Every week, WoW Insider brings you Shifting Perspectives for cat, bear, restoration and balance druids. This week, it's not like we're doing dailies for our health.

Mmmm. Fresh meat gear, nicely charred by all that flame-broiling action in the Firelands these days. High time to update our gear lists!

Stat priority for bears in patch 4.2 remains armor, stamina, agility, mastery, crit, expertise, hit, and haste. Rather than rehash territory we've already covered in our first set of bear gear guides for Cataclysm, the lowest piece I'm going to list in each slot is the best available piece from 5-mans, reputation, or the new Molten Front vendors. If you're starting from absolutely nothing and need some ilevel 333/346 gear to tide you over, I would recommend the previous bear guides. Otherwise, your goal should be to get to at least the lowest piece in each slot on this list.

As always, I'm bypassing PVP gear because so much itemization is wasted on resilience. However, if you want to use it and you've got a better piece than would otherwise be available from PVE, knock yourself out. This week, we'll cover the helm through boot slots, and next week, we'll tackle rings, trinkets, weapons, and relics.

To reiterate for anyone returning to the game as of patch 4.2, these are the ilevels you can expect at each tier of content:

• ilevel 333 Pre-heroic blues and honored reputation blues
• ilevel 346 Heroic blues and revered reputation blues
• ilevel 353 Epics from the Zandalari 5-man heroics
• ilevel 359 Normal tier 11 raid epics and exalted reputation epics
• ilevel 365 Molten Front epic rewards
• ilevel 372 Heroic tier 11 raid epics
• ilevel 378 Normal tier 12 raid epics
• ilevel 391 Heroic tier 12 raid epics

Gear comparison is fairly easy these days unless you have to judge the worth of a random proc. As a general rule, higher-ilevel pieces are preferable to their lower-ilevel counterparts, simply because they'll always have more primary stats (e.g., agility and stamina). All pieces at the same ilevel will have the same primary stats, so gear's usually ranked by how attractive its secondary stats are. As a bear, go for anything with mastery on it before you go for anything else, and avoid haste if you can (unfortunately you often can't). I ran into problems on the earliest version of this list by ranking everything according to its heroic version only. Without doubling the size of this article, I've still got a bit of that problem here trying to rank gear that doesn't have a heroic version, like the Tsanga's Helm below. Pay attention to your ilevels.

If you have a piece sitting around that's not listed here, just check the ilevel and compare it against the list to see where it'll fall.

Helm

Enchant Arcanum of the Earthen Ring (requires Earthen Ring revered)

• Obsidian Arborweave Headpiece (heroic) Tier 12 helm; token dropped by Ragnaros
• Hood of Rampant Disdain (heroic) Rhyolith
• Stormrider's Headpiece (heroic) Tier 11 helm; token dropped by Cho'gall. The normal version of this isn't as good as Tsanga's (below), but the heroic beats it. However, if you want the four-piece tier bonus, the helm is usually kept while the shoulders are swapped for Poison Protocol Spaulders
• Tsanga's Helm Bastion of Twilight BOE and the best normal helm before tier 12
• Membrane of C'Thun (heroic) Cho'gall (the heroic beats Tsanga's, above)
• Agile Bio-Optic Killshades Engineer-only BOP
• The Savager's Mask Halazzi, Zul'Aman

Neck

• Choker of the Vanquished Lord (heroic) Ragnaros
• Necklace of Smoke Signals (upgrade) 1,250 valor points; can be upgraded with a Crystallized Firestone, becoming ilevel 391
• Necklace of Strife (heroic) Valiona/Theralion
• Don Rodrigo's Fabulous Necklace BOE drop from upper-level Cataclysm zones and heroics
• Amulet of the Watcher Bloodlord Mandokir, Zul'Gurub

Shoulders

Enchant Greater Inscription of Unbreakable Quartz or Greater Inscription of Shattered Crystal (requires Therazane exalted)

• Obsidian Arborweave Spaulders (heroic) Tier 12 shoulders; token dropped by Majordomo Staghelm
• Shoulderpads of the Forgotten Gate (heroic) Baleroc
• Poison Protocol Pauldrons (heroic) Magmatron
• Stormrider's Spaulders (heroic) Tier 11 shoulders
• Tusked Shoulderpads Daakara, Zul'Aman

Cloak

Enchant Enchant Cloak - Protection or Enchant Cloak - Major Agility

• Dreadfire Drape (heroic) Rhyolith
• Sleek Flamewrath Cloak Requires Avengers of Hyjal friendly
• Cloak of Biting Chill (heroic) Maloriak; normal version isn't as good as the Mantle of Doubt below, so use only if you have the ilevel 372 version
• Mantle of Doubt Quest reward from Elemental Bonds -- The Vow
• Dory's Finery BOE drop by upper-level Cataclysm zones and heroics
• Viewless Wings 1,250 justice points
• Recovered Cloak of Frostheim Second timed chest in Zul'Aman (Oh, Frostheim -- why must your cloak contain haste?)

Chest

Enchant Enchant Chest - Greater Stamina or Enchant Chest - Peerless Stats

• Breastplate of the Incendiary Soul (heroic) Baleroc
• Obsidian Arborweave Raiment (heroic) 2,200 valor points; the normal version can be upgraded with a token dropped by Alysrazor
• Sark of the Unwatched (heroic) Atramedes
• Morrie's Waywalker Wrap BOE world drop from upper-level Cataclysm zones and heroics
• Stormrider's Raiment (heroic) Tier 11 chest; if you're restricted to the normal version, the Assassin's Chestplate below is better
• Assassin's Chestplate Leatherworking BOE
• Shadowtooth Trollskin Breastplate Hex Lord Malacrass, Zul'Aman

Bracers

This is still a problem slot. You may get an excellent pair of bracers off Alysrazor. Then again, you might not.

Enchant Enchant Bracer - Agility or Enchant Bracers - Major Stamina

• Flickering Wristbands (heroic) Alysrazor. In general I've tried to avoid the drops with random stats just because I find them rather annoying, but this is your only shot at bracers with mastery on them in tier 12
• Flamebinder Bracers 1,250 valor points; whether the random Alysrazor drop is better than these is up to chance
• Parasitic Bands (heroic) Magmaw
• Amani'shi Bracers Jan'alai, Zul'Aman

Gloves

In annoying contrast to the bracer slot, we are still spoiled for choice with gloves.

Enchant Glove Reinforcements, Heavy Savage Armor Kit, Enchant Gloves - Greater Mastery, Enchant Gloves - Major Agility

• Gloves of Dissolving Smoke (heroic) Shannox
• Clutches of Evil Leatherworking BOE
• Obsidian Arborweave Grips (heroic) 1,650 valor points or dropped by Occu'thar, Baradin Hold; heroic version can be upgraded with a token dropped by Baleroc, but don't bother -- unless you can get the heroic version, the leatherworking BOE and the Shannox drop are both better
• Aviana's Grips Molten Front vendor Varlan Highbough (after finishing Calling the Ancients)
• Double Attack Handguards (heroic) Chimaeron. Again, the heroic version of both this and the tier 11 gloves below will beat Aviana's
• Stormrider's Grips (heroic) Tier 11 gloves
• Stormbolt Gloves (Alliance) or Liar's Handwraps (Horde) Available at exalted with the Wildhammer or Dragonmaw Clan, respectively
• Knotted Handwraps BOE trash drop in Zul'Aman and Zul'Gurub

Belt

Enchant Ebonsteel Belt Buckle

• Riplimb's Lost Collar (upgrade) BOE Firelands trash drop; can be upgraded with a Crystallized Firestone
• Belt of the Fallen Brood Sinestra; best in slot, unless you can upgrade Riplimb's
• Flamebinding Girdle Requires Avengers of Hyjal honored reputation
• Dispersing Belt (heroic) Twilight Ascendant Council
• Belt of Nefarious Whispers Leatherworking BOE; better than Dispersing unless you've got the heroic version
• Belt of a Thousand Gaping Mouths World boss Akma'hat
• Belt of Slithering Serpents High Priest Arlokk, Zul'Gurub

Legs

Enchant Charscale Leg Armor

• Obsidian Arborweave Leggings (heroic) Tier 12 legs; 2,200 valor points or dropped by Occu'thar in Baradin Hold; heroic version can be upgraded with a token dropped by Shannox
• Cinderweb Leggings (heroic) Beth'tilac
• Stormrider's Legguards (heroic) Tier 11 legs
• Aberration's Leggings (heroic) Maloriak
• Leggings of Dancing Blades Third chest in Zul'Aman timed run

Boots

Enchant Earthen Vitality or Assassin's Step; as a tank, you really do need a boot enchant with increased run speed

• Sandals of Leaping Coals (heroic) Majordomo Staghelm
• Treads of the Craft Leatherworking BOE
• Storm Rider's Boots (heroic) Halfus Wyrmbreaker
• Treads of Fleeting Joy 1,650 justice points
• Fasc's Preserved Boots Gri'lek, Zul'Gurub; all hail Fasc!

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Shifting Perspectives helps you gear your bear druid at 85, tempts you with weapons, trinkets and relics for bears, then shows you what to do with it all in Feral Druid Tanking 101. We'll also help you gear your resto druid.

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