[Druid] Cat's 3.2/Coliseum loot ranking (UPDATED 10/15)

Okay, before we get into this and I'm flooded with questions: yes, I'm aware of the armor pen nerf upcoming in 3.2.2. Yes, this will incorporate those numbers. No, the sky isn't falling and armor pen isn't ridiculously bad. Yes, you should still stack and gem for armor pen, according to every simulation I've seen; it just means you should likely either keep Mjolnir Runestone/Grim Toll for a while and go for agi, or stack armor pen and skip it entirely (using things like Banner of Victory instead). I've reduced the value of armor pen on gear by about 5%, which is what I've seen this as a hit. It's still just a bit above agi, but not much. This is on par with what Rawr rates it in 3.2.2, and what FBN's simulations have it as. Remember, the only thing that's changing is how much you get; the actual value of it when you have it is still very high.

Also note that while the 4 piece T9 bonus for cats isn't so thrilling (it's about a 1% DPS upgrade at most), the 2 piece T9 bonus is quite decent. It's about a 2% DPS upgrade depending on how well you rake currently. It clearly has some good synergy with 2p T8 too, but you should know that you shouldn't worry about keeping 2pT8. The bonus is good, but it definitely doesn't beat keeping it around if you're replacing it with 258 gear, and doesn't really merit keeping around if you're replacing it with 245 gear for the most part. If you're curious, the best pieces of T9 to go for at 258 levels of gear are the head and shoulders. That's unfortunate as they're also the slots you can fill via triumph badges without trophies (specifically the Duskstalker Pauldrons/Duskstalker Shoulderpads and Hood of Lethal Intent/Mask of Lethal Intent), but there are better gloves, chest, and leg off-set pieces.

Now, here's the thing - at this point given how hard Anub'arak is (only two guilds in the world beat him on his first reset), I'm not sure it's all that reasonable to believe that there's going to be a lot of 258 tier pieces out there for most people. They'll be under massively high demand for all but the best guilds, at least for a fairly decent time. I could be wrong and there could be billions of the pieces, but if I'm right you'll want to plan on getting a lot of off-tier pieces wherever you can (as they will likely drop in greater frequency) and making sure that when you get a 258 token, you're not going to upgrade.

And that really speaks to going for head and shoulders as T9. Those are the only pieces with zero upgrades over T9.

Still, your drop rate is your drop rate; you should also try and upgrade whatever your weakest spots are when you can.

Finally, not everything is on Wowhead; particularly loot from heroic Anub'Arak and the tribute gear. When I knew of something that wasn't there, I put it on the list and put the text in red. These numbers may not be perfect, but the relative values should be correct.

Back:

1. Vereesa's Dexterity/Sylvanas' Cunning - from Tribute (25) chest. 35.5
2. Cloak of the Silver Covenant/Cloak of Serrated Blades - Tribute (10) chest. 34.63
3. Drape of the untamed Predator/Cloak of the untamed predator - heroic(25) Icehowl. 32.15
4. Drape of the Faceless General - 25-man General Vezax (hard). 28.01.
5. Varian's Fervor/Garrosh's Rage - Tribute (25) chest. 28.0
6. Drape of the Untamed Predator/Cloak of the Untamed Predator - normal (25) Jaraxxus. 27.7
7. Cloak of the Triumphant Combatant/Cloak of the Victorious Combatant - from Tribute(10) chest. 27.58
8. Drape of Icy Intent - 25-man Hodir (hard) - 27.03
9. Might of the Nerub/Strength of the Nerub - heroic (25) Anub'arak. 26.94
   
10. Might of the Nerub/Strength of the Nerub - normal (25) Anub'Arak. 22.83
11. Drape of the Lithe - 25-man Ulduar (normal) - 22.79
12. Shawl of the Shattered Giant - 10-man Kologarn. 22.23
13. Drape of the Deadly Foe - 25-man Kel'Thuzad. 22.07
    

UPDATED: while the top piece is still not on there, some of the others have shown up - and they're great. Scores have been slightly updated. Not a lot of surprise though.

The back slot will have the most red text due to the cloak tribute rewards. If anything, this should point out to you that doing General Vezax and getting his cloak is a good idea; it's so awesome simply because of those gem slots. Otherwise, not a lot of surprises or really a lot of upgrades. Cloaks are usually hard to get and heavily fought over, so if you get an opportunity to upgrade it I'd recommend that you do so.

Chest:

1. Cuirass of Calamitous Fate/Vest of Calamitous Fate - Heroic (25) Jaraxxus. 58.84
2. Malfurion's Rainments of Triumph/Runetotem's Rainments of Triumph - Regalia of the Grand Vanquisher (heroic 25). 58.39
3. Armor of Shifting Shadows/Vest of Shifting Shadows - heroic (10) Valkyr. 57.03
4. Knightbane Carapace - BoE Leatherworking via Crusader Orbs. 54.86
5. Malfurion's Rainments of Triumph/Runetotem's Rainments of Triumph - 75 emblems of triumph + 1 trophy of the crusade. 51.98
6. Cuirass of Calamitous Fate/Vest of Calamitous Fate - normal (25) Jaraxxus. 51.44
7. Embrace of the Gladiator - 25-man Thorim (hard). 49.78
8. Armor of Shifting Shadows/Vest of Shifting Shadows - normal (10) Valkyr. 48.94
9. Malfurion's Rainments of Conquest/Runetotem's Rainments of Conquest - 50 emblems of triumph. 46.34
10. Winter's Icy Embrace - 25-man Hodir (easy). 45.44
    
11. Conqueror's Nightsong Rainments - 58 emblems of Conquest. 42.05

UPDATED: the Cuirass was added to WoWhead, so this list is complete through 3.2. The values and relative values have remained largely the same, and this is the weakest of the 'better than T9.258 non-tier pieces' to upgrade. But it's still better.

Note that while the Cuirass/Vest is best in slot, the value between it and the T9 chest is very, very small. If you're especially hurting for a chest upgrade for whatever reason and you get a Regalia token, that's not the worst thing that you could upgrade. The heroic Valkyr drop is also very good and close to being up there, and may be significantly easier for you to obtain.

Feet:

1. Icewalker Treads/Treads of the Icewalker - Heroic (25) Faction Champions. 46.45
2. Acidmaw Boots/Acidmaw Treads - Heroic (10) Beasts. 40.22
3. Icewalker Treads/Treads of the Icewalker - Normal(25) Faction Champions. 40.21
4. Acidmaw Boots/Acidmaw Treads - Normal (10) Beasts. 34.69
5. Footpads of Silence - BoE craftable from Runed Orbs. 34.12
6. Runed Ironhide Boots - 25-man Iron Council (normal). 32.88
7. Flamestalker Boots - 25-man Ignis. 31.6
   

A very boring upgrade path here. The difference between Acidmaw boots on heroic 10 and Icewalker treads on normal 25 is so minuscule due to the weakness of the rating system; Acidmaw Treads are great when you're below the hit and exp cap, but Icewalkers are great even when you're at the exp cap. Choose which makes more sense to you given your gear. If you do a lot of tanking, the Acidmaw will likely pull better double duty.

Finger:

1. Band of Callous Aggression/Ring of Callous Aggression - Heroic (25) Faction Champions. 31.87
2. Planestalker Signet/Planestalker Band - Heroic (10) Jaraxxus. 30.98
3. Dexterous Brightstone Ring - 35 emblems of Triumph. 29.0
4. Planestalker Signet/Planestalker Band - Normal(10) Jaraxxus. 27.56
5. Brann's Signet Ring - 25-man Algalon quest turn in. 27.13
6. Band of the Violent Temperament/Ring of the Violent Temperament - Heroic (25) Icehowl. 26.85
7. Band of Lights - 10-man Algalon 26.83
8. Carnivorous Band/Gormok's Band - Heroic(10) Northrend Beasts. 25.42
9. Cindershard Ring - 25-man Ignis. 25.15
10. Brann's Sealing Ring - 10-man Algalon quest turn in. 25.02
11. Loop of the Agile - 10-man Iron Council (hard). 24.82
12. Metallic Loop of the Sufferer - 25-man General Vezax (easy). 22.87
13. Bloodshed Band - 35 emblems of Triumph. 22.83
14. Godbane Signet - 25-man Yogg-Saron (easy). 22.68
15. Band of the Violent Temperament/Ring of the Violent Temperament - normal (25) Beasts. 22.61
    
16. Etched Band of the Kirin Tor - lots of cash. 22.3
17. Band of Draconic Guile - 10-man Razorscale. 22.24
18. Surge Needle Ring - 10-man Malygos. 20.84
19. Strength of the Automaton - 25-man Flame Leviathan (easy). 20.08
    

UPDATED: This is an interesting choice that largely comes down to whether you have an arpen trinket or not. If you do, chances are the callous aggression are going to be best. If you don't and you're stacking arpen you probably want Planestaker + Dexterous.

Rings are very, very hard to come by. The Dexterous Brightstone is potentially upgradeable if you get very lucky, but other than that you're likely going to have it + one of the other two if you're at all lucky. If you're like me, you'll be hoping for some other drops along the way. Because an upgrade drops in both normal and heroic 10-man Coliseum, you should likely try and run that if you have the chance.

Hands:

1. Gloves of the Silver Assassin/Sunreaver Assassin's Gloves - Heroic (10) Faction Champions. 44.43
2. Malfurion's Handgrips of Triumph/Runetotem's Handgrips of Triumph - Regalia of the Grand Vanquisher (heroic 25). 43.54
   
3. Malfurion's Handgrips of Triumph/Runetotem's Handgrips of Triumph - 45 emblems of triumph + 1 trophy of the crusade (normal 25, heroic 25, heroic 10). 38.69
4. Gloves of the Silver Assassin/Sunreaver Assassin's Gloves - Normal(10) Faction Champions. 37.39
5. Gloves of the Endless Dark - 10-man Algalon. 35.88
6. Gloves of the Stonereaper - 25-man Auriaya. 33.84
   
7. Malfurion's Handgrips of conquest/Runetotem's Handgrips of Conquest - 30 emblems of triumph. 34.45
8. Conqueror's Nightsong Handgrips - 25-man Mimiron (easy). 31.92
9. Gloves of the Blind Stalker - 28 emblems of conquest. 30.67
10. Valorous Nightsong Handgrips - 10-man Freya (easy). 29.76
    

The heroic 10-man gloves beat the top tier gloves fairly well, making them a good priority to grab. Again, it's all about the sockets - and in this case the sockets are nicely colored, too. Even the normal 10-man Assassin gloves are pretty good, so if you're considering buying the tier piece anyway, I'd recommend holding off for as long as you can unless you'll be doing a significant upgrade to both your cat and bear set. That's a nice side point, by the way; the Assassin gloves are great for cat but not very good for bears, so you might consider taking the hit for your cat's set and going for the tier piece. Me personally? The heroic assassin gloves dropped, so I won't have to make that decision for a bit. :)

Head:

1. Malfurion's Headguard of Triumph/Runetotem's Headguard of Triumph - Regalia of the Grand Vanquisher (heroic 25). 57.85
2. Hood of Lethal Intent/Mask of Lethal Intent - 75 emblems of triumph. 53.19
   
3. Malfurion's Headguard of Triumph/Runetotem's Headguard of Triumph - 75 emblems of triumph + 1 trophy of the crusade (normal 25, heroic 10). 51.33
4. Stormrage Coverlet - 25-man Onyxia. 49.90
   
5. Malfurion's Headguard of Conquest/Runetotem's Headguard of Conquest -50 emblems of triumph. 45.6
6. Stormrage Helm - 10-man Onyxia. 44.61
   
7. Mimiron's Flight Goggles - 10-man Mimiron (hard). 43.89
8. Mask of Distant Memory - The Black Knight heroic. 43.5
9. Conqueror's Nightsong Headguard - 58 emblems of Conquest. 43.14

UPDATED: the Onyxia helm is mostly good for the hit and expertise, but for cats hit is somewhat overrated. No armor pen and not a great differentiation makes it the worst of the 245 level helms, but not by so much that if you get it, you should get another helm in its place. Still, it's 4 baer.

I was shocked at how good the Mask of Distant Memory is, but looking at it it's quite strong if for whatever reason you're below the hit cap. Still, probably better to use the T8 piece if you're that low, as it'll stay decent for a longer period of time. As to the top of the list, I'd recommend going with the T9 helm if at all possible; it's one of the few pieces with expertise out there, and even though the Hood/Mask has armor pen, it's not enough to trump the higher ilvl.

Legs:

1. Leggings of the Broken Beast/Legwraps of the Broken Beast - heroic (25) Beasts. 58.75
2. Malfurion's Legguards of Triumph/Runetotem's Legguards of Triumph - Regalia of the Grand Vanquisher (heroic 25). 56.89
3. Legguards of Cunning Deception - 25-man Yogg (hard). 51.72
4. Malfurion's Legguards of Triumph/Runetotem's Legguards of Triumph - 75 emblems of triumph + 1 trophy of the crusade (normal 25, heroic 10). 50.37
5. Leggings of the Broken Beast/Legwraps of the Broken Beast - normal(25) Beasts. 49.47
6. Malfurion's Legguards of Conquest/Runetotem's Legguards of Conquest - 50 emblems of triumph. 44.64
7. Leggings of Wavering Shadow - 39 emblems of conquest. 49.0
8. Conqueror's Nightsong Legguards - 25-man Freya (easy). 41.96
   

There's a HUGE gulf between the 258 and the next tier of gear, and the hardmode Yogg legs sneak in there due to the extra socket and overall more useful stats. This is the best overall upgrade from set to non-set piece, so if you're going to skip using one piece of tier gear, make it for the 258 level legs from the Beasts.

Neck:

1. Charge of the Demon Lord/Charge of the Eredar - heroic (25) Jaraxxus. 32.44
2. Collar of Unending Torment/Collar of Ceaseless Torment - heroic (10) Beasts. 30.61
3. Sparkling Onyxia Tooth Pendant - 25-man Onyxia quest reward. 27.88
   
4. Charge of the Demon Lord/Charge of the Eredar - normal(25) Jaraxxus. 27.53
5. The Executioner's Malice/The Executioner's Vice - heroic(25) Valkyr. 27.3
6. Pendulum of Infinity - 25-man General Vezax (hard). 26.84
7. Collar of Unending Torment/Collar of Ceaseless Torment - normal (10) Beasts. 26.38
8. Seed of Budding Carnage - 10-man Freya (hard). 25.77
9. Broach of the Wailing Night - 19 emblems of Conquest. 24.49
10. Favor of the Dragon Queen - 25-man Malygos quest reward. 24.25
11. The Executioner's Malice/The Executioner's Vice - normal (25) Valkyr. 23.06
    

UPDATED: The onyxia neck isn't the best thing ever, but it does ever so slightly beat the normal 25-man gear neck. If you're hurting for an upgrade it's not too bad - though again, no armor pen hurts it some.

Man, Jaraxxus has been really stingy! If you're going for an armor-cap set, the Collar is what you want, but otherwise either it or the Charge neck are going to be good upgrades. Don't forget about the emblem vendor neck either as a cheap upgrade.

Shoulder:

1. Malfurion's Shoulderpads of Triumph/Runetotem's Shoulderpads of Triumph - Regalia of the Grand Vanquisher (heroic 25). 44.61
2. Duskstalker Pauldrons/Duskstalker Shoulderpads - 45 emblems of Triumph. 40.15
3. Malfurion's Shoulderpads of Triumph/Runetotem's Shoulderpads of Triumph - 45 emblems of triumph + 1 trophy of the crusade. 39.61
4. Spaulders of the Snow Bandit/Shoulderpads of the Snow Bandit - heroic(10) Anub'arak . 39.4
5. Shoulderpads of the Intruder - 25-man Iron Council (hard). 36.83
6. Malfurion's Shoulderpads of Conquest/Runetotem's Shoulderpads of Conquest - 30 emblems of triumph - 35.25
   
7. Spaulders of the Snow Bandit/Shoulderpads of the Snow Bandit - normal(10) Anub'arak . 34.74
8. Conqueror's Nightsong Shoulderpads - 25-man Yogg (easy). 33.44
9. Shoulderpads of the Monolith - 25-man Kologarn. 32.56
10. Treacherous Shoulderpads - 10-man XT (easy). 32.26
    
11. Valorous Nightsong Shoulderpads - 10-man Thorim (easy). 30.97
12. Valorous Dreamwalker Shoulderpads - 60 emblems of Valor. 28.05
13. Shoulderpads of the Infamous Knave - normal Trial of Crusader. 27.79
    

While the 258 tier piece is really awesome, this might be a good spot to get something cheap that will work for a while, like the Duskstalker shoulderpads. The Snow Bandit hardmode drop from Anub'arak is pretty good too, though not for the armor pen afficionado.

Trinket:

1. Death's Choice/Death's Verdict - heroic (25) Valkyr. 40.5
2. Death's Choice/Death's Verdict - normal (25) Valkyr. 35.8
3. Comet's Trail - 25-man Algalon. 31.3
4. Mjolnir Runestone - 10-man Thorim (hard). 28.1
5. Darkmoon Card:Greatness - BoE inscription. 26.6
6. Dark Matter - 10-man Algalon. 26.1
   
7. Banner of Victory - normal (Paletress) Trial of Champion. 25.3
8. Grim Toll - 25-man Naxxramas (various). 20.1
9. Mirror of Truth - 40 emblems of Valor. 183.7
10. Shard of the Crystal Heart - 50 emblems of triumph. 140.0
    

UPDATED: just in case it wasn't clear, the best strategy currently is to go with Mjolnir and one of the Death's trinkets. If you can't do that, going with double Death trinkets and DM:G or Banner of Victory (depending on your arpen level) is going to be good. This is what Tun of Ensidia does to some success, for instance.

A lot of this depends on your gearing strategy. While the death trinkets are always going to remain on top, what you use as your second trinket depends on whether you're going for max armor pen or a balance or if you want to cap via procs. Mjolnir is the best for cap via procs, of course. Banner of Victory is the only option for max armor pen. Because there is just so much hit rating out there, I can't recommend going for the Shard of the Crystal heart. And yes, ignore Wowhead's rankings until they get good modeling for on use/proc values; these are from Rawr and from reading EJ.

Waist:

1. Belt of the Merciless Killer/Belt of the Pitiless Killer - heroic (25) Valkyr. 43.92
2. Belt of the Merciless Killer/Belt of the Pitiless Killer - normal (25) Valkyr. 38.01
3. Soul-Devouring Cinch - 10-man Yogg (hard). 37.64
4. Death-Warmed Belt - BoE leatherworking from Runed Orbs. 33.07
5. Relic Hunter's Cord - 25-man Ulduar. 32.46
   
6. Waistguard of the Creator - 25-man Mimiron (easy). 31.27
7. Belt of the Twilight Assassin - 28 emblems of conquest. 31.21.

UPDATED: only changed the new score for the top belt. Rankings didn't change at all.

Even fewer choices for the cat than the bear. The hardmode 10-man yogg drop is an interesting choice; it has the rare expertise and two sockets, which may be a lot better than the 245-level Belt of the killer depending on what you have on personally. This is also one of the slots that changed most dramatically with the armor pen change; slots 3 through 5 moved all around.


Wrist:

1. Armbands of Dark Determination/Bracers of Dark Determination - heroic(25) Anub'arak. 33.47
   
2. Bracers of Swift Death - Leatherworking BoE via Crusader Orbs. 29.6
   
3. Armbands of Dark Determination/Bracers of Dark Determination - normal(25) Anub'arak. 28.15
4. Solar Bindings - 25-man Algalon. 27.72
5. Fluxing Energy Coils - 10-man XT (hard). 25.83
6. Armbands of the Wary Lookout - heroic Eadric in Trial of Champion. 23.67
7. Mechanist's Bindings - 25-man Flame Leviathan (easy). 22.97
8. Sinner's Bindings - 25-man Maexxna. 21.03
9. Thrusting Bands - 25-man Noth. 20.83
   
10. Wristwraps of the Cutthroat - 60 emblems of valor. 20.63

UPDATED: The armbands are even better than I originally thought. Otherwise no changes.

One of the better places to spend crusader orbs if you can. Rawr actually ranks them above the 258-level gear because of the hit cap, and it's likely that they'll be better for you as well as you get up in gear.

Weapons:

1. Archon Glaive/Hellion Glaive - heroic (25) Anub'arak. 271.53
2. Lupine Longstaff/Twin's Pact - heroic (25) Valkyr. 270.95
3. Catastrophe/Grievance - heroic (25) tribute chest. 258.68
4. Relentless Gladiator's Greatstaff - arena rating. 245.2
5. Relentless Gladiator's Crusher/Halberd - arena rating. 241.08
6. Archon Glaive/Hellion Glaive - normal (25) Anub'arak. 239.81
7. Lupine Longstaff/Twin's Pact - normal(25) Valkyr. 238.34
8. Attrition/Paragon's Breadth - heroic (10) tribute chest. 237.10
   
9. Fordragon Blades/Anguish - heroic (10) Anub'arak. 236.96
10. Reinforced Shadowstrike - 25-man Onyxia. 233.10
    
11. Dreambinder - 25-man Freya (hard). 226.64
12. Dark Edge of Depravity - 25-man Yogg(hard). 223.23
13. Lotrafen, Spear of the Damned - 25-man Vezax (easy). 212.19
14. Tortured Earth - 10-man Vezax (hard). 209.54
15. Twisted Visage - 25-man XT(normal). 208.74
16. Fordragon Blades/Anguish - normal(10) Anub'arak. 208.69
17. Hammer of Crushing Whispers - 10-man Yogg (hard). 203.56
18. Earthshaper - 25-man Yogg (easy). 201.08
19. Journey's End - 25-man Kel'Thuzad. 195.41
20. Hoperender - 10-man General Vezax (easy). 189.85
    
21. Marrowstrike - Heroic Paletress in Trial of Champion. 187.9
22. Spire of Withering Dreams - 10-man Kologarn. 185.59
23. Relentless Edge - 10 man Ignis. 182.32
    
24. Silvery Sylvan Stave/Staff of Feral Furies - 50 champion's seals. 150.2
    

UPDATED: the top end weapons shifted around a bit, but only a bit, mostly due to how much I value haste (not as much) vs how much FbN/Rawr do. Reinforced Shadowstrike is sadly not that great in the rankings due to the lack of a socket. It's better than many pieces from Ulduar, but it's the weakest 245-level weapon out there.

There are plenty of other weapons on the list between 19 and 22 - check the list if you like. The armor pen nerf definitely changed the values here quite a bit. Otherwise it's mostly governed by item level; the higher it is, the more FAP, and thus the more overall damage.

Idol:

1. Idol of Mutilation - 25 emblems of Triumph. 27.2
   
2. Idol of the Corrupter - 19 emblems of Conquest. 20.7*
   
3. Idol of Worship - 25 emblems of valor. 17.2
   
4. Idol of the Ravenous Beast - 15 emblems of heroism. 10.1

These are Rawr rankings. The rule of using Ravenous beast when you have high armor pen still applies. Also, the Idol of the Corrupter is only good if you're putting up mangle - but if you are, it's very good.