You’ll undoubtedly see lots of Best-in-Slot lists around and listings of which boss drops what but I find mapping the drops into a table as below works best for me.
I’ve only included raid ilv gear (ilv 378) with the exception of Ragnaros loot, which is a tad higher (384). These are “normal” difficulty drops, the “heroic” all drops from the same place, so you can still use the table above.
Bosses
Lord Rhyolith looks to be a Hunter loot pinata in the Firelands. I’ve not had a proper try at him yet (will do on thurs) but as he can drop 3 hunter items, the chances are good.
The best 2 bosses are Majordomo Staghelm and Ragnaros. Each can drop 4 hunter items and Majordomo drops the tier shoulders and Ragnaros the tier Helm – similar to Cho’gal and Nefarian, these are the only places you can get these and will need at least one if you want that 4 set bonus
Lets not forget the trash either – probably the easiest way to get a ranged weapon, 2H Polearm and Wrists (which are all BoE) – if you’re lucky/rich enough.
Ranged Weapon.
The Best in Slot here will be Arathar, the eye of flame, which drops from Ragnaros. With a higher iLv than the other drops, it’s a clear winner but it probably the most difficult to get. It is also superior to the lower-level Conquest Point ranged weapon you can get, so if you can manage Ragnaros, there’s no point in farming for conquest just for a weapon to use in PvE.
Lord Rhyolith’s Crossbow offers Crit/Mastery while the trash drop crossbow offers Crit/Haste, which puts it in 2nd place (depending on your haste levels)
It’s questionable whether it’s worth buying the BoE crossbow from the auction house as it’s not best-in-slot but it is 2nd best and if you’re unlikely to kill Ragnaros it might not be a bad investment.
2H weapon
It’s a fact that 2H weapons are better for hunters than 2x 1H and similarly to the ranged weapon situation, the trash drop 2H polearm is Crit/Haste while the Majordomo Staff is Crit/Mastery.
This means if you can get/afford the BoE staff from the AH, it is worth buying as it’s best-in-slot.
Helm
The Tier helm is superior to the one Shannox drop but as Shannox is the first boss, it’s not a bad stop gap at all. As the tier helm drops from Ragnaros, it might be some time until you can get it anyway (I still don’t have the one from Nefarian).
Neck
The best neck is the higher iLv one which drops from Ragnaros but it offers haste/mastery – no crit, so you’ll be wanting to reforge this one. The alternative is fairly easy to get hold of, at a cost of 1,250 Valour points, so I expect to see a lot of us walking around with these for the next few months!
Shoulders
This is an one of the 2 slots I have which is less than 359 (it’s a ZA/ZG 353) so an upgrade here would be lovely! Unfortunately it is also one of the hardest slots to get this tier. The problem is that there is only 1 set of shoulders that drop and they are the tier ones from Majordomo. This doesn’t give us much choice over shoulders, so I would expect us to be in our 353/359s for some time yet!
Chest
We’ll want to be getting that 4 set bonus and given how relatively hard it is to get the chest/helm, we should be buying the tier chest/legs/hands (or by getting lucky in Baradin Hold). The Chest doesn’t drop in Baradin hold so I would recommend buying this with 2200 valour points first.
The alternative is from Lord Rhyolith, which offers hit/crit, so isn’t a terrible option if you’re short on Valour or prefer to upgrade another slot with valour instead.
Wrists
Not very exciting here, it’s either a BoE Trash drop or a 1250 BoE Valour point purchase. The Trash Drop is Hit/Haste while the VP item is Crit/Mastery, so I guess it partly depends on if you need the hit.
Both are BoE so could appear on the AH to buy with gold, or if you’re cunning you could farm the VP on an alt and give it to your hunter 😉 There wasn’t many wrist options in the 4.0 raids, so all options will be a nice upgrade if you have a 353 item like me!
Hands
As with the chest I would recommend the tier hands. These are available with a Valour Point Purchase (1650 VPs) but the 2 alternatives that could be worth considering while you’re gearing up are the LW Crafted ones (Crit/Mastery) or the gloves from Majordomo (Haste/Mastery). Don’t spend too much on the crafted ones as the VP item is superior!
Rings
Not too many options here, 2 slots, 3 rings.The best available is the one from Avengers of Hyjal Rep. You’ll need to be exhalted but it will offer you an iLv 391 ring!
The other two are either a 1250 VP purchase (Crit/Mastery) or a drop from Beth’tilac.(Haste/Mastery). The better of the two, after reforging some mastery, will depend on your haste levels. I’m edging for the VP ring.
Legs
You’ll want the tier item here (2200 VPs or BH drop), the alternative being a drop from Alysrazor.
Belt
Only 1 option here and it costs gold, so it’s an easy one! You’ll just need to be honoured with the Avengers of Hyjal to buy this Haste/Mastery belt.
Feet
2 options here, the BoE LW feet (Crit/Mastery) or a drop from Baleroc (Hit/Crit). Depending on if you need the hit, one will be better than the other, so out of the 2 LW purchases available to us, I would say this is a better purchase.
Cloak
First of all you should get the free iLv 365 cloak from completing the Thrall Q line (which you probably have already done). Beyond that there is a drop from Lord Rhyolith (Hit/mastery) or a Rep purchase (hit/crit) once friendly with the Avengers of Hyjal. At first glance the rep reward sounds better but the Boss drop has 2 red sockets (compared to 0 on the rep reward) and an +20 Agi socket bonus, so I would imagine this would be superior for most of us with 2 fat red gems in it.
Still, the alternative is just a gold purchase so a good stop gap 🙂
Trinkets
There is a very good post on the WHU about trinkets, so I would direct you there.
Essentially there are 4 (i’m including a new iLv365 here), 2 from vendors, 2 from bosses to pick between. It sounds like the best option will be to get the easier vendor items first: Rickets Magnetic Fireball & Ancient Petrified Seed until you get lucky enough to get a Majordomo or Ragnaros drop!
Final Tips!
- As with everything, any drop you get, make sure you run it through www.femaledwarf.com and apply some common sense before blindly equipping it. Some items I might have mentioned as superior for me may not be for you, given any difference in spec or gear.
- For Valour Points I would recommend buying the tier gear first – starting with the chest just in case you get lucky in Baradin Hold (I’ve got nothing from there yet QQ).
- In terms of BoE purchases, I would consider buying the Crossbow (would rather farm conquest points for 5 weeks), I would recommend buying the Polearm, pass on the wrists (especially if you have an alt), pass on the LW hands and buy the LW feet. If you’re filthy rich you could just buy it all and give yourself a nice head start!
The Master's Call 