I have had a lot of people find me on my site and in game who are asking me about gear. A lot of new guildies who have just hit Level 70 are also looking at our guild's minimum requirements for Karazhan with shocked disbelief at the disparity between their numbers there as compared to what they are at now. Since Retribution Paladins are the rarest of the 3 classes I play at 70 now, I felt it would be most beneficial of the toons. The plan here is to link you my characters WoW Digger Profile, and explain why I chose it and where I got it from.
Profile: Medros
Slots:
Head - The Horseman's Helm Sockets: Infused Nightseye | Brilliant Dawnstone | Lustrous Star of Elune | Enchant: Glyph of Ferocity Listeners to the podcast, or players of WoW for more than a couple months will know that this dropped off the summoned boss in Scarlet Monastery during the Hallow's end Festival this year, causing uproar and anger by many players in game by the quality of loot dropped. This helm was the rarest item he dropped, and took many runs.
Neck - Necklace of Trophies I tried very hard to far this item up, as my Choker of Repentance was just not doing it for my, even with it's epic status. In the end, since this is a world drop, I decided to buy it off the AH for about 40g. I choose this for it's improvement to my hit rating and crit rating via the agility.
Shoulder - Warchief's Mantle Sockets: Bright Living Ruby | Brilliant Dawnstone | Enchant: Inscription of Vengeance This item was a quest reward from the Escape from Durnholde instance at the Caverns of Time. I chose the intellect gem because while Retribution Paladins do not use as many spells as out holy counterparts, we do use a few and therefore need a noticeable mana pool.
Back - Royal Cloak of Arathi Kings | Enchant: Enchant Cloak - Greater Agility This was my first piece of gear from Karazhan, which dropped on my first run off of Moroes. The enchant was easy to get the materials for. Again, more improvement to hit rating, attack power and crit rating.
Chest - Breastplate of Kings Sockets: Balanced Nightseye | Wicked Noble Topaz | Wicked Noble Topaz | Enchant: Enchant Chest - Restore Mana Prime This breastplate was crafted via my Armorsmithing profession, the first in a series of breastplates that end in Bulwark of the Ancient Kings though between you and me I think we'll see the Wrath of the Lich King hit store shelves before I see a Primal Vortex in my inventory.
Wrist - Sha'tari Wrought Armguards Sockets: Smooth Dawnstone | Enchant: Enchant Bracer - Assault - One of two pieces I wear that was a quest reward from a run into the Shadow Labrynth. Quest: The Soul Devices
Hand - Gauntlets of the Skullsplitter | Enchant: Enchant Gloves - Assault - This item, discovered via a piece about Retribution Paladin gear on WoW Insider, was bought off the Auction House until a better piece can be found.
Waist - Rubium War-Girdle - Dropped off Zereketh the Unbound on one of the few times I have seen him killed as he is tough and easily bypassed.
Legs - Legguards of the Shattered Hand | Enchant: Cobrahide Leg Armor - These dropped while I was out killing Air Elementals in Shadowmoon Valley with my good friend Nafaerah, who was there for the Leather dropped from the snakes and scorpids in the area north of the Altar of Sha`tar
Feet - Sha'tari Wrought Greaves Sockets: Bright Living Ruby | Balanced Nightseye | Enchant: - Second quest reward from Shadow Labrynth. Quest: Into the Heart of the Labyrinth
Rings - Ring of Ghoulish Delight & Violet Signet - The first is a drop from the Headless Horseman(See Helm) and the second is a reputation based quest from the Violet Eye, whose reputation comes from Karazhan. This ring is the Honored version. Quest: Down the Violet Path
Trinkets - Core of Ar'kelos & Skyguard Silver Cross - The Core is a reward from the quest Ar'kelos the Guardian while the Cross is purchased from the Sha'tari Skyguard at Exalted reputation for 4g and change.
Main Hand/Two Hand - Hammer of Destiny | Enchant: Enchant 2H Weapon - Savagery - I would love to say I got this in an epic battle, but I actually just bought it off the Auction House for 950g. It can now be had for roughly 500-700g on my home realm of Argent Dawn. With the Savagery enchant, which makes the weapon drip red like it is bloodied, this weapon is very imposing on the enemy.
Off Hand - N/A
Ranged/Relic - Libram of Saints Departed - This Libram is a drop from The Maker in the Blood Furnace. There are much better Retribution Librams in the game, but I didn't even consider changing to Ret until well into 70 and most of the good quest reward ones had been passed by.
Have questions about gems, improvements, and enchants? Reply to this comment or email me, med2008@allthingsazeroth.com!
Updates:
I replaced my Sha'tari Wrought Greaves with Vortex Walking Boots socketed with Brilliant Dawnstone and Balanced Nightseye
Reference Links