Totem Talk: Restoration shaman pre-raid gear options and stats
by Joe Perez 
Mar 29th 2011 at 6:00PM
Last week we covered many different questions in our semi-regular restoration Q&A. For those of you who emailed me, I will be responding soon, have no fear; my dwarf-like stature means I tend to get buried under the mail and have to dig my way out! That's only mostly a joke -- you can ask Matthew McCurley and Fox Van Allen about it.
This week, I thought we could talk about getting ready for raids: gearing up, getting your stats set, and preparing to enter into the endgame. With the recent buffs, incoming abilities and further tweaks in patch 4.1, heroics are becoming less of a concern for the amazing healing corps that are restoration shaman. Those people just starting heroics, though, don't despair -- if you have any questions about any of the encounters, email me and we'll make sure that you are taken care of.
Before we get started, I thought I would take the opportunity to define what this column is and is not today. This is not a best in slot pre-raid gear list. The developers at Blizzard have given us many choices in the gear we can gather, as well as the ability to alter them with reforging. This post shows some of the options available to you as you are preparing to set foot in raids. The numbers represented are guidelines, and while in some cases they may represent what are considered minimum values, it's up to you to decide what you need to fill in.
Suit up!
There is actually a surprising amount of gear to choose from that will help get you raid-ready -- everything from heroic boss drops, quest items, reputation rewards, justice point purchases or gear crafted through various trade skills. This is a large departure from how gear was in Wrath of the Lich King. If you wanted to start raiding back then, you needed a certain progression of content for specific drops, as there were only a certain number of drops that you could use.
So let's take a look at some of the items you can pick up to get raid-ready. For the purposes of this list of gear, we're going to stick to ilevel 346 gear or higher. We'll also be saving the valor point purchases for a separate post.
Head
- Cowl of the Unseen World heroic The Stonecore
- Helm of the Inward Eye 2,200 justice points
- Energized Bio-Optic Killshades crafted, engineering
Shoulders
- Burden of Lost Humanity heroic Shadowfang Keep
- Fallen Snow Shoulderguards heroic The Vortex Pinnacle
- Seafoam Mantle 1,650 justice points
Gloves
- Ionic Gloves heroic Lost City of the Tol'vir
- Old Friend's Gloves heroic The Deadmines
- Gleaning Gloves 1,650 justice points
Bracers
- Shackles of the Betrayed heroic The Deadmines
- Manacles of Pain heroic Blackrock Caverns
Chest
- Breastplate of the Stilled Heart heroic Shadowfang Keep
- Chromis Chestpiece heroic Throne of the Tides
- Vest of the Waking Dream 2,200 justice points
- Twilight Scale Chestguard crafted, leatherworking
Cloaks
- Azureborne Cloak heroic Grim Batol
- Periwinkle Cloak heroic Throne of the Tides
- Solar Wind Cloak heroic Halls of Origination
- Springvale's Cloak heroic Shadowfang Keep
- Cloak of Ancient Wisdom The Earthen Ring, revered
Waist
- Belt of Petrified Tears heroic Halls of Origination
- Sash of Prophecy Ramkahen, revered
- Belt of the Still Stream 1,650 justice points
- Stormleather Sash crafted, leatherworking
Legs
- Wilderness Legguards Guardians of Hyjal, revered
- Heat Wave Leggings heroic Blackrock Caverns
- Chaotic Wrappings heroic Halls of Origination
- Leggings of Soothing Silence 2,200 justice points
- Phase-Twister Leggings bind on equip world drop
- Kilt of Trollish Dreams bind on equip world drop
Feet
- Dark Iron Chain Boots heroic Grim Batol
- Earthmender's Boots The Earthen Ring, exalted
Main Hand
- Torturer's Mercy heroic Blackrock Caverns
- Scepter of Power heroic Halls of Origination
- Biting Wind heroic The Vortex Pinnacle
- Shimmering Morningstar Tol Barad, revered + 85 commendations
- Elementium Hammer crafted, blacksmithing
Off-Hand
- Zora's Ward heroic Lost City of Tol'vir
- Crepuscular Shield heroic Blackrock Caverns
- Shield of the Mists 950 justice points
- Elementium Stormshield crafted, blacksmith
Rings
- Band of Life heroic Halls of Origination
- Kibble heroic Blackrock Caverns
- Ring of Frozen Rain heroic The Vortex Pinnacle
- Rose Quartz Band heroic The Stonecore
- Spirit Creeper Ring heroic Lost City of the Tol'vir
- Veneficial Band heroic Lost City of the Tol'vir
- Diamant's Ring of Temperance Therazane, revered
- Ring of the Warring Elements crafted, jewelcrafting
- Ring of the Boy Emperor crafted, archaeology
Neck
- Tauntka's Necklace heroic Lost City of the Tol'vir
- Quicksilver Amulet heroic Blackrock Caverns
- Pipefish Cord heroic Throne of the Tides
- Pendant of the Keep heroic Shadowfang Keep
- Amulet of Tender Breath heroic The Vortex Pinnacle
- Eye of Many Deaths crafted, jewelcrafting
- Celadon Pendant 1,250 justice points
- Lightning Flash Pendant / Yellow Smoke Pendant Wildhammer Clan/Dragonmaw Clan, exalted
Trinkets
- Witching Hourglass heroic Blackrock Caverns
- Tear of Blood heroic The Stonecore
- Sea Star heroic Throne of the Tides
- Blood of Isiset heroic Halls of Origination
- Figurine Dream Owl quest, crafted, jewelcrafting
- Figurine Jeweled Serpent quest, crafted, jewelcrafting
- Vibrant Alchemist Stone crafted, alchemy
- Tyrande's Favorite Doll crafted, archaeology
- Mandala of Stirring Patterns Tol Barad, exalted + 125 commendations
- Darkmoon Card: Tsunami crafted, inscription
Relics
- Book of Dark Prophecies heroic The Stonecore
- Book of the Well Sung Song heroic The Deadmines
- Captured Lightning heroic The Vortex Pinnacle
- Tattooed Eyeball crafted, inscription
Whew! As you can see, there are quite a bit of options for just about every single slot. While every slot doesn't have to be ilevel 346 or higher to get into a raid, I would suggest striving for it as a goal, if for no other reason that you'll be better off to start.
The big thing, though, is that we have a lot more choices than we have had in any other expansion, and in almost any situation you find yourself in, there is an opportunity for an upgrade. I particularly like the fact that there are a plethora of crafted items that are raid-level gear for the current tier of content. If I missed anything on the list, feel free to let me know and I'll add it in!
You have the threads -- now, to customize!
More important than the individual gear are the stats themselves. With reforging and just about any gear that's even remotely close to your primary stats, you can move some secondary stats around to help tide you over. The ability to take that extra crit and move it into spirit helps you out in the long run. That said, there is a certain priority in stats that you should look for; even then, there are a few numbers you should strive for.
First, let's look at priority. For starting raids and for normal-mode raiding, your priority should look something like this:
Intellect > Spirit > Haste > Mastery/Crit
Int is your most important stat, because not only does it govern your mana pools, it gives you spellpower and gives you more out of Replenishment with higher totals. To a lesser degree, it even gives you crit and mana regeneration. Spirit gives us our mana regeneration in and out of combat and allows us to take advantage of Meditation.
Before you step into a raid, you should be looking for a few minimums.
- Spirit of 2,100 or more will allow you to keep up your mana regeneration through most normal-mode raid encounters. More is good, but not at the expense of other stats. With heroic dungeon gear, reforging, enchants, and gems, this number is pretty easy to hit.
- Haste to at least 916 allows for all of your heals over time to gain an extra tick. This includes Riptide, Healing Rain, and Earthliving. Think of this as the first haste threshold. While haste will continue to help as you gain more of it, the next threshold is a bit further away, so just worry about that first tier. After that, mastery and crit will be on par for you (but at the bottom of the stat totem pole, at least for now).
We'll talk more in depth about stats, gemming, and enchanting for raiding next week.
Totem Talk: Restoration will show you the basics of endgame resto shaman play as well as how to find the expansion's best reputation gear for resto shaman and tips for easier leveling. Happy healing, and may your mana be plentiful!
Filed under: Shaman, (Shaman) Totem Talk
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
niko Mar 29th 2011 6:17PM
go go askmrrobot.com for advice on your specific gear... stuff like what gear to reforge to what stat, etc., is all answered there for your easy-to-peruse goodness! Same with enchants, too! What's your biggest upgrade to shoot for? AskMrRobot can help!
/commercial
Seriously, though, great list of stuff, I'm glad you posted this today while I'm finishing up my pre-raid gearing checklist myself :)
Diatenium Mar 29th 2011 7:46PM
Nifty, albeit inherently flawed, although this is coming from a paladin and not a shaman.
Like, for example, it'll suggest int-spirit gems, given everything that int provides paladins, it's not worth losing 20 int for 20 spirit--hell, 10 spirit since that's all that is effective in combat--not even just 10 int with compensation from a socket bonus.
Joe Perez Mar 29th 2011 9:45PM
Ask mr robot and I have some agreements and some disagreements in priority and shuffling. Also keep in mind that any "optimization" is in a bubble of a perfect environment. Your priorities will shift based on healing role, healing team, raid composition and the encounter. We'll cover that more in depth later, but you're better off being your own judge and self evaluating than hitting the magic button. For example, tossing lodur through ask mr robot , it suggested I bring my spirit down below 2,100.... and that was just bad mojo.
Zoop Mar 29th 2011 10:10PM
Hey there, Mr. Robot team member here! Glad to see one of our fans in recommending Mr. Robot.
@Diatenium, actually, sometimes an int/spi gem is better than pure int. It all depends on the weight of each stat. Here are two examples, one where the int/spi gem is better and one where it is not.
Example 1: Assume Int's weight = 100, spirit = 90. Yellow socket bonus is 20 spirit. So the math goes like this: 40 int gem * 100 stat weight = 400. 20int/20spi is 20*100 + 20*90 = 200+180 = 380. Now add in the socket bonus, 20 spirit * 90 = 180. Bringing your total for the int/spi gem + socket combo to 460. That's 60 higher than a pure int gem.
Example 2: Assume Int's weight is 100, spirit is 40. 40 is the only thing that changed in this example! 40 int gem * 100 = 400 (again). 20int/20spi is 20*100 + 20*40 = 200 + 80 = 280. Add the 20 spi socket: 20*40 = 80. Total for gem & socket = 360. That is now worse than the 40 int gem.
Mr. Robot's optimizations are only as good as the stat weights entered into it. We have the defaults set based on theorycrafters consensus, however, different play styles and rolls definitely call for some stat tweaking. Mr. Robot allows you to tweak all of the stat weights to suit your fancy :)
Zoop Mar 29th 2011 10:14PM
@Joe Perez - also, we'd love to have you stop by our forums and chat with us about the things you think aren't right. We're always tweaking things, and love getting theorycrafters, like yourself, involved. Because obviously we can't know every finer point for each class and spec. We admit that! So we listen to the community, a LOT.
You'll see we are very open to suggestions and don't take the "I know more than you do" approach that a lot of people in this space take ;) I promise!
revulva Mar 29th 2011 10:49PM
A common issue that resto shaman are having on the site is that they see their spirit taken below the hard spirit cap (default of 2200 on Mr. Robot, but it is editable!). This is because Mr. Robot takes into account the average effect of trinket procs and on-use effects when balancing around the spirit "cap", but we do not report this value in the stats window. So, if you have... the Tear of Blood equipped, Mr. Robot is going to add an average of 285 spirit to your total value. The stat window will say 1900 spirit, but you effectively have 2185 spirit.
We know this causes confusion, and we are going to change it soon. We actually used to add these trinket effects in the reported stats... but that confused people too! We are trying to find a way to clarify the situation.
Joe Perez Mar 29th 2011 11:28PM
I'm going to set aside some time and get together with you guys. :D thanks for the replies.
niko Mar 29th 2011 11:52PM
yea! I knew MrRobot could help! :D
/not a paid advertiser, just lots of
Sally Bowls Mar 30th 2011 2:59AM
I eventually got simulcraft working on my Mac, but askmrrobot is very convenient. I like it and have refereed a number of guildies there.
My main problem with AMR is that it only shows about 5 items. When I follow the lootrank URL generated by simulcraft, I always change it to show 40 items per slot. I am not exactly shopping at the BiS store;
Shrp Mar 29th 2011 6:51PM
+ 1 for How I Met Your Mother reference.
Joe Perez Mar 29th 2011 9:40PM
Lodurious Shamansin at your service. Remember to believe in The Possimpible.
Devo_AS Mar 29th 2011 8:18PM
Why is it we cant get a decent Elemental article posted in Totem Talk?
In the last month we had 8 Resto and Enh articles and Elemental got 1: a Haste vs. Mastery article that pretty much said "eh, they're both good stats". Not to mention that every comment was about Dr Who. Fine to go off topic but some constructive convo about that actual article would be nice.
Im a sad ele shaman :(
Dadruidess Mar 29th 2011 8:27PM
How good a talent is Ancestral Resolve and should I take it over Cleansing Waters? Is totemic reach really that important (so our paladins can put other auras than devotion or resistance aura), or can I put 2 talents in ancestral swiftness instead (love it for atramedes!)?
I had more questions about stats, but I see it's being covered next week, so i'll just be stacking mastery until 4.1 brings the additional buffing! :)
Joe Perez Mar 29th 2011 9:39PM
I'll be covering raiding specs more closely as well in the coming weeks, but to answer the question, Ancestral Resolve is a double edged sword. It's a nice talent, and anything that reduces your damage is usually welcomed. However, in light of something like Cleansing Waters, you should take CW. There are a lot of debuffs we will be removing in raid environments, so getting a free heal off of it and reducing the cost of the cleanse is a big deal.
Totemic reach is another one in the same category. It's nice, but not at the cost of throughput talents. This may change with patch 4.1 and Spirit Link Totem though, but again we'll go more in depth about that soon.
lam.raymond Mar 30th 2011 3:00PM
Uh I think the only raid encounter that takes a massive amount of debuffs I believe is Baradin Hold. So imo cleansing waters is not worth it whereas Ancestral Resolve is awesome.
Who doesn't want reduced damage? Double edged sword wth?
Dadruidess Mar 30th 2011 8:43PM
Thanks for the quick reply! I'm definitely looking forward to the next few articles, then :)
Brasso Mar 29th 2011 8:44PM
Remember that goblins have a lower haste level to achieve than other classes. The goblin haste rating you're looking for is 779.
Joe Perez Mar 29th 2011 9:42PM
That's very true, but the "number" ultimately stays the same so to speak. Same percentage total after the racial, but yeah, 779 for gobos (also damn their cooler totem! *shake fist*)
Dalwen Apr 6th 2011 12:34PM
Great article! I've played all the way from burning crusade to cataclysm, 1 to 85 purely as enhancement. I've recently been bit by the dual-spec bug and am dabbling in resto. This is the perfect guide to at least cover me on the gearing side of things! Looking forward to the next in the series!
Mhajor Mar 30th 2011 4:36AM
2100 spirit, really? I've been gearing to raid, ilvl 349 restoring, and managed to get 2800! I shall hit the reforger for to get me some haste and change my spirit jc gems for into and see how I get on :)