Transmog Spotlight: Wrath Tank

Wrath Warrior and accessories. Click here to use the 3D Viewer and item info. The 3D viewer is accessed by clicking the little triangle in the top left corner of the box containing the set's icons.

There seems to be a lot of purple colored warrior sets out there. This is my favorite of the bunch. The helm and shoulder combo work so well, with their giant blades. Even now, seven years later, this set stands out. I'm not a fan of adding tabards to my transmogs. They seem to obscure the armor set too much, which is the focal point of transmogging in the first place.

I paired this set with a nice gold laiden cape, the most excellent Blessed Qiraji Bulwark, which is 4th on my favorite shields, and The Unbreakable Will. I love this sword, because it follows the traditional stylings of a sword with no strange gimmicks, and of course it sheaths on your back, which behind the right shield, looks simply stunning. I'm not really feeling much of the warrior gear in this expansion so far. It's mostly all ugly, save a few pieces here and there. Let's hope the upcoming thunder king patch brings prettier gear.

Raiding break!

So I was booted from my raid group and replaced by an alliance spy. We made excellent progress and managed to get 3 heroic bosses on farm in our run together. They booted me because I'm black. I have come to terms with it. There are injustices in the world and trying to reason with them is a pointless endeavor.

The Rarest Item Ever

Many years ago, during the age of vanilla WoW something stranged happened. A typical 40-Man raid group was mid way through their Molten Core raid, just finishing a fight against Baron Geddon. The boss was defeated and as the guild was going through the spoils of the victory, something peculiar appeared in the loot. A legendary neck piece; The Talisman of Binding Shard.

While pretty standard as far as stats go, it did have some decent resists, plus a permanent lightning shield similar to the shaman ability., complete with floaty electric ball shield. The player that it was looted to was Noktyn of 'Nurfed' on the Archimonde server. This legendary item only dropped once, was the first legendary item to ever be looted to a player, and was removed from the loot tables by Blizzard staff, never to be seen again. Apparently during an adjustment to boss loot tables, this item was accidentally added to Baron Geddon's loot list.

However, the GM's allowed Noktyn to keep his truly unique item. This warrior has since been renamed Savorx and relocated to the Blackrock server, and sadly is stalled at level 72. Perhaps one day this warrior will once again bring glory to the Horde!

Transmog Spotlight: Sunscale Warrior

Sunscale Plate and accessories. Click the image to use the 3D Viewer and item info. The 3D viewer is accessed by clicking the little triangle in the top left corner of the box containing the set's icons.

Golden Warrior! It's true that there are many golden colored plate sets in the game, but none that pop quite like the Sunscale set. Conqueror's Plate is another. Sunscale unfortunately is incredibly hard to collect. I have been hunting it for 5 months and only have 3 pieces. The reason is because these pieces are world drops for mobs in the level 50-55 range. This means the odds of getting a sunscale piece are about 1:2500.

If you are hellbent on collecting these off mobs yourself, Winterspring or Un'goro Crater is a good start. I prefer Un'goro because the mobs are closer together.

My method is just to check the Auction house every time I log in. Like collecting other transmog sets, the fun is in the thrill of the hunt. And this hunt is one of the grandest. Good luck transmoggers, and may the odds be ever in your favor.

Item Spotlight: Petrified Lichen Guard

Back in the glory days of the Burning Crusade expansion, warrior mechanics were quite different. We did not nearly have the AoE tanking abilities we have now. Our Thunder Clap ability hit a maximum of 5 mobs. Cleaving and constantly switching targets while using devastate and sunder was the only way to effectively control a pack of mobs.

I was quite jealous of the paladin's Consecrate ability. That's when I stumbled upon this shield. It is available as a reputation reward from the Sporeggar peoples in Zangarmarsh.

This shield changed the game. While there were definitely better quality blockers out there, none of them could match the AoE tanking of this shield. Attaching a Felsteel Shield Spike to this made it twice as deadly. Blocking worked back then similar to how it works now, except you could stack block percentage and block rating, which would increase how often you block, and for how much.

The best place to use this interesting item was on top of Black Temple. There is an area where an entire army of dual wielding elf warriors are dueling. A warrior could group them all up and with this shield, the mobs would literally beat themselves to death. If it ever came to a point where your health got low, or you managed to aggro the elite mob patrolling between the packs, activating your Figurine of the Colossus would bring you back up to 100% in seconds. This method was hands down the best way to farm gold and potions. I owned 3 of these so I could continuously farm gold after the first one broke. Good times.

The Count!

Collecting old legendary weapons is not nearly as difficult as it was then, but it is definitely a fun adventure. And being a warrior allows you to get most of them. As of this writing, I currently own Sulfuras, Hand of Ragnaros, Warglaive of Azzinoth (Main Hand), and Thori'dal, the Stars' Fury.

My current mission is Thunderfury, Blessed Blade of the Windseeker, also known as Thunderfury, Trade Chat's Bane. Any time some one wants to incite a riot on Trade Chat, all they need to do is simply link that weapon, guaranteeing a fifteen minute buttsex joke. Some times I feel my realm is populated entirely by 5th graders.

The bulk of the work in obtaining one of these weapons is blind luck. Sulfuras and Thunderfury involve a decent amount of time collecting materials for crafting. You will most likely have your Sulfuron Hammer crafted long before you see the Eye of Sulfuras drop from Ragnaros himself, which is good because the fun of it all is gathering up all the dark iron, ingots, lava cores and what not.

If you've don't own an orange, now is the time to step up. It's a right of passage if you will. Start running Molten Core for the mats to craft a Sulfuron Hammer, and pray to the wow RNG gods for the Eye of Sulfuras. It took me only 3 months to get mine, but I was lucky.

Top 10 Best Looking Shields

When I am not raiding, you would most likely find me in an old raid dungeon hunting for old transmog gear. I am in love with transmogging, and think it is one of the best additions to the game in a long time. There has been so much great looking gear designed over the years, and with this system, players get a chance to flash their style and accomplishments. A full set of gear with matching weapons says so much more than a boring old title.
With that, I give you my top 10 best looking shields in the game!


10. Shield of Impenetrable Darkness
Karazhan - Nightbane

Lets go over what makes a great shield. First and foremost, it has to actually appear to fulfill its intended purpose, to block attacks! There are many shields in game that look like a pile of random crap on a board and some sparkle effects tossed in. Second, it should be big. These shields should command presence. It is a bulwark, a bastion against the onslaught of your enemy. How do you expect to shield yourself from the fiery breath of a dragon with a wimpy buckler?
Speaking of which, this lovely shield drops from Nightbane, the real end boss from Burning Crusade's 10 man raid; Karazhan. Smooth, sleek, ornate and yet meanacing, this shield fits the theme almost perfectly. It balances form and function so perfectly. Plus it is black, a color not found too often in plate gear. Go figure.