Gearing up a Fresh 85 Pally

A while back a certain fellow blogger with a Big Bear Butt posted about how quickly he managed to gear up a new character upon hitting level 85. Inspired by his post, and curious whether I could do as well as he did, I decided to try it out.

First thing on my agenda was to do some research. I can’t buy anything if I don’t know what I’m shopping for. In this case, I am leveling a Protection Palladin, so I spent a few hours on Maintankadin, reading up on the available gear (as well as a ton of other things).

I put together a list of items I could get from quests, reputation vendors (assuming rep of honored or less, as I could get that questing thru their zone), Bind on Equip items, and a few Justice Point and Honor Point purchases.

On a side note, if you enjoy PvP, yet plan to gear for PvE at the level cap, you can be sitting on quite a few JP and HP when you get to 85. I picked up 3000 honor over the course of perhaps 14 Alterac Valleys last weekend alone.

Anyhow, this is my list items that are either already in the bank, or will be available within hours of hitting 85. Some things are still undecided, as I don’t know how many Justice Points and/or Honor Points I’ll have when I ding.

Helm:

• Vicious Pyrium Helm (BoE PvP gear, better than nothing while I gather Valor Points) OR
• Ruthless Gladiators Scaled Helm (2200 Honor) (if I have the Honor)

Neck:

• Fireheart Necklace (First vendor in Firelands, an hours worth of dailies)

Shoulder:

• Pauldrons of Edward the Odd (BoE epic, scored off the AH)

Back:

• Mantle of Patience (Quest reward, The Vow)

Chest:

• Vicious Pyrium Breastplate (BoE PvP gear, better than nothing while I gather Valor Points) OR
• Immolation Chestguard (2200 Justice Points) (if I have the points)

Wrist:

• Bracers of Unrelenting Excellence (BoE Valor bracers, farmed by my Shaman)

Hands:

• Eternal Elementium Handguards (BoE crafted by Blacksmith)

Waist:

• Hardened Elementium Girdle  (BoE crafted by Blacksmith)

Legs:

• Stone-Wrapped Greaves (Earthen Ring, Honored) OR
• Immolation Leggards (2200 Justice Points) (if I have the points)

Feet:

• Bladeshatter Treads (BoE Valor boots, farmed by my Shaman)

Rings:

• Theck’s Emberseal (Scored off the AH)
• Blauvet’s Family Crest (Scored off the AH)

Relic:

• Notched Jawbone (BoE Inscription)

Trinkets:

• Za’Broks Lucky Tooth (Twilight Highlands Quest Reward)
• Pit Fighter (If I can get a group to help)
• Impetuous Query (BoE dungeon drop, waiting to see one in the AH)

Shield:

• Elementium Earthguard (BoE Blacksmithing)

Weapon:

• Unbreakable Guardian (BoE Blacksmithing)

Now, considering my goal is simply to be as geared as possible right out of the gate, I think this is a pretty good gearset I have here. Depending on which Helm, Chest, Legs, and Trinkets I end up with I will be looking at an Average Item Level of between 362 and 368. I won’t know the actual stats until I see how the enchanting, reforging, and gemming goes.

Seeing as how the requirements for entering Cataclysm heroics is 329 for early ones, 346 for the Trollroics, and 353 for the new 4.3 heroics, I should be able to grab some friends and go run these shortly after hitting 85. (I’ll be sure to advertise on Twitter… “Prot Pally with that new tank smell LF lambs that want led to the slaughter, DM me if you want a repair bill”)

Dragon Soul, even it’s LFR version will of course be out of reach until I have done some additional gearing up, but that’s the way it should be. (It requires 373 in case you were wondering).

Anyhow, thanks for the idea BBB. All I need to do now is finish leveling.