points cards, you can spend them on UDE's website for ingame items like this one. There's about 100 points per booster pack, and this item currently costs 3,000 points (it used to cost 10,000!), so you'd have to buy 30 booster packs (MSRP around $5, though you can find them cheaper and more expensive in different places, so about $150 total) to get enough points for the trinket.Fortunately, we have eBay, where people are selling and buying the UDE points for as cheap as $15. Still not really a great way to get an ingame item (spending real money for virtual stuff, woo!), but if you really want to get your hands on this trinket, there you go. Otherwise, just do a few runs of Scarlet Monastery's Armory, and you'll have all the fireworks you need.Getting Rid of It: You can't! Vendors won't take it, and it'll never run out of charges, so the only way to get rid of it would be to destroy it. And that would be like throwing money down the drain, which is something that TCG buyers would never ever do, right? Right?
Phat Loot Phriday: Hypnotist's Watch
The post about trash and trinkets earlier this week reminded me of this item that we've never covered on PLP before. It's very class specific (hence the "trash and trinkets" argument), but for the right situation, it's pretty useful.Name: Hypnotist's Watch (Wowhead, Thottbot, Goblin Workshop)Type: Uncommon TrinketDamage/Speed: N/AAbilities: Use: Reduces your threat to enemy targets within 30 yards, making them less likely to attack you. Cooldown of five minutes, which means you're meant to use it a little less than every other fight -- usually only in situations where you need it. A two-minute trinket is meant to be used more often obviously (and you already know by now that you should be using trinkets as much as possible, right?), but this one is a little more special. Most people say it reduces threat by about 720, which isn't much (and there are a few other trinkets floating around that will do more). But this one is super easy to get, and in a few situations, 720 threat is all you need. Like which situations? Pets, mostly -- Warlocks or Hunters who accidentally pull aggro off their pets while leveling can pop this one and sent mobs back to their mini-tanks. DPS Warriors and Rogues can also use it as a preventative measure in instances, though in most cases there, you'll want to stick to DPS trinkets and rely on your usual threat management abilities to keep things controlled. This trinket is more for when you want to mess around solo, not when you're in a group and other people are depending on you. And one more thing: this trinket drops threat, but doesn't erase it. It won't make you lose aggro completely, like Vanish or Feign Death -- all it does is drop the threat numbers, and someone else (or your pet) has to be there to pick the mob up. How to Get It: This is husky loot today -- most of the items we've done the past few weeks are hardcore endgame raiding items, so here's one everyone can get. Everyone that can navigate Hellfire Peninsula, that is -- you'll want to talk to "Screaming" Screed Luckhead, who is one of the goblins near the wrecked Zepplin in the southwest part of the peninsula. He'll have you do a quest to pick up zepplin pieces, and then run you far south to the Warp Fields, where you'll have to kill Voidwalkers and steal their essence (of course, this is right near the Ravager nests down there, and near the Human ghosts area, so you'll probably want to chain quests by this point).Do the Voidwalker thing (the quest is called "Voidwalkers Gone Wild" -- cute), and then bring the essences back to Luckhead to claim your trinket.Getting Rid of It: By level 68, there are a few other threat trinkets which will serve you better, and by then hopefully you've learned how to control your threat anyway and have a much better DPS or utility trinket to use. This one will disenchant into an Arcane Dust, a Lesser Planar Essence, or a small chance of a Small Prismatic Shard, and will sell to vendors for 74s 64c. You are getting very sleepy...
Phat Loot Phriday: Golden Staff of the Sin'dorei
Yup, that's it. This baby is pretty much tops if you are a healer who wants to max out Spirit and healing and all of those other good stats that help you keep others alive. This is the kind of staff that even makes Tanks go all Keanu: "whoah." Name: Golden Staff of the Sin'dorei (WowDB, Thottbot, Wowhead)Type: Epic Two-hand StaffDamage/Speed: 146-338 / 3.20 (75.6 DPS)Abilities: +60 Stamina, +54 Intellect, +57 Spirit. Yeah. Red and two Blue sockets, nicely fitted with some +22 healing gems and/or +10 Spirit gems and you're talking about some real power. +4 Spirit socket bonus. Improves spell haste rating by 32 +550 healing, +183 spell damage. Yes, you read that right -- 550 healing. Not since right before the last expansion has there been a staff this nice in comparison to other gear, and even if you could match the healing on a one-hand/offhand combo (you probably can, if you get the right gear and enchants together), the Spirit bonuses on this baby are going to give that duo a run for the money. Take a good look, because this is the kind of stuff that's going to be dropping in endgame raids at level 80. Sin'dorei, you should know by now (we're almost to the next expansion), means Blood Elves, or "children of the Blood" in Thalassian. And yes, the staff looks just like the one in the BC art, as seen above. This is very BC staff, if not the most defining staff of this expansion. Look for a lot less gold and green and a lot more blue and black in WotLK. How to Get It: This is a Kil'jaeden item yet again -- it drops from the last boss currently in the game. And since we've seen so few drops from Killy Jay so far, we're not sure of the drop rate at all. Not that it matters much -- so few players comparatively are going to get loot from the fight with Kayje, that odds are you'll never see it.You can drool, though. And in ten levels, when we're all working through Naxx again, maybe you can convince your raid to go back and help you get it.Getting Rid of It: Sells to vendors for 20g 54s 93s and disenchants into a Void Crystal. But look how shiny! Have a good weekend.
Phat Loot Phriday: Crux of the Apocalypse
Been a long time since we did a dagger, so let's break out this badass stabby stick, just recently seen in the Sunwell Plateau.Name: Crux of the Apocalypse (Wowhead, Thottbot, Wowdb)Type: Epic One-hand DaggerDamage/Speed: 164-247/1.80 (114.2 DPS)Abilities: +18 Agility, +15 Stamina, which makes this a nice weapon for either Hunters or Rogues. Hunters will probably say it's best for them, and Rogues will probably say they deserve it, but no matter who's getting this weapon, it's top of the line period. Just look where it drops from. Red socket (perfect for a Subtle or Bright Crimson Spinel), +4 attack power bonus Improves haste rating by 27 and attack power by 56. No matter how you look at it, this is a very, very nice dagger. Just in case you're not up on your Latin, crux means cross, though it's also picked up another meaning in English as central or critical point. Either way, whenever you're stabbing someone with a central symbol of the Apocalypse, they're going to feel it. How to Get It: Oh, nothing too hard -- it just drops from Kil'jaeden, the current endgame boss of World of Warcraft. So just, you know, beat the game, and then win the roll against that greedy Hunter or the grabby Rogue in your raiding group, and the knife is yours. Oh, and you'll probably want to do it again -- if you think one of these things is great, just think how awesome dual wielding them would be.Getting Rid of It: You won't -- at least not until most of the way through Wrath of the Lich King. But when do you sell it, a vendor will give you 15g 52s 99c for it, or you can disenchant it into a Void Crystal.
Phat Loot Phriday: Cannonball Runner
I sure thought that we'd covered this before, but all my searching tells me that we haven't. So, since the past few weeks have been late endgame epics, here's a bit of awesomely husky loot -- if you haven't ever gotten this one, you definitely should.Name: Cannonball Runner (Wowhead, Thottbot, Fishing)Type: Rare TrinketDamage/Speed: N/A (see below)Abilities: Summons a cannon that will fire at enemies in front of you. Lasts for 10 seconds, with a 5 minute cooldown. Will reportedly attack enemies that aren't aggroed, so be careful dropping it in a crowded area. Fires about seven shots with an average of 50 damage each (though can also crit), so about 350 damage, depending on whatever you're shooting at. And of course, the name itself hearkens back to the famous Burt Reynolds epic, Cannonball Run. And the icon (a smiley-face adorned bomb) is great, though Blizzard has since reused it as a number of different bombs and grenades. And finally, it's one of the best trinkets in World of Warcraft. How to Get It: You've got to drop Cannon Master Willey, hiding in the Scarlet Crusade's armory in the live side of Stratholme. He's down at the end of a hallway, and as you fight him, other people will show up, so one of your group has to sit on cannon duty and fire cannons at the bad guys that show up while the rest of you fight Willey. Down him, and the trinket will drop at about a 17% rate. At level 70, the whole instance is pretty much soloable (depending on your class skill and gear), so odds are that as long as you keep on top of things, you can probably make your way to him by yourself.We'll have to see if Willey shows up in some form in the upcoming Caverns of Time version of Stratholme -- considering that Old Hillsbrad (with all of its familiar faces) is the most popular CoT instance, it's not hard to guess that he will.Getting Rid of It: Sells for 1g 8s 50c, disenchants into a Large Brilliant Shard. Boom!
Phat Loot Phriday: Zhar'doom, Greatstaff of the Devourer
Been a while since we did a staff, and considering how badass (and just plain weird) this baby looks, why not this one?Name: Zhar'doom, Greatstaff of the Devourer (Wowhead, Allakahzam, Thottbot)Type: Epic StaffDamage/Speed: 145-323 / 3.20 (73.2 DPS)Abilities: +70 Stamina, +47 Intellect, which makes it perfect for Warlocks, though really any caster would probably benefit Improves spell critical strike rating by 36, spell haste rating by 55, and increases damage and healing by 259. In other words, it rocks. Having a two-hand weapon limits you a bit, but this baby is your one stop shop for every stat important to a caster. Definitely a beautiful caster staff. And it's in the shape of a stretched-out Felhunter, or, depending on any conspiracy theories you may have about Blizzard continuity, a Zergling (more on that in a second). I couldn't find a video for you, but apparently it writhes and the mouth opens and closes as you hold it, too -- pretty weird and wacky. So about the Zergling thing -- Zerglings, as you may know, are the lower-rung units in the Zerg race of Starcraft, another Blizzard game. They look very similar to Felhunters in WoW, and it's true, this staff does look a little bit more like a Zergling than any other Felhunter we've seen in Azeroth. Plus, the name of the staff seems to be a reference to a Devouring One, another Zerg groupie. And it comes from Outland (a place out in the middle of space), and we have already seen Zergling noncombat pets in game. So I submit to you the conspiracy theory of all conspiracy theories: What if Warcraft and Starcraft are taking place in the same universe? And what if, depending on timelines, Zerglings are Felhunters and vice versa -- what if the Zerg is an evolved (or primitive) form of the Burning Legion? Just something to bend your mind a little bit on this Friday afternoon. How to Get It: Drops from the marquee star of the last expansion, Illy Dan himself. Drops at a rate of somewhere between 10-20%, so not super rare, but unless you're seriously farming the guy and/or are a Warlock or high DPS-doer who really needs a nice staff, you might have to wait a bit.But who doesn't want this thing, really? Put an "of the Devourer" after anything, and it becomes instantly more desirable. Tell me you wouldn't want a "Cupcake of the Devourer." Have you heard about that new Apple product, the "iPhone of the Devourer"? And dude, I'm so jealous -- my friend just got a "Nintendo Wii of the Devourer"!Getting Rid of It: Sells for 18g 39s 48c to vendors, disenchants into a Void Crystal. You should keep it though -- if the Zerg do invade Azeroth, maybe you can hold it hostage or something.
Phat Loot Phriday: Jin'rohk, the Great Apocalypse
No husky loot this week -- with a name like "the Great Apocalypse," this sword is nothing but badass.Name: Jin'rohk, the Great Apocalypse (Wowhead, Thottbot, Wowdigger)Type: Epic Two-hand SwordDamage/Speed: 380-570 / 3.70 (128.4 DPS)Abilities: Equip: Improves haste rating by 45, which will help a little bit with that low speed (but look at that damage range!), will bring the speed back to 3.60, which brings it up to 131.8 DPS +49 Stamina, makes this a nice PvP two-hander Equip: Increases attack power by 120, which also adds to attack damage. There are better high-end two handers in the game, but anyone who likes to swing a big sword should like this one. Plus, look at it! And that name! How to Get It: Drops from the troll himself, Zul'jin, in Zul'Aman. Interestingly enough, Zul'jin means "Leader of voodoo" and jin means "leader," So this sword is clearly a leader, but leader of what? Rohk, in the Zandali Troll language, actually means "end of worlds," or apocalypse. So if all the apocalypses you've ever seen in movies all got together (from Deep Impact to I Am Legend), one apocalypse would be standing above them all: Jin'rohk.But yes, the sword drops from the last boss in Zul'Aman. Droprate is about 12%, so get to him, be someone who swings a two-hand sword and needs an upgrade, win the roll, and it's all yours. Just don't hurt yourself carrying it around.Getting Rid of It: Sells for a whopping 17g 81s 95c, and disenchants, as you might guess, into a Void Crystal. But the terrible effect that carrying the Leader of Apocalypses has on you for all time? Priceless.
Phat Loot Phriday: Rifle of the Stoic Guardian
A gun... for tanks. But that speed makes things a little weird. Maybe some of the theorycrafters in the crowd can come up with some good reasons for that one (or just debate my own) in the comments.Name: Rifle of the Stoic Guardian (Wowhead, Thottbot, Goblin's Workshop)Type: Epic GunDamage/Speed: 120-224 / 1.90 (90.5 DPS, which is the highest on a gun, save for the Arena PvP guns in S3 and S4 -- except most of it comes from that low speed, see below)Abilities: +31 Stamina, which might make you think this is a PvP weapon, except for: Equip: Increases your dodge rating by 20. Which is a weird little stat -- with the stamina added on to it, that means that this gun (named after a "Stoic Guardian") is basically meant as a Tank pulling gun -- it'll let you shoot bullets and give you about the bonus of a minor trinket to dodge and Stam. But if that's true, what's up with that speed? You might think that a high DPS would mean this gun is good for a Hunter, but that's not quite true across the board -- especially for BM Hunters (a.k.a. Hunters that rely on their talents and abilities to do damage), a bullet pouch will often make this gun too fast to sneak special shots in, which will actually lower the DPS you can do. But on the other hand, from what I understand, weapon speed doesn't actually affect what happens when you first fire the gun. So the idea here may be that a Warrior, pulling, should have a fast enough gun to get a few shots off during the pull, in order to build up more threat. Why else would Blizzard give tanks such a fast gun? How to Get It: Drops from our old friend Teron Gorefiend, who we last killed for the Soul Cleaver. He's in the Black Temple, there's a Know Your Lore about him, yadda yadda yadda, you know the drill by now. Drop rate on this is about 15%, but the good news is that if you need this (as in, you're a tank who often pulls at the late endgame), you'll probably be able to get it.You might have to fend a few confused Hunters off for it, though. But the dodge rating and the Stamina (not to mention, as we said, the title), should make it pretty clear that this weapon is for a "Stoic Guardian," not a "Pet-loving Peashooter."Getting Rid of It: Sells for 10g 79s 6c. Will disenchant into a Void Crystal.
Phat Loot Phriday: Last Year's Mutton
This week we take a trip once again into husky loot (a.k.a. cool items that anyone can grab) and dip into ye olde garbage bin at the Darkmoon Faire.Name: Last Year's Mutton (Wowhead, Thottbot, MMODB)Type: Common One-hand Meat/MaceDamage/Speed: 44-82 / 2.00 (31.5 DPS)Abilities: Pulverize your foes into mincemeat with this leg o' lamb. Whether you're biting down yourself, or flanking your foes until they're well-done, this club o' grub will let you tenderize even the toughest turkey. I'd steak my reputation on it! Not to be confused with Last Month's Mutton (see in the right hand in the pic above), which does smell a little better, but isn't nearly as tough.. or green. Unfortnately, weapon enchants don't currently appear on this item, so while it would be completely awesome to have a flaming mutton, apparently that can't happen. Yet. How to Get It: How can you wield this Excalibur of Lunchmeats, this Frostmourne of Foods? All you've got to do is redeem 50 Darkmoon Faire tickets with Gelvas Grimgate, a goblin at the traveling Darkmoon Faire (it's either in Elwyn, Terrokar Forest, or Mulgore, depending on whatever week of the month you're in). And how do you get tickets? WoW Insider's Daniel Whitcomb has you covered -- they're the main currency of the Faire, so there are all kinds of turn-in quests and various silly things to do to earn them. Get 50 (or just 10, if all you want is last month's meat), go to Gelvas, and the mutton's all yours!Getting Rid of It: Is not a good idea -- who knows when you might be hungry next? But it isn't BoP, so you might be able to drop it in the AH. Otherwise it doesn't disenchant, but a vendor will give you 1g 93s 76c for it. Too bad you just can't eat it -- this would be the ultimate marinade!
