In solo combat none of this really matters much. But when you get a group together, the idea is to have the Tank charge in, get the MoB’s attention, and hold it (through aggro/threat). The MoB will start whaling on the Tank (who typically has a lot of armor). This is why you also need a healer, to continually heal the tank so he doesn’t die. Everyone else in the party is there to actually kill the MoB through high damage attacks.

A tank basically needs two things to do his job: Damage mitigation, and threat generation. Damage mitigation is, obviously, the tanks ability to moderate in force or intensity the damage he or she takes. Usually this is done by wearing heavy armor, and using attacks and abilities that slow or reduce the MoB’s attacks.

The second requirement, threat generation, is sometimes overlooked, but easily as important if not more important than the first. Remember, the tanks job is to hold the MoB’s attention so the rest of the party can kill it (also, this makes things easier for the healer, who only has to heal one target). Threat is generated by doing damage and healing, so everyone generates threat. Its the Tanks job to generate extra threat (by using specific threat generating attacks) to stay ahead of the rest of the party.

Let me start by stating that I’m a tank newb, I know of tanking, but have little experience and I wont pretend to know it all. I have yet to actually gather all of this gear and actually test it out, so a lot of this is theoretical.

I have tried to choose gear that is relatively easy to obtain (IE, no BOP world drops), but check the extras for a few pieces that you might want to keep an eye out for.

Weapon & Shield

Damage Mitigation through armor, and threat through damage. With those two thoughts, there is no other way to be a tank than with a one handed weapon with good damage, and a shield to block attacks.
[Gold-plated Buckler]

Armor

Head:
[Blood Elf Bandit Mask]

Shoulders:
[Silvered Bronze Shoulders]

Back:
[Sporid Cape]

Chest:
The quest Supplies to Auberdine can be obtained at level 19, after finishing the The Tower of Althalaxx series (5 parts). This quest isn’t for the faint of heart, and I recomend getting some high level (40+) friends to come help you. The reward is the [Chestplate of Kor] and doesn’t seem like much, since its one of very few uncommon item in this guide, but before level 20 its the best you can get. If your lucky enough to get [Phantom Armor] to drop while your in Shadowfang Keep, you can use that at level 20. Or you can complete the appropriate quest for your faction to receive either [Brutal Hauberk] or [Fire Hardened Hauberk] (Horde & Alliance respectively)

Wrists:
[Cavedweller Bracers ]

Waist:
[Runescale Girdle]

Legs:
Before you run through Deadmines, you’ll want to start The Defias Brotherhood quest series. Because the last part of the series is to kill Edwin VanCleef (the end boss of Deadmines). The reward from this series of interest is [Chausses of Westfall].

Feet:
[Silver-linked Footguards]

Trinkets, Rings and Amulets

Head:

Head:

Head:

Extras

Because you probably wont always be tanking. Sometimes you want to do some solo play, and you need some more DPS so you can actually kill things, not just take their hits. Either the [Sin'dorei Warblade] or [Smite's Mighty Hammer] should do the trick to give you a good amount of DPS, and both are relatively easy to obtain. They are both 2H weapons, so you wont be able to equip a shield.

Keep your eye on the Auction House, and trade channel for [Silver-linked Footguards] and [Thorbia's Gauntlets]. Both are either world drops and/or extreemly rare MoB drops (wowhead and armory seem to disagree on this). Since both are BoE though, you can just buy them.

In May 2006, production company Legendary Pictures acquired film rights to adapt Warcraft for the big screen with the game’s publisher, Blizzard Entertainment. Blizzard had originally considered hiring a scribe for the film adaptation before teaming up with Legendary Pictures.[68] The companies plan to create a film that would not follow one specific Warcraft game’s storyline, but would still take place in the fantasy universe.[69] According to Blizzard’s Chief Operating Officer Paul Sams, the film’s budget would be over $100 million.[70]

In June 2007, Legendary Pictures chairman Thomas Tull said that the studio was working closely with Blizzard’s designers and writers to adapt World of Warcraft. Tull explained the desire to have a good story for the film adaptation, “I think some of the stuff that makes a game translate well… if there’s a lore, if there’s a road and story and a world that’s been created, and characters that are interesting in a way that’s more than just point and shoot.”[71] World of Warcraft’s lead designer Rob Pardo expressed interest in being able to adapt the intellectual property of World of Warcraft to the appropriate medium of the film. He also added that the designers were collaborating with Legendary Pictures on story and script development.[72]

In August 2007, at BlizzCon, it was unveiled that the film will aim for a projected 2009 release. It was also revealed that the movie will take place from an Alliance perspective and will be geared towards a PG-13 audience, with a storyline set one year before the beginning of the World of Warcraft storyline. As of this time no director or cast are yet associated with its development. Thomas Tull stated that, “It’s not so much a quest movie. It’s more of a war movie.”[73]

This set assumes you have the gear in my Shadow Gear guide. If an item slot isn’t listed here, its because there is nothing easily attainable thats better that your shadow set piece.

Most of these items are rep rewards, some are crafted items and very few are drops unless its easily farmed. I tried to avoid quest rewards because if you are looking at creating a second set of gear (like me), you’ve probably already done most the quests that had rewards you would want, and undoubtedly sold, or DE’d any useful rewards (like me).

The idea behind this guide is to be able to quickly, and relatively inexpensively build up a gear set for healing. As you raid, and do instances and quests better pieces are likely to come up. When they do, grab them.

So without further Adeu, the list*:

Head

[Watchers Cowl] – 12 & Revered with Cenarion Expedition

You might also want to pickup the [Glyph of Renewal] (100 when revered with Honor Hold, 90 when exalted).

Neck

Shoulders

Don’t forget to throw your factions shoulder enchant on them too.

Back

[Apexis Cloak] – 1, 50 & Revered with Ogri’la

You’ll want to pair the cloak with [Enchant Cloak - Subtlety].

Chest

[Shroud of Spiritual Purity] – BoE World Drop, IE: Get it at the Auction House or Trade Channel
[Truefaith Vestments] – BoP Tailoring, Pattern is BoE though and drops from Balnazzar in Stratholm. You can either purchase the pattern, or from what I hear, most 70’s can solo this guy.

The best chest enchant you can get if your not spec’d for healing is Enchant Chest – Restore Mana Prime, best part is its cheap.

Wrist

Gloves

[Gloves of Piety] – BoE World Drop, IE: Get it at the Auction House or Trade Channel. Slap on a [Enchant Gloves - Major Healing] too.

Waist

[Belt of the Long Road] – BoE Tailoring, Pattern is BoE too so Check AH/Trade for either of them. Pattern is an instance drop in Serpentshrine Cavern, and The Eye (with bosses having slightly better drop rates). hopefully your running The Eye and SSC.

Legs

[Kamaei's Cerulean Skirt] – BoE World Drop, IE: Get it at the Auction House or Trade Channel.

Dont forget to throw on some [Silver Spellthread] or [Golden Spellthread]

Feet

[Boots of the Long Road] – BoP Tailoring, from a BoE Pattern drop. You can either purchase the pattern, or from what I hear, most 70’s can solo this guy.

[Enchant Boots - Vitality] is your best bet for enchants on your feet.

Rings

[Ring of Convalescence] – 17 59 52 & Revered with Honor Hold

The second ring is going to have to be one of your existing rings or something you get as you go through the game. There aren’t any specific rings that I can recommend that are easily attained.

If your an enchanter, lucky you. Throw [Enchant Ring - Healing Power] on both your rings.

Trinket

Weapons

a 1H weapon, and something held in off-hand is going to be the best for a healer, but if you find its to expensive, or insist on having a staff then grab the [Staff of Divine Infusion] from the AH or trade channel (BoE World Drop).

My recommendation (in order) to two of the following: [Gavel of Pure Light], [The Ancient Scepter of Sue-Min] or [The Essence Focuser]. The latter two are BoE world drops, so check the AH. if the scepter is less than 200g, grab it. I would wait to see the blue item closer to 100g to buy it. The Gavel is a rep reward with Sha’tar (200g).

Then, you put [Enchant Weapon - Spellsurge] on the lessor healing weapon, and [Enchant Weapon - Major Healing] on the greator one. Download and install Caster weapon Swap and you have the best of both worlds, roughly 500 mp5 for a raid group, and large heals.

Off-Hand

[Windcaller's Orb] – 79 1 12 & Exalted with Cenarion Expedition

Wands

Stick with the [Carved Witch Doctor's Stick] until you get a drop with +healing.

*NOTE: Items with a strikethru mean I’ve been able to get it for my priest, or something better (usually listed).

So, that said; priorities. Spell Hit, and Spell Power. If you can’t hit your target, most any other stat is useless, so spell hit should be your number one priority. Since this guide revolves around kara, we’ll assume your targets are all level 73. Assuming you put 5/5 in Shadow Focus, you’ll have a 96% chance to hit a boss as your base. Which means you need about 71 more +hit in order to have a 99% chance to hit. Second on your list is your shadow spellpower. As far as I know there is no cap on this, so take as much as you possibly can.

Items with a strikethru mean I’ve been able to get it for my shadow priest [Sinisha]

Crafted Items

You could theoretically have all of these items before you even get attuned for kara, although its not likely. Personally, I didn’t have any, and I only had the shoulders the first time I did a raid.
[Frozen Shadoweave Shoulders]
[Frozen Shadoweave Boots]
[Frozen Shadoweave Robe]
[Spellstrike Hood]
[Spellstrike Pants]
[Girdle of Ruination]

Karazan Loot

[Bands of Nefarious Deeds] (Maiden of Virtue)
[Handwraps of Flowing Thought] (Attumen the Huntsman)
[Ritssyn's Lost Pendant] (Trash Mob)
[Shadow-Cloak of Dalaran] (Moroes)
[Staff of Infinite Mysteries]¹ (The Curator)
[Ring of Recurrence] (Chess Event)

Purchased Items

[Carved Witch Doctors Stick] (25 )
[Icon of the Silver Crescent](41 )

Quest Rewards

[Darkmoon Card: Crusade]
[Violet Signet of the Archmage]

Without any gems, or enchants the base stats (that we care about) of all the above gear comes out to

• Spell Hit: 75 (99% chance to hit any target)
• Shadow Dmg: Gear alone puts you at ~830, add in the darkmoon proc, trinket use and shadowform and your looking at something around 1200 shadow damage.
• Armor: 1137 base (15% mitigation), around 2700 buffed (30% mitigation)
• Intellect: 244 unbuffed
• Stamina: 313 unbuffed, 425 with fort buff

Gems

[Don Julio's Heart] (if your a jewlcrafter)
[Runed Crimson Spinel]
[Runed Ornate Ruby] (6,885 )
[Runed Living Ruby]

Notes

1. Optionally if you have the honor, or can’t seem to win the rolls you could get the [Gladiator's War Staff] instead. Or obviously, even better the [Merciless Gladiator's War Staff]. But with the spec and gear listed here, you’ll have a tough time with PvP.