70-79 Level 70 PvE BiS Gear Compendium

Fx

Unnecessarily Rude
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Last updated 23/07/2017
This list is out of date, I'm working on it. It's still a reasonable guideline but by no means BiS gearsets.


This list aims to provide players with an easy reference when looking to build a character for instanced PvE at level 70. The gear sets provided are Best in Slot for both raids and dungeons, with no exceptions. There is no better item available for each slot than what is given in this guide. If you are interested about the in-depth logic behind the gear, I suggest you go here: http://xpoff.com/threads/70-pve-guide.71696/

With that said, there are some grey areas. Mostly in terms of gems and enchants. I will post the general rules, but you want to keep in mind that it is hard to prove a certain stat’s superiority at level 70, as our DPS data comes from a very small source. Therefor they are -general- rules. They do not universally apply.

General Gem and Enchant rules:
DPS:
Strength/Agility/Intellect are best used in gem slots.
Crit and Haste are best used as enchants. (don’t use Versatility)

Tank:
You’ll want to get around 30-35k health, and then put everything else into avoidance (Parry/Dodge) or flat mitigation (Versatility) depending on the boss encounter. On mostly physical damage encounters such as Brutallus or Gurtogg Bloodboil you’ll want the avoidance; while you might consider Versatility on mostly magic damage fights such as the Eredar Twins or Kil’jaeden.

Healer:
Secondary stats are far stronger than Primary stats after you reach a certain level of Spell Power. This depends on the healer you’re playing. As an example, Holy Priests will strive for roughly 700 Spell Power, then get 20% haste, then put everything else into Crit.

The reason secondary stats are so strong is because you only need one or two heals to top someone off, so there is no reason to make your heals stronger through Spell Power. Instead, you can become more efficient by gaining high amounts of Crit and Haste.

Best in Slot gear list:

Plate:
Death Knight




Warrior




Paladin





Mail:
Hunter




Shaman





Leather:
Rogue




Druid





Monk




Cloth:
Priest



Mage



Warlock


 
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For the BM Hunter list, Thori'dal isn't BiS, never has been. The BoE drop from Doomwalker is (for PvE) due to much higher Agi even at a lower iLvL, but good luck getting it. Also, is this list for pure TBC only gear? If not, then Bloodstone Band is superior to Hard Khorium Band. Also, I'm curious why you don't list Band of the Eternal Champion for the #1 Ring as from my knowledge it's always parsed the highest over all other Rings at 70 for Hunters.

EDIT: Noticed another bit. Gronnstalker's Belt isn't BiS, Terror Pit Girdle is. Having the highest iLvL does not always mean highest DPS possible, even with the Instance iLvL boost.
Probably because they have based their assumptions on ilvl = higher always. That's probably why none of these strength-user items show up
http://www.wowhead.com/item=34354/mayhem-projection-goggles&spec=72
http://www.wowhead.com/item=28795/bladespire-warbands&spec=72
http://www.wowhead.com/item=28824/gauntlets-of-martial-perfection&spec=72
http://www.wowhead.com/item=30032/red-belt-of-battle&spec=72
http://www.wowhead.com/item=33122/cloak-of-darkness&spec=72 or http://www.wowhead.com/item=24259/vengeance-wrap
http://www.wowhead.com/item=32345/dreadboots-of-the-legion&spec=72
http://www.wowhead.com/item=29950/greaves-of-the-bloodwarder&spec=72
http://www.wowhead.com/item=30740/ripfiend-shoulderplates&spec=72
on the list
 
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No. The raw stat comparison is 3 stam, 6 crit, 12 haste (khorium) VS 12 AP (deep). So the necklace of the deep barely (arguably) wins the raw stat comparison. But the khorium neck gives you +3,6 average ilvl which is +5,9% damage in instanced PvE. They are not even close.

Barrel-Blade Longrifle > Thori'dal, the Stars' Fury (Thori'dal is garbage)
Once again let's do the raw stat comparison first:
32 stam, 17 crit, 21 haste, +2 swing damage (thori'dal) VS 30 AP (barrel-blade)
So here your suggestion actually wins in terms of raw stats. But once again when you consider the difference in average character ilvl which is 2,75 = +4,5% damage, we can see that thori'dal clearly wins (+4,5% flat damage vastly outshines a ~+3,5% bonus to AP). Even if it didn't have the extra secondary stats.

Raw stat comparison:
26 stam, 9 haste (khorium) VS 10 AP, 12 crit (bloodstone). And now the ilvl difference: 21 which is an average character ilvl difference of 1,3 which is = +2% flat damage. So now we're weighing 10 AP 12 crit vs 9 haste and +2% flat damage bonus. Khorium band wins.

Might be right actually. Haven't done the research.

Terror Pit Girdle > Gronnstalker's Belt
.....
1 haste, 6 AP (terror pit) VS 1 stam, 5 crit (gronnstalker). Okay so your belt baaaaarely takes the win in terms of raw stats. The ilvl difference is 29 though which gives an average ilvl difference of almost 2. I'll say no more.
 
If someone reading this is totally oblivious to what I'm talking about in terms of ilvl = damage bonus (@Tuskbreaker); click the link in the OP that takes you to a 70 PvE guide, then scroll down to the "How to gear" section and read.
 
i understand the whole questioning the validity of ilvl gear over raw stats. but even if this was the case, terror pit girdle would still not even be bis by a land slide. Belt of the Black Eagle if you are in fact going for raw stats. Bloodstone band in my eyes is always a waste of a ring, might as well wear the aquamarine signets and call it a day. Again for raw stats Dark Iron Ring. Not even 100% necassary to post this, but i thought i may help with his search for highest base stats. They are right though, ilvl is king in instanced pve, especially since none of your linked items are over the base ilvl of above TK (tier 5). your ring though, Band of the eternal champion, in my opinion is BIS, it procs often enough for it to be worth it, and it's neck and neck with ilvl.
 
Band of the eternal champion, in my opinion is BIS, it procs often enough for it to be worth it
Yeah it's a 50s ICD afaik. And it lasts for 10 seconds meaning ~20% uptime assuming you're hitting reasonably fast and can proc it near instantly after its ICD is over. So the proc alone would average out to 32 AP over a longer fight. Definitely seems amazing.

But it's always an interesting discussion from class to class. Some classes deal almost all of their damage inside of small windows and sometimes can't afford to delay that window until the ring procs. That's definitely not the case for survival hunters though. They have very consistent damage and would gain roughly the same benefit from the ring no matter when it procced. It's definitely BiS for survival hunters.
 
@Onlydreams when you're doing the "raw Stat comparison" why aren't you including the Sockets for +10 Agi each additional? The 2 Sockets on the Gun means you have 50 Agi total (52 if you're a JC). Main Stat FAR outweighs Secondaries. @Fx I did testing on these some time ago, however, please enlighten me with your parses showing that it's iLvL > et all no matter what.
 
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when you're doing the "raw Stat comparison" why aren't you including the Sockets for +10 Agi each additional? The 2 Sockets on the Gun means you have 50 Agi total
Thori'dal has 21 agility which is 22 attack power.
Barrel-blade has 50 agility which is 52 attack power.
52 - 22 = 30

(52 if you're a JC)
What? If you have the +12 agility gem you can put it in any item. How would having jewelcrafting ever make a difference when comparing two items like these? JC = +2 agi regardless of how many sockets you have, unless you have 0 or 1.


I did testing on these some time ago, however, please enlighten me with your parses showing that it's iLvL > et all no matter what.
I believe I can be of help here.
When Legion came out I talked to a person who claimed to have tested the ilvl boost on the PTR and was convinced that it had been significantly nerfed or removed. So I did an experiment which I still have the notes on:

Experiment goal: To confirm or deny that the ilvl damage boost that applies in instanced PvE has changed since its original implementation.

Procedure:
1. Test openworld damage.
2. Calculate expected instanced damage based on original formula: (equipped average ilvl - 115) * 1.67 = expected percentage increase.
3. Test instanced damage.
4. Compare the calculated expected instanced damage to actual instanced damage.

Method: Sampling damage ticks of Shadow Word: Pain because dots have no variance in damage.
Using level 70 priest with an equipped average ilvl of 144.

Openworld tests:
(samples taken in hellfire peninsula - throne of kil'jaden)
lvl69 - 363 dmg/tick.
lvl70 - 363 dmg/tick.
lvl70 (elite) - 363 dmg/tick.
lvl71 363 - dmg/tick.
Conclusion: Level and elite state has no effect on openworld damage in the range 69-71.

Expected Instanced PvE damage:
Average item level = 144
(144 - 115) * 1.67 = 48.43% expected increase.
363 * 1.4843 = 538.8009
Rounded up to 539 because damage doesn't work in decimals.

Instanced tests:

Hellfire Warder - Magtheridon's Lair - Level ?? (elite):
539 dmg/tick

Expected damage lined up perfectly with tested damage. At this point I have no reason to believe that any changes has been made to the ilvl boost, but I will continue to test with a few more raids and mobs.

Coilfang Hate-Screamer - Serpentshrine Caverns - Level 71 (elite):
539 dmg/tick

Underbog Colossus - Serpentshrine Caverns - Level 72 (elite):
539 dmg/tick

Experiment conclusion: The ilvl damage boost has remained the same since its original implementation in the WoD pre-patch.

I did this in 7.1, so if your theory is that it has since been changed I invite you to test it out for yourself.

edit: I just want to add that the ilvl boost has been in the game for almost 3 years and has for the majority of that time been widely known and accepted. Quite weird/funny to see someone dispute it now.
You can thank @Aelobin for the initial discovery as well as making the mathematical formula that we use.
 
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@Onlydreams I'm not at all disagreeing that the iLvL boost works in Instances. I tested out various gear on my 70 Hunter by going into SWP with him and a 100 Tank (my own DK while dual boxing). The 100 just used Taunt and stood there while my Hunter attacked the Sunblade Protector in the 2nd "room" before the actual Trash begins. After each test duration (until it died), I headed out and reset. I changed to different gear each time to test if this or that DPS'd better in an actual real world situation, vs on paper.

Now, when I say I changed to different gear I mean I changed one single item and redid the test. That way I had a baseline to value any changed DPS against. I cannot say I've done any testing on my 70 (have on several other Twink Levels) since Legion began so if it changed from 7.0 and on then I'll have to do it all again.

As soon as I'm able I'll repeat my testing in SWP to see if anything has changed since whatever Patch I did it back in WoD. Thanks for the detailed reply.
 
@DeLindsay Why don't you just sim it? That way you get thousands of parses and eliminate the chance of RNG messing with the results. You can even find sites hosting simulationcraft in the cloud if you don't want to mess with it yourself.
Of course simulations don't take the ilvl boost into account so you have to add that manually.

Here's a 10000 parse sim i ran on necklace of the deep vs khorium choker for my survival hunter http://eu.battle.net/wow/en/character/argent-dawn/Mewqt/advanced
Simmed dps with necklace of the deep: 6768.5
Simmed dps with hard khorium choker: 6747.0

And now we add our ilvl bonuses:
Average ilvl equipped with necklace of the deep: 157,43
Average ilvl equipped with hard khorium choker: 161,12
(157,43 - 115) * 1,67 = 70,8581
6768,5 * 1,708581 = 11564 total instanced dps for necklace of the deep
(161,12 - 115) * 1,67 = 77,0204
6747 * 1,770204 = 11943 total instanced dps for hard khorium choker
 
@Onlydreams I'm not at all disagreeing that the iLvL boost works in Instances. I tested out various gear on my 70 Hunter by going into SWP with him and a 100 Tank (my own DK while dual boxing). The 100 just used Taunt and stood there while my Hunter attacked the Sunblade Protector in the 2nd "room" before the actual Trash begins. After each test duration (until it died), I headed out and reset. I changed to different gear each time to test if this or that DPS'd better in an actual real world situation, vs on paper.

Now, when I say I changed to different gear I mean I changed one single item and redid the test. That way I had a baseline to value any changed DPS against. I cannot say I've done any testing on my 70 (have on several other Twink Levels) since Legion began so if it changed from 7.0 and on then I'll have to do it all again.

As soon as I'm able I'll repeat my testing in SWP to see if anything has changed since whatever Patch I did it back in WoD. Thanks for the detailed reply.
So you're saying that you think a single parse on a 400k health trash mob constitutes a valid dps test?

...

There's so much RNG involved in that Idk how you think that's a good way of doing it.


Eternal Champion comes down to being a static 25 attack power ring btw, which is better than Khorium Band by a little bit.
 
This argument has only really even been valid since the stat crunch in early mop if I remember right. Before this, the difference in gear was substantial enough between the tiers and pvp seasons, that this wouldn't have even been a conversation back then unless it came to maybe a handful of pieces(non of which would be low ilvl blues or greens).legion is the first expansion that really values ilvl over stats in instances pvp and pve, wherein 70s gain no stat benefit in pvp from ilvl, I have also tested ilvl in pve, and where a small amount of ilvls and stats makes a very slight difference and ranges from class to class, a difference between 115 ilvl vs 159 ilvl is a larger damage difference as stated above. Fx also nailed it, there are far too many factors in an actual fight that could sway off dps that the only true way to view the highest potential dps accurately would be a sim, like the ones dreams suggested.
 
But I meant the whole pvp stats relying on ilvl, is just legion. In wod lower ilvl blues were actually better, since they scaled higher, so the higher your ilvl in some slots actually hindered you in pvp. I know it's been in pve a while, but pvp being fully reliant on ilvl is just legion. My argument was mostly that these last few expansions is when questionable open world items have popped up. When armor pen, expertise and hit etc we're in the game, bis wasn't even a question. Since the high ilvl gear always had the most stat. I guess semi unimportant to this argument.
 
On mobile so I can't do fancy linking.

I overviewed the plate section and have to disagree on the boots. Dreadboots from BT are by far better then onslaught imo by a long shot. Better stats and a second gem slot. Those trinks as well, everyone has their own trinket pathway, shouldn't have to go full eng gear. Trinkets were always preference to the players playstyle/build. This is PvE
 

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