A Towering Tier of Terror
Actually, things aren’t quite that bad; I just liked the way that title sounded. ^_^
So what I’d like to do today is take a look at the Paladin 10 man Tier 7 pieces, specifically the Ret set, and then grade the itemization decisions that Blizzard made in apportioning the stats.
The 10-man Paladin set is called the Heroes’ Redemption, and the Retribution set is called the Battlegear. Here are the 5 pieces below. I’ve taken the relevant stats and put them beneath each piece. And by relevant, I mean DPS stats; things like stamina and armor don’t matter at all.
I’ve also gone ahead and gemmed your gear for you, using Bold Scarlet Rubies for red sockets and when the socket bonus isn’t good, and Inscribed Monarch Topazes and Sovereign Twilight Opals for Yellows and Blues, respectively.
Heroes’ Redemption Battlegear
Helm
Gemmed with a Chaotic Skyflare Diamond for the Meta, the helm gives:
90 Strength (207 AP)
29 Hit
29 Crit
81 Haste
Chest
105 Strength (242 AP)
74 Crit
45 Haste
Shoulders
82 Strength (189 AP)
Hit 39
Crit 50
Hands
73 Strength (168 AP)
46 Crit
33 Haste
Legs
113 Strength (260 AP)
52 Crit
73 Haste
In looking at all of these pieces, two things stand out at me. One is the large amount of haste, which is a pretty mediocre stat for Ret Pallies. Haste only affects White damage, which only makes up about 20% of our total damage, as you can see in the screenshot below. Strength and AP, on the other hand, affect 100% of our damage.
The other thing that stands out to me is the complete lack of Expertise on the Tier 7 set. Until it’s capped, Expertise is a great stat for Ret Pallies and I’m surprised that there is absolutely none on the entire set.
Grade
So how did Blizzard do? I think I’d give them a B-. There’s lots of Strength, Hit and Crit, which are all nice, but the large amount of Haste and the lack of Expertise keep it from going higher. But to really see how good the Tier set is, let’s take a look at some other possible Ret Pally gear that is obtainable at the same level as the Tier Set.
Tier Alternatives
Here are the relevant stats with each item, and I’ve again gone ahead and gemmed everything.
BoE Blacksmithing Craftable - Spiked Titansteel Helm
113 Strength (260 AP)
60 Hit
~ 80 Crit
The Tier helm is the clear loser here. The STH has a ton more Strength, Hit and Crit at the cost of some Stamina (which we don’t care about) and some Haste (pretty much the same).
Heroic Drak’Tharon Keep - Breastplate of Undeath
80 Strength (184 AP)
45 Hit
~ 105 Crit
The Tier chest has a good bit more AP on it, slightly less Crit, and trades the Hit for Haste rating. If you’re already Hit-capped, then the Tier chest would be a minor upgrade.
Heigan the Unclean - Shoulderplates of Bloodshed
75 Strength (173 AP)
30 Hit
65 Crit
The Tier shoulders have slightly more AP and Hit and slightly less Crit, and are probably a minor upgrade. Considering that they both drop in Naxx, it’s not surprising that they have similar stats.
Quest reward from normal CoS - Handwraps of Preserved History
100 AP
60 Crit
40 Expertise
Sure, they’re leather. Who cares? The Tier hands have a good bit more AP, but less Crit. The Expertise on the HoPH is far superior to the Haste on the Tier hands, assuming that you’re not Expertise-capped yet. I think that the Tier hands are an upgrade, simply because of the AP increase, but it’s a very close call.
Heroic Utgarde Keep - Staggering Legplates
115 Strength (265 AP)
80 Hit
This choice comes down to whether you are Hit-capped or not. If you are, then the Tier legs are better. If not, then the StLegs are better.
Let’s Look At That Grade Again
So how does the Tier set look now? Not so great. There are no pieces of it that are definitely-gotta-have upgrades. Most of them are minor upgrades, at best. Color me a bit disappointed. I would have thought that the Tier set, which is supposed to be a pinnacle of sorts, would be the best gear available at that Tier of raiding.
It would be easy to fix this set to be the absolute best gear available. Take off the Haste, and spend those itemization points on Strength, Hit, Crit and Expertise instead. In fact, to make it even easier, Blizz could forget all about Expertise, spend all of the points on Strength, Hit and Crit, and let us pick up Expertise on other non-Tier pieces of gear. I wonder what their thinking was here?
I’m very curious to see how other classes and spec are treated by their Tier 7 sets. Are there any sets that are so good that you absolutely must have all 5 pieces? Are there more inexplicable stat choices?
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I noticed you looked at this from strictly an itemization point of view, but you left out an important component - set bonuses. What do you think about the set bonuses? Do they push things strongly in favour of Tier Gear, or are they irrelevant?
In my case, the 4-set bonus is so incredible I would wear tier gear (4 pieces anyway) over higher/better itemized gear.
That’s a good point, Jiri. I thought about the set bonuses but ran out of room/time to mention them in this article. For Ret Pallies, they are solidly OK. Not bad, not great. I’ll probably do another post and explore them in greater detail.