Lichborne: Crimson Hall loot for death knights
by Daniel Whitcomb 
Feb 2nd 2010 at 7:00PM
Welcome to Lichborne, wow.com's weekly death knight column. This week, we continue our breakneck tour of the fabulous Ice Crown Citadel, premiere vacation getaway of the dead, rich, and infamous.
Our look at ICC death knight loot continues this week with the Crimson Hall. Prepare for corny twilight jokes to go with your raiding (trust me, I know they're coming, and I will be making many of them). There's only 2 boss battles in this wing, but there's still plenty of loot to discuss. As before, I'd suggest you check out the introduction to the Lower Spire loot guide, as it does include some basic stat rundowns and philosophies that you should keep in mind as you read these guides.
There's also a few wrenches in the gears (but good wrenches, since they involve buffs) for your loot selections as of Patch 3.3.2, which I'd expect will be live by the time you read this. We'll be getting an Ashen Verdict strength ring and a slight stat adjustment on tier 10 tank armor, so keep those in mind as you read. In short, you'll probably be keeping the Ashen Verdict strength ring as one of your main rings, and tier 10 tank gear looks a lot sexier now, at least for physical-based fights.
The Blood Princes
10-Man
The big thing the Battle-Maiden's Legguards have over Scourgelord Legplates is one extra gem slot and haste instead of critical strike rating. However, the 4-piece bonus makes sure the tier 10 edges out anyway. Just stick with tier 10 and let some the tanks grab this for their off set, I'd say.
In other questions, what are the blood princes doing with legs belonging to a Battle Maiden? Have the Val'kyr been making booty calls? Man, girls and their vampires, I swear.
The big problem with the Thrice Fanged Ring is that haste and critical strike rating aren't the most glamorous stats for us for DPSing anymore. There's better than this ring to be found even in 10-mans for Death Knights. It's not horrible, but there's better. This will do in a pinch if you can't find better in a ring though, or if all you can find is +hit or +expertise rings when you're already capped.
The Spaulders of the Blood Princes have a decent chunk of defense rating, a bit of hit rating, and an extra socket over Scourgelord Pauldrons. That said, they also have less parry rating, no dodge rating, and less innate strength and stamina. Tier 10's probably going to be the overall better choice for tanking here unless you really need the small chunk of extra stamina from the gem slot, or the hit to keep threat, especially after you factor in the equip bonuses and upgrade potential of tier 10.
25-Man
The Cryptmaker isn't quite as good as Bryntroll all told, but if you can't get your hands on said Bryntroll or a Shadowmourne,this is your DPS weapon. Of course, watch your hit rating, since this will give you a big chunk that you'll have to compensate for when you pick up one of the aforementioned upgrades. It's also a very nice tank weapon in that it has tons of stamina and 3 gem slots for extra solid gems.
Landsoul's Horned Greathelm essentially swaps in hit rating for the armor penetration present on the Sanctified Scourgelord's Helmet. If you don't need that hit rating, go with the tier 10. Remember, you'll want that 4 piece set bonus.
The Royal Crimson Cloak actually comes across as a nice upgrade for the Sentinel's Winter Cloak as long as you don't need the armor. It has a gem slot and the same amount of stamina, as well as more defense and dodge rating, and some hit. If you aren't hit capped while tanking or are struggling to stay at 540 defense, it may be worth taking. Otherwise, the Sentinel Cloak is probably better for straight up physical fights, at least at the non-heroic level.
Taladaram's Plated Fists are nice in that they blow away tier 10's avoidance thanks to the Parry rating. You can also get more stamina out of them thanks to the extra gem slot. That said, recall that the tier 10 gloves are getting a substantial armor bonus in Patch 3.3.2, which may edge them back over Taldaram's for physical-based fights. Plus, there are the set bonuses too.
Blood Queen Lana'thel
10-Man
If you're 10-man exclusive, the Collar of Haughty Disdain is a good replacement for the Infected Choker if you're already expertise capped, despite the somewhat low value of haste for death knights. If you aren't expertise capped, though, stick with the Infected Choker.
Throatrender Handguards shed the critical strike rating of Scourgelord Gauntlets for some haste rating. They also have an extra socket. That said, Scourgelord Gauntlets are probably your better bet here, both because critical strike is a better stat for most death knights and because of the set bonuses.
Veincrusher Gauntlets stack up very nicely against tier 10. They have expertise and an extra gem slot to make up for slightly less dodge and stamina. Of course, tier 10 will be getting some extra armor in patch 3.3.2, remember, so tier 10 will probably stack up better again after that. Stick with those in order to grab the set bonuses unless you need the expertise on the Veincrusher.
25-Man
Lana'thel's Chain of Flagellation is probably going to be best in slot for any DPS death knight who isn't yet at the expertise cap. It's very solidly built, especially since armor penetration is a valuable stat for blood and unholy dpsers.
The queen also drops another Vanquisher's Mark of Sanctification for upgrading your tier 10. With the armor upgrades in patch 3.3.2, tanks might want this almost as much as DPS again.
It's also worth it to give a mention to Bloodfall here. Yes, it's technically itemized for hunter and feral druid DPS, but it's not a bad tank death knight weapon either. The agility gives it a slight avoidance edge over Cryptmaker, and it has the same potential stamina as said Cryptmaker. If this is dropping for your raid group often enough, it might be worth picking up. Polearms look awesome anyway. The only downside is that it has less threat potential than the Cryptmaker, and will have even less after patch 4.0, when the attack power will go away completely to be replaced by agility.
Welcome to Lichborne, the weekly class column on the newest WoW class, the death knight, where we discuss PuG etiquette and Emblem of Triumph gear for the Death Knight tank, 5-man Crusader's Coliseum gear for tanks andDPS,andbasic Death Knight statistics and mechanics. You might also want to check all the other articles in our Death Knight category.Filed under: Raiding, Death Knight, (Death Knight) Lichborne
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
danieldykes Feb 2nd 2010 7:08PM
Looks like Tier 10 is the way to go!
N-train Feb 2nd 2010 7:13PM
As a blood tank, I shot for the 2 set bonus as fast as I could so I could finally stop glyphing for Death and Decay and not have threat problems on trash and 5 mans.
I'm considering continuing on for the 4 set as well, seeing as the headpiece is pretty solid and there isn't a 10 man one as far as I know.
Deathknighty Feb 2nd 2010 7:13PM
How important is Expertise to a dk dps? I'm trying to get it capped (26 exp right?), but no one seems to try to stack it, and almost no one bothers with learning how to make the exp gem. Everyone I've asked about its importance as a stat has just said that they don't know and that they mostly hear about tanks stacking it. :P
Mugutu Feb 2nd 2010 8:03PM
Expertise reduces your chance to be dodged/parried by your target. DPS DKs want to get to 26 expertise (NOT EXPERTISE RATING, 26 EXPERTISE) so that none of their attacks are dodged, and they shouldn't have to worry about parries because they shouldn't be in front of the boss. Tanks shoot for 26 minimum, but past 26 you lower your chance to be parried as well.
Deathknighty Feb 2nd 2010 8:15PM
So is the order of what stats to go for hit (till cap)>exp (till cap)>strength>ArP>crit>haste? (I'm blood)
Clydtsdk-Rivendare Feb 2nd 2010 10:05PM
Everything I've seen numbers-wise points to str>exp. Then again, I'm casual.
veil Feb 3rd 2010 8:30AM
for unholy dk's, expertise is actually not very high on priority. it should be hit > str > arp > crit > haste > then exp.
Jasteus Feb 2nd 2010 7:35PM
Well for rets right now, i think it's hit>expertise>str basically, cap the first 2 then gem str across the board, I would *think* it's the same for dk's but I could be way off.
Mugutu Feb 2nd 2010 8:04PM
Depends on spec, EJ has it all listed.
cupofbear Feb 3rd 2010 4:03AM
As a frost dps DK, I'd like to see a little info on any single handed weapons, as I'm pretty sure there's at least a decent sword that drops out of that wing, don't forget us please :)
Agememon Feb 3rd 2010 9:21AM
You keep saying Bryntoll is a great weapon. You have this wrong. The proc does not scale as your gear improves. Cryptmaker quickly overcomes and becomes a better weapon but neither is BiS.
as far stat weights, Hit > Strength > ArP > Crit > Haste > Expertise > Agility
Expertise is NOT very important as you should be behind the mob so parries will not be an issue. I have less than 26 expertise but never get parried or dodged. TANKS need to worry about expertise.
cupofbear Feb 3rd 2010 10:59AM
You need 26 expertise to not be dodged from behind, parries only happen from the front. Someone else might find elsewise, but if I don't have my melee characters hit AND expertise capped, my dps tends to be unstable. When a DK's abilities miss or are dodged, especially when we have to apply our diseases (one is a spell effect, the other a strike) we have to stop and hit that ability again, this is a clear dps loss, throwing our diseases out of whack, and we have to sacrifice at least one of our harder hitting abilities later on in our priority system/rotation.
Sterb Feb 3rd 2010 11:43AM
Let's try this again. Expertise is not that important for Unholy because the only resource lost by attacks that can get dodged are Rune based and the with the rather loose nature of UH, the only thing you lose is a GCD. Hit is somewhat important because a missed DC actually results in the loss of Runic Power.
Sterb Feb 3rd 2010 11:50AM
I'm not being combative, but what ring do you consider better in 10 man? The other strength DPS ring has expertise, whose value (for UH) is pretty much at the end of the list. If you're anywhere near the cap (and sometimes if you're not), I just don't see it as a compelling option (and your other slot should be the rep ring).
cupofbear Feb 3rd 2010 8:59PM
From my own experience, melee attacks make up a very large portion of our dps, all melee attacks can be dodged, so I prefer capping my expertise. If I'm not much mistaken, Plague Strike can be dodged. If Icy Touch misses, or Plague Strike misses or is dodged, you have to hit them again, for unholy your diseases are a larger percentage of your damage than other specs, and for every spec having your diseases up is top priority, because this increases the damage of our other abilities when they're on a target. When working with expertise or hit, you have to remember that it isn't a static percentage of your attacks will be misses or dodged, but that every attack has that chance to miss or be dodged, you're working with an RNG on this, you could be very lucky, or very unlucky, if you eliminate them, you'll never have to worry about bad luck. :P I brought this up originally to point out that I disagree that only tanks need to worry about expertise, and voice my opinion on the matter of expertise for any spec, I'm not claiming that my opinion is the only one or the right one, just that it works for me :)