Thursday, January 21, 2010

[Offtopic]CS is recruiting

Last one for a while, I promise.

Casually Serious is recruiting right now - and I really recommend coming by and seeing if you have what it takes. CS is looking for a feral (DPS with occasional OT duties, aka, my old role), a rogue, a hunter and a healing (disc/holy) priest ,but as always outstanding apps are always interesting.

The official recruitment thread is over here:

I really can't speak enough about CS. If you're in a situation where you would like to raid but have limited time and you know your stuff, this is an amazing guild. We don't waste time, we don't mess around, we don't care about loot whoring or drama and don't tolerate it. We simply want to kill as much content as we possibly can. There's no recruiting for the bench, no giant raids, no one's on a special status or anything of the sort.

It's just be at raids and win.

Two nights a week, 4 hours for those nights, 7-11 PST. That's it. And for that 8 hour raiding schedule, CS has downed:
Naxx, Maly & Sarth3D (and gained the protodrakes)
Every hard mode in Ulduar + Yogg0 and gained Death's Demise & Celestial Defender
Every hard mode in ToC and gained Grand Crusader
Everything in ICC save BQL (which we haven't tried yet).

Realm firsts aren't that special on Balnazzar, I'll grant you - but being US 150/world 400 is, and wanting to do Yogg0 long after gear was irrelevant also was.

Anyway - if you're a good feral who does their homework and doesn't like to mess around, I can't recommend CS enough. Especially if you're like me and like tanking and DPSing both. And if you're a good player regardless, come see if it's what you're looking for.

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

[General] Pimpage and shoutouts


I never do a good job of saying goodbye :)


First off - many folks asked for good resources out there on various things, so I figured I'd give my recommendations and try and encourage some bloggers to write more.



On cat stuff: Coldbear has done quite possibly the most exhaustive writeup of feral dps that exists or that could exist. The video is awesome (especially if you happen to be taking ritalin) but the thing I most commend him for is the literally amazing wowwiki feral dps entry. The sheer amount of work on this is insane. Some great tips I learned from him are some of the UI fun bits, using GotW right before the pull to get an OoC proc and using nature's gift to maybe get one while pooling energy. But really - he's got it all.



I linked him before when he did some work on Arpen mechanics and the tricky question of when to switch - but you should still go visit Vallen at Feral Aggression and bug him to post more. He writes with a great style in a very approachable way, and he has a lot of things to say. Go say hi, show him you're interested and ask him to explain more stuff.



On bear stuff: there's sadly just not that much out there. The one I can wholeheartedly recommend is Darksend's great I'm not Feral, I'm a bear. He does a good job posting over at Tankspot and putting up movies, but you should bug him to post more otherwise.



For a newer set of all-around info, Alaron and the Fluid Druid is great and I hope that he continues to post a lot. The basic starting point on bear tanking and cat DPS should be required reading for any bear wanting to do any raiding. He's a bit busy right this moment, but hopefully he'll get back into the swing of things.



I really encourage you guys to comment on their blogs, ask them questions and in general go say hi. There's nothing more encouraging or inspiring to a writer than readers, and I've written some of my best work simply because someone left a good comment. If you want more things written - ask :)



Other than that, the EJ forums, tankspot, and the dreaded wow forums are all good resources. And Rawr. Always Rawr.



Onto some shoutouts for peeps out there. I'm sure I will miss a ton of people, and that's my personal failing.



-Andrew/Karthis - you were my biggest inspiration for starting writing at a good clip, to the point where my blog looks and is formatted a lot like yours was. (imitation is the sincerest form of flattery?) Your taking a break made me write more, and you leaving made me write even more, but no matter what I provided I could never fill that void. You were a great read and a good person to talk to. Thank you for giving so much back and doing it so well.



Flyv - it was awesome when you and Karthis and I were all bouncing ideas off of each other and getting more and more information. It really felt like a community and it was really synergistic. Sorry to see ya go.



Runycat - theory comes and goes, but your writing went way beyond that. You were seriously awesome and amazingly helpful, and damnit you were fun. The world needs more people like you. Some day it'd be great to bring the significant others and have a beer.



Copey - one of the best contributors to comments on this site. I'm really glad you spent the time to write.



John Patricelli - you gave me my first big break, and my success is almost entirely because of that. I'm sorry we didn't get along; that was entirely my failing.



Fasc - my partner in crime over at the wow forums. I didn't always agree with you, but I always respected what you were saying and why, and it was nice to have some sanity in the wilderness.



Astrylian - I don't think anyone has written something as profound as you have for this community. Thank you for doing such an amazing piece of work and for writing so well about it.



Communism - thank you for providing such clarity and quantitative analysis on the wow forums. It kept me from killing people with my bare hands. :)



Phae - congratulations again on the sprout. He's beautiful. :) You were the best of us, and you made me want to join the druid community.



Toskk - you were doing it before it was cool. Just astounding work that every feral owes a huge debt to.



Jacemora - write more, damnit!



Tigerfeet - sorry that you got burnt out. More sorry you're not writing more. You have a ton of style and wit, and I envy what you can do with graphics like no one else.



All my commenters: Thank you for the support and well-wishes and saying hi. I'll miss talking with you and helping out more than you'll know.



So long, guys. Kick some icecrown butt and may Blood Queen always drop Bloodfall. :)

Monday, January 18, 2010

Goodbye (at least for now)



I'm not sure how to really start this or end it, and this post has gone through revision after revision.


I talked to my officers over the weekend and let them know that I'd be taking a break from raiding, which is likely going to be a permanent one.



The main reason has nothing to do with my guild or drama or anything like that; Casually Serious has been about the best guild that I could imagine for what I've wanted out of Warcraft, and they're an incredible group of people. They have shown that smart raiding beats long raiding times, and that if you're skilled and do your homework you can have good success on progression with only a small amount of time.



No, it's personal life issues. Simply put, being a father of a newborn doesn't coincide well with raiding on a set schedule. Thinking on it it seems almost ludicrous to believe otherwise, but this was exacerbated more recently by other life events to a point that became...bad. And I told myself a long time ago that when WoW started interfering negatively with my normal life, it was time to stop.



It might be better in the future. I may be able to get back to raiding or playing. But honestly, a lot of the joy I had in playing I got from playing with my wife, and until that changes (which is not going to be very likely) I don't see me coming back as a raider.



Looking back, it's been a lot of fun and I'm very proud of what I've been able to accomplish with two great guilds. Being able to kill Kael, Illidan and Brutallus pre-nerf (and KJ after that), Maly, Sarth and all of Ulduar with Fire & Blood, and doing all the Ulduar hard modes (including Yogg0), all of ToGC on 25s - not a lot of people get to experience those things. I feel like I was a good contributor on those fights and did my part to down them. That's a great feeling and one of the most addictive parts of raiding for me - that you contributed to something greater than you.



Oddly enough, one of the hardest things for me to face is that this blog is going to stop. I also told myself that if I wasn't experiencing the content I didn't want to write about it; theorycrafting is good, but it only goes so far in place of real experience. I really did enjoy writing this, and again it was very rewarding to hear how many people got real, quantifiable help from my writing. One of the reasons I switched guilds (instead of outright quitting) was so I could continue writing about WoW. That's how important it was to me.



Thank you all for reading for the last two years. I've had some of the best readers I've ever seen on a blog, and it wouldn't have been so much fun without you.

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

[Druid] The threat value of arpen

UPDATED: thanks to Ciopo I went and redid a bit of the math here; sunder and FF stack multiplicatively, the armor for a boss was reduced (from 13083 to 10643, per experimentation) and the math was redone. Turns out arpen is even better than I originally calculated. And thanks to Ramenchef at EJ, I've updated again.

In an earlier post I mentioned the value of
threat for every 100 points of itemization for a bear...and kind of glossed over one specific value, that of armor penetration. Here's what I said about it back in the day:
Now, this definitely doesn't do a good job of modeling armor pen, and I didn't want to go into the insanity of that; it's quite complex. It does do a decent job of it given that in general, bears aren't going to have a ton of armor pen.
That's all true, but it doesn't really help a lot. The real trick though is that bears are going to be likely swimming in armor pen by the time they're geared out to the gills; every single tier piece has it, all the offtier pieces have it (at least from icecrown directly), and even some of the weapons have it.

So what's the actual value of arpen on threat? How good is it? The TL:DR version:
Armor Penetration is the best threat stat for bears after hit and expertise.

First, we have to go back and revise some of our assumptions. We'll start with the boss base armor: that's 10643 (corrected from 13083), from experimental testing. That's kind of the assumed number. It might be off; anecdotally people have indicated that (as an example) the Mimiron tank and Vezax both had higher armor than this, but we'll go with that since its' the accepted value.

We'll assume sunder and faerie fire are both up on the target. Before anything else, these take off 24% of the armor since they multiply. (this doesn't stack the way you'd think with armor pen). So that's 10643 *.8*.95 = 8088.68.

Next we get into an odd thing, which is that armor pen can only affect some of the armor on the target. There's a lengthy explanation over at wowwiki about this from ghostcrawler and an even lengthier conversation from EJ about how he's slightly wrong, but the long and short of it is that the formula for determining the affectable armor by armor pen by a lvl 80 mob (it was thought to be towards a level 83 mob, but it's attacker level that matters) is:

(935/6)*80 + armor/3 - (44335/6)

Which ends up being the magical number of 7773.727 for a boss. That's the maximum armor that armor pen could remove, and the percentage that it goes against. So for example: if you had 700 armor pen, you would have 'removes up to 50% of armor'. The target's armor after sunder and faerie fire is 8088.68. You can remove half of the minimum of (8088,7773.727) which is 7773.727.

(7773.727*.5) = 3886.8635. This is the total armor that can be removed, leaving 4201.8165 left.

Now to figure out what that actually does, we go to the armor formula, which tells you the damage reduction by armor. That is:

(armor / (armor +(467.5*80 - 22167.5))) for a level 80 attacker and a level 83 mob.

For 4201.8165 armor, that ends up giving 21.6% damage reduction. Not bad, given that before this the armor reduction was almost 35%.

Okay, okay - enough about the math. Let's see what the threat values are. Again, this is a mangle/ff/lacerate/swipe rotation, assumes lacerates don't fall off, and doesn't take into account any T10 bonuses.

We'll start with the basic idea that you're expertise soft capped on dodge (132 expertise) and have 100 hit. You have 10k AP and a 40% crit rate. For a 3 mangle/3lacerate/3 swipe/3 FF rotation, your base TPS is 5131.187 with 0 armor pen. And here's how we scale with 100 armor pen:

armor pen

TPS

difference

0

5412

100

5517

105

200

5626

109

300

5741

115

400

5863

122

500

5992

129

600

6128

136

700

6272

144

800

6425

153

900

6588

163

1000

6762

174

1100

6948

186

1200

7146

198

1300

7360

214

1400

7586

226




Yep, that's right - at the highest level of arpen arpen gives 226 total threat per 100 points of it, which is huge! Before you look back at that prior article note that this is relative; at that same level of arpen expertise is worth 220 TPS per 100 rating, and hit is worth 240. All the stats go up in value as arpen improves. And this is with some fairly vanilla stats (no haste for instance); numbers will change some.

Still, even at lower levels it's worth a lot more than I had anticipated. It's certainly worth more than 100 haste or 200 AP, as an example.

Why is that? Well, part of it is simply that bears have big, meaty attacks that do a lot of damage. Maul and Mangle are good, and swipe is up there too. Only FF and the lacerate bleed don't benefit from it. Also, the benefit is fairly high on a per-point basis. I'm a bit more surprised that the static threat values from maul don't overwhelm this, but apparently not.

And part of it is the scaling nature itself.

Now, what level of arpen are we looking at? Just based on my prior list for 264 gear, you have something like this:

Vengeful Noose - 80 arpen

For a total of 496 arpen! Yikes. At that level, here are the values of stats per 100 rating (assuming 100 hit and 132 expertise):

hit: 185 TPS
expertise: 168
arpen: 129
haste: 86
AP: 76
crit: 69

In this situation, arpen becomes the next best threat stat after hit and expertise, and it's almost competitive. At higher rates it does become competitive with expertise - but hopefully as a bear you're not quite at the point where you're trying to reach the hard cap of armor pen.

I'll go back and amend the previous values. I may end up changing the weighings for itemization, but I suspect it won't matter that much one way or another.

ETA: you can check my spreadsheet out over at google. It's a bit messy, but it does have the various numbers and formulae.



Wednesday, January 6, 2010

[Druid, general] Deathbringer's Will now 33% more awesome

Earlier this week Blizzard had this to say about Deathbringer's Will:
We are concerned about proc’ing a stat that can be readily capped especially on an item that provides a rather large passive armor pen bonus already. It could end up just never being attractive enough. Right now we are strongly considering just having it proc base-stat (strength, agility, etc.), haste, or crit depending on spec. We’ll be sure to let you know if we make this change.

Apparently they weren't kidding. Reports are that the new procs are agi, strength...and haste. Which is much better than arpen since chances are you're either soft-capped or close to being hard-capped.

Whereas haste just makes you more awesome. And there's no real danger of hitting the hard cap any time soon.

So if you were at all in doubt about whether or not you should get this trinket: you should get this trinket. It's going to be significantly better than anything else save what perhaps Arthas drops, all three stats are going to be a huge boost to DPS by themselves, and all three are very valued by druids. Point of fact, this might make a good argument for DBW going to ferals first; with this, even assuming best in slot trinkets DBW should be about a 200 DPS upgrade over the next best thing. Currently the stat value itself is worth around 300 DPS by itself; the proc is another 250. This will increase the DPS value of the proc by about 33%, making it close to a 650 DPS trinket - and that's the normal mode.

I know that rogues don't care about it nearly as much (they don't care about arpen as much); neither do enhancement shamen. I would imagine that it's going to be arms warriors and DKs, basically.

And you can bat your eyelashes and say how lovely it would be if you'd get it. :)

Also, this makes it the premiere threat trinket for bears. 600 haste is a lot of extra mauls.

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

[General] ThinkTank 2009 retrospective

Happy New Year!

First, some tooting of my own horn. This year ThinkTank had, according to analytics, 594,000 visits over the year with 850,000 pageviews over that time.

Wow.

Average views per day were about 1500, with a peak of 2500 on April 24th - which was likely based on a post that got linked on wowinsider.

The most popular posts are things like the Icewell Radiance post, gear analysis for cats, and other loot lists. Not a big surprise, that; the first one is linked in my wow forums sig just so I don't have to explain over and over how druids aren't screwed by losing 20% dodge. :)

Pretty amazing to me that there are that many people reading this stuff. Thanks, guys - you really make this special, and you really make writing this worthwhile.

This year I changed guilds, changed my primary focus to DPS, changed jobs multiple times (stupid economy) and played on 4 different computers. I downed the hardest bosses in T7, T8 and T9 and earned two server first titles (though to be fair, our server is a bit ass). It was quite the tumultuous time. Thanks for reading through all that. :)

I wanted to quickly look back at some of the articles I wrote this year and revisit some, or at least point out some nice ones that I was particularly proud of.

10. How to: Sarth3D. While a lot of druids had done Sarth3D with big stam and external cooldowns, only a handful up to this point did it with resist gear - mostly because the resistance math was so unknown. Thanks to Shamgarr's really excellent work we were able to figure out the sweet spots and how to get there. I really like this one mostly because I know of at least 3 guilds who had trouble with this who switched to this strategy and knocked it out of the park. :) I expect this to be relevant for at least Sindragosa.

9. The antitank series. While this is almost entirely defunct (other than using it for heroic farming) between the awesome picture of Russian antitank dogs and the concept of just doing massive DPS while tanking, it was good times.

8. Toggling Maul. I really like this one just because it's so simple; how to toggle maul so that you can choose to use it all the time - or not. Hopefully this becomes not an issue in Cataclysm.

7. Sample values of stats for threat. This was simple, fairly easy to understand and got right to the point - and illustrated very quickly what was best for threat and also how badly bears scale with threat stats. I liked it because it was definitely a guiding point for a lot of people who weren't quite sure how best to go about getting threat.

6. The Future of Block. I like posts like this in general, and this one made me think the most of all the posts this year. It'll be interesting come Cataclysm to see how close I got.

5. Glyphs are the new Flask. I still think people don't do this enough, which is a shame. Glyphs are cheap enough to make (though usually not cheap to buy directly) that getting a guildie to make you a stack or two of glyphs and swap accordingly is almost always the right choice. I typically toggle maul glyphs or growl glyphs (ohai, Saurfang).

4. Savage Defense analysis. There still aren't a lot of math models around SD, and this was one of the first - and it turned out to be largely correct. Another one that dismissed a lot of bad math and conceptions that people had on forums. It's still not perfectly accurate but it's on a reasonable order, and showcases both how good armor is and how decent SD is.

3. Icewell Radiance. Another hugely popular post, I'm happy with this because it seems to basically end arguments about it. People reference it regularly to defuse bad thoughts about bears. It's useful, informative, and the math isn't so complex that it throws people.

2. Nerfing Stamina the right way. This was another post that started from the wow forums and continued here, and I liked both the reasonable math associated with it, the other commenters providing information, and the actual conclusion I got (which was oddly one of the most popular posts I ever wrote)

And my favortest post of all:

1. Phat Lewts. Nothing could remotely top this, and I thank all of you for the well wishes and feelings. He's just over 9 months old now, is very healthy, happy, and I love him. He's the best thing I've ever helped make.

Monday, January 4, 2010

[Druid] Some highlights of plague wing gear (like a boss)

While I don't think I'll be doing a full Like a Boss type of gear readout, I figured I'd point out some of the gear that is going to be open to everyone tomorrow.

The big one that will interest all druids (and pesky hunters) is Distant Land, which is the best non-heroic weapon for cats and the second best weapon for bears. That drops from Festergut in 25-man, and is the first weapon available from ICC. In 10-man Rotface drops a similarly decent weapon - Shaft of Glacial Ice. This isn't as good as the heroic Twin's Pact, but it's better than virtually anything else and has a nice amount of hit on it.

But those are just the tastiest bits. There's a lot to offer in this wing.

Rotface:
Aldriana's Gloves of Secrecy - Rotface 25 (#4 bear, #5 cat) - note that these are the recommended offset piece for cats, so definitely take a look out for them if you're not planning on getting T10 gloves.
Bile-Encrusted Medallion - Rotface 25 (#2 bear) - the only thing that beats this is the heroic version.
Seal of Many Mouths - Rotface 25 (#12 bear, #7 cat) a decent ring that has expertise on it. Nice for cats to meat their exp cap with T10 legs.
Shaft of Glacial Ice - Rotface 10 (#12 bear, #17 cat) - there are better, but it is likely an upgrade if you don't have Twin's Pact.

Festergut:
Plague-Soaked Leather Leggings - Festergut 10 (#11bear, #14 cat) - a good sidegrade but nothing special
Precious's Putrid Collar - Festergut 10 (# 11 cat) - it does have hit rating on it, which might be nice.
Distant Land - Festergut 25 (#6 bear, #6 cat) - best weapon you can get right now, and best weapon for a while until heroics for cat
Gangrenous Leggings - Festergut 25 (#6 bear, #5 cat) - a surprisingly decent piece, but chances are the rogues are going to want this and not want to upgrade it; you want this until you can get your T10. So pass to them unless you're greedy or there aren't rogues.

Professor Putricide:
2x vanquisher mark of sanctification - Putricide 25. Being able to get 4 of these a week is going to help a lot and make it a bit easier to get the higher 4 piece. By the time the 3rd wing opens chances are good that you'll have at least one of these and hopefully two.
Astrylian's Sutured Cinch - Putricide 25 (#4 bear, #3 cat) Much better for cats than bears here; the ToGC 25 drop is better for bears. But it's still very close, and you definitely want a piece of gear named after the creator of Rawr.
Tiny Abomination in a Jar - Putricide 25 (??? cat) - this is likely much better on a ret pally or 2h DK or warrior, but it might be good on a cat. No one knows a lot about how it works yet.
Discarded Bag of Entrails - Putricide 10 (#12 bear, #8 cat) - surprisingly good for cats, the low stamina hurts it for bears. Might be worth it for a cat if you don't have a T9 piece there or aren't planning on upgrading any time soon.
Unidentified Organ - Putricide 10 (#2ish, bear) - while I don't like the stacking stam buff, the fact is that that's almost gravy; the 2000 armor is worth it for this trinket alone, and adding 270 stamina on stationary fights without phases is very strong. Sadly the number of fights in Icecrown that this works on appears to be kind of small; Festergut looks like it requires tank swapping, Saurfang definitely does, Gunship does, Marrowgar has big spots where it won't work, Deathwhisper does, Sindragosa and Valithiria do...about the only one that doesn't that we know about is Lana'thel, and she doesn't hit that hard. Still, a very good trinket.

[Druid] Icecrown gear list for bears

As promised...err...last week, this is the bear list for drops in Icecrown. Arthas' loot table is still unknown but other than that, it should be good. As I stated before it's likely that Arthas drops a weapon, a neck and a cloak type of item given what we have of the loot tables. So not a lot will change.

From last week, this is the weapon weighing. You can find out more about why these weights changed here.

Similarly, the weighings have changed for the armor slot. You can find them here, or in the sidebar. Some explanations:

  • hit and expertise, both being somewhat rare, get some fairly hefty values. This is mostly due to the value of threat at higher levels.
  • Armor remains at what it was on the gear; this is simply to emphasize higher values of ilvl on gear more and to emphasize armor on nonleather slots more
  • armor pen is given a ranking, albeit a low one
  • Feral AP and AP are increased in value, as is strength (again because of threat)

On tier items: the
2p bonus is very good for threat, especially multimob threat. Note that at higher levels this will actually discourage using lacerate for maximum threat (but will still be fine for damage). The 4p bonus is amazing for bears. On average this adds 2% less damage over time (so it's twice as good as the 4pT7 and 4pT9 bonus) but the primary benefit this adds is that it gives bears effectively either the ability to have a cooldown as good as shield wall, except that it's on a 1-minute CD. What this means in practice is that it should be your highest priority to get those 4 pieces, even if others rank higher per slot. Nothing is going to beat the 4 pieces.

And because of the itemization, as stated before - the best bet for you as a bear is to go for 4p + the sack of awesome due to the high expertise and hit rating on it (or the heroic version). You can get other pieces in the meantime, but don't spend those frost emblems on anything other than tier pieces; you want to get them as soon as you humanly can. Nothing else is going to remotely make as big a difference as a 12% CD every minute, and I can guarantee you that it will matter when you try hard modes in a month's time.

For your T10 purchase order: it very much depends on what you have already, but in general try and get the earliest upgrades that you'll actually use at the Lasherweave (base) level. Since there were no 258-level upgrades to gloves, head and shoulders in ToGC for bears outside of the T9 tokens, chances are that most people only have 245-level gear there. For most people that will mean either the shoulders (about a 5 point difference between them and the 245 T9) and the head (same). Since the shoulders cost the least, I'd go with them first, then perhaps the hands to get a quick 2-piece, then the legs or head depending on where you sit on expertise. After your 4PT10, the next purchase should almost certainly be the cloak; only the cloak from heroic Arthas is likely to beat it.

In the meantime - rankings!

Back:

  1. Sentinel's Winter Cloak - 50 emblems of Frost. 66.49
  2. Royal Crimson Cloak - heroic (25) Blood Princes. 61.84.
  3. Shadowvault Slayer's Cloak - heroic (25) Gunship. 57.30
  4. Royal Crimson Cloak - normal (25) Blood Princes. 55.47
  5. Vereesa's Dexterity/Sylvanas' Cunning - from Tribute (25) chest. 54.75
  6. Magni's Resolution/Cairne's Endurance - from Tribute (25) chest. 53.33
  7. Pride of the Eredar/Pride of the Demon Lord - heroic(25) Jaraxxus. 52.35
  8. Recovered Scarlet Onslaught Cape - 50 emblems of frost. 52.34
  9. Shawl of Nerubian Silk - heroic (10) Marrowgar. 51.90
  10. Shadowvault Slayer's Cloak - normal (25) Gunship. 51.55
  11. Cloak of Many Skins - heroic (10) Festergut. 49.56
  12. Cloak of the Silver Covenant/Cloak of Serrated Blades - Tribute (10) chest. 48.98
  13. Drape of the untamed Predator/Cloak of the untamed predator - heroic(25) Icehowl. 48.30
  14. Cloak of the Unmoving Guardian/Cloak of the Unflinching Guardian - Tribute (10) chest. 47.59
  15. Shawl of Nerubian Silk - normal (10) Marrowgar. 47.35
  16. Pride of the Eredar/Pride of the Demon Lord - normal (25) Jaraxxus. 45.04
  17. Titanskin Cloak - 25-man Mimiron (hard) - 42.79
  18. Drape of Icy Intent - 25-man Hodir (hard) - 42.59
  19. Cloak of Many Skins - normal (10) Festergut. 41.56
  20. Cloak of the Shadowed Sun - 25-man Maexxna (among others). 40.87
  21. Drape of the Faceless General - 25-man General Vezax (hard).40.25.
  22. Drape of the Untamed Predator/Cloak of the Untamed Predator - normal (25) Jaraxxus. 39.76
  23. Platinum Mesh Cloak - Dalaran Vendors. 34.11
I know, I know - it's hugely tempting to get the Sentinel's cloak. It's a great cloak and will likely only be superceded by an Arthas heroic drop. And you should get it...eventually. Just not before your 4pT10. For me, that's going to be my first purchase I do for tank gear after taking care of my cat stuff.

Chest:
  1. Ikfirus's Sack of Wonder - heroic (25) Gunship. 121.14
  2. Ikfirus's Sack of Wonder - normal (25) Gunship. 114.86
  3. Shadow Seeker's Tunic - 95 emblems of frost. 113.99
  4. Sanctified Lasherweave Raiment - heroic (25) token drop (Saurfang, Putricide, Lana'thel, Sindragosa, Arthas). 113.84
  5. Sanctified Lasherweave Raiment - normal (25) token drop (Saurfang, Putricide, Lana'thel, Sindragosa, Arthas).103.36
  6. Cuirass of Calamitous Fate/Vest of Calamitous Fate - Heroic (25) Jaraxxus. 100.68
  7. Malfurion's Rainments of Triumph/Runetotem's Rainments of Triumph - Regalia of the Grand Vanquisher (heroic 25). 95.81
  8. Lasherweave Raiment - 95 emblems of frost. 94.24
  9. Knightbane Carapace - BoE Leatherworking via Crusader Orbs. 93.95
  10. Relentless Gladiator's Dragonhide Robes - arena rating, points, Koralon. 92.91
  11. Chestguard of the Frigid Noose - heroic (10) Lady Deathwhisper. 91.97
  12. Chestguard of the Frigid Noose - normal (10) Lady Deathwhisper. 89.05
  13. Armor of Shifting Shadows/Vest of Shifting Shadows - heroic (10) Valkyr. 88.12
  14. Embrace of the Gladiator - 25-man Thorim (hard). 88.01

  15. Malfurion's Rainments of Triumph/Runetotem's Rainments of Triumph - 75 emblems of triumph + 1 trophy of the crusade. 87.11
  16. Cuirass of Calamitous Fate/Vest of Calamitous Fate - normal (25) Jaraxxus. 86.85
  17. Conqueror's Nightsong Rainments - 58 emblems of Conquest. 79.64
  18. Armor of Shifting Shadows/Vest of Shifting Shadows - normal (10) Valkyr. 79.24
  19. Malfurion's Rainments of Conquest/Runetotem's Rainments of Conquest - 50 emblems of triumph. 79.01
  20. Choking Hauberk - heroic Marwyn, Halls of Reflection. 75.84
Yep, that's right - the sack of wonder is so awesome that even the normal version is better than the heroic T10. That's also to do with the fact that the T10 piece is itemized weirdly; having fewer sockets than the Sack at normal level hurts. Just a huge gulf here. It's a pity more of the pieces aren't itemized like this; bears would be in love.

Feet:

  1. Footpads of Impending Death - BoE craftable from Primordial Saronite. 82.77
  2. Frostbitten Fur Boots - heroic (25) Lord Marrowgar. 82.74
  3. Icewalker Treads/Treads of the Icewalker - Heroic (25) Faction Champions. 75.11
  4. Frostbitten Fur Boots - normal (25) Lord Marrowgar. 74.85
  5. Taldaram's Soft Slippers - heroic (10) Blood Princes. 72.58
  6. Acidmaw Boots/Acidmaw Treads - Heroic (10) Beasts. 70.13
  7. Taldaram's Soft Slippers - normal (10) Blood Princes. 66.17
  8. Icewalker Treads/Treads of the Icewalker - Normal(25) Faction Champions. 64.99
  9. Relentless Gladiator's Boots of Triumph - arena rating, Koralon. 62.81
  10. Acidmaw Boots/Acidmaw Treads - Normal (10) Beasts. 60.38
  11. Runed Ironhide Boots - 25-man Iron Council (normal). 58.76
  12. Footpads of Silence - BoE craftable from Runed Orbs. 56.86
  13. Blighted Leather Footpads - heroic Halls of Reflection ending. 49.14
Interesting that the crafted boots are so close to the heroics. That's something to watch out for; if you need more EH, the heroics are better - but if you want more expertise or threat, the crafted boots are better. Otherwise not a lot of surprises here; the itemization from last tier is better for bears than it is now, so things like Icewalker's show up higher here (with the proviso that you need the hit).

Finger:

  1. Devium's Eternally Cold Ring - heroic (25) Valithria Dreamwalker. 71.00
  2. Devium's Eternally Cold Ring - normal (25) Valithria Dreamwalker. 63.30
  3. Band of the Twin Val'kyr/Loop of the Twin Val'kyr - Heroic(10) Valkyr. 55.66
  4. Seal of Many Mouths - heroic (25) Rotface. 55.11
  5. Band of the Bone Colossus - heroic (25) Marrowgar. 54.79
  6. Ashen Band of Endless Courage - exalted with Ashen Verdict. 52.16
  7. Frostbrood Sapphire Ring - heroic (25) Valithria Dreamwalker. 51.85
  8. Clutch of Fortification - 35 emblems of triumph. 51.34
  9. Abomination's Bloody Ring - heroic (10) Gunship. 50.80
  10. Signified Ring of Binding - 25-man Onyxia. 50.60
  11. Harbinger's Bone Band - 25-man ICC trash. 50.41
  12. Seal of Many Mouths - normal (25) Rotface. 49.18
  13. Juggernaut Band - heroic (25) Lady Deathwhisper. 49.15
  14. Band of the Bone Colossus - normal (25) Marrowgar. 48.91
  15. Ashen Band of Endless Vengeance - exalted with Ashen Verdict. 47.91
  16. Frostbrood Sapphire Ring - normal (25) Valithria Dreamwalker. 46.35
  17. Abomination's Bloody Ring - normal (10) Gunship. 46.25
  18. Band of the Twin Val'kyr/Loop of the Twin Val'kyr - Normal(10) Valkyr. 44.96
  19. Juggernaut Band - normal (25) Lady Deathwhisper. 44.58
  20. Runed Ring of Binding - 10-man Onyxia. 44.41
  21. Band of Callous Aggression/Ring of Callous Aggression - Heroic (25) Faction Champions. 43.28
  22. Band of the Traitor King/Signet of the Traitor King - Heroic (25) Anub'arak. 42.35
  23. The Leviathan's Coil - 25-man Flame Leviathan (easy). 41.99
  24. Planestalker Signet/Planestalker Band - Heroic (10) Jaraxxus. 41.04
  25. Fate's Clutch - 25-man Thorim (hard). 40.28
  26. Signet of Winter - 10-man Hodir (easy). 38.29
  27. Gatekeeper - 25-man Sapphiron. 38.04
  28. Keystone Great-Ring - heroic Drak'tharon Keep. 36.86
  29. Dexterous Brightstone Ring - 35 emblems of Triumph. 35.14
  30. Mark of the Relentless - Heroic Trial of the Champion (first boss). 31.12
What's surprising to me is how good the Twin Valkyr hard mode ring is. Maybe I should run that some more. :) Otherwise, not a lot of surprises here; the armor ring from Dreamwalker comes in hugely for first and second, and nothing else really compares. It's interesting that with the emphasis on threat, some of the agility rings actually come into play here. But unless the fights are very different on heroic, you should likely have armor rings.

Hands:
  1. Aldriana's Gloves of Secrecy - heroic (25) Rotface. 83.54
  2. Sanctified Lasherweave Handgrips - heroic (25) token drop (Saurfang, Putricide, Lana'thel, Sindragosa, Arthas). 80.89
  3. Cat Burglar's Grips - 60 emblems of frost. 76.96
  4. Aldriana's Gloves of Secrecy - normal (25) Rotface. 75.66
  5. Sanctified Lasherweave Handgrips - normal (25) token drop (Saurfang, Putricide, Lana'thel, Sindragosa, Arthas). 73.02
  6. Scourge Stranglers - heroic (10) Saurfang. 71.34
  7. Malfurion's Handgrips of Triumph/Runetotem's Handgrips of Triumph - Regalia of the Grand Vanquisher (heroic 25). 70.23
  8. Lasherweave Handgrips - 60 emblems of frost. 66.45
  9. Scourge Stranglers - normal (10) Saurfang. 65.32
  10. Relentless Gladiator's Dragonhide Gloves - arena rating, points, Koralon. 64.84
  11. 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). 63.37
  12. Gloves of the Silver Assassin/Sunreaver Assassin's Gloves - Heroic (10) Faction Champions. 60.24
  13. Malfurion's Handgrips of conquest/Runetotem's Handgrips of Conquest - 30 emblems of triumph. 57.13
  14. Gloves of the Endless Dark - 10-man Algalon. 56.61
  15. Conqueror's Nightsong Handgrips - 25-man Mimiron (easy). 56.26
  16. Furious Gladiator's Dragonhide Gloves - honor and arena points, 50 emblems of triumph. 55.87.
Since you can buy the cheap T9 gloves, I've not expanded the list much more than that. Those are now a fairly decent piece, all told. Aldriana's are good, but they're not so much better than the next selection that you want to off-piece it here unless you get unlucky with drops from the Gunship.

Head:

  1. Sanctified Lasherweave Headguard - heroic (25) token drop (Saurfang, Putricide, Lana'thel, Sindragosa, Arthas). 111.70
  2. Geistlord's Punishment Sack - heroic (25) Blood Princes. 109.36
  3. Sanctified Lasherweave Headguard - normal (25) token drop (Saurfang, Putricide, Lana'thel, Sindragosa, Arthas). 101.37
  4. Geistlord's Punishment Sack - normal (25) Blood Princes. 98.43
  5. Malfurion's Headguard of Triumph/Runetotem's Headguard of Triumph - Regalia of the Grand Vanquisher (heroic 25). 97.13
  6. Lasherweave Headguard - 95 emblems of frost. 92.42
  7. Discarded Bag of Entrails - heroic (10) Putricide. 90.24
  8. Stormrage Coverlet - 25-man Onyxia. 89.51
  9. Relentless Gladiator's Dragonhide Helm - arena rating, points. 89.16
  10. Malfurion's Headguard of Triumph/Runetotem's Headguard of Triumph - 75 emblems of triumph + 1 trophy of the crusade (normal 25, heroic 10). 87.98
  11. Hood of Lethal Intent/Mask of Lethal Intent - 75 emblems of triumph. 87.79
  12. Discarded Bag of Entrails - normal (10) Putricide. 81.90
  13. Malfurion's Headguard of Conquest/Runetotem's Headguard of Conquest -50 emblems of triumph. 79.52
Again, I've dropped most items that are below the triumph piece; there's no need to worry about how good your Ulduar gear is if you can pick this up for 50 emblems of triumph. For most bears this is going to be their first T10 piece that they buy (or the shoulders) simply because it's going to more often than not be a bigger upgrade. And while the Geistlord has a ton of hit, it doesn't have a ton of agi. The T10 is pretty decently itemized for bears here.

Legs:

  1. Sanctified Lasherweave Legguards - heroic (25) token drop (Saurfang, Putricide, Lana'thel, Sindragosa, Arthas). 117.47
  2. Gangrenous Leggings - heroic (25) Festergut. 111.90
  3. Sanctified Lasherweave Legguards - normal (25) token drop (Saurfang, Putricide, Lana'thel, Sindragosa, Arthas). 106.28
  4. Bladeborn Leggings - BoE Leatherworking from Primordial Saronite. 106.22
  5. Leggings of the Broken Beast/Legwraps of the Broken Beast - heroic (25) Beasts. 102.23
  6. Gangrenous Leggings - normal (25) Festergut. 101.65
  7. Plague-Soaked Leather Leggings - heroic (10) Festergut. 100.90
  8. Malfurion's Legguards of Triumph/Runetotem's Legguards of Triumph - Regalia of the Grand Vanquisher (heroic 25). 97.51
  9. Lasherweave Legguards - 95 emblems of frost. 96.59
  10. Ivory-Inlaid Leggings - heroic (10) Blood Queen Lana'thel. 92.26
  11. Plague-Soaked Leather Leggings - normal (10) Festergut. 92.25
  12. Relentless Gladiator's Dragonhide Legguards - arena rating/points, Koralon. 91.08
  13. Leggings of the Broken Beast/Legwraps of the Broken Beast - normal(25) Beasts. 89.92
  14. Malfurion's Legguards of Triumph/Runetotem's Legguards of Triumph - 75 emblems of triumph + 1 trophy of the crusade (normal 25, heroic 10). 88.45
  15. Legguards of Cunning Deception - 25-man Yogg (hard). 85.63
  16. Ivory-Inlaid Leggings - normal (10) Blood Queen Lana'thel. 83.60
  17. Titan-Forged Leather Legguards of Triumph - 40 wintergrasp marks of honor. 81.83
  18. Malfurion's Legguards of Conquest/Runetotem's Legguards of Conquest - 50 emblems of triumph. 80.05
The T10 is also really great here, especially with all that expertise - but from my experience a lot of people have heroic beasts, and thus have access to the 258 legs. It still should be an early priority; I personally would go for this as my first piece and then replace the head, so that I'm not too low on expertise.

Neck:

  1. Bile-Encrusted Medallion - heroic (25) Rotface. 71.00
  2. Bile-Encrusted Medallion - normal (25) Rotface. 63.30
  3. Legionnaire's Gorget/Arbiter's Muse - heroic (25) Valkyr. 59.95
  4. Noose of Malachite - heroic (25) Valithria Dreamwalker. 55.69
  5. Sindragosa's Cruel Claw - heroic (25) Sindragosa. 52.13
  6. Legionnaire's Gorget/Arbiter's Muse - normal (25) Valkyr. 50.94
  7. Noose of Malachite - normal (25) Valithria Dreamwalker. 49.56
  8. Wodin's Lucky Necklace - 25-man ICC trash. 47.86
  9. Sindragosa's Cruel Claw - normal (25) Sindragosa. 46.60
  10. Fortitude of the Infernal/Endurance of the Infernal - heroic (10) Jaraxxus. 45.35
  11. Precious's Putrid Collar - heroic (10) Festergut. 44.77
  12. Rimetooth Pendant - heroic (10) Sindragosa. 44.52
  13. Marrowgar's Scratching Choker - heroic (10) Marrowgar. 44.19
  14. Charge of the Demon Lord/Charge of the Eredar - heroic (25) Jaraxxus. 42.98
  15. Precious's Putrid Collar - normal (10) Festergut. 40.66
  16. Marrowgar's Scratching Choker - normal (10) Marrowgar. 40.34
  17. Eskhandar's Links - 25-man Onyxia. 40.30
  18. Rimetooth Pendant - normal (10) Sindragosa. 40.06
  19. Mark of the Unyielding - 10-man Kologarn. 39.28
  20. Collar of Unending Torment/Collar of Ceaseless Torment - heroic (10) Beasts. 37.76
  21. Pendulum of Infinity - 25-man General Vezax (hard). 36.95
  22. Boundless Ambition - 25-man Kel'Thuzad. 36.61
  23. Fortitude of the Infernal/Endurance of the Infernal - normal (10) Jaraxxus. 36.26
  24. Eskhandar's Choker - 10-man Onyxia. 35.74
  25. Lana'thel's Chain of Flagellation - heroic (25) Blood Queen Lana'thel. 35.37
  26. Bronze Pendant of the Vanir - 25-man Freya (hard). 35.22
  27. Charge of the Demon Lord/Charge of the Eredar - normal(25) Jaraxxus. 34.96
  28. Titanium Earthguard Chain - Jewelcrafting BoE. 33.82
  29. Shard of the Crystal Forest - 19 emblems of Conquest. 33.52
As stated in the cat guide, there's not a lot of options at the top tier for tanks - which makes me think that there's going to be a drop from Arthas at the 10 or 25 level. Otherwise it's a very boring loot table; Rotface has it going on, and that's about it.

Shoulder:

  1. Cultist's Bloodsoaked Spaulders - heroic (25) Lady Deathwhisper - 85.81
  2. Sanctified Lasherweave Shoulderpads - heroic (25) token drop (Saurfang, Putricide, Lana'thel, Sindragosa, Arthas). 82.97
  3. Cultist's Bloodsoaked Spaulders - normal (25) Lady Deathwhisper. 77.85
  4. Sanctified Lasherweave Shoulderpads - normal (25) token drop (Saurfang, Putricide, Lana'thel, Sindragosa, Arthas). 75.03
  5. Skinned Whelp Shoulders - heroic (10) Valithria Dreamwalker. 71.46
  6. Shoulderpads of the Intruder - 25-man Iron Council (hard). 71.42
  7. Malfurion's Shoulderpads of Triumph/Runetotem's Shoulderpads of Triumph - Regalia of the Grand Vanquisher (heroic 25). 70.02
  8. Lasherweave Shoulderpads - 60 emblems of frost. 68.39
  9. Relentless Gladiator's Dragonhide Spaulders - arena points/rating. 67.04
  10. Skinned Whelp Shoulders - normal (10) Valithria Dreamwalker. 65.14
  11. Spaulders of the Snow Bandit/Shoulderpads of the Snow Bandit - heroic(10) Anub'arak . 64.09
  12. Malfurion's Shoulderpads of Triumph/Runetotem's Shoulderpads of Triumph - 45 emblems of triumph + 1 trophy of the crusade. 63.39
  13. Duskstalker Pauldrons/Duskstalker Shoulderpads - 45 emblems of Triumph. 63.07
  14. Furious Gladiator's Dragonhide Spaulders - arena points/honor, 50 emblems of triumph. 58.10
  15. Malfurion's Shoulderpads of Conquest/Runetotem's Shoulderpads of Conquest - 30 emblems of triumph. 57.30
Another case where the offtier is better than the T10 - but not enough to make a difference And it's almost entirely because of gem slots. One big surprise was the shoulderpads of the intruder - those shot up because of the added value of expertise.

Trinket:

  1. Sindragosa's Flawless Fang - heroic (25) Sindragosa.
  2. Sindragosa's Flawless Fang - normal (25) Sindragosa.
  3. Unidentifiable Organ - heroic (10) Putricide.
  4. Unidentifiable Organ - normal (10) Putricide.
  5. Corroded Skeleton Key - 60 emblems of frost.
  6. Satrina's Impending Scarab/Juggernaut's Vitality - heroic (25) Faction Champions.
  7. Satrina's Impending Scarab/Juggernaut's Vitality - normal(25) Faction Champions.
  8. Glyph of Indominability - 50 emblems of triumph.
  9. The Black Heart - the Black Night (normal 5-man).
  10. Darkmoon Card:Greatness - BoE inscription.
  11. Heart of Iron - 25-man Ignis.
  12. Corpse Tongue Coin - heroic (25) Gunship Armory.
  13. Royal Seal of King Llane - 10-man Yogg (easy).
  14. Corpse Tongue Coin - normal (25) Gunship Armory.
  15. Defender's Code - 25-man Naxxramas.
  16. Figurine - Monarch Crab - BoP Jewelcrafting.
  17. Essence of Gossamer - heroic Azjol-Nerub.
  18. Eitrigg's Oath/Fervor of the Frostborn - heroic (10) Faction Champions.
  19. Eitrigg's Oath/Fervor of the Frostborn - normal(10) Faction Champions.

Something interesting here is that I'm not ranking trinkets any more by score other than with my personal view on which you should try and get. As a tank, you never pass on a trinket - but some are better than others. Heck, Rawr ranks
Death's Choice as one of the better trinkets due to the proc. Trinkets always have uses.

That being said - Unidentifiable Organ is stellar in fights that don't require swapping. Sindragosa's Fang is a great piece in general, and the special ability is going to allow wacky shenanigans in fights. If you had both, I'd likely use both as the standard one-two punch trinkets for all encounters.

Waist:

  1. Astrylian's Sutured Cinch - heroic (25) Putricide. 80.28
  2. Vengeful Noose - 60 emblems of frost. 76.10
  3. Belt of the Merciless Killer/Belt of the Pitiless Killer - heroic (25) Valkyr. 72.64
  4. Astrylian's Sutured Cinch - normal (25) Putricide. 72.48
  5. Soulthief's Braided Belt - heroic (10) Lady Deathwhisper. 70.08
  6. Soulthief's Braided Belt - normal (10) Lady Deathwhisper. 63.66
  7. Belt of the Merciless Killer/Belt of the Pitiless Killer - normal (25) Valkyr. 62.57
  8. Relentless Gladiator's Belt of Triumph - arena rating, Koralon. 61.53
  9. Soul-Devouring Cinch - 10-man Yogg (hard). 58.73
  10. Death-Warmed Belt - BoE leatherworking from Runed Orbs. 55.87
  11. Belt of the Twilight Assassin - 28 emblems of conquest. 53.57
The belt slot is typically kinda boring - but this time it's a bit new. The ToGC belt beats anything that drops in ICC normal mode (which is to say, the ONE belt) and is competitive with the frost emblem belt (which you shouldn't buy!). The Belt of the X killer is a nice way to get some hit without sacrificing too much, at least until Astrylian's belt drops for you in heroic mode.


Wrist:
  1. Toskk's Maximized Wristguards - heroic (25) Saurfang. 60.53
  2. Armbands of Dark Determination/Bracers of Dark Determination - heroic(25) Anub'arak. 56.96
  3. Toskk's Maximized Wristguards - normal (25) Saurfang. 54.66
  4. Vambraces of the Frost Wyrm Queen - heroic (10) Sindragosa. 52.94
  5. Vambraces of the Frost Wyrm Queen - normal (10) Sindragosa. 48.10
  6. Bracers of Swift Death - Leatherworking BoE via Crusader Orbs. 47.18
  7. Solar Bindings - 25-man Algalon. 44.82
  8. Armbands of Dark Determination/Bracers of Dark Determination - normal(25) Anub'arak. 44.81
  9. Relentless Gladiator's Armwraps of Triumph - arena rating, Koralon. 43.22
  10. Fluxing Energy Coils - 10-man XT (hard). 41.84
  11. Chewed Leather Wristguards - heroic Ick, Pit of Saron. 37.64
  12. Furious Gladiator's Armwraps of Triumph - honor, emalon. 37.08
  13. Titan-Forged Armwraps of Triumph - 15 wintergrasp marks of honor. 37.02
  14. Mechanist's Bindings - 25-man Flame Leviathan (easy). 36.45
  15. Armbands of the Wary Lookout - heroic Eadric in Trial of Champion. 33.93
  16. Wristwraps of the Cutthroat - 60 emblems of valor. 29.28
The Bracers of Swift Death are what you should go for if you're not doing raids. If you are doing raids...heroic Anub's bracers are best in slot until we do heroic ICC. That extra socket and the hit rating are what puts them over the top.

Weapons:

  1. Bloodfall - heroic (25) Blood Queen Lana'thel. 166.83
  2. Distant Land - heroic (25) Festergut. 157.41
  3. Bloodfall - normal (25) Blood Queen Lana'thel. 150.69
  4. Shaft of Glacial Ice - heroic (10) Rotface. 148.43
  5. Relentless Gladiator's Greatstaff - arena rating/points. 147.46
  6. Distant Land - normal (25) Festergut. 144.44
  7. Archon Glaive/Hellion Glaive - heroic (25) Anub'arak. 139.26
  8. Lupine Longstaff/Twin's Pact - heroic (25) Valkyr. 138.98
  9. Cryptmaker - heroic (25) Blood Princes. 137.53
  10. Hersir's Greatspear - heroic (10) Blood Princes. 134.10
  11. Relentless Gladiator's Staff - arena rating/points. 132.24
  12. Shaft of Glacial Ice - normal (10) Rotface. 129.26
  13. Lightborn Spire - Quel'delar Questline. 129.13
  14. Fordragon Blades/Anguish - heroic (10) tribute chest. 126.72
  15. Furious Gladiator's Greatstaff - arena rating/points (old). 125.03
  16. Cryptmaker - normal (25) Blood Princes. 123.60
  17. Oxheart - heroic (10) Valithria Dreamwalker. 123.41
  18. Attrition/Paragon's Breadth - heroic (10) tribute chest. 122.83
  19. Lupine Longstaff/Twin's Pact - normal(25) Valkyr. 122.40
  20. Dark Edge of Depravity - 25-man Yogg(hard). 122.08
  21. Hersir's Greatspear - normal (10) Blood Princes. 121.41
  22. Archon Glaive/Hellion Glaive - normal (25) Anub'arak. 120.91
  23. Catastrophe/Grievance - heroic (25) tribute chest. 118.31
  24. Reinforced Thunderstrike - 25-man Onyxia. 118.00
  25. Furious Gladiator's Staff - arena rating/points (old). 117.83
  26. Dreambinder - 25-man Freya (hard). 114.28
  27. Tortured Earth - 10-man Vezax (hard). 111.86
  28. Oxheart - normal (10) Valithria Dreamwalker. 111.01
  29. Fordragon Blades/Anguish - normal(10) Anub'arak. 104.30
  30. Orca-Hunter's harpoon - heroic Marwyn, Halls of Reflection. 107.30
  31. Twisted Visage - 25-man XT(normal). 107.14
  32. Origin of Nightmares - 25-man Naxxramas. 104.57
  33. Reclaimed Thunderstrike - 10-man Onyxia. 103.80
  34. Lotrafen, Spear of the Damned - 25-man Vezax (easy). 101.38
  35. Marrowstrike - Heroic Paletress in Trial of Champion.96.37
  36. Hammer of Crushing Whispers - 10-man Yogg (hard). 94.07
  37. Silvery Sylvan Stave/Staff of Feral Furies - 50 champion's seals. 90.44
This list will inevitably change with the new release of the PvP items - more than the other lists by a lot. Even so, Bloodfall will remain fairly good; the high haste makes it a very good threat weapon for bears, and the high general stats helps quite a bit. For pure EH, it's hard to beat Cryptmaker.