The Light and How to Swing It: Looting Icecrown's lower spire

Sometimes, you just have that maddening compulsion to make your wish list of various things you want to acquire. I've got one on Amazon for a woodworking shop and another of things I want on WoW (which does happen to include a pony, Ghostcrawler). However, with the last of the loot being divvied up in these final days of Wrath, let's go through Icecrown Citadel and make a shopping list of gear we'd kill for.
Lord Marrowgar's frosty remains
After fighting waves of undead, tripping traps, and possibly even using crowd-control you've finally reached Marrowgar. He's got his own special issues that have you destroying spikes and the avoidance of fire that's really burning ice or something. I think he just pours out four bottles of freon. That's just my theory. Let's see what we pry from his cold, dead hands.
- Holy
- Frost Needle - 10 man - This one-handed sword isn't a great choice for your healadin. It has some hit on it, but if your weapon is lagging behind the rest of your gear, this would be a quick way to upgrade.
- Ancient Skeletal Boots - 10 man - This set of boots goes for crit and mp5. It's also got two sockets.
- Corrupted Silverplate Leggings - 10 man - These legs give you crit and haste and three sockets.
- Coldwraith Bracers - 10 man - While these are spell mail instead of spell plate, they're not bad if you're looking for an upgrade. It's haste and mp5 gear with a red socket.
- Sliver of Pure Ice - 10 man - Marrowgar drops this spellpower trinket with the on use ability to regain a bit of mana. The mana return is equivelant to about 67 mp5 in the long run which isn't that shabby all things considered. However, being an on-use trinket, you'll have to keep remembering to actually use it.
- Marrowgar's Frigid Eye - 25 man - A nice little spell ring. It's also got some mp5, some haste, and a yellow socket for your gem of choice.
- Rusted Bonespike Pauldrons - 25 man - These spell plate shoulders give you some crit and mp5. If you'd rather it have more of something, there are two gem slots awaiting blue and yellow gems.
- Crushing Coldwraith Belt - 25 man - Here's a cloth belt that's sans spirit and sans hit which makes it a decent choice for pallies in need of healing upgrades. It's got two slots for gems, some crit, and a large chunk of haste.
- Bulwark of Smouldering Steel - 25 man - Here's a spell power shield for you healadins. It's got a fair amount of crit and haste on it .
- Protection
- Marrowgar's Scratching Choker - 10 man - This tank neck-piece has a single blue socket (yay, stocket bonuse) and ups your dodge and parry. Defense rating on it is a little low in my opinion, but at these gear levels, the defense cap isn't usually an issue.
- Bonebreaker Scepter - 10 man - This little mace is a really nice upgrade if you've been following the 10-man track. No sockets, but it has hit, dodge, and defense. I also like the model for it.
- Bracers of Dark Reckoning - 25 man - Even more dodge/parry gear. As a tank, you start to miss seeing the occasional piece of block gear. However, this puppy has a good portion of its itemization towards stamina as well as including a yellow socket for gems.
- Legguards of Lost Hope - 25 man - Protection pants sporting three gem slots (one of each). It's got a little bit of hit on it as well as some dodge. It also has a not insignificant amount of defense rating on there in case you want to swap some gear around.
- Retribution
- Citadel Enforcer's Claymore - 10 man - Oh, look it's a big two-handed sword. This puppy has a large chunk of hit on it as well as some crit. There's also a yellow socket that would fit a Bold Cardinal Ruby just as well as any yellow gem.
- Gendarme's Cuirass - 25 man - Retadin pants with three, count'em three sockets (one in each color) with hit and crit as the equip stats.
- Bryntroll, the Bone Arbiter - 25 man - Probably the best two-hander, besides Shadowmourne, we'll see until Cataclysm ships. My one complaint is that it's a fairly fast weapon, but the proc it has makes up for that. It has a chance on hit to steal over two thousand hit points from your opponent and thus boost you up. It also has two sockets on there, so you could significantly boost the strength if needed.
Lady Deathwhisper and her adds
Kill this, kite that, don't stand in bad stuff, and for the love of all that is sacred, don't tank her for too long. I'm still trying to figure out why she was delivering speeches while standing on an elevator. However, now that she's dead, let's go through her pockets.
- Holy
- Deathspeaker Disciple's Belt - 10 man - Again, we're taking a look at resto-shaman gear and in this case, a belt. It's stacking haste rating and mp5. It also has two gem slots on it which can be increased to three with a buckle.
- Necrophotic Greaves - 25 man - Yes, I'm still looting shaman gear. We've got two gem slots, crit, and a fair chunk of mp5. If you're looking for haste, this is not the item for you.
- Fallen Lord's Handguards - 25 man - Here we go, some real spell plate gloves. We've got our crit. We've got our haste. And most important, we've got two gem slots to play with.
- Protection
- Ghoul Commander's Cuirass - 10 man - Here's the first tanking chest upgrade you'll probably have in ICC. It has three sockets, two of which are even blue and uses the standard death knight tanking stats of defense, dodge, and parry.
- Broken Ram Skull Helm - 25 man - This tanking helm has a meta socket as well as a red gem socket on it. As for equip stats, it's got defense, dodge, and hit. Another note is that it has almost twice as much stamina as it does strength (which will probably be doubled after gemming and enchanting).
- Juggernaut Band - 25 man - This tanking ring has a red gem slot as well as the standard parry, dodge, and defense itemization.
- Retribution
- Deathspeaker Zealot's Helm - 10 man - This melee helm has a meta socket and a blue gem slot. As for equip stats, it's boasting some haste as well as a decent chunk of crit rating.
- Whispering Fanged Skull - 10 man - Imagine an upgraded version of the old Mirror of Truth we got from the Emblem of Heroism badge vendor and that's what you're looking at here. Some nice crunchy crit with a side of attack power proc. Not a shabby trinket at all. I just wish it wasn't unique.
- Ahn'kahar Onyx Neckguard - 25 man - This is hit and crit necklace with a blue gem socket tossed in for good measure. If you're using a blue gem to activate your helm's meta gem, you can put it in here for the +4 strength socket bonus. It's not much, but ever point of strength adds up.
- Blood-Soaked Saronite Stompers - 25 man - These are more warrior dps boots than ret boots, but they've still got critical strike rating. The two gems slots are nice, but the armor penetration leaves me cold. These still might be an upgrade for you, so don't dismiss them immediately.
Filed under: Paladin, Items, (Paladin) The Light and How to Swing It, Wrath of the Lich King






Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Patrick Jan 17th 2010 2:11PM
Yay, you added something that could have been found on wowhead. Really contributing.
Hooch [Quite possibly crazy] Jan 17th 2010 2:28PM
Rule Number 1 of Wow.com : You don't talk about WoW.com
Rule Number 2 of Wow.com: There are no rules
Rule Number 3 of WoW.com: there is no place for your pissy pre-pubescent "I can do better" complaints.
andy Jan 17th 2010 6:04PM
first) right back at ya patrick, because you know that comment was uber constructive
second) alot of people find this sort of thing really helpful rather than spending ages going through the loot list.
scherbaddie Jan 17th 2010 7:41PM
the comments from the last few paladin comments have been begging for a review of icecrown loot, and now you have it you still complain? I used to think mages QQed a lot...
Al Jan 17th 2010 8:45PM
"the comments from the last few paladin comments have been begging for a review of icecrown loot"
They have? Can you link to those comments that don't exist?. Even if they did, have you considered he didn't make any of those comments?
Healium Jan 17th 2010 2:18PM
"However, htis puppy has a good portion of its itemization towards stamina as well as including a yellow socket for gems."
"htis". thought i would point it out for you.
Also a good read as my pally tank now knows what to look out for in ICC.
Gregg Reece Jan 17th 2010 2:45PM
Thanks. Fixed.
Clydtsdk-Rivendare Jan 17th 2010 3:54PM
While we're at it, Gendarme's Cuirass is a chestpiece, not pants. *insert trollish grumblings here*
freeway8989 Jan 17th 2010 3:17PM
Can't wait til Bonebreaker Scepter drops for me.
Sky Jan 17th 2010 4:25PM
stop taking our mail goddamn it
Theyas Jan 17th 2010 5:08PM
I think one thing that should be mentioned in this article is that no Paladin should ever be taking non-plate gear unless there are no Cloth/Leather/Mail wearers already in the raid(or unless they are okay with the Paladin taking said gear).
This kind of goes without saying, but I'm sure there are some Paladins that will take/be given non-plate gear regardless of who else is in the raid.
it's just common courtesy, really.
Gerik Jan 17th 2010 6:36PM
Taking a guild photo in front of Marrowgar is pretty hilarious. "W3 didit guyz!!i!11"
Zebb Jan 18th 2010 12:29AM
Boots of the Frozen Seed from Lady Deathwhisper 10-man.
Since we're unapologetically stealing spellpower gear from lesser armor types, these leather moccasins fit the bill quite nicely. Haste and crit, no spirit to mess things up. They look absolutely retarded under plate pants, so if you're gonna yoink em away from any boomkin in the group, make sure you don't mind showing off some pasty blood elf leg.
comedown Jan 18th 2010 3:11AM
Just a bit of constructive criticism if you ever decide to do this again.
Ret's should not be using a "Blue" gem to activate their meta in PVE. They should be using a "Nightmare Tear" to satisfy the 1 blue requirement in the Relentless Earthseige Diamond.
The Blood Soaked Saronite Stompers are on many Best in Slot lists. While they may techinically be better for Warriors or Death Knights - you should point out that they are pretty much a ret's best option (till the Heroic versions).
In the future take a moment to read over the EJ thread and their thoughts on particular pieces of gear. Lots of less serious people wont do that - but as a 'professional' you should be.
Antanatar Jan 18th 2010 8:05AM
Err what is it with the author of this article orgasming over crit for holy pallies? Worst possible stat for regen and very hit and miss for throughput. Can we have a paladin commenter that actually knows what a holy paladin requires for gear?
If you cant manage that then at least do a bit of research on Elitist Jerks.
DirrtyMagic Jan 18th 2010 6:06PM
Bryntroll, the Bone Arbiter is 3.4 speed, or exceedingly slow. Its proc seems to happen quite frequently for my ret pally, making up about 4% of my damage.