Shifting Perspectives: Drops for Druids in Zul'Aman
by Dan O'Halloran 
Oct 16th 2007 at 11:26PM
Every Tuesday, Shifting Perspectives explores issues affecting druids and those who group with them, brought to you by David Bowers and Dan O'Halloran. Patch 2.3 has hit the PTR and the new itemization has some very interesting items for druids of every spec. The new equipment is coming from three sources: the new 10-man raid zone, Zul'Aman, the Arena Season 3 vendor and the new Badges of Justice rewards.
Today I'm going to focus on the Zul'Aman drops. Here's a list by boss:
Nalorakk the Bear Avatar
(Cat) Bladeangel's Money Belt (Leather Waist) 227 AC, +25agi, +27sta, Blue Socket, +4atk socket bonus, +21 crit, +58 atk, 77 armor negation.
A solid upgrade to the Girdle of Treachery from Karazhan, but not quite as good if you can get a Belt of Deep Shadow crafted. Arguably, one of the top 3 or 4 belts in the game. Be ready to /roll against rogues for this belt for your Cat Druid.
(Resto) Life-step Belt (Leather, Waist) 227ac, +20sta, +23int, +22spi, Red & Blue socket w/+7heal socket bonus, +75heal/+25dmg, +6mp5.
Behold one of the best leather healing belt in the game. Possibly, only exceeded by the top PvP reward Veteran's Kodohide Belt . Plus the sockets give you many +healing/+mp5 gem options.
Akil'zon the Eagle Avatar
(Balance) Signet of Ancient Magics (Ring) +12sta, +17int, Blue socket w/+2spell dmg, +29dmg/heal, +10mp5.
Excellent spell damage for Moonkin. Throw in a +12 spell damage gem and you have one of the highest spell damage rings in the game with mp5 to boot!
(Balance) Amani Punisher (1h Mace) 41.3dps, +30sta, +21int, +20spell hit, +217dmg/heal.
Yes, you read that right, +217 to spell damage. The only other 1h Maces that come close is the PvP reward Merciless Gladiator's Gavel (+225) and the rare Hyjal random drop Hammer of Judgement (+236). Needless to say, this weapon will be a lot easier to get for our Moonkin brethren.
(Resto) Brooch of Nature's Mercy (Neck) +24int, +19spi, +33spell haste, +75heal/+25dmg.
The third best healing neck in the game. Only bested by Lord Sanguinar's Claim (+25sta, +19int, +79heal, +27dmg, +7mp5) which you can only attain by taking down Kael'Thas himself and Nadina's Pendant of Purity (+16sta, +14int, +79heal, +27dmg, +8mp5, +19spell crit) which drops from Mother Shahraz in the Black Temple. Let's see, grind away for 6 months to the Black Temple or down the second boss in Zul'Aman. The choice is yours...
Halazzi the Lynx Avatar
(Cat) The Savage's Choker (Neck) +37sta, +25haste, +50atk.
Leave this one for the Rogues.
(Resto) Shimmer-pelt Vest (Chest) 404ac, +34sta, +35int, +30spi, +101heal, +34dmg, +12mp5.
What's not to love about this bad boy? Only a properly gemmed Nordrassil Chestguard from a Kael'Thas dropped item or the Thunderheart Tunic from Illidan himself is going to top this piece. You can either ask the meanest raid bosses in the Burning Crusade for the upgrades or pick this up in an evening's 10-man run.
(Cat) Shoulderpads of Dancing Blades (Shoulder) 202ac, +33agi, +39sta, +16hit, +68atk.
Along with the aforementioned Bladeangel's Money Belt, you're going to be duking it out with Rogues over this piece. Without any gem sockets, strength or +crit, these shoulders fall in the top 6 or 7 of Cat shoulders for DPS boost. That's nothing to sneeze at, but if you are a 25-man raider, you probably already have better.
Jan'Alai the Dragonhawk Avatar
(Resto) Helm of Natural Regeneration (Head) 328ac, +33sta, +39int, +30spi, Red, Yellow & Blue sockets w/+9heal bonus, +86heal, +29dmg.
With no mp5, but plenty of gem slots, this is a great upgrade to the Crown of Malorne from Karazhan, but inferior to the popular 25-man raid healing helms.
(Balance) Wub's Cursed Hexblade (Dagger) 41.3dps, +21int, +13spell hit, +20spell crit, +217dmg/heal, +6mp5.
Compared to the Amani Punisher above, the Hexblade has no +sta, but makes up for it with +spell crit and mp5. It's really a toss up between the two depending on your play style and other gear choices. However, if you want resilience, you can always pick up a Merciless Gladiator's Spellblade or if you want spell crit & stamina together, make nice nice with High Warlord Naj'entus for his The Maelstrom's Fury.
Hex Lord Malacrass
(Resto) Cloak of Ancient Rituals (Back) 108ac, +22sta, +20int, +25spell haste, +51heal, +17dmg.
There are about half a dozen cloaks with better stats, but again, they are all from 25-man raids. Despite its lack of mp5, this is an excellent cloak for a Resto Druid working their way up through TBC content.
(Balance/Resto) Hex Shrunken Head (Trinket) +53dmg/heal, Use: +211dmg/heal for 20 secs.
Trinkets are hard to compare for their clicky effects. It's an apple and oranges kind of decision. So check out WoW Head's list of Trinkets with +heal & +damage for alternatives to this item. But I guarantee you're not going to find one with this damage or heal output in anything outside a 25-man instance, Heroic Badge turn-ins or top tier PvP rewards.
(Cat) Primal Man-catcher (2h Staff) 70.0dps, +49str, +70sta, +973 feral atk, +315armor negation.
At first I assumed this was a good tanking staff, but lack of AC hurts it badly. Great for Cat Druids.
(Resto) Tome of Diabolic Remedy (Trinket) +18mp5, Use: +396heal & +132dmg for 20secs.
Again, it's hard to compare Trinkets given the different way their clickable effects add to healing and damage, but I 'd hazard a guess this is one of the better ones and I do know that 18mp5 is the highest mp5 on a Trinket in the game.
Zul'jin
(Cat) Berserker's Call (Trinket) +90atk, Use: +360atk for 20 secs.
More Trinket madness, this time for Cat Druids. It's a fine upgrade from the Bloodlust Brooch, but the Use effect won't stack (shared cool down.) According to the mathemagicians on WoW Head, though, it will add 32 more AP than the Bloodlust if you click it after every cool down. Paired this with the Tsunami Talisman from Leotheras in Serpentshrine for a killer combo.
(Resto) Dark Blessing (1h Mace) 41.4dps, +19int, +30spell haste, +431heal, +144dmg.
This is not a great upgrade from the Light's Justice you probably got in Karazhan. Equipping this would cost you 16 stamina, 20 spirit and 2 intellect in exchange for 49 more heal and 30 spell haste. Not sure the spell haste makes up for the lack of mp5 either. Your call.
(Balance) Loop of Cursed Bones (Neck) +19sta, +20int, +27spell haste, +32dmg/heal.
With the addition of +spell damage to items that already have +healing, this Neck piece isn't as sexy as it looks. If you're not raiding 25-man's then it's probably just what you're looking for (the spell haste alone should be +1-2% dps), but there are quite a few high level alternatives that double as great healing necklaces as well. See the listing for the Brooch of Nature's Mercy above as well.
(Cat) Grimgrin Faceguard (Head) 341ac, +40agi, +48sta, Red, Yellow and Blue sockets w/+8atk bonus, +24hit, +82atk.
The fourth best feral helm for Cat Druids after top raiding tier items like Stag-helm of Malorne, Nordrassil Headdress and Thunderheart Cover. And plenty of socketing options.
Summary
As promised, Balance Druids got a lot of itemization love in this zone with a spell damage ring, neck, trinket and a couple of one-handed options. Resto Druids will do very well, too, with a belt, neck, trinket, vest and cloak that are some of the best in the game. Cat Druids get some love, mostly from generic Rogue leather, but also from the Primal-man Catcher as well as shoulders, trinket and head items.
Bear Druids, however, have little to nothing to look forward to in this zone. Clearly the devs were out to fix Balance itemization issues. But, fear not, Bear Druids, Heroic Badges drop liberally and often in Zul'Aman and there are many fine choices of upgrade gear available to you through the Lower City vendor.
EDIT: Fixed a few misconception on my part.
Filed under: Druid, Patches, Items, Raiding, (Druid) Shifting Perspectives
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Icepuck Oct 16th 2007 11:50PM
Zul'jin - (Bear) Ancient Aqir Articfact (Trinket)... Bears dont Parry, so this trinket useless for a feral druid, they are better off with Moroes Compass or Badge of Tenacity, even Mark of Tyranny is better than that.
Icepuck Oct 16th 2007 11:52PM
Lame that the Bear God, doesnt drop Bear loot :(
Miyari Oct 16th 2007 11:55PM
I'm assuming in the notes regarding the Life-Step Belt that when you linked the Belt of Primal Mastery (a drop from Gurtogg Bloodboil, in Black Temple) as a drop from Void Reaver, you actually meant the Girdle of Zaetar, which the Life-Step Belt is still significantly better than.
Socketing Life-Step to meet the bonuses yields the following result:
20 Sta 23 Int 22 Spi 115 Healing 8 mana per 5 sec.
As a similarly socketed, Zaetar is:
22 Stam 23 Int 24 Spi 102 Healing and basically 5 mana per 5.
No way. :P
rcwills Oct 17th 2007 12:13AM
Primal Man-catcher is a cat item, not bear.
I'm pretty pissed that even after changing HOTW, they give us weapons with STR and not AGI. The S3 mace has crit rating and no agi. Such bad itemization...
Mark Oct 17th 2007 12:33AM
1. Bears dont parry.
2. That staff is NOT a tanking staff.
3. l2druid
Heartd Oct 17th 2007 12:18AM
btw, Druid bears cannot Parry.
ladyshiva Oct 17th 2007 12:22AM
Resto druids really don't need spell haste, being mainly hot healers. But Boomkin? Bring on the spell haste! Anything that cuts the cast time on starfire is great by me.
Amandrel Oct 17th 2007 12:26AM
While Balance Druids will get a lot of itemisation love in 2.3, it's not coming from Zul'Aman in terms of drops. Every one of the Balance items listed above is a caster item that can be used by other caster classes (Mages, Warlocks and/or Shadow Priests), and we'll be rolling against them just like we did in Karazhan (well, I didn't because I went through Karazhan mostly as a Resto Druid).
Where Balance Druids did see the love is in the new Heroic Badge rewards, where there's leather with +spell damage for every slot except the legs. To buy all seven armor items will cost around 425 badges.
My current gear is a mix of crafted items, PvP gear and Kara drops that none of the casters wanted. The new Heroic rewards are great for someone like me. While some may argue over whether the new items are really all that, I for one am happy that I'll have choices and won't be forced to wear cloth because there's nothing else.
edge Oct 17th 2007 12:28AM
lol bear parrying is lol
Mark Oct 17th 2007 12:39AM
@4 we still get 2.24 AP from 1 str, so the bonus to AP is still a buff even with the current itemization
Morrigän Oct 17th 2007 6:13AM
Yeah, seems that Blizzard decided that bear tanks aren't viable anymore. No loot for us?
Madinauzi Oct 17th 2007 7:42AM
@ 11: Agreed, WTB hit and tanking stats on Tier and Bear gear pls. cos i for one, am SICK of missing with my opening combo and having it rape the raid.
Vestras Oct 17th 2007 8:01AM
not feeling the love. I don't see a single piece of armor there for the Boomkin. As was said, it's all generalized caster gear, nothing druid specific, ie: leather casting gear. Not cool.
draeth Oct 17th 2007 8:14AM
@13 stuff that has (Balance) before it was boomkin gear...
Karthis Oct 17th 2007 8:54AM
I covered the new Heroic Badge rewards that are of interest to Bear druids here:
http://teethandclaws.blogspot.com/2007/10/sneak-peek-at-23-heroic-gear.html
MrFoof Oct 17th 2007 8:54AM
Clickable trinkets are amazing for Tree of Life restoration druids.
When you establish a Lifebloom stack, any bonus healing that is present with the stack is established will be persisted as long as you always keep the stack rolling.
So in the case of Tome of Diabolic Remedy and say... pairing it with a Warb Scarab Brooch, you gain 31MP5, as well as +678 healing that will be maintained as long as you keep the Lifebloom stack rolling. That works out to +54 per Lifebloom tick, per application(+162/tick with a full stack).
This is why when you establish a Lifebloom stack with Idol of the Emerald Queen equipped, you'll typically swap it out to something else (such as Harold's Rejuvenating Broach, or another idol) since the initial benefit of Emerald Queen (7/tick per application) is maintained as long as you never let the stack drop.
Wats Oct 17th 2007 10:19AM
"there are many fine choices of upgrade gear available to you through the Lower City vendor."
is there something being added for lower city rep?
porovaara Oct 17th 2007 11:46AM
There is a *ton* of tanking upgrades for druids, just not inside the instance. But this has pretty much been the case for a while. If you want to tank and gear yourself as a druid before BC you had to PVP until your guild got to BWL. Since BC if you really, really, want to tank you run heroics nonstop and gear yourself through drops and heroic badges.
The next major patch adds some signifcant upgrades for tanking druids which can all be obtained via heroics. Some rough numbers, an equipped druid who upgrades with the new Zul stuff should probably be sitting around 29-31k armor and at least 13.5k hp self buffed. Given the amount of agility on some of those pieces I would expect these same druids to be at least 33-35% dodge as well. Raid buffed? Oh boy! Fun times.
Jess Oct 17th 2007 1:27PM
Yeah boo to the lack of bear drops (although actually I use a girdle of treachery for tanking so the other belt that drops will work)
There are some really nice heroic rewards that are bear-riffic including a new idol that has a chance on hit with mangle gain 75 agility and also a nice tanking cloak that is about on par with the one that drops from illhoof (turd drops my staff but not my cape, boo) so cheer up bears all hope is not lost. Just hope my guild will have a good badge distrubtion system. Or else I might have to *gasp* start running heroics.
MacKoroni Oct 17th 2007 1:27PM
@6 I kinda disagree, there have times where I've wished my damn healing touch had gotten to someone 1/2 a second faster - usually when healing in 5 mans that involve lots of back and forth moving, so ToL can't be used. Spell haste is perhaps not as necessary in raids but would come in handy for 5 mans.