Lichborne: Ruby Sanctum loot for death knights
by Daniel Whitcomb 
Jul 13th 2010 at 5:00PM
With the state of pretty much every class on beta in limbo thanks to the forthcoming talent revamp, we're taking a break from beta stuff to ransack the Ruby Sanctum. Hopefully, we'll see the new trees on beta in the next week or so, so we have more to work with than speculating on exactly what "signature abilities" everyone will get. In the meantime, we have shiny new loot and a new boss to tackle in the here and now.
The Ruby Sanctum is ostensibly the last major raid of the Wrath expansion, and as such, ostensibly your last chance to get a few extra pieces of gear and uber yourself out before Cataclysm comes along and replaces everything with level 81 quest rewards. There are definitely some pretty prime upgrades to be had here, including a few straight-up best in slot drops, so let's get going and check out what you can grab.
As with previous gear guides, try to keep your stat weights in mind, and when it comes to the heroic versions of these drops, unless otherwise noted, it's usually safe to say the same stuff about the heroic version, except even more so. Also, comparisons here are normal to normal, or heroic to heroic. Heroic versions of ICC loot are, for the most part, probably still going edge out normal Ruby Sanctum loot.
A few notes on DPS stat weights
Before we begin, let's take a quick moment to discuss what DPS stats you should be looking for on your gear. While we have discussed gear stat priorities before in both our 101 guides and our Icecrown loot guides, things have changed just enough that it's worth discussing it again, especially in the case of unholy DPS.
Unholy DPS is the one that really needs the most adjusting. Due to the addition of physical damage to Scourge Strike and the rise of the Icy Talons frost sub spec, unholy DPS now does quite a bit of physical damage, which has in turn raised the importance of both armor penetration and haste, eclipsing everything but strength and hit rating to the 8% cap. Essentially, your new stat priority is as follows:
Melee hit > strength > armor penetration > haste > critical strike > expertise
Blood DPS is even more dependent on armor penetration than unholy. In fact, at the highest gear levels, when you're in mostly ICC gear, armor penetration may become straight-up better than strength for DPS. That said, deciding when armor penetration passes strength is a pretty strenuous science, so if you're in doubt, it's probably better to focus on strength. That said, even in that scenario, armor penetration is easily your second goal. Blood DPS's priority is going to look something like this:
Melee hit > expertise to dodge cap > strength=armor penetration > critical strike > haste
In contrast to its tumultuous early life, frost has been sort of cruising along pretty stably for the past few patches, so you can pretty much keep the stat weights you've been using for a while:
Melee hit > expertise to dodge cap > strength > critical strike > armor penetration > haste
On another frost-based note, I've seen some people talk about trying two-handed frost DPS again, but if you do, you will not be as good as a dual wield frost DPSer. That's just the truth. This may change in Cataclysm, assuming they don't scrap the idea of two-handed frost with the new talent revamp, but for now, you're still best off grabbing a pair of slow one-handed weapons.
Always remember (and this is true of almost any DPS class or spec), your exact stat weights will change based on your gear level, but if you need a quick rule of thumb, go with the priorities above.
Halion 10-man loot
The Scion's Treads are a very solid pair of tanking boots. You will be losing a bit of hit rating, dodge and defense over the Scourge Fanged Stompers from Sindragosa, but in return you'll get a bit more stamina (depending on your gemming choices), as well as a good chunk of parry, strength and a bit armor. If you're a 10-man exclusive tank, these are likely going to be worth picking up.
Zarithrian's Offering is incredibly well itemized for DPS death knights, especially blood and unholy death knights, who get a whole lot of use out of armor penetration these days. It's a very strong upgrade over Rotface's Rupturing Ring, especially if you don't need the expertise, and more or less blows the Thrice Fanged Signet out of the water. If you're 10-man exclusive, you're pretty safe pairing this with your Ashen Verdict ring.
Halion 25-man loot
Treads of Impending Resurrection are good tank boots. You lose some expertise against Grinning Skull Greatboots and lose some defense rating and dodge, but you make up for it with some extra parry rating and by trouncing them in stamina and strength. You'll see a pretty substantial boost to your effective health when you upgrade; so as long as you don't need that expertise, it's probably worth it to make the upgrade.
The Sharpened Twilight Scale is easily best in slot for blood and unholy death knights, with the incredibly useful armor penetration combined with a solid attack power proc. Pair this with a Deathbringer's Will for a solid trinket combination that will carry you to Cataclysm with ease. I seriously cannot overemphasize how completely awesome this trinket is. If you get one piece of loot out of Ruby Sanctum, especially as a unholy or blood death knight, make it this one.
Apocalypse's Advance does have somewhat of a disadvantage over Blood-Soaked Saronite Stompers in that it has no armor penetration. That said, it has a nice chunk of hit rating and a lot more strength, making it easily best in slot for frost and unholy death knights who can swap around their armor to shed hit rating elsewhere. It's a little bit more iffy for blood death knights, for whom armor penetration is amazingly strong, but it still may be worth it if you need that hit rating.
The Penumbra Pendant is easily another best in slot for more DPS death knights, thanks to just the right balance of stats that it edges out other comers. The only reason not to upgrade is if you still need the hit rating on the Ahn'kahar Onyx Neckguard (and hopefully you've solved that by picking up Apocalypse's Advance) or the expertise on Lana'thel's Chain of Flagellation.
We have advice for everything from PUG etiquette and buttons you should push more often to Icecrown loot and gear stat weights. Check out more death knight strategies, tips and leveling guides, all in the weekly death knight class column, Lichborne.Filed under: Raiding, Death Knight, (Death Knight) Lichborne
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Armerad Jul 13th 2010 5:24PM
I hate to tell you, but running Frost ArP DPS in near BiS gear is better.
Djinn Jul 13th 2010 5:25PM
Aside from the writer being dead wrong about Frost I think this is a good article.
The only reason I could possibly see for anyone to gem Str once arpen becomes an option IE when you can get over 1100 arpen or so.. Would be to maintain a little better AOE ability at the cost of some single target punch. I was gemmed Str as frost a while and regemmed arpen after I got DBW getting me over the hump and I notice a different position on the damage meters for boss fights. Gemming for Arpen for about any melee spec other than Unholy IMO is the way to go. Arpen is just that good..
craig Jul 13th 2010 5:32PM
So, gem ArPen over St until 1100ArPen as frost? Hmmm backwards from what i've read so far.
Djinn Jul 13th 2010 5:37PM
no no no gemming once you can surpass 1100 thats not the cap.. the cap is closer to 1400 but I gemmed arpen after I was able to get 1150 or so and noticed a big increase in single target. Id take the trinket from here in a heartbeat to jack up my arpen even more if I could.
Pyromelter Jul 13th 2010 5:47PM
Djinn I think you are confusing yourself and anyone reading this.
The arpen cap is 1399. That's what you want to shoot for, then you can gem strength. You need a base level of armor pen from gear to make it wortwhile, usually that number is around 600, 700, or 800... once you have that passively, go gem all arpen for loldps.
And then if you get to that 1399 cap, any more is useless, so you go str after that.
For blood, the armor pen cap is 1260 due to a talent in their tree.
Armor pen WILL decrease your AoE dps versus gemming strength, but really, there are no fights where AoE matters that much as a DK. You can always switch in a trinket like WFS, HWT, or Death's Choice if you really want a bit more AoE punch.
Djinn Jul 13th 2010 6:12PM
No I know what I am saying. Yes get around 800 arpen from gear then gem the hell out of it and depending on how many slots/jc gems whatever you have get it as high as you can. You can sim it if you care that much but you get a GS of over 5850 or so you likely have enough arpen to gem for it. Lots of guys I see gemming arpen either have coldwraith links or get the leather badge belt to get rid of the hit on the plate badge belt. Also either the crafted legs or the 264 badge gloves help get you to this point with arpen...
Sonalita Jul 13th 2010 5:30PM
Did you take a bet that you could get away with using "Ostensibly" twice in the same sentence?
it's not "seemingy" or "apprently" the last major raid before cataclysm, it IS the last major raid before Cataclysm.
krusty_burger Jul 13th 2010 6:18PM
The Ruby Sanctum is ostensibly the last major raid of the Wrath expansion, and as such, ostensibly your last chance to get a few extra pieces of gear and uber yourself out before Cataclysm comes along and OSTENSIBLY replaces everything with level 81 quest rewards.
he could have used it once more!
Boobah Jul 13th 2010 6:36PM
And here my problem with that sentence was describing a one boss raid as 'major.'
salvalera Jul 13th 2010 5:34PM
hey bud Armor pen also is for frost deathknights too im not going into detail but most of our attacks are melee based, specially when we are striking our enemies more often . Arp is a great stat , however i don't suggest gemming ARP untill your geared in the upper 264 pieces of loot , that said that sharpened Twilight scale is also BiS if you need the Extra arp , as frost DW dps.
Feezee Jul 17th 2010 5:33PM
Frost Strike, Howling Blast, Icy Touch, Blood Plague, Frost Fever, Blood Boil = Spells
Obliterate, Blood Strike, Auto Attack = Melee
There is a good balance between melee and spell attacks, which is why you need to research if ArP or Str is your best stat to shoot for.
Pyromelter Jul 13th 2010 5:40PM
First, is anyone really even doing ruby sanctum? In my opinion, it's pretty much failed to do what it's supposed to do. No one on my server runs it except for a few guilds farming for specific items. It's really not puggable, because the trash is too hard, and it actually requires tanks to be half decent where in ICC there aren't too many fights that challenge tanks. Maybe the idea was to give the hardcore people something to do, but 25m hardmode was beaten on the first day. I don't see it as either casual friendly or hardcore friendly.
Also, since a lot of guilds are ramping down, you don't have your top quality players, it makes even doing this in a non-high end guild basically not doable. And like I said, it's not really puggable. I don't really even find the fights all that interesting.
Secondly, /agree with above posters, Frost armor penetration cap is top priority to arpen cap, not strength (with BiS gear). I've even considered playing around with unholy armor pen, but with a new expansion coming in a few months, don't really want to give up the gold to re-gem everything (and I don't trust simulators, plus they are unwieldy and I feel like you shouldn't have to run a dam sim to figure out how to gem and enchant a character). But yes top frost dps on WoL are all running armor pen-capped setups.
feniks9174 Jul 13th 2010 6:11PM
Come to Area 52, it's getting pugged there (albeit not always successfully) all day long.
Your server =/= every server.
Feezee Jul 17th 2010 5:32PM
So, you are convinced that ArP is the best stat, but you haven't simmed it to find out becase its difficult, and you are not good enough to check for yourself in a real raid (ruby sanctum TRASH is too hard for you), but you know ArP is the best. Sounds like you really know your stuff, your opinions must be 100% accurate.
1337.geek Jul 13th 2010 6:04PM
What is the point of these posts, really?
If you dont know what stats you need to upgrade then just /delete.
zdave Jul 13th 2010 6:16PM
they gotta write something man, give them a break. not all articles can be eye-opening life-changing breaking news.
D Jul 13th 2010 6:55PM
Right, don't educate yourself, just delete your character. Good idea.
Vogie Jul 13th 2010 8:40PM
Not to mention, there are some of us who have multiple 80s at varying gear levels. I raid with my shaman, and my warlock, and am gearing my DK and a resto/bear Druid. I love these articles because it gives concise information about a specific instance. That's what WoW.com is good for
Class tanking 101? There's an article for that.
Resto gem choices? There's an article for that
Warlock spec analysis by talent? There's an article for that.
Class specific loot in raid X? There's an article for that.
Yes I could go through WoWhead filters using multiple tabs, but I could just as easily type "shifting Perspectives" or "Lichborne" in a search bar.
Raulnor Jul 13th 2010 6:20PM
Please, Daniel, look up what you are talking about before you write a article on it.
Frost needs less hit than any of the other specs, only 5% is needed from gear, and the rest you need is provided by talents. Frost DPS also gets major benefit from ArPen, in fact, in BiS gear, it is your best stat after the 5% cap. Haste is a better stat for us than Crit is, because we have so much crit from talents. For ICC, your stat progression should go like THIS:
Hit to 5% from gear > Str = ArPen > Expertise > Haste > Crit
Blood DPS is mostly dead at this point, in most of ICC it cannot compare to Frost or Unholy. If you look at the leaderboards at www.worldoflogs.com, there are almost no Blood DKs up there.
Unholy DPS only gets a true bonus from haste over crit when it is using a proc based weapon, such as Byrntroll or Shadowmourne. Other than that, they are perfectly safe with a UH/Blood spec and gemming Str/Crit.
Narshe Jul 13th 2010 7:40PM
Ive gotta say that it seems both Warlocks and Deathknights are falling behind on relevant content on this website (not bashing, evaluating). WoW.com did a great job months back finding columnists for classes such as Priest, Shaman and Druid. I think the same thing needs to be addressed again with Locks and DK's.
Deathknights can be a VERY fun class to play and deserve more content, and for the content to be well thought out and posted about. Nothing personal against Whitcomb, but i dont think he could be the best pick for insight on DK's on this site. Or at least add another contributor to focus on either tanking or dps.
Please understand i mean no disrespect and realize i might get down rated for being negative. I enjoy a lot of thing WoW.com offers, but I unfortunately look to other websites more often to find info on my favorite class, DK.