Guardian and feral druid gearing strategy for Mists of Pandaria

I’ve levelled my druid up to 90 on the beta, and found that there is a very straightforward way to quest up to the item level required for heroic instances. This post shows how to obtain gear for entry into heroics, and includes the item levels for heroics and raids.

Here’s a post with a full list of the gear that is referred to below: http://eaoexcursions.wordpress.com/2012/03/23/gearing-your-druid-tank-in-mists-of-pandaria/

Levelling and questing gear

• Quest up to level 88 however you want.
  • During this time, make sure you visit Kun-Lai Summit and open up the Vale of Eternal Blossoms. You’ll need this to start working on reputation gear later. Here’s the quest chain that is available at level 87:
    • Temple of the White Tiger
    • A Celestial Experience
    • A Witness to History

• At level 88, go to Townlong Steppes. The quest rewards will provide:
  • A full set of ilevel 429 gear.
  • ilevel 442 quest rewards:
    • Head: Steppebeast Helm.
    • Chest: Steppebeast Tunic.
    • Ring: Seal of Taran Zhu.

• After this most quest reward upgrades are from the Dread Wastes. Items of note are:
  • There is almost a full second set of ilevel 429 gear, so you can collect an offset in this zone.
  • ilevel 437 quest rewards:
    • Neck: Swarmborn Necklace, Amberglow Necklace.
    • Weapon: Kyparitic Staff
    • Wrist: Ghost Fox Armwraps, Ghost Fox Wristwraps
    • Ring: Band of Sudden Dreams, Xaril’s Ring
  • ilevel 450 quest rewards:
    • Feet: Ghost Fox Boots
    • Shoulders: Ghost Fox Spaulders
    • Waist: Ghost Fox Belt

• At level 90, make sure that you do The Arena of Annihilation scenario. It has a quest of the same name that rewards an ilevel 450 weapon for all classes. The guardian/feral weapon is Scar-Shell’s Scintillating Staff.

• There is also a lot of reputation gear that is available at honoured from various factions that could be used to fill out a set of ilevel 450 gear.
• PvP gear is cheap to craft and has an ilevel of 450 as well. The PvE stats on this gear are the same as other 450 gear, so it is completely viable for gearing up.
• You will need to do daily quests at level 90 to gain reputation with these factions. There are some quests that reward reputation at lower levels, but not significant amounts.
  • Back: Bladesong Cloak, Requires The August Celestials – Honored
  • Hands: Surehand Grips, Requires Golden Lotus - Honored
  • Legs: Tough Mushanhide Leggings, Requires Shado-Pan - Honored
  • Neck: Amulet of Swirling Mists, Requires Golden Lotus – Honored
  • Wrists: Cruel Mercy Bracers, Requires The Klaxxi – Honored
  • Finger: Mark of the Dancing Crane, Requires Shado-Pan – Honored
• Heroic instance bosses drop ilevel 463 blue items.
• Heroic instance quests have rewards that are ilevel 450.
• Factions require daily quests to gain reputation with them, and then the high level rewards cost Valor Points. These items are ilevel 489 epics, equivalent in power to items from the first raiding tier. There is almost a full set of gear available from faction vendors, with the exception of a weapon and shoulders.
• Crafted gear generally falls between heroic gear and raid gear in effectiveness, with rare items at ilevel 450 and epics at ilevel 476. Inscription is the best way to get an epic weapon without raiding.

Heroics, crafting and reputation gear

Raid gear

The raid tiers are:

• LFR

1. Mogu’shan Vaults LFR rewards ilevel 476 epics.
2. Heart of Fear LFR rewards ilevel 483 epics.
3. Terrace of Endless Spring LFR rewards ilevel 483 epics.

• Normal

1. Mogu’shan Vaults Normal rewards ilevel 489 epics.
2. Heart of Fear Normal rewards ilevel 496 epics.
3. Terrace of Endless Spring Normal rewards ilevel 496 epics.                                                               i.      Protector Kaolan drops items that are a half tier better.

• Heroic

1. Mogu’shan Vaults Heroic rewards ilevel 502 epics.
2. Heart of Fear Heroic rewards ilevel 509 epics.
3. Terrace of Endless Spring Normal rewards ilevel 509 epics.                                                               i.      Protector Kaolan drops items that are a half tier better.

Tier gear is available from Heart of Fear and Terrace of Endless Spring. There are no tier items in the Mogu’shan Vaults.