Phat Loot Phriday: Ramaladni's Blade of Culling
by Michael Gray 
Apr 2nd 2010 at 10:00PM
Second, Ramaladni's axe sports two blue sockets, making it a singularly excellent death knight tanking weapon. While any DPS class who uses two-handed weapons will appreciate the axe, it's relatively rare to find this much blue gem opportunity on a weapon. The expertise on the weapon also recommends it for tanking, which tends to be a fairly valuable stat for death knight tanks. (Really, any melee, sure, sure, but I'm making a death knight argument here.)
Name: Ramaladni's Blade of Culling
Type: Two-Hand Axe
Damage: 748 - 1123 Damage, 267.3 damage per second
Speed: 3.50
Attritbutes:
- 148 Strength
- 164 Stamina
- 2 Blue Sockets
- Socket Bonus: +6 Strength
- Increases your expertise rating by 91 (11.1 @ L80)
- Increases your armor penetration rating by 83 (5.93% @ L80)
How to get rid of it: It sells for 31 gold or can become an Abyss Crystal.
Filed under: Phat Loot Phriday
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Hydrocodon Apr 2nd 2010 10:10PM
Dude! I wish I had the time to lvl my dk
Eberron Apr 2nd 2010 10:10PM
It should be stated that Expertise *is* valuable to all melee classes, but the tanking argument is born out of that tanks generally need about twice as much Expertise as any melee DPS while it's less frequently on their gear then DPS gear.
Plus, high stam + two sockets. Total tank weapon. :)
craig Apr 2nd 2010 10:16PM
never thought about tanking with it. gonna have to try it over the hilt one.
BrettUltimus Apr 2nd 2010 10:21PM
A wonderful tanking weapon for DKs.
Or a great dps weapon for Ret Pallies, such as myself.
Although I agree, Tanking DKs get this over priority.
Matthew Rossi Apr 2nd 2010 10:25PM
Armor pen isn't a terribly compelling stat for rets, it's better for warriors. The sword off of Marrowgar 10 is a better weapon for rets, imo.
mitchellangelo86 Apr 2nd 2010 11:49PM
I'm a ret pally, and am actually using this at the moment as well...and while I partially agree with Matthew Rossi in the fact that the marrowgar sword is *technically* better for rets in general, for me, who's already retardedly over hitcap, the 100 or so hit is essentially wasted stat points on that marrowgar sword. Plus, with 2pc t10, armor pen becomes less useless, and when using this axe I am natively expertise capped, allowing me to switch out my SoV glyph. However, my ideal weapon that I'm shooting for next is the Oxheart (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=51562). Now THAT is a genuinely well-itemized weapon for ret pallies who need more expertise.
slartibart Apr 3rd 2010 12:34AM
Hooray, you're both actually right!
This just makes me happy that I finally got Bryn the other day for my ret, so don't have to keep witching glyphs, and between those two weapons, based on my other gear.
They are so close, the differences are almost negligible(assuming hit cap or exp cap not met). You just better not be rolling against one of your tanks for it.
Adrian Apr 3rd 2010 5:21PM
@Mitchell
You're better off aiming for Bryntroll over Oxheart. It's much easier to get, and it's also actually better. The fast attack speed is kind of a bummer, but it's still the best 264 weapon other than Shadow's Edge for Ret. Moreover, the Exo glyph is pretty lackluster simply because you don't use Exo that much; in fact the SoV glyph is generally recommended for anyone under about 23 expertise for the times when you are using SoC/SoR. So basically, get the cool looking bone-axe and don't worry about that silly mace.
Jierda Apr 2nd 2010 10:30PM
I recently got this on my DK as Blood Tank. its so Awesome :D
Byron Apr 3rd 2010 2:39AM
Perfectly itemized for DK Blood tanks (especially Orcs). Blue sockets + Exp + Armor Pentration (to stack w/ Blood Gorged).
elstor Apr 3rd 2010 12:07AM
Any back in ye olden day there was this:
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=22707
nekorion Apr 3rd 2010 12:31AM
It's items like this that make me hate blizzards loot philosophy.
Sure anyone that can weild a 2 hander can use it, but its build with one specific purpose in mind.
If they're okay with doing that, why are they so brutal to other cases like this? Why are there no mail drops, with expertise in all of icc (enhancement). Why are there no 1 handed strength weapons with dpsing at the forefront (frost dk). Heck there's an entire spec that has an armor set devoted to itself (sup holy paladins).
I have no idea if they're playing favorite or they just overlook pretty simple situations that can be remedied
Eberron Apr 3rd 2010 1:35AM
Because, despite all the talk about how this is a tanking weapon, it's only a tanking weapon in that it's itemized in a way that a tank would desire it most, not that it only has that use.
A one-handed strength weapon is all substantially less useful for a Shaman or a Rogue then this is to a DK DPS or Warrior DPS.
Sure, an Arms warrior is talent capped, but a Fury warrior might not mind having this.
When you gem both for straight up strength, this comes ahead assuming you still want Expertise. Sure, the Citadel Enforcer's is better if you need hit, but this is a generally superior weapon for the vast majority of specs assuming they're not wasting the expertise.
It's just throwing DK tanks a bone. For them, it's itemized just about perfectly. For everyone else, it's just itemized well.
Except for rets. Screw you guys. Go get the enforcer and drop some hit somewhere else. :P
Byron Apr 3rd 2010 2:46AM
Hopefully Reforging will alleviate that problem somewhat in Cataclysm, allowing some professions us to change the stats on gear and item enhancements to better tailor it for our class/role/current gear needs.
Tharama Apr 3rd 2010 1:41AM
This post made me so sad. I had just lost this awesome axe to a retadin about 3 hours ago on my Tank DK. He took it for his expertise rating, even though he already had the sword from Marrowgar.
Byron Apr 3rd 2010 2:51AM
In a guild raid or a pug? If the former, I'd probably consider finding another guild. If a tank is using a
Byron Apr 3rd 2010 2:54AM
(stupid comment system thinks < is an HTML open bracket, and cut off the rest of my comment. :/)
... < 251 weapon, and they give something like Ramaladni to a dps that already has a 251 weapon, even if not perfectly optimal, there's a problem w/ the decision process.
DK threat is heavily dependent on the weapon, hence the raid's threat cap is heavily dependent on the DK tank's weapon. If the GM/RL/LM/whoever is not cognizant of that, they're likely not cognizant of alot of other issues that will cause problems and drama down the road.
Triforceelf Apr 3rd 2010 2:56AM
Its honestly not that bad for ret paladins, and if you need the expertise and don't need the hit, its definitely better then the sword. The sword is faster which makes it worse right off the bat anyway. The only time the sword would be better is if you needed the hit or didnt need the expertise.
Eberron Apr 3rd 2010 3:36AM
Sadly, having looked at the Paladin in question, he's grossly over Hit *and* Expertise cap regardless of weapon he used.
It would've been a pug, so technically he had a right to roll, but he took it knowing that half of the itemization was completely wasted. Poor Tharama. :(
Cheap bugger should've just bought a Quel'dalar and called it a day.
Loremaster Roht Apr 3rd 2010 1:42AM
Just to say it, here's my nickname for the weapon:
Rama-lama-ding-dong