Welcome to Skill Capped’s Guide on How to Gear Your Character for Cataclysm PvP
This guide will direct you through all the steps necessary to gear your characters when reaching maximum level for Cataclysm Season 9 in the most efficient way possible. Throughout this article, we will provide sections of gear that you can purchase directly after reaching 85, which will provide a consistent balance of stats in order for you to directly enter PvP combat without a complete disadvantage. Then, we will advance into providing Pre-BiS, primarily with honor, and BiS gear from conquest and raid.
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Starter Gear
Congratulations! You reached level 85. Now what should you do? First, it’s important to consider Heroic Dungeons and Battleground farming, but you may need some starter gear first before entering this form of PvP combat. This will allow you to not have a complete disadvantage when applying yourself in those fields of interest.
In order to get this starter gear, you will need to go to the Auction House to grab yourself some gear. Make sure to search these up based on your specific gear type listed below.
Cloth
Fireweave:
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- Helm: Fireweave Cowl
- Shoulders: Fireweave Shoulders
- Robe: Fireweave Robe
- Gloves: Fireweave Gloves
- Belt: Fireweave Belt
- Bracers: Fireweave Bracers
- Legs: Fireweave Pants
- Boots: Fireweave Boots
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Emberfire:
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- Helm: Emberfire Cowl
- Shoulders: Emberfire Shoulders
- Robe: Emberfire Robe
- Gloves: Emberfire Gloves
- Belt: Emberfire Belt
- Bracers: Emberfire Bracers
- Legs: Emberfire Pants
- Boots: Emberfire Boots
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Leather
Bloodied Leather:
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- Helm: Bloodied Leather Helm
- Shoulders: Bloodied Leather Shoulders
- Chest: Bloodied Leather Chest
- Gloves: Bloodied Leather Gloves
- Belt: Bloodied Leather Belt
- Bracers: Bloodied Leather Bracers
- Legs: Bloodied Leather Legs
- Boots: Bloodied Leather Boots
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Bloodied Wyrmhide:
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- Helm: Bloodied Wyrmhide Helm
- Shoulders: Bloodied Wyrmhide Shoulders
- Chest: Bloodied Wyrmhide Chest
- Gloves: Bloodied Wyrmhide Gloves
- Belt: Bloodied Wyrmhide Belt
- Bracers: Bloodied Wyrmhide Bracers
- Legs: Bloodied Wyrmhide Legs
- Boots: Bloodied Wyrmhide Boots
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Plate
Ornate Pyrium:
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- Helm: Ornate Pyrium Helm
- Shoulders: Ornate Pyrium Shoulders
- Chest: Ornate Pyrium Breastplate
- Gloves: Ornate Pyrium Gauntlets
- Belt: Ornate Pyrium Belt
- Bracers: Ornate Pyrium Bracers
- Legs: Ornate Pyrium Legguards
- Boots: Ornate Pyrium Boots
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Bloodied Pyrium:
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- Helm: Bloodied Pyrium Helm
- Shoulders: Bloodied Pyrium Shoulders
- Chest: Bloodied Pyrium Breastplate
- Gloves: Bloodied Pyrium Gauntlets
- Belt: Bloodied Pyrium Belt
- Bracers: Bloodied Pyrium Bracers
- Legs: Bloodied Pyrium Legguards
- Boots: Bloodied Pyrium Boots
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Mail
Bloodied Scale:
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- Helm: Bloodied Scale Helm
- Shoulders: Bloodied Scale Shoulders
- Chest: Bloodied Scale Chest
- Gloves: Bloodied Scale Gloves
- Belt: Bloodied Scale Belt
- Bracers: Bloodied Scale Bracers
- Legs: Bloodied Scale Legs
- Boots: Bloodied Scale Boots
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Bloodied Dragonscale:
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- Helm: Bloodied Dragonscale Helm
- Shoulders: Bloodied Dragonscale Shoulders
- Chest: Bloodied Dragonscale Chest
- Gloves: Bloodied Dragonscale Gloves
- Belt: Bloodied Dragonscale Belt
- Bracers: Bloodied Dragonscale Bracers
- Legs: Bloodied Dragonscale Legs
- Boots: Bloodied Dragonscale Boots
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Next, we will provide available BoE trinkets that you can purchase on the Auction House. These will be your Darkmoon Cards.
Trinkets for Casters:
Trinkets for Melees:
- Darkmoon Card: Hurricane (Agility)
- Darkmoon Card: Hurricane (Strength)
Additional gear that you can pick up before entering PvP combat can be crafted from professions, especially from Engineering if your specialization benefits from this profession. Engineering will provide you some pre-bis pieces with Epic goggles for your helmet slot, as well as the Synapse Springs enchant to apply to your gloves for some additional primary stat increase.
If you want to be extra sweaty, you can farm out multiple epic items that are available through Archaeology. Keep in mind that these items available have an element of RNG tied to them, and that you will replace these items with your conquest gear, making it not as required and necessary to complete for PvP.
Archaeology Items:
- Zin’rokh, Destroyer of Worlds
- Staff of Sorcerer-Thane Thaurissan
- Staff of Ammunae
- Ring of the Boy Emperor
- Scimitar of the Sirocco
Pre-BiS Gear
After getting as much starter gear as you can for your character, you might be wondering what the best items are for your specialization without Conquest or Raid gear. A majority of these pieces will be Bloodthirsty Gear, which is purchasable with honor, but there are no Bloodthirsty weapons. This is where you will have to farm Heroic Dungeons or search through the Auction House to find the best suitable weapon for your specialization. For more information about Pre-BiS gearing for your selected specialization, click here to direct you to Skill Capped’s Cataclysm Classic guide.
In order to stay ahead of the curve in PvP, you will have the ability to queue into Tol’Barad every two and a half hours, granting you a large sum of honor that you can use to purchase Bloodthirsty Gladiator’s gear. Once the season starts, you will be granted access to the Baradin Hold raid, which will give you a chance to receive Vicious Gladiator’s offpieces as well as Vicious Gladiator’s Leg and Glove pieces on rare occasions. This raid is pretty easy to complete, which makes gearing a bit easier without having to do Rated PvP content.
Tol’Barad has a unique currency, Tol Barad Commendations, which can assist with purchasing Weapons, Epic Trinkets, and some Mounts if interested. You can also use these badges for your Helmet and Shoulder enchants later on in the expansion.
Another method of obtaining honor would be by queueing for Wintersgrasp every 3 hours. This will provide you another way of retrieving a large amount of honor that can be used to purchase your Bloodthirsty Gladiator’s gear.
Next, it’s important to consider your Heroic Dungeons, as these will provide you very specific off-pieces and Weapons. Listed below are trinkets that are extremely valuable when used in PvP combat, and may be linked towards your BiS items depending on your specialization:
- Key to the Endless Chamber from Heroic Stonecore.
- Heart of Solace from Heroic Lost City of the Tol’vir.
Heroic Dungeons also provide Valor, which can be redeemed in the same location as Justice, in Stormwind and Orgrimmar. You can obtain only 1000 Valor per week, making you have to wait until the second week to purchase most pieces. Some of these pieces may add value to your character in terms of stat increase, but most of your gear will be from the Bloodthirsty Gladiator set, Heroic Dungeons, and Professions.
BiS Gear
Finally, after obtaining all Pre-BiS gear for your specialization, your final step will be to get your Conquest pieces with the addition of some raiding for min-maxing. Cataclysm Classic’s Conquest system works almost identical to retail, which involves filling up a Conquest bar when playing in Rated PvP content. You will be able to fill up your Conquest bar doing 2v2, 3v3, 5v5, or even RBGs, allowing you to choose what PvP content suits you the best in order to complete your weekly Conquest cap.
You can spend Conquest on Vicious Gladiator’s Gear to fill up every slot available for your character. It’s important to note that the Vicious Gladiator’s Weapons will be time-gated, and requires you to earn a little over 7000 Conquest before unlocking them. Elite items have a higher item level, but require 2200 rating in order to purchase them. This can be earned in any Rated PvP bracket. For more information about BiS gearing for your selected specialization, click here to direct you to Skill Capped’s Cataclysm Classic guide.
One change that has been added to Cataclysm Classic is the Conquest system, as this will work as a catchup mechanic if you have not completed your weekly Conquest cap.
If you want to guarantee the best possible gear for your specialization, it’s important to progress through some Raids released in Cataclysm Season 9. The item level from the Heroic Raiding gear typically is 372, which is a bit higher than our Conquest gear. Receiving pieces such as Heart of Rage, which gives Expertise Rating and the strongest Strength proc, as well as Shard of Woe for some casters, will put you in a competitive advantage in PvP against players who may not have gotten their hands on them. If you plan to complete high-end raiding for Cataclysm Season 9, Heroic Sinestra from Bastion of Twilight drops 379 item level gear, which can be your true best in slot depending on your specialization.
Overall, these will be the best options available in order to progress as a fresh level 85 in Cataclysm Season 9. If you want to learn more about Skill Capped’s Cataclysm Classic guides, click here.