The bracers from the emblems of valor are BOE.

The [Cuffs of the Shadow Ascendant] were already mentioned a few posts back if you look Best Non-Raid Mage Gear. Very nice for Arcane spec.

Keristrasza doesnt appear to drop any caster offhand's, were you perhaps thinking of [Telestra's Journal] ?

Need to add [Titansteel Spellblade] to the Weapon list. No int and less +hit, but more spell power and crit. This should be an upgrade for any new 80 over the old Kirin Tor [Flameheart Spell Scalpel].

There's lots of new BOE Tailor gear available too - the patterns are dropping in Ulduar, so it's not something you can get yourself "pre-raid" but you may be able to find them on the AH. I see a few new Ulduar BOE's on wowhead too, may be a little while before they start hitting the AH, but we'll probably see them sooner or later.

The new Titan-forged chest and belt from wintergrasp should probably be on the list.

Also [Gnomeregan Bonechopper] is very easy to get solo. Just needs 25 marks from the Argent Tourney and it looks nice too.

The change to a weedly format for Wintergrasp complicates access to Hateful somewhat, making it easier for people who may only be in one or two WG battles in a week but hurting those with the chance to fight every day. Still, the quests alone give respectable honor each week, daily BGs are still solid, and BGs make access to honor reasonable enough. Even with resilience, the hateful [and their Wintergrasp equivalents] clock in at Ilvl 200. This compares to the available Ilvl 187 blues favorably. The easiest example is hats...ignoring resilience, the Hateful [and equiv] hoods provide the same amount of hit (tradeable for haste or crit), +34 Spellpower, +33 Stamina, some armor, and the drawback of -9 Intellect. The comparisons to other crafted or reputation blues follows the same trend, and the Wintergrasp trinkets now provide reasonable options, but not superior [like the actual Hateful items]. Straight 111 spellpower? Slightly below the benefits of trinkets like Mark of the War Prisoner and Sundial of the Exalted, but significantly better than quest trinkets like the Fuselighter. Hateful ring is definitely superior to crafted and quest blues, offers a fair run against faction ring(s), but gets trounced by Titanium Spellshock and dungeon epic rings.

This too, but I'd predict that for at least another month the BoE drops are going to be along the lines of epic-flight to uber-mount expensive, and good luck even finding someone who can craft the Tailoring items, much less the item AHed for anything short of the above amount. That said, assuming you have access and for when the access becomes a bit less restricted, these items take the new top of their spot lists in the following way:

Bracers:
-[Combustion Bracers]

Gloves:
-[Handwraps of Resonance]

Belt:
-[Sash of Ancient Power] --Simply put: WotLK [Belt of Blasting], and it shows. Nomnom Magery belt
-[Cord of the White Dawn] --Simply put: WotLK [Belt of the Long Road] Strictly speaking not as good for a Mage as the Sash of Ancient Power. If you're gonna spend cash and/or Runed Orbs, I'd stick to the Sash. That said, the sash is a +hit item to build around, while thanks to sensible caster itemization, the Cord actually doesn't have any worthless stat and has Spirit and actual dps stats instead of MP5. With a Yellow socket and 48 spirit instead of a blue socket and 43 hit, there's actually a fair argument in favor of this belt over the Sash if you have other strong +hit itemized items and wind up closer to the hit cap instead of overshooting. That said, you'd still need Recount to really prove things, you'd probably have to be Arcane to really justify it, and I wouldn't swear by it.

Boots:
-[Spellslinger's Slippers] --Simply put: WotLK [Boots of Blasting], and it shows
-[Savior's Slippers] --Simply put: WotLK [Boots of the Long Road] --See the Cord argument. You trade a small amount of Int and 56 haste for a significant Spirit/Stam boost and 40 crit. My gut tells me that Spellslinger's will almost always be better, but a die-hard Arcane Mage [or Frostfire Mage, what with this being +crit and all] who is already haste swamped may very well find the Spirit and crit a larger DPS boost in addition to fight length. Use Recount and an expert before doing it tho =p


And, since I apparantly have selective memory requiring me to keep editing in more info: The belts and boots are ilvl 226. The Bracers and Gloves are ilvl 219. ilvl 219 is on par or better than ANYTHING you will get before Maly-25, Kel'Thuzad-25, and Ulduar proper. ilvl 226 is equivalent or better than anything until Uld-25 power loot. For reference, this means that you can expect Combustion Bracers and Handwraps of Resonance to last you through to Uld-10, anything before Uld-25 can be interpreted as a side-grade. To my knowledge, it takes Hard-mode 25 loot to beat the belts and boots (as the ilvl 232 stuff is Furious Glad armor), of which there are no cloth belts, but you can find boots. This makes these a very long term investment until the next tier of raiding.

Since the made the Deadly Gladiators kit available with only honor requirements I have been wearing [Deadly Gladiator's Cloak of Dominance]

Every man and his dog seems to rate [Deathchill Cloak] but for anyone who is a regular to BG's and heaven forbid not a tailor at the required level, the PVP cloak is a very quick upgrade.

Heaven forbid you just buy the [Deathchill Cloak] from the auction house as it's BoE and has no Tailoring requirement.

The reason why many rate it is simply, it is a far superior pve raiding item, easily obtained. It costs on my realm 445 gold so that's only 2-3 hours farming, so hardly less easy to obtain. The only thing going for the pvp cloak is the extra stamina if required, otherwise it is a big dps loss to the tailored one.

Unless you absolutely need stamina/intellect, Deathchill Cloak is such a ridiculous item, it's just silly to use anything but it. A rundown on cloaks in order of DPS will easily show you this:

239 - Iron Council 25-man Hard Mode - [Drape of Mortal Downfall]
226 - Algalon 10-man - Drape of the Messenger
226 - Sartharion 25-man 2 Drakes - [Pennant Cloak]
200 - Crafted BoE - [Deathchill Cloak]
226 - Kel'Thuzad 25-man, Mimiron BoE - [Cape of the Unworthy Wizard] / [Asimov's Drape]
(These are slightly better than Deathchill Cloak if you have Glyph of Molten Armor, worse otherwise)
219 - Ulduar Trash 10-man - [Drape of the Spellweaver]

While it's understandable that additional stamina and intellect are useful in some encounters, the mats for Deathchill Cloak are pretty low, especially in comparison to Asimov's Drape (the cost of which would be considerably higher due to drop location). Seeing as how the purpose of this thread is Non-Raid gear, it seems fitting to say that Deathchill Cloak is best of the best. Off the top of my head, just looking at the mats, you're looking at ~410 gold if you buy all the mats off the AH -- ~50 less if you buy the frozen orb using heroism badges.

Rember to upgrade your old Kirin Tor ring (iLevel 200) [Signet of the Kirin Tor] to the new one (iLevel 213) [Inscribed Signet of the Kirin Tor]. It was 1000g at exalted with Kirin Tor. This can be a great addition if you have some gold lying around (especially if you already bought the first ring). Even for us raiders, you don't see much that better until the very end of Naxx-25.

MMO-Champion posted prices from the PTR a while back. If these stay, it would take less than a month of doing both dailies to get two pieces of the lowest ilvl T9.

This will definitely all change when valor badges become available outside of 25man / 10m Ulduar.

Stat-wise, and in a raid setting, I ended up buying the [Disguise of the Kumiho] and dumping my Deathchill (was real fine for just dinging 80 though) It scales with kings, and has my #1 stat haste.

And, as much gear as I have seen drop, I still am running with two other badge pieces ([Handbook of Obscure Remedies] and [Band of Channeled Magic]) Great still for an Arcane haste set!

Post-3.2, we will be looking at the following for a BiS pre-raid set:

• Head: [Conqueror's Kirin Tor Hood] - CSD, RCR
• Neck: [Evoker's Charm]
• Shoulders: [Valorous Frostfire Shoulderpads] - VFA
• Chest: [Conqueror's Kirin Tor Tunic] - RCR, RCR
• Waist: [Sash of Ancient Power] - PD, RCR, VFA
• Legs: [Valorous Frostfire Leggings] - VFA, VFA
• Feet: [Spellslinger's Slippers] - PD, RCR
• Wrist: [Wraps of the Astral Traveler]r
• Hands: [Touch of the Occult]
• Finger1: [Band of Channeled Magic]
• Finger2: Sinner's Confession
• Trinket1: Abyssal Rune
• Trinket2: [Sundial of the Exiled]
• Back: Kurisu's Indecision
• MainHand: Spectral Kris
• OffHand: [Ward of the Violet Citadel]
• Ranged: [Wand of the San'layn]

Dps: 5925.88

I used the same settings as the BiS mage thread here.

The total will be 448 Badges (not counting Runed Orbs). If you consider [Combustion Bracers] as a pre-raid item as well, you can swap those in and change one of the Veiled Flawless Ametrine to a Runed Cardinal Ruby. I specifically did not include Emblem of Triumph items as I generally consider them raid items (due to the very low acquisition rate of emblems outside of raids).

Here are the missing item links from the previous post:

• Finger2: [Sinner's Confession]
• Trinket1: [Abyssal Rune]
• Back: [Kurisu's Indecision]
• MainHand: [Spectral Kris]

Also, if you do happen to consider Triumph Emblem gear to be pre-raid, you can get the following two items for a total of 60 emblems, which is only a month if you do the daily heroic every day:

• Finger1: [Band of the Invoker]
• Ranged: [Brimstone Igniter]

When placed into the previous list, those two items combined would give you: +53 Spellpower, +14 Hit, -27 Haste, and +48 Stam/+49 Int/+46 Spirit. Not too bad!

They, frankly, should be considered as pre-raid due to the fact you can do the daily every day for 14 triumph per week. In which case the lowest tier of t9 should also be included. Certainly it will take a LONG time to collect for non-raiders but pieces such as the t9 shoulders will only take a couple of weeks for non-raiders to pick up just from doing the dailies.

Yes, but VOA is a raid.

If we really want to toss in Emblem of Triumph stuff - all of this is technically possible. Getting 2pc T9 (shoulders and hands) isn't a bad option, but it will take a month of doing the daily. You can combine those with the 2pc T8.5 purchaseable with Conquest badges and get the 2pc set bonus from both sets.


[Helm of Clouded Sight] = 75 Emblems of Triumph
[Hood of Fiery Aftermath] = 75 Emblems of Triumph

[Mantle of Catastrophic Emanation] = 45 Emblems of Triumph
[Mantle of Revered Mortality] = 45 Emblems of Triumph

[Sunstrider's Gauntlets of Conquest] - 30 Emblems of Triumph
[Sunstrider's Hood of Conquest] - 50 Emblems of Triumph
[Sunstrider's Leggings of Conquest] - 50 Emblems of Triumph
[Sunstrider's Robe of Conquest] - 50 Emblems of Triumph
[Sunstrider's Shoulderpads of Conquest] - 30 Emblems of Triumph

Here's the new level of BOE's too - but buying the orbs from the AH will be crazy expensive
[Merlin's Robe] (Alliance - 8x Crusader Orbs)
[Merlin's Robe] (Horde - 8x Crudader Orbs)
[Royal Moonshroud Robe] (Alliance - 8x Crusader Orbs)
[Royal Moonshroud Robe] (Horde - 8x Crudader Orbs)
[Royal Moonshroud Bracers] (Alliance - 4x Crusader Orbs)
[Royal Moonshroud Bracers] (Horde - 4x Crusader Orbs)

Some of the new PvP stuff is nice too.
[Titan-Forged Cloth Trousers of Domination] - 40 Wintergrasp Marks
[Titan-Forged Cloth Leggings of Salvation] - 40 Wintergrasp Marks
[Titan-Forged Cuffs of Salvation] - 15 Wintergrasp Marks

May I ask why you don't include:

Bejeweled Wizard's Bracers (Horde - 4x Crusader Orbs)
Bejeweled Wizard's Bracers (Alliance - 4x Crusader Orbs)

I would argue that Bejeweled Wizard's Bracers is better than Royal Moonshroud Bracers on account of haste>spirit for all but perhaps Frostfire (if EXTREMELY crit starved).

*Slowly getting stuff linked here - may take a bit for the whole post

Three-part list to help some other mages (and probably other clothies) gear up for future raiding. These lists are all gear that's available without any actual raiding - It's all solo, 5-man, badge, reputation, quest, BOE or craftable stuff. I fully admit that for some of the stuff on these lists it's much easier to actually get the stuff by raiding, but that's not always an option, and even for us frequent raiders we often find ourselves with that one piece of gear that we just haven't found a good upgrade since 2 patches ago. The purpose here is to help us all identify some gear that we can work toward when we're not doing a big guild thing.

The first list is all the Best in Slot (BiS) gear that's possible to get without any actual raiding, but with an unlimited budges of badges and gold - tons of badge gear and enough BoE's to make the mammoth/chopper look cheap, but it's all technically possible. The 2nd list is all BiS stuff that doesn't take any badges and I cap'd the budget for BOE's at about 1000g per item. This is mostly stuff that takes exulted reputations and it contains a lot of heroic gear. The 3rd list is all stuff that you can actually get solo - no 5-man's, no badges, no reputations above honored and I cap'd the BOE budget at 100g. This is mostly cheap crafted and quest gear. No reason for any 80 to have any piece of gear worse than what is on this list.

Fair warning - the first list is actually pretty tough to get. If you were starting from scratch - this would take a metric ass load of badges to put it all together and probably 50k gold if you just bought it all outright. RAWR estimates that if you grab all of this stuff, exlcuding the T9 stuff, you can end up over 6,000 DPS on short 3min Patchwerk type fights.


List 1 - BiS no limit on the budget, no raiding:

Head:
[Sunstrider's Hood of Conquest] - 50 Emblems of Triumph
[Conqueror's Kirin Tor Hood] - 58 Emblems of Conquest
[Hood of Smoldering Aftermath]- 75 Emblems of Triumph *only an upgrade over the 50 emblem head if you have all of the other 4 pieces of T9
[Helm of Clouded Sight] - 75 Emblems of Triumph *only an upgrade over the 50 emblem head if you have all of the other 4 pieces of T9 and don’t need the hit

Neck:
[Evoker's Charm] - 19 Emblems of Conquest

Shoulders:
[Sunstrider's Shoulderpads of Conquest] - 30 Emblems of Triumph
[Valorous Frostfire Shoulderpads] - 60 Emblems of Valor (downgrade your conquest badges)
[Mantle of Catastrophic Emanation] - 45 Emblems of Triumph *only an upgrade over the 30 emblem head if you have all of the other 4 pieces of T9
[Mantle of Revered Mortality] - 45 Emblems of Triumph *only an upgrade over the 50 emblem head if you have all of the other 4 pieces of T9 and don’t need the hit

Back:
<Nothing above list 2 below>

Chest:
[Sunstrider's Robe of Conquest] - 50 Emblems of Triumph
[Pattern: Merlin's Robe]– BOE (similar item for Alliance) - 8x Crusader Orbs
[Conqueror's Kirin Tor Tunic] - 58 Emblems of Conquest

Wrist:
[Bejeweled Wizard's Bracers] – BOE, Horde - 4x Crusader Orbs
[Titan-Forged Cuffs of Salvation] – 15x Wintergrasp Marks
[Wraps of the Astral Traveler] – BOE, 60x Emblems of Valor, don't bother downgrading badges to get them, somone will sell them BOE if you ask around

Hands:
[Sunstrider's Gauntlets of Conquest] - 30 Emblems of Triumph
[Touch of the Occult] - 28x Emblems of Conquest

Waist:
[Sash of Ancient Power] – BOE 6x Runed Obs (18x Emblems of Conquest each = 108 total) or about 2,500g on the AH

Legs:
[Sunstrider's Leggings of Conquest] - 50 Emblems of Triumph
[Valorous Frostfire Leggings] - 75x Emblems of Valor (downgrade your conquest)
[Titan-Forged Cloth Trousers of Domination] - 40 Wintergrasp Marks
[Titan-Forged Cloth Leggings of Salvation] - 40 Wintergrasp Marks

Feet:
[Spellslinger's Slippers] - 6x Runed Obs (18x Emblems of Conquest each = 108 total) about 2,500g on the AH

Fingers (2):
[Band of the Invoker] – 35x Emblems of Triumph
[Etched Signet of the Kirin Tor] - 8800g at Exalted with Kirin Tor (10,500g if Neutral)
[Band of Channeled Magic] - 25x Emblems of Valor (downgrade your conquest)

Trinkets (2):
[Sundial of the Exiled] – 40 Emblems of Heroism (sad really that even with an infinite budget there’s nothing above iLevel 200 unless you raid)
<Nothing else above list 2 below>

MainHand:
<Nothing above list 2 below>

OffHand:
[Ward of the Violet Citadel] – 25 Emblems of Heroism (sad really that even with an infinite budget there’s nothing above iLevel 200 unless you raid)

Ranged:
[Brimstone Igniter] - 30 Emblems of Triumph


List 2 - no badge gear, 1000g limit on BOEs

Head:
[Gaze of the Unknown] - Heroic Trial of the Crusader (5-man)

Neck:
[Symbol of Redemption] - Heroic Trial of the Crusader (5-man) *better to let a class that really needs MP5 roll on it first
[Brilliant Hailstone Amulet] - Normal Trial of the Crusader (5-man) *if you need the hit
[Design: Titanium Spellshock Necklace] - jewelcrafting

Shoulders:
[Mantle of Inconsolable Fear] – Normal Trial of the Champion (5-man)
[Mantle of the Extensive Mind] – BOE from Naxx-25

Back:
[Kurisu's Indecision] - Heroic Trial of the Champion
[Pattern: Deathchill Cloak] - BOE, tailoring - requires Loremaster of Northrend to craft

Chest:
[Embrace of Madness] – Heroic Trail of the Champion
[Pattern: Ebonweave Robe] – tailoring
[Spellweave Robe] - tailoring (if you don't need the Hit)

Wrist:
[Combustion Bracers] – BOE from Uld-10
[Wraps of the Astral Traveler] – BOE (technically they are BOE from 60x Emblems of Valor, but they are easy to find on the AH, or ask in trade. Don’t downgrade emblems to get them.)

Hands:
[Handwraps of Resonance] – BOE from Uld-10
[Gloves of Token Respect] – BOE from Naxx-25
[Ebonweave Gloves] - tailoring
[Spellweave Gloves] – tailoring
[Handwraps of Surrendered Hope] – Normal Trial of the Champion

Waist:
[The Confessor's Binding] – Normal Trial of the Champion
[Belt of the Churning Blaze] – Normal Trial of the Champion
[Girdle of Bane] – Heroic UP - Ymiron

Legs:
[Leggings of Lost Love] – BOE from Uld-25
[Leggings of the Haggard Apprentice] - Normal Trial of the Champion

Feet:
[Boots of the Crackling Flame] – Heroic Trial of the Champion
[Sandals of Crimson Fury] - Wyrmrest Accord quartermaster – Exalted

Fingers (2):
[Sinner's Confession] - Heroic Trial of the Champion
[Design: Titanium Spellshock Ring] - jewelcrafting
[Signet of Hopeful Light] - Argent Crusade – Exalted

Trinkets (2):
[Abyssal Rune] - Normal Trial of the Champion
[Frenzyheart Insignia of Fury] - Frenzyheart quartermaster (exalted) in Sholazar Basin
[Oracle Talisman of Ablution] - Oracle quartermaster (exalted) in Sholazar Basin
[Forge Ember] - From Heroic Halls of Stone (Sjonnir The Ironshaper)
[Mark of the War Prisoner] From Heroic Violet Hold (Cyanigosa). Great piece of +hit gear that you may want to keep through end-game so you can gear to +11% hit rating (assuming 3% shadow priest or boomkin in raid) and swap this in if you don’t have the raid boost

MainHand:
[Spectral Kris] - Heroic Trial of the Champion
<There’s a host of new spellpower weapons from the Argent Tournament if you need something that will at least get you into H TotC>

OffHand:
[Iron-Bound Tome] – BOE Inscription
[Faces of Doom] – BOE Inscription

Ranged:
[Wand of the San'layn]- Heroic Utgarde Keep
Yes there are a few epic wands that you can get, but this one is better


List 3 - solo gear with a 100g budget cap and no reputation above honored*

Head:
[Hat of Wintry Doom] – tailoring

Neck:
[Choker of Betrayal] - quest reward in Zul’Drak

Shoulders:
[Dark Runic Mantle] BoE drop from Halls of Stone – check the AH periodically
[Frostsavage Shoulders] – tailoring

Back:
[Polished Protodrake Cloak] - quest reward in Sholazar Basin
[Shroud of Dedicated Research] - Kirin Tor quartermaster – Honored
[Dark Soldier Cape] - Knights of the Ebon Blade quartermaster – Honored

Chest:
[Black Duskweave Robe] – tailoring

Wrist:
[Black Duskweave Wristwraps] - tailoring (combine with legs below for 2 piece bonus)

Hands:
[Frostsavage Gloves] – tailoring

Waist:
[Sash of the Wizened Wyrm] - Wyrmrest Accord quartermaster – Honored
[Deep Frozen Cord] - tailoring

Legs:
[Black Duskweave Leggings] - tailoring (combine with bracers above for 2 piece bonus)

Feet:
[Frostsavage Boots] - tailoring
[Silky Iceshard Boots] - tailoring

Rings (2):
[Design: Ring of Northern Tears] - jewelcrafting
[Ring of Temerity] - quest reward from the Occulus
Alts
[Amberglow Signet], [Ring of the Northern Winds], [Brunnhildar Runed Ring] quest rewards in storm peaks, or [Design: Windfire Band] or [Dream Signet of restoration/foreseer/invoker/necromancer/sorcerer], jewelcrafting

Trinkets (2):
[Cannoneer's Fuselighter] - quest reward in Icecrown
[Rune of Infinite Power] - quest reward in Dragonsblight
Alternative (when you don’t need the hit) is [Badge of the Infiltrator], quest reward in Zul’Drak. Keep the rune of infinite power around to swap in for raid bosses when you need the hit.

One Hand Weapon:
[Saronite Spellblade] - blacksmithing (The Kirin Tor 1H below is much better though – get to revered ASAP)
[Flameheart Spell Scalpel] Kirin Tor quartermaster - Revered – yeah, it’s above our requirements (Honored) but I wouldn’t want to start running heroics without it and you'll want to get revered with them anyway for the head glyph. Mages start at honored with them anyway, so you'll hit revered in no time.

Off Hand:
[[Frostbridge Orb] - BOE – check AH
[Prison Manifest] - BOE – check AH
[Bonecaster's Endgame] - 5-man group quest in Icecrown

Two Hand Weapon: (The one hand + off hand weapons are better, but these may be easier to get)
[Chilly Slobberknocker] - 5-man group chain quest in Zul’Drak (Amphitheater)
[Stave of Youthful Sorrow] - quest reward in Icecrown

Wand:
[Gwyneth's Runed Dragonwand] - BOE – check AH
[Iceshrieker's Touch] - quest reward in Storm Peaks
[Wand of Blinding Light] - quest reward from The Cleansing Of Jintha'kalar in Dragonblight


The original was pretty obsolete, so rather than update it, may as well start over. It used to be a mix of grinding factions and getting the lucky drop in some particular instance (while not getting outrolled by the Warlock who was trying to do the same thing). Now it's all a matter of collecting as many badges as possible and adding in ToC stuff if you are gearing up for raids.

I'll list out the Emblem of Triumph stuff, but I'll be sure to include an alternative as well when their is one. You can probably save up for 1 or 2 pieces of T9 stuff by doing the daily heroic, but those are pretty tough to get in bulk without at least some raiding.

Hope this helps. RAWR is probably still the definitive answer for all your gearing options, but the list of possible upgrades at the beginning can be kinda overwhelming.

Great update. One comment would be to add [Talisman of Resurgence] (50 triumph emblems) to list #1.

I'd probably pass on that trinket - even some old quest stuff like the fuselighter should be more DPS. We just get so little value out of int.

Unless you're arcane (which a good bit of newly 80 mages are), then its damn near BiS period.