General: Want to start raiding and don't know what I'm ready and not ready for...

[remma]

Character Name: remma
Armory Link: The World of Warcraft Armory
Talent Build: 0/21/40 well it will be about 1/2 hour from this post

Quick Info
health 10,700
mana 8700
damage base 914
spell hit 24
spell crit 25.54%

i think I'm solid across the board but really want to start raiding and don't know what im ready and not ready for...i feel as though everything needs upgrading because its possible to upgrade everything i have

currently working on badges in heroics as much as possible and rep for enchants and glyphs/trinkets...i am 375 tailor/366 enchanter ,just finished buying all the mats i need for spellstrike set so i should have that next day or so...i farm a lot for the runic spellthread and imbued bags for my cash flow..not a bad way to make some g,,,

just recently finished my bg tear for the gear i currently have all s2 junk and whatnot...want to do arena just to get the staff but not much else from arena interest me because all s4 to s2 is not that much of an upgrade for all the work...i dunno haven't done arena yet so we'll see..only like +50 spell damage for the w hole s4 over s2 set... i will be learning a lot from this site i can tell already so any help in finding good guild or heroic groups would be great!

[ydnandrew]

As everyone else will tell you please refer to canadianpimp's gear guide on this website. It's very easy to understand and follow. Don't treat the list as a bible, however, since different stats have varying degrees of importance based on the rest of your gear. It does however give you a good idea of what to look for.

You're fine for raiding as long as the rest of the group is solid. My guild drags players with much worse gear than yours through Kara all the time. However if I was in a raid and we needed every spot to count I wouldn't want to bring you along simply because you have almost no spell hit.

You're going for a 0/21/40 destro spec (I assume shadow bolt spam) where about 15% of your spells will be resisted. That's huge. And spell hit is all the more critical with destruction since you're not using any instant casts.

The thing about pvp gear is that it's designed for pvp, where spell hit is not all that important. In raids you need to aim for 202 spell hit. You can get a lot of this through crafted items (Spellstrike hood/pants, belt of blasting), changing out gems, spell hit enchant to gloves, badge items and of course raid drops. If I were you I would focus on rep with Cenarion (ring with spell hit), Sha'Tar (glyph), Aldor/Scryer (inscription). Also get the 3 crafted items I mentioned. And the next badge item to get should be the ring. Not the cheap one. The one with like 28 spell hit.

And sadly you would have been better off with the merc dagger rather than the staff since the dagger has spell hit, and when combined with a decent off-hand would also give you more + spell damage.

There's a nice blue robe "Robe of the Crimson Order" that is BoE with spell hit on it. A lot of guilds have 1 ore more sitting in their guild bank. You can usually find them on the AH too.

The best gloves for you right now would probably be the ones from Attumen (first boss of Kara). They have a ton of spell hit, and most Kara pugs these days can down Attumen with no problems.

Don't socket any of your pve gear for crit either. Crit gems are very far down the list for most locks. Generally for destro go with hit, then damage, then haste, then crit.

Good luck with your pursuit.

[Curseofthe]

Your def plenty geared but your spell hit is the only rthing lacky cus its all pvp gear. As a lock you need to have a pvp and pve set unlike some classes. Don't worry about the gems on your pvp gear just put all stam on them.

Your crit only needs to be 17% basically just work on get 202 spell hit and you'll be fine

[remma]

Thanks for input guys. I did get some of the gear that you mentioned ydnandrew, actually i already had the spell hit trinket from scryers and i added the spellstrike set which gets my spell hit upto 116 and thats without any hit gems in yet so i'm getting close. You mentioned switching out my staff for a dagger/off-hand combo. I did look at that before i got the staff and the spell hit was more on the merciless staff from what i saw, plus a ton of crit, the merc dagger/off-hand had -9 spell hit, +33 damage, -42 crit, stamina and intellect basically the same,so if i got the off-hand from attumen it would be +12 spell hit,-42 crit, +23 spell damage over the merc staff. Is that a huge difference? If i can get the off-hand piece I will probaly work on the merc dagger but until then ill keep the staff. My next mission is to get the spellfire set while i work on my badge gear. This looks to be a huge jump in spell damage and i can use gem slots there for hit too. One question i did have was do i need to have all my spell hit stuff on even for trash in the bigger dungeons or just for the bosses?

Thanks for replies
remma

[Warpy]

I take it that you are a firelock since you are planning on making spellstrike? Have you thought about making Frozen Shadoweave instead and experimenting with affliction or shadow bolt spam? So many options with a warlock!

[ydnandrew]

Warpy I'm assuming you meant Spellfire. I don't recommend most locks going into fire destro unless they're in a raiding guild with several shadow locks already and the boss debuffs are nearing max and ISB uptime is an issue. Then a firelock is fine since it supposedly is better for individual dps these days.

Remma, I just looked back and was very unclear about the dagger vs. staff comment. As far as spell hit and crit are concerned yes, the staff is better than the dagger. However the dagger offers more versaility. Match it up with the off-hand from Netherspite and the dagger is +12 hit, +23 damage -42 crit. That would be nice for a raid boss set for someone struggling to get to 202 hit. Switch that off-hand something with more damage, crit or haste for trash. My general rule has always been that one-hand + off-hand > staff, given equal gear levels. Don't get me wrong. The merc staff is still great. TONS of locks and mages use it for early raiding. You just won't have as much versatility. Not that big of a deal.

As for the question about hit vs. trash no you do not need 202 there. Actually you only need something like 63 spell hit for level 72 trash mobs. Most locks (especially destro) have at least 2 sets of gear (trash/boss). I actually have more than that depending on the group I'm with. Some sets I only switch out 1 or 2 items. Some I switch nearly everything.

[remma]

Yes i have spellstrike and nearing spellfire. I also got the exalted cenarion ring for spellhit so i think i could max spellhit with gems right now. I'll wait though do to i am still not raiding.

As for the fire spec gear its the easiest to get while i work on the badge gear.With a 21/40 spec i spam the fire more often since incinerate is quicker than shadow bolt and more powerful if i get the immolate on first. So am i to understand that the fire is less useful in the raids against bosses? Im just wondering.

Thanks for ideas on the dagger/off-hand combo. I have to find the right off-hand first and will definately be using a trash gear set and boss set.

[Nyanna]

Shadowbolt + improved shadowbolt debuff (ISB) will generally out damage incinerate + immolate ..... this is pretty much the main diff between the shadow and fire specs.

There have been numerous discussions on this on these boards, and both options are viable. So basically play what you prefer

If you want to go into depth then search out the previous discussions, theres a lot of info in them, a lot is dependant on guild make up, group set ups in raids etc tho.

[Malevevely]

Shadow locks offer much more raid utility(and more dps if you lack an imp scorch mage) while fire locks given some haste will offer higher personal dps at a loss of much raid utility(mana regen as well as overall damage).