Ding!

Caveats:

• This is a simple gear list. I’m going slot-by-slot pointing out things that jumped out at me. You may or may not want a specific piece of gear for a given location. That’s fine!

• Most of this is heroic dungeon gear; a few pieces (Pauldrons of the Lightning Revenant come to mind) are from normal instances.

• You probably won’t want to wear all of this stuff or you’ll be way over the hit cap. Look for plate items that replace hit with crit, attack power, armor penetration (note: mostly for blood-spec), or something else useful to you that’s not haste.

• If you take spell plate, I will personally come to your house and delete your death knight for failing to grasp fundamentals. Don’t be a Death Knoob.

• There’s also some really nice craftable stuff, so I guess there’ll be another post after this one, huh? Badge gear too. Maybe I’ll combine them into one.

• I created my list with the following preferences as far as statting: Strength, stamina, hit, and crit #1; attack power #2; armor penetration #3; agility #4; haste #5.

• Dual wielders will obviously value haste and hit a lot more than two-hand wielders; blood will value armor penetration more than other specs but it’s at least mildly beneficial to everyone.

• Strength, hit, and crit are obvious, as are attack power, but if it comes down to more strength vs. more AP you should probably take the strength: DKs get 2 AP per point of strength, as well as other useful stuff. Strength is generally better.

• Your opinion is valid, and you’re welcome to point out items I missed - some slots just plain don’t have a lot of items!

Now, without further ado, on to the list!

So the lovely Anna of Too Many Annas decided to tag me in a little WoW blogger meme started by Just a WoW Girl. Well, what can I say? It looked fun, and it gave me a chance to dig through my not-numerous-at-all archives, so here goes:

Who was the first person to leave a comment on your blog that is still blogging?

Luckily, it didn’t take me too long to figure that out, thanks to WordPress 2.7 being more organized than the previous versions (requiring me to make far fewer clicks to find this info out), and I’m happy to say that the first still-active blogger to leave a comment on my blog was Jay, from Green Text on Black. Funny story: due to the way his domain used to look (grntxtonblk.com), WordPress flagged it as spam and I didn’t find it for a few days.

And now to keep the thing going, I’ll tag…

• Euripedes, from Critical QQ

• Adrenis (now Adrenis the Explorer!), of Draining Souls

• Nibuca, of Mystic Chicanery

• Santyn, over at Lethal Shots

• and Abigore, from Fear Dot Win.

Have at it!

A Zulfon progress update.

Level: 79! And 300,000 xp towards 80. Now parked in Sholazar Basin, in the Nesingwary base camp, building up rest of the last mad dash to 80.

Loremaster of Northrend: Have gotten Loremaster achievements for Borean Tundra, Howling Fjord, Dragonblight, Canada Grizzly Hills, and Zul’drak. Started working on Sholazar Basin last night; have a few done in Icecrown due to popping up there to help the Knights of the Ebon Blade find a new home.

Sanity Meter: And yes, because I am insane, my goal is to get the Loremaster title for Zulfon. For those playing along at home, that leaves me to do the following:

• 73 quests in Sholazar Basin (currently in progress)

• 100 quests in Storm Peaks (sheesh)

• 133 quests in Icecrown (5-man quests, here I come)

• 33 quests in Hellfire Peninsula (won’t be bad unless I end up one away… again)

• 39 quests in Zangarmarsh (also not bad; I did virtually nothing for the Cenarion Expedition)

• 34 quests in Terokkar Forest (exactly half)

• 44 quests in Nagrand (probably end up grinding rep for talbuks anyway)

• 49 quests in Blade’s Edge Mountains (way less than Queklain has to do)

• 94 quests in Netherstorm (didn’t do anything outside of Area 52 and Kirin’var Village, so woohoo)

• 80 quests in Shadowmoon Valley (barely did anything in here at all… plus I can go get a tabard out of it)

• 542 quests in the entire Eastern Kingdoms (8 quests done here… most of them were for the Argent Dawn, amusingly)

• And last but not least, 699 quests in Kalimdor (told you I was nuts!)

This basically gives me something to do between completing dailies (done when I first log in) and running heroics (which is what the guild is largely doing now). I have a gear wishlist, which will be part of my “gear for DPS DKs from heroics” post which will be up in the next day or two. It’ll also net cash here and there, probably large chunks towards the World Explorer achievement (close to done with Northrend, at least!) and Ambassador of the Horde achievement.

Those in turn make it easier to accomplish The Argent Champion, The Diplomat, and hopefully a good chunk of the way towards 40 Exalted Reputations. Heck, maybe even Guardian of Cenarius. The humor there doesn’t escape me: a death knight? A walking talking ecological disaster? As a Guardian of Cenarius? Cenarius is rolling in his demigodly grave.

Epic Flying: 1/5 of the way there. Training skills keeps cutting into it (36 gold a pop, sheesh… at least skills from talents are only 1 gold to train new ranks of), so I’m glad that’s almost over with. Finally started turning things over to TSF’s personal financier, Savyne (a.k.a. my bank alt), who’s begun raking in the gold selling the rarities and necessities of life in Northrend. I’ve been having pretty good luck at blue world drops, oddly: got Raine’s Signet of Blasting, Gauntlets of Disembowelment, and Shock-Inducing Girdle while leveling in Northrend, which I think is more than my warlock has gotten, um, ever. None too valuable, but hey, someone found use for them judging by how fast they sold. :)

Annoyance at Blizzard: well, it was high last night at one point. Dear Blizzard quest designers: why does Blood of Mam’toth not have a 100% drop rate for ITS OWN FRIGGING SELF?! Am I pulverizing them into such a fine mist that absolutely nothing is left? If so, why is there any left to loot? Please, won’t someone think of the boars?

Desire to Switch Specs: Growing. Unholy has a lot of neat toys but I don’t especially want to deal with pet management on a melee class. Looking after myself is hard enough, yo. Been thinking of switching back to Frost but I don’t know of any decent Frost DPS specs (though I am off to check Elitist Jerks right after I post this). Links and recommendations welcome!

And then BA Chat responded thusly:

(11:14:26 AM) ravariaa: hahah

(11:14:32 AM) StoppableForce1: pfffthahahaha

(11:14:51 AM) StoppableForce1: Muntadar al-Zaidi’s a shaman? intriguing

(11:15:02 AM) weedenc: was just thinking that

(11:15:02 AM) TheRatshag: rofl

(11:15:15 AM) StoppableForce1: also, hax: bush is evade bugged

(11:15:16 AM) ravariaa: /giggling

(11:15:18 AM) TheRatshag: didn’t see any totems

(11:15:37 AM) weedenc: he’s a nub

(11:15:45 AM) StoppableForce1: also: apparently Iraq is Thousand Needles

(11:15:47 AM) weedenc: only nubs use the shoe ability

(11:15:50 AM) StoppableForce1: at least, that’s what the minimap looks like

(11:15:54 AM) maerdred: Who throws a shoe? I mean Really? That hurts.

(11:15:54 AM) ravariaa: hehe

(11:16:03 AM) StoppableForce1: why do I know that? augh I spent too long mining tin there

(11:17:31 AM) weedenc: he’s an Orc Shaman too

(11:17:35 AM) StoppableForce1: actually, al-Zaidi is an elemental orc shaman

(11:18:02 AM) weedenc: well, we all need to leave the house more

(11:18:05 AM) StoppableForce1: clearly

(11:18:05 AM) weedenc: this picture proves it

(11:18:21 AM) StoppableForce1: “hey, check out this funny animation” “where are this guy’s totems? l2shaman”

(11:18:57 AM) StoppableForce1: nerf shoe, it has no cooldown

(11:19:28 AM) weedenc: Shoe needs a 6 second cool down so it can’t be spammed

(11:19:55 AM) weedenc: He should have dropped stoneclaw when he got aggro

(11:20:15 AM) weedenc: then he could have stepped back and CL the bunch

(11:20:16 AM) maerdred: I’m just waiting for the other shoe to drop….

Ladies and gentlemen, I present these, your bloggers.

… the Twisted Nether Blogcast, starring yours truly. Woot!

So you’re a DPS death knight, eh? Rejoice! The good news is, you won’t be doing much rep grinding for gear! The bad news is, it’s because most of the factions don’t have anything worth grinding for!

Hurray!

Alliance Vanguard/Horde Expedition: [rating:0/5]
The only reason to bother to grind reputation with these factions is if you’re a PvPer who wants the Arcanum of the Savage Gladiator, or an engineer getting the plans for the Mechano-Hog or Mekgineer’s Chopper.

Kirin Tor: [rating:0/5]
As you may have guessed, a city full of mages really doesn’t have much for a two-handed-weapon-swingin’ walkin’ talkin’ ecological disaster like yourself. Just as useless as your side’s faction, the Kirin Tor only offer one item a Death Knight DPS would even be using at all, and that’s a fire resist head enchant. There’s better options.

Argent Crusade: [rating:2/5]
The Argent Crusade distinguish themselves amongst the other factions by actually having two items a Death Knight DPS might consider using, both available at revered. However, I really hope you like armor penetration, because those two items are the Argent Skeleton Crusher and the Fang-Deflecting Faceguard. The Crusher is a great pickup if you haven’t gotten, for example, the Sword of Justice to drop in Heroic Halls of Stone yet; people are definitely reporting an increase in DPS with the crusher over the Ebon Blade’s closest offering (see next part) despite its lack of melee crit.

Knights of the Ebon Blade: [rating:3/5]
I only have one reason to even recommend these guys at all, and that is that they are the source for the Arcanum of Torment, aka the DPS head enchant. That alone gives them a 3/5, and you should probably consider grinding with them first and foremost. In fact, you may as well take it to exalted and pick up a pair of Death-Inured Sabatons; that’s a healthy chunk of three of our favorite stats, plus two open gem slots.

If you’re a dual-wielder, you could always pick up two Reapers of Dark Souls; despite the lack of Strength, two of them could hold you over until you can get something better. However, and this is the part I know I’m going to have a lot of falling-out over other Death Knights with: do not buy a Runeblade of Demonstrable Power. It is a hunter weapon. You do not need haste. You do not need agility. You can find crit and AP elsewhere. Do not buy it.

The end.

The Sons of Hodir: [rating:3/5]
There is nothing to not like about the Sons of Hodir. On top of having the most epic daily ever, they also have quite a bit to offer melee Death Knights. Spaulders of the Giant Lords is a great fit for the shoulder slot, and, oh yeah, would you like fries an enchantment with that? (Unless you’ve got Inscription, of course, in which case you’ll want to use your own enchant. The rest of us will be working for the giants for a while.) DPSers who happen to be higher with the Sons of Hodie than the Ebon Blade and like dual-wielding can pick up a pair of Stalactite Choppers; however, I’d go with the reapers if you’ve got nothing else. The DPS is identical, the attack power on the Reapers is double the Choppers, and the Reapers have hit rating over the not-optimal armor penetration.

The Wyrmrest Accord: [rating:2/5]
The main reason to grind with these guys is if you want to tank someday. Or if you want to tank offspec. Either way, you’re not going to be looking at these guys as a primary source of goods as a DPS DK. Dual-wielding the Fang of Truth is… ehhhhh. Just go get the Reapers. Yes, the Sabatons of Draconic Vigor have hit, but not much of it and not much else. The Legplates of Bloody Reprisal are okay, but they’ve got the again less-than-optimal armor penetration, with no other stats to go along ith it (but sheesh that is a huge chunk of Strength and Stamina). I figure everyone’ll be grinding exalted with them eventually for the mount anyhow, so if that’s your plan and you need new pants, pick up the legplates till you find something else, I s’pose.

Frenzyheart Tribe: [rating:0/5]
Apparently Blizzard created the Frenzyheart Tribe with the intention that no one would want to grind rep with them ever, by making their rewards so utterly craptastical that we have to go work for a bunch of gorlocs. VERY FUNNY, BLIZZARD. The Frenzyheart Tribe offer one (that’s 1, uno, ein, ichi) item that you can even find halfway worthwhile as a DPS DK, and you have to work your way to exalted to get it, and even when you get there it’s got a suboptimal stat: the Frenzyheart Insignia of Fury. Say it with me: haste is dumb for DKs. All you’re doing is upping your white damage, since haste doesn’t lower any of our global cooldowns. A little bonus crit the rest of the time is not worth it. Skip the puppy-men.

The Oracles: [rating:2/5]
The big-tongued bastards do have a nice array of items, I’ll give you that, but I’m not sure it’s worth diverting your attention from the Sons of Hodir or the Knights of the Ebon Blade to work with these guys. Still, if you don’t have the Spaulders of the Giant Lords, you could start off with the Gold Star Spaulders, maybe to do two levels if you’re leveling in the Basin… the Spaulders of the Giant Lords are stat-for-stat an upgrade from the Gold Star Spaulders. Depends on how easy revered is to get with the Oracles, I suppose. And at exalted? They offer an actual useful trinket (though there are better +crit trinkets, unless you find yourself constantly low on Runic Power, I suppose…). Most people will end up exalted with these guys anyway, for the egg with a chance of a sweet mount inside.

The Kalu’ak: [rating:2/5]
Most of you, if you were diligent in doing quests for the Tuskarr while leveling in Borean Tundra and/or Howling Fjord, will have gotten up to at least revered with the Tuskarr before hitting, say, level 73. (I did, anyway.) Awesome. Stop there. At 76, unless you’ve picked up something better, you’ll want to grab a Whalebone Carapace; you’ll probably be using it for a while. Avoid the Whale-Stick Harpoon; it is, once again, a hunter weapon (you should probably go get a De-Raged Waraxe instead). But hey, you’ll be hitting exalted with them sooner or later, because you’ll probably want the benef its of the epic fishing pole… and what else does your death machine need but an adorable baby penguin following it around?

Just a quick note to add that my guide to quit randomly mashing buttons and learn to kill things with your Death Knight (or for a less-unwieldy title, the guide to lrn2deathknight) has been updated to incorporate both reader suggestions and comments as well as my own experiences. You may want to take a second look - 2 round rotations have been added, incorporating exactly how the ability of every tree to create Death Runes allows you to switch things up a bit.

• As you can guess from the previous post, I did in fact finish the Wrathgate chain (at the same time as Might of Dragonblight, much like Fim). That was awesome! I have not, however, done the quest that immediately follows it. So shhh. I know how it goes, though (it’s hard to not get spoilered sometimes).

• Anna is awesome. And she didn’t even prompt me to say that. She’s my favorite Alliance pet smuggler and cross-faction exploring host. I think I need to show Anna how to get up to the airport one of these days, it’s a great view!

• This Friday, barring my apartment exploding, I’ll be on the Twisted Nether Blogcast! How, exactly, I’m supposed to follow BRK I’ll never know… but I’ll give it my best shot. You should head over there and email Fim and Bre some questions for me, so it’s not totally awkward… but apparently ViperWatch already, quote, “sent Bre orgasmic” (it’s on the record, listen to the end of the episode with BRK!) when she found out about it. So what can I say? Expectations are high. I’ll answer your questions! But send the questions to them.