Been a while since we did a shield. And since we did a BoE, actually. So here's both in one.

Name: Northern Barrier (Wowhead, Thottbot, WoWWiki)
Type: Epic Shield
Armor: 7890 Armor (221 Block)
Attributes:

• +42 Strength, +94 Stamina
• Increases defense rating by 63, which is just awesome.

• And increases hit and expertise rating by 28 each. Which doesn't just make this a great tank shield, it makes this a terrific threat-generating shield. It doesn't have any extra block rating on it (though the block there by itself is terrific), so won't help as much with damage mitigation as some other shields might. But when you absolutely positively need to keep aggro, accept no motherf#$*ing substitutes.

How to Get It: It appears in the Cache of Winter after Hodir is defeated in Heroic (25-man) mode. But wait -- it's Bind on Equip, which means that even if your guild isn't making their way through Heroic Ulduar, you can still pick it up, given that a) no one in the raid actually wants it, and b) you've got enough money. In fact, you'll probably need a lot of money -- people aren't selling Ulduar epics for cheap.

But still, if you've got the cash, and you see it on the AH, go for it. Somebody's gotta finance those big raiding guilds' potion funds, right? And plus, it'll help them buy more potions from me. Thanks!

Getting Rid of It: Sells back to vendors for 13g 89s 3c, and disenchants into an Abyss Crystal.

Tags: 25-man, bind-on-equip, boe, cache-of-winter, heroic, hodir, item, loot, northern-barrior, phat-loot, phat-loot-phriday, shield, tanking, ulduar

Filed under: Items, Analysis / Opinion, Fan stuff, Humor, Raiding, Phat Loot Phriday