Chubakass's old spreadsheet used to be my fav back in the heydays of SL 20s, and with the renewed interest in socket gear because we can now stack sl gems for speed & hps, I thought people would appreciate it if someone updated things for current ilvls. Thus:
I think the glaring errors have been caught, but please help catch any remaining mistakes.
I've verified nothing in game, all stats come from wowhead. LMK if anyone ever finds it to be inaccurate.
Topical items:
- finished adding all the WOD items for the slots currently on the lists
- added an offset page for neck back and rings
- do the wotlk quest socket necks go i61?
- it advocates for some gloves and boots because of socket upgrades that are no longer possible. remove em from the list as they're just another i61 at this point?
* for now i've only used strikethrough text on them, but do y'all agree, they're not special anymore compared to any other goves/boots not on the list?
- weaps and trinks I'd far rather not have to do. lil help?
- There's lots I know this is missing, some editorial discussion about what should make the cut might be helpful. I figure only socketable or interesting stuff.
- What else besides oldworld epics and wod epics should i be on the lookout for within the main armor sheet categories?
Kinda dumb considering I don't plan to play much but eh~
4/6/24
finished adding all the WOD items for the slots currently on the lists
added an offset page for neck back and rings
fixed a couple transposed values when int/agi int/str share a column
4/5/24
setting the following to i61 based on what the ingame dung guide is telling me (no bc/wotlk epics remain huh?):
Gloves of Glistening Runes, Pontifex Kilt, Kirin Tor Master's Trousers, Sharp-Barbed Leather Belt, Forestwalker Kilt, Wyrmscale Greaves, Stormsong Kilt, Flame-Bathed Steel Girdle, Greaves of the Martyr, Vanquisher's Legplates, Staggering Legplates, Bolstered Legplates
adding oldworld epic armor per dobyg's list:
Circle of Flame, Embrace of the Wind Serpent, Savage Gladiator Chain
putting strikeout text through rand socket upgrade indicators for gloves & feet until deciding whether to keep those bfa items in the list at all.
I think that removes the glaring errors and this list is at least mostly accurate at this point.
Added the WOD helm 87s, will work my way through the rest eventually
Added WOD shoulders chest and bracers.
4/4/24
1st beta posted with cloth leather mail plate armor from the original sheet updated to current ilvls and reformatted some
blindly all purps set to i87, else i61.
Rare-quality dungeon gear is scaling to ilvl 61 for level 20 characters. The main stats (in white) are always the same while the secondary stats (in green) differ. Some of the drops (BC and WoTLK) do have sockets which makes them better than the rest of the available rare-quality items. The maximal number of sockets is 3 (chest, legs, head, 2h), 2 (shoulders, gloves, boots, waist, 1h) and 1 (bracers, offhand).
Just to get an idea, here are some examples of the different BiS druidrare-quality (ilvl 61) sets with sockets, from TBC / WoTLK:
Now, since the DF pre-patch, there are 3 new ways an item that drops in a dungeon can upgrade itself:
Warforge- this is the most valuable upgrade available. Items that drop from bosses in WOD dungeonsONLY have an 8 to 10 % chance (1 in 10-13 items) to randomly upgrade, increasing their quality to epic and their ilvl to 87. This noticeably increases all the stats to a point where in 99% of the cases (excluding some meme builds), those items will be Best In Slot, because the stat increase will overcompensate for the stat loss from missing the BC / WoTLK sockets (which were previously BiS). The difference is not gigantic though, so if you have a decked-out socket set, you can use it without noticing a huge disadvantage. This guide contains a whole section on WOD farming, but be patient and continue reading the basics first.
Tertiary Stat - dungeon drops from all expansions can now proc one of the 4 additional stats with a total chance of again, around 8-10 % (2-3 % per stat if equal spread, unconfirmed)
- Speed - Movement speed can make or break a PVP situation, so it can be really valuable.
- Leech - Situational, but the scaling at the moment makes it more of a meme thing for 20s.
- Avoidance - almost useless
- Indestructible - useless
Socket - dungeon drops from all expansions but only for 5 specific slots (head, bracers, waist, neck, rings) have a 4-5 % chance of procing an additional socket slot. This means that for example, TBC/WoTLK dungeon waist can now have 3, instead of 2 sockets, and theoretically, a TBC/WoTLK dungeon head can have 4 sockets (the 4th one not being usable, unconfirmed).
There is a really, REALLY small chance (~ 0.015 %, 1 in 6666 items) for an item from a WOD Boss to drop WF (ilvl 87) item with SpeedAND Socket, which would be the objective BiS. Some people are aiming for that, but realistically you don't need to. Getting a WF (ilvl 87) item for each slot and WF (ilvl 87) +Socket items for the 6 available slots (5 unique, 2x rings), will take you between 1 and 3 weeks and will get you 99% as geared as someone that will spend literally years farming the +Speed drops. (I am not exaggerating, in 13k drops over the span of 3 months, I did get 3 WF (ilvl 87) items with Tertiary AND Socket and none of them was +Speed.
And why do you want WF (ilvl 87) +Socket you ask? Well, in a strange twist of faith, 87 is the minimum required ilvl for SL gems to be equipped. And why is that important - because of the Straddling Jewel Doublet and more importantly - Revitalizing Jewel Doublet. Having those equipped will bring a noticeable increase in survivability. They do scale to 6 speed and 100 heal per 10 sec for every other ilvl 87 Shadowlands socket and we have 6 slots available (5 unique, 2x rings). * At the moment, the Revitalizing Jewel Doublet recipe is rep locked (Court of Harvesters - Honored, we can only get a total of 4375 rep (4812 with the DMF rep buff) and also gold locked (vendor price of 1080 gold for the recipe), so it is unavailable for F2Ps as of now (Vets can buy the gems super cheap on the AH).
With all that being said, here is another example, comparing the BiS druid epic-quality (ilvl 87)sets from WOD and rare-quality (ilvl 61) sets from TBC / WoTLK:
Quest rewards scaling is all over the place. You can get rare-quality items with ilvl 47 to ilvl 61 and epic-quality items with ilvl 57 to ilvl 87, depending on the expansion. There is a small chance (< 20 %) for a reward to upgrade in quality but in all cases, even an epic upgrade would have weaker or equal (best-case scenario) stats to the WOD epic drops, which are far quicker and more reliable to farm. Dungeon quests are your best option here, as they do scale like dungeon drops - rare-quality (ilvl 61) with a chance for epic-quality (ilvl 87) upgrade. More details can be found in this great thread on Quest Reward Upgrades by @Dragpz. If for whatever reason you decide to go the quest route, first get the increased upgrades chance bonuses from the WoD Garrisons and the Legion Class Halls.
There is a small exception to the "Nowadays, quests farming is useless" statement though. A list of 4 specific quests, that if you manage to get an upgraded reward from, will be the most powerful item in your set.
What is unique about those quests is that they are the only 4 quests in the game, available to level 20, in a dungeon and have sockets by default. If they upgrade to epic on your character, you will get 5 to 7 (depending on the class) additional ilvl 87 sockets, that are otherwise available only on a rare-quality (ilvl 61) alternative with lower stats.
More importantly, those items are mostly for slots that you can not get ilvl 87 items with sockets for (remember, only head, bracers, waist, neck, and rings at the moment), so if they upgrade to epic on your character, you will get 5 to 7 (depending on the class) additional ilvl 87 sockets, that are otherwise completely unavailable to players. This means 30 to 42 additional speed and 500 to 700 additional heal every 10 sec. It is honestly the biggest RNG-related statistical difference we have ever seen in the bracket and definitely worth rerolling for, especially on a vet with current access to the Revitalizing Jewel Doublet.
4.3. Classic Dungeons Epic Drops
There is a small group of items in some classic dungeons, that are epic quality by default and scale to ilvl 87, just like the WOD boss drops (currently BiS). Those classic drops are very limited but relatively easy to farm, so if your class can use any of them, they are a great starting point and in some cases can even be considered BiS over WOD boss drops.
4.4. Rare Mobs, Chests, Professions, Vendor and PVP Creates
* Those were not scaled properly when the DF ilvl increase was introduced and are not worth it at the moment, so I won't go into details for now. I will rewrite this if something changes.
4.5. Trinkets
Trinkets, because of their strong effects, were always the most influential items on a low-level character. This is the only slot about which you can actually argue that a rare-quality (ilvl 61) dungeon drop can be better and more useful than an epic-quality (ilvl 87). Don't get me wrong - WOD bosses provide a bunch of strong trinkets like Enforcer's Stun Grenade, Kihra's Adrenaline Injector and Bonemaw's Big Toe but their effects are rather limited. Here is a list of some good alternatives:
Inherited Insignia of the Alliance - no introduction needed. Shivermaw's Jawbone - a solid stamina buff and on-use mobility advantage, which is crucial in PVP. Essence of Gossamer - another survivability booster in case you need it. Argussian Compass - a strong PVE survivability option (PVP scaling is bad though). Azerokk's Resonating Heart - the best "equip-it-and-forget-it" type agility trinket at the moment. Harlan's Loaded Dice - another good option in that category. Forge Ember - similar idea but for int users. Armored Elekk Tusk - on-use mastery proc, can update to epic-quality (ilvl 57), one-time loot only! Balefire Branch - huge on-use int proc. Hunger of the Pack - was BiS for farming until 2 SL trinkets were discovered, will be BiS again once they are *handled*. *I am not familiar with strength-based classes so no recommendations on that but you got the idea.
4.6. Enchants
Let's start with an important consideration - enchants tooltips (both in the profession screen and on the enchanting scrolls) are not scaled correctly. You can check the correct value by applying the enchant on an item (or trying to apply it on an already enchanted item). A summary of every BiS enchant for Stamina, every primary stat and every secondary stat can be found in the table below. I have listed the correct stats bonus scaling for (lvl 20 / lvl 29) so that you can make decisions depending on if you are gearing for PVE or instanced PVP.
In many cases, there are multiple enchants that provide the same stats bonuses. If so, I have chosen the easiest-to-obtain version for F2P characters (usually Vanilla / WoTLK / MoP / WoD, as they are WAY easier to level). I am also maintaining an Updated Spreadsheet Version of the Enchant and Gems Scaling thread by @Swoops. In it, Vets can find the correct stat for each enchant (both lvl 20 and scaled to lvl 29) and look for equal but cheaper alternatives on the AH.
With the current scaling, you should consider Inscription BiS stats-wise if you are gearing for instanced PVP (also WAY easier to get), even though it's really close (3 critical from Inscription vs 1 primary from Alchemy). If you do not care about Battlegrounds or the potions sway you in Alchemy's direction - stick with it.
(!) You may see players with high ilvl items enchanted with low ilvl enchants. Those items are GFd and were enchanted before Dragonflight's ilvl increased. There is no way to enchant items with ilvl over 50/60 with anything but BFA enchants at the moment (!)
As I already mentioned, enchants are broken and most of them require ilvl 50 or less at the moment. We expect them to be fixed (Patch 10.1 roadmap mentions "Professions Updates") but until then we can only use BFA enchanting (so only rings and weapons) because it has ilvl 140 or below as a requirement.
4.7. Gems
BiS gems are pretty straightforward nowadays - Straddling Jewel Doublet + Revitalizing Jewel Doublet (if vet) and filler Versatile Jewel Cluster / Masterful Jewel Cluster / Quick Jewel Cluster / Deadly Jewel Cluster gems in all other sockets to increase the doublet gems effect. If the item has multiple sockets, you need different types of gems (I.e. vers + mast + crit) in each socket to get them all to count. If you farm Speed on all your epic-quality (ilvl 87) gear pieces from WOD (including the 6 Speed + Socket) you will be sitting at ~156 Speed (+ up to 30 more from quest upgrades), which is plenty. But if you don't have a single Speed piece in your set, you will need a total of 18 sockets to reach the speed cap (49 %) of 111 Speed@ lvl 20 and a total of 27 sockets, to reach the instanced PVP speed cap (scaled to lvl 29) of 162 Speed.
So the alternative to mindless WOD farming would be to switch to a few rare-quality (ilvl 61) items with sockets - you will lose some primary stats, but you will gain the so-important speed. If that's the case, keep in mind that you will lose less total stats if you prioritise changing the slots that provide the most additional sockets, so you should start with Chest and Legs (3), go through Boots, Gloves, Shoulders (2) and ideally stick to epic-quality (ilvl 87) for Head, Belt, Bracers, Neck and Rings. Pick and choose depending on the secondary stats availability in TBC / WoTLK dungeons.
If for whatever reason you choose to use more rare-quality (ilvl 61) gear after you hit the speed cap and have additional sockets to fill, the best options for F2Ps are the WoTLK epic gems. Single-stat WoTLK gems scale to 2 at level 20 (3 @ Lvl 29 and in BG), so use double-stat gems that scale to 2/2 (they stay 2/2 @ Lvl 29 and in BG) instead. Here is a nice video by @Chops explaining the long process of acquiring them. Keep in mind that just like enchants, gem tooltips are usually wrong and you can check the correct value only when you put it in the socket (no need to "save" and waste a gem).
*TBC single stat gems scale to 3 at level 20 (they stay 3 at level 29 and in BG) Unavailable for F2Ps.
*Cata single stat epic gems scale to 3 at level 20 (they stay 3 at level 29 and in BG) Unavailable for F2Ps.
*Cata double stat gems scale to 2/2 (they stay 2/2 at level 29 and in BG) and are the only source of main stat + mastery. Unavailable for F2Ps.
Definitely appreciate the hard work on this thread! I'm using this to get back to gearing my 20's that have been collecting dust since the start of DF. I'll start messing around with some different gear and let you know if I find any of it worth mentioning
What do you mean? like the dungeon quest rewards? at lvl 20 they are all ilvl 61 with a potential to upgrade epic. I am unsure if they can proc a socket.
What do you mean? like the dungeon quest rewards? at lvl 20 they are all ilvl 61 with a potential to upgrade epic. I am unsure if they can proc a socket.
I mean the 3 possible socket necks from the questchain with the gul durn bugged part where an invisible pet of yours keeps killing the npc u need if u get too close. They have a note "mutually exclusive quest reward" on my sheet. I haven't verified wotlk quest rewards go 61 right now. I used em because they also have mainstat on them, vs the mainstatless boes that were the fashion at the time.
In general I know there are world drop epics that have factored into twinking before, and I know we have verified info on what oldworld dungeon ones are doing, but i haven't found someone's literature yet, nor am I the one to do the research to find out, what different xpac epics are doing, nor if ALL quests are rewarding us i61 now, nor what the rhyme or reason to any exceptions might be. Still, candidates to consider that I can think of include legion epics (whether dropped for us at level, or a theoretical higher lvl getting a right ilvl drop equippable to us), profession-made gear, random lootboxes like broken isles n argus, etc.
Generally legion and before quest blues are ilvl 47 and ilvl 57 epic (with exception of legion main campaign?)
Rare drops are ilvl 52 and epic are ilvl 65 (just like shadowlands quest)
And tier 3 epic still not usable at the level you drop it.
Thanks, good stuff!
Yeh, that's why I ask, I think I remember trying to grab one post-golden-era-20s and it was lower ilvl than other things.
That choker of betrayal is a recent acquisition, and we're sure that it's dropping at i47 right now, and not just that old drops are getting scaled to that--I should update the chart and links to i47? In that case, i think it's too low for anyone to care and I should take it off the list dont'cha'll think? Probably sooner rather than later to avoid sending someone on a goose chase for something that doesn't turn out to be i61.
Well... then again, maybe I should leave them on until we find a easier option for someone for whom having a socket neck of any kind is top priority.
I'vn't gotten feedback on removing the bfa boots n shit from the old sheet that was only on there because it could socket at the time. I think I'm leaning towards taking them off the list too, rather than just putting strikeout text on the socket.
OOH freezing band looks like it should make the cut, SOMEONE would want to know about that when planning gear. ...Isn't that a classic world drop? I thought I reviewed those already, maybe the list I was using was inadequate.... AH no, that was just DUNGEON epics, aha. So I think I can review all the classic world drop epics and list them as i65?
As for that last trinket... I have NO idea what to do about that. OR weaps tbh. I will NOT have the bandwidth to curate those lists and take on questions like "should every potentially upgradeable trinket make this list?". The other slots I think are a reasonable volunteer project for me, but that shit's more work than I have the time to spare.
