Arena Season 5 is here, a completely different season from all the ones before it because of three critical things. First, there are ten new levels. Even though rated Arena play will still be available at Level 70, the real PvP endgame is at Level 80, with new spell ranks, new abilities, and ten more sweet talent points for wonderful PvP tricks. Second, there's an entirely new class to throw a monkeywrench into the equation. How does the Death Knight fit into new team comps? Will they be enough to curb Druid dominance in 2s and 3s? The metagame changes drastically with one more variable. Third, unlike previous seasons, there will be three tiers of Arena gear. Furthermore, there will be numerous sources of Season 5 gear, and not just Arena play. It will be quite possible for players to get entire sets of Gladiator gear without having to PvP at all!

But if you would like to dive into this mini-game called Arenas, you'd have to be somewhat prepared. As with The Burning Crusade, the PvP stat in Wrath of the Lich King is still Resilience. Therefore, in order to be best prepared for Arenas and Wrath PvP, it's important to stack on Resilience. Even as many players get gear from heroic instances and raids, the name of the game is still survivability. The good news is that it is extremely easy to gear up in Wrath, and that includes PvP gear. CLOTH
Blizzard had the foresight to include craftable PvP sets available from trainers, making it easy to get geared for Season 5. For Warlocks, Mages, and Priests, there's the Frostsavage non-set. I call it a non-set because even though they all share the same nomenclature, having many or all of the pieces confer no bonuses. The great thing about this set is that it's extremely easy to make. The materials aren't too expensive, and it's even better if you're a tailor yourself.

Frostsavage Cowl
Frostsavage Shoulders
Frostsavage Robe
Frostsavage Belt
Frostsavage Leggings
Frostsavage Boots
Frostsavage Bracers
Frostsavage Gloves

The entire set confers about 300 Resilience and 450 Stamina, which should be passable but should be complemented by other items with Resilience and/or Stamina. The total materials needed are 27 Bolts of Imbued Frostweave (A little over 20 stacks of Frostweave Cloth and almost three stacks of Infinite Dust), 33 each of Crystallized Fire and Earth, and 16 Eternium Thread, which you can buy from vendors.

LEATHER MELEE
Leatherworkers can craft four different non-sets of gear, two of which are leather. The one for Rogues and Feral Druids is called the Eviscerator's armor, which grants generous Agility and Critical Strike Rating. The materials required are incredibly straightforward -- Heavy Borean Leather and Eternal Air. The only difficulty in this is finding a Letherworker who knows the recipes. Unlike Tailoring's Frostsavage non-set, all Leatherworking PvP pieces are learned from patterns bought from trainers.

Eviscerator's Facemask
Eviscerator's Shoulderpads
Eviscerator's Chestguard
Eviscerator's Waisguard
Eviscerator's Legguards
Eviscerator's Treads
Eviscerator's Bindings
Eviscerator's Gauntlets

The good news is, the patterns cost a mere three pieces of Heavy Borean Leather, so it's highly likely that any Rogue or Druid with Leatherworking 420 and above would have them. The entire set confers 300 Resilience, 450 Agility, 449 Stamina, and 229 Critical Strike Rating. It will take a total of 84 Heavy Borean Leather and eight Eternal Airs to craft.

Tags: Arena, Eviscerator, Featured, Frostsavage, Items, Leatherworking, Overcast, Resilience, Stormhide, Swiftarrow, Tailoring

Filed under: Items, Analysis / Opinion, PvP, Guides, Arena