How to properly gear an Affliction Warlock for End-game raiding. v0.7

[herothirtythree]

This is a first draft of a guide im creating to help warlocks who are trying to decide which gear choices will help them achieve the overall stats they need for Kara/Gruul raiding.  This is a first draft and is only being posted to the guild at this time (which is why it is in Guild Member Discussion instead of Warlock forum)  Hopefully after further input and re-organization this guide will be ready to be released to the general public. Another section detailing how to accomplish acquisition of the gear is in the making (what level enchanter is needed for certain enchants, which bosses drop which pieces of loot, what rep is required from which factions, etc etc etc)

The rules are simple.

Every piece of gear must come from pre KARA dungeons.
Specifically, none of this gear is quested. The majority of it is crafted or looted from outland dungeons.  The rest are easily obtained rep rewards. +40 spelldamage was choosen over soulfrost because, while this IS theorycraft, it's theorycraft that's meant to be used. Minimal gear requires heroic access (these can be substituded, but if one spends the time to get these pieces of gear, one wouldn't need to upgrade them till well after Kara) None of this gear  requires participation in special one-time-only events.


The wearer is an intellegent warlock with a desire to raid.
Specifically,the wearer will be affliction specced.  after this gear is fully attained, it is viable to go shadow destruction, dependent on the needs of your guild. This gear assumes the wearer does not want to waste 5 valuable talent points on +hit talents that only effect a portion of their spells, therefore the hitcap is met with gear alone, not subject to talents or socketing.


The wearer is a Tailor.
Specifically, the wearer is either Tailor/Jewelcrafter or Tailor/Enchanter as these are the most common proffesions for endgame warlocks who raid.




The totals;
Assuming JC; Emphasis on +SpDAM
337sta, 211int, 201spell hit, 841spell damage, 121spell crit
MOST EFFICIENT

Assuming JC; Emphasis on +SpCRT
337sta, 211int, 201spell hit, 760spell damage, 193spell crit
WORKING TOWARDS DESTRO

Assuming JC; Emphasis on BONUS Sockets; Second Emphasis on +SpDAM
367sta, 211int, 207spell hit, 795spell damage, 137spell crit
FOR COMPARISON

Assuming JC; Emphasis on BONUS Sockets; Second Emphasis on +SpCRT
349sta, 211int, 207spell hit, 760spell damage, 165spell crit
FOR COMPARISON

Assuming ENCH; Emphasis on +SpDAM
319sta, 211int, 201spell hit, 866spell damage, 121spell crit
MOST EFFICIENT

Assuming ENCH; Emphasis on +SpCRT
319sta, 211int, 201spell hit, 758spell damage, 217spell crit
WORKING TOWARDS DESTRO

Assuming ENCH; Emphasis on BONUS Sockets; Second Emphasis on +SpDAM
355sta, 211int, 207spell hit, 816spell damage, 137spell crit
FOR COMPARISON

Assuming ENCH; Emphasis on BONUS Sockets; Second Emphasis on +SpCRT
331sta, 211int, 207spell hit, 768spell damage, 177spell crit, 15spell penetration
FOR COMPARISON


The math spreadsheet can be downloaded in locked PDF format from here:
http://members.cox.net/beckom/mathv0.7.pdf




PLEASE PROVIDE AS MUCH CRITIQUE AS POSSIBLE! Either here on this thread or in PM, whichever you feel more comfortable with.   thanks!


EDIT Nov8:  Changed Emphases to reflect the most efficient emphasis for each major profession.

[herothirtythree]

oh and i am VERY open to other gear suggestions that would fit this better, so download the pdf and see the stat breakdown for yourself!

[Lynette]

From Nihilum (some of this may be of help) ...

http://nihilum.wazap.com/en/article/18,warlock_guide_and_tips_to_25_man_raiding_/

[herothirtythree]

From Nihilum (some of this may be of help) ...

http://nihilum.wazap.com/en/article/18,warlock_guide_and_tips_to_25_man_raiding_/

that is a VERY good guide, but fills a different niche then the one im attempting to potray.

my guide is more theorycraft, on how to maximize your raid dps via gear PRIOR to starting the 25 mans.

[Nasanna]

I don't play a warlock, so please correct me if I'm wrong on any of this. Your pdf sheet looks pretty thorough and it looks like you spent a lot of time putting it together. Here's my advice/questions for you:

Most of an affliction lock's damage comes from DOTs, right? DOTs can't crit, so it seems kind of silly for an affliction warlock to focus on spellcrit- I'd think they'd be more interested in spell damage, hit, or stamina.

Also, a warlock might want to aim for certain minimum +damage, stamina, spell hit, etc. and not try to focus on a particular stat. The only exception, in my opinion, would be spell hit (until they reach the hit cap, which is 202 for spell hit, not including talents).  If a warlock focuses on spell damage but doesn't have a lot of stamina or spell hit, they would be more likely to be killed by aoe and lose lots of DPS due to resisted DOTs.

Your pdf guide looks really nice. I like how it sums up each stat for the given gear-  it's useful to know what stats you will have in your desired gear. If you're going to make a post about this in the warlock forum, I would suggest putting in the wowhead/alakazam item links for the gear in your guide (Shadow posted a good guide on how to link items in posts here http://forum.twilightonalex.com/index.php?topic=3.0 ), and also including what instance they drop from and which boss, or materials or reputation required for each item. You might want to include the number and color of sockets on the gear in your guide too. I would also suggest adding some alternative gear for warlocks who aren't tailors, or gear that isn't crafted for those who don't have lots of gold to spend on primal mights for Spellstrike hood and pants.

Just curious: Why'd you go for "Boar's Speed" to boots, instead of a stamina patch from leatherworking or a stamina enchant?

Again, the guide looks pretty useful as it is, those are just my suggestions for you. Thanks for taking the time to write this up!

[Shadowwolf]

Gren and Cap could add to this probably more so than myself, though I have a full affliction lock and I raid with her on occasion. My focus has primarily been spell damage and spell hit as well as stamina. The method behind that madness is because yes, most of my damage is coming from my DoT's. Making sure I dont get many resists as to have to recast it as well as making sure they hurt as much as possible for the duration they are applied is key for me. Bumping up my stamina is simply because its easier to Life Tap with ample stamina to convert to mana for the long boss fights and not having to put extra stress on the healers for a heal when I do. Also, in solo play, more stamina helps my pets with them having more health since my pets dont do as well as a demo lock would.

For me, spell crit is all secondary. The only spells I would use that would benefit from spell crit are Immolation, Soul Fire, Incinerate and Shadow Bolt. All of these I dont rely on heavily as they all generate a HUGE amount of aggro when used, especially with the damage already being done by my DoT's. They are all good spells for maintaining good solid high dps, but having a high spell crit where they crit a lot and then using them alot is almost sure to pull aggro away from the tanks. Thats basically why my spell crit has always been something secondary on my lock, I find I live longer in raids and still do a ton of damage for a DPS class.

Personally I dont like to follow guides to the letter in WoW, ive found with all my characters, I do much better figuring out my own way works better, I sometimes look at guides to reference things, but I think guides are just that, a guide to point you to your way but you still need to figure it out based on how you yourself play. As with most guides, I find a lot are swayed heavily towards personal preference on that of the author which doesnt always work for me, so I just pick items out to try or that might apply/help =)

[herothirtythree]

Just curious: Why'd you go for "Boar's Speed" to boots, instead of a stamina patch from leatherworking or a stamina enchant?

thank you for bringing that up.  i had a personalized version of the spredsheet with slightly more personal choices (i prefer to catch up to my group in instances faster rather then the +4 or so sta that makes the difference)

however, in the interest of warlocks in generally, this has officially been changed to:
Enchant Boots - Fortitude +12 STA

If you're going to make a post about this in the warlock forum, I would suggest putting in the wowhead/alakazam item links for the gear in your guide (Shadow posted a good guide on how to link items in posts here http://forum.twilightonalex.com/index.php?topic=3.0 ), and also including what instance they drop from and which boss, or materials or reputation required for each item. You might want to include the number and color of sockets on the gear in your guide too.

the boss, material and rep reqs are already in the next version, but the idea of linking to wowhead is AWESOME.  im defiantly going to sped time doing it. sockets in gear are another thing you now have me adding to my wishlist

Most of an affliction lock's damage comes from DOTs, right? DOTs can't crit, so it seems kind of silly for an affliction warlock to focus on spellcrit- I'd think they'd be more interested in spell damage, hit, or stamina.

My focus has primarily been spell damage and spell hit as well as stamina. The method behind that madness is because yes, most of my damage is coming from my DoT's.

Yes, about 75% of your raid damage on boss mobs will be from your DoT rotations.  Personally, i believe emphasis should be in this order: Spell Hit, Spell Damage, Stam, Spell Crit, Int.  Only around 25% of your damage will come from SB spam as an affliction lock, however that is still a large amount In an attempt to appeal to a wider variety of raiders (those specced for heavy affliction (41+) and those specced heavy destruction) i included "emphasis" totals.  this will likely be narrowed down further into only 2 or 3 emphases as to avoid confusion.

The emphasis on crit is for those warlocks who are yearning to move on to destruction before game itemization says is the optimal time (late SSC)

my personal rotation is "trinket, ua, corruption, siphon life, amp-curse, curse of doom (later, curse of agony), shadowbolt spam until ua and corruption are about to expire, trinket, recast ua, recast corruption, dark pact, life tap, recast siphon life, shadowbolt spam until ua and corruption are about to expire, repeat"

I would also suggest adding some alternative gear for warlocks who aren't tailors, or gear that isn't crafted for those who don't have lots of gold to spend on primal mights for Spellstrike hood and pants.

Currently, the guide assumes you are a tailor. i know guilds who wont even take warlocks and mages that aren't tailors.  the itemaztion in the game at this point lets you wear those craftables all the way up to tier5 and even tier6. so currently i have no desire to expand choices for head, shoulder, chest, feet, and legs (i may look into in the future) if someone wanted to take the time to do the research id be more then happy to include it in the release version of the guide.


Thank you both so much for taking the time to reply with such thoughtful posts the more i get the better this can help guide the new warlocks in the community wishing to go about the task of gearing up for endgame !

Im currently looking for advanced critique on choices for gear (other options that are either easier to obtain or are far superior in stats)

[Grendeel]

Im not exactly sure what you are asking for here but im gonna give you my thoughts on affliction locks (its what i have used primarily as a lock).

One thing you have to determine is whether your gear is going to be pvp or pve oriented (in any case, if u want to be serious about it, each environment will require 2 sets of gear).  Im just going to talk about pve since that seems what this thread is geared toward.

Firstly affliction spec is not a crit spec.  As Nas said, dots dont crit.   Dots will be your primary damage dealer and therefore crit is mostly meaningless.  It is a nice bonus to have if an uber gear piece has it, however i would never gem, or enchant for it as affliction. Crit spec is much more important for a destro speccd lock.   I believe around 20% crit rate is needed to make it viable (been a while since i read up on this though).

As for tailoring, an affliction lock would do well to have the frozen shadowweave set for pre Kara.  I think you would be hard pressed to find a better set than this. That said, you wont be spending a ton of time pveing pre kara so this is only a short term gain.  I personally am a tailor and dont use any of the shadowweave set (there is better gear out there from Kara and beyond and arenas).  Tailoring is a good way to go, however if a lock doenst want to do this, the battlecast set is a good second choice to get you to kara and beyond.    The spellstrike set is not for an affliction lock.  This is primarily for a crit spec, and in particular destro specd.

If cost wasnt a factor, an affliction lock should always take soulfrost over the plus 40 spell damage.   Every single damage spell an affliction lock uses is from shadow magic (except for immolate).   From what i read, using immolate actually decreases your dps for an affliction lock and isnt recommended for your dot rotation (i still use it though).  Supposedly the little time you have to cast spells other than dots should be used for shadow bolts.  Not doing so nerfs your dps (sb does more damage than immolate)

The spell hit max for a lock is 202 i believe.  This however is for end game raid bosses.   Since we are talking about pre Kara, this isnt near as important as it will be later on in progression. I have 88 plus hit atm and find i rarely miss on anything pre Kara (even Kara it doesnt seem like it misses much). Im not saying this isnt important, but it would be third on my list of stats priorities.  I wouldnt use gems or enchants for spell hit.  Stamina and plus spell damage is the way to go.

Gear.

Weapon/offhand.......The best combo imo would be the dagger from HH exalted and the offhand item from heroic badge turn ins.  Other good choices would be one hand weapons from  CoT honored and end bosses in SL or Mech.

Frozen shadowweave set is the best imo.  Battlecast is a good second.

You can get some good epic boots from SP heroic (boots of blasphemy i think) or one from heroic botanica as well

Heroic badges provide an awesome trinket for all casters.

Pvp rewards can round out most of your gear.  Its probably better than most things available pre Kara. (and takes lots less time to get)

Bottom line imo is gear will be replaced as you venture into Kara.  So pre Kara i would focus primarily on plus damage and plus stamina.

[herothirtythree]

just to clarify this guide assumes the following is true:

shadow > fire
all gear comes from pre-kara dungeons (TBC 5 mans), rep rewards, and tailoring.
no pvp gear
no special event gear
202 spell hit is reached by gear alone
the warlock is afflction, with the hopes of going destro when he catches up with gear itemization  (Very standard raiding lock behavior)
the warlock is not interested in pvp at all
the warlock is interested in gearing for 25-man raids only
soulfrost isn't an enchantment anyone pre-kara is interested in paying for


head, shoulder, feet, chest, and legs are not changing. (unless by the terms ive previously stated)  battlecast is trash for pveing, while it has loads of sta, it misses out of sockets and the rad proc from spellstrike. as other posters have pointed out FSW is superior prior to kara in every way to any other items for those slots. i feel the same to be for spellstrike.

[capnpop]

Basically: Skip ALL CRIT.  between destruction and affliction sets you should change nearly everything in your gear. I have Spellfire for crit and battlecast for demon/affliction.

Battlecast > Spellstrike.  More stam and more int makes you last longer in fights, despite what a few more +dmg will give you.

Agreed, FSW > all pre-raid gear (you can nearly skip T4)

Hit is overrated pre-kara.  if you hit 202 +hit before you set foot in some place that will yield T5 gear you are trying too hard.  As affliction use your talents.  The points are hardly a "waste" when they help you...all your spells are instant anyways, you apply, tap, drain...repeat, sometimes you apply twice...

Your gear lacks stamina, lacks int (to some degree), has too much crit and has unnecessary hit (well, not unnecessary, but an overzealous reliance on +hit).

[herothirtythree]

let me make it clearer that all gear choosen was done so with the following priorities
1. spell hit till cap
2. spell damage
all spell crit is unintentional (in gear, not in gem emphases, obviously), but still tracked and recorded. The same can be said about INT.  I also want to point out that while dot rotation doesnt benefit from INT and Spell Crit, SB spam does.

202 spell hit is absolutely required IF YOU WANT TO MAXIMIZE raid dps on targets level 73.  I dont think its trying to hard to obtain that before i get to kara (though in reality one would, and i very well will, be doing kara groups while still getting the last few pieces of this gear list.)  I do agree that its EASY to makeup for gear faults by covering them up with 5 talent points (which dont effect SB spam at all.) However i feel that if i CAN compensate for the talents with gear, that i SHOULD.


and im sorry but Battlecast gives me icky feelings.
i feel sorry for anyone who wasted 8 primal mights on it, even as switchout pvp gear.

Battlecast Vs Spellstrike (THE NUMBERS)

Battlecast Totals
85 STA
55 INT
125 DAM (initial damage plus +9dam per socket)

the proc is outstanding for drain-tanking, but i dont expect to be doing that in kara or gruul.

Spellstrike Totals
28 STA
20 INT
38 HIT
50 CRT
146 DAM (initial damage plus +9dam per socket)

the proc is not GREAT, but useful.
so please explain to me how battlecast outperforms spellstrike in any raiding situation.  you mentioned survivability. i say while 570 more HP isnt anything to thumb my finger at, does it really make a big enough dent to warrant the loss of 38hit and 21damage? (and the semi useful trinket-like proc?)



all and all, though, i definitely want to explore lowering the expectations of the gear on the basis of spell crit and int, and also focus a bit more on STA.  if only to then compare the two and see which one performs better.

keep up the thoughts on gearing locks im loving this!!

[capnpop]

do you realize how many hps you will have?  I can tell you (approx)...7500
mana? about the same...

post raid buffs...still not a whole lot, maybe 9k hps and 8500 mana...

Spell hit should not be a priority when you walk into kara...

The question isn't if you CAN compensate for talents, it is if it's worth it to do so.  Is it? Nope...

Why?
You will require more healing than most other locks (life tap sooner and for less).
You will die sooner (a dead lock does no damage...).

If you look at the stats that matter for (affliction) locks:

Battlecast Totals
85 STA
55 INT
125 DAM (initial damage plus +9dam per socket)

Spellstrike Totals
28 STA
20 INT
38 HIT
146 DAM (initial damage plus +9dam per socket)

Procs aren't something to be relied upon EVER.  It's like counting activated trinket dmg as +dmg.   Just battlecast will yield you 57 more stam (570 hps untalented) and 525 mana (untalented). So as you lose a total of 21 +dmg it costs 21 dmg from siphon life (2.1 dmg per tick), 25.4 dmg from corruption (4.25 dmg per tick), 25.2 dmg from UA (4.2 dmg per tick), and a total of 33.6 dmg over the duration of CoA.  Those minor losses will never result in a downed boss where there wouldn't have been one before...

Additionally, it seems like a waste to invest time/gold into getting items that will be replaced very quickly when you step foot in kara (kara rep ring, the +shadow dmg ring from trash...other rings...).  Just because you CAN compensate doesn't mean that you SHOULD.  That's like me saying that I need the King's Defender to help my dps (as a lock...), or using only Drain Soul on everything because I don't want to mess up my chance to get a shard...

Battlecast still > Spellstrike for locks

[herothirtythree]

do you realize how many hps you will have?  I can tell you (approx)...7500
mana? about the same...

post raid buffs...still not a whole lot, maybe 9k hps and 8500 mana...

...

If you look at the stats that matter for (affliction) locks:

Battlecast Totals
85 STA
55 INT
125 DAM (initial damage plus +9dam per socket)

Spellstrike Totals
28 STA
20 INT
38 HIT
146 DAM (initial damage plus +9dam per socket)

38 spellhit is a LOT.  That's a scryer's bloodgem difference.  And again, i dont believe you can discount spell crit just because your specced affliction.  your still a shadowbolt cannon, just one that stops to reapply dots.

Procs aren't something to be relied upon EVER. 

i'm not RELYING on procs, just stating its better to have one thats semi useful then one that's completely worthless.

Additionally, it seems like a waste to invest time/gold into getting items that will be replaced very quickly when you step foot in kara (kara rep ring, the +shadow dmg ring from trash...other rings...). 

i agree. somewhat.  i dont think many of the items in the List are going to be replaced quickly.  Some, like those you mentioned, are quick, easy upgrades.

Battlecast still > Spellstrike for locks

i still think a lil damage, lil crit, and tons more hit are better then a huge glob of health and a small glob on mana.
Also, another point, Battlecast is far cheaper to make.  I'm sufficiently moved to make an put battlecast as a seconday alternative (as there will be for all gear, in later versions of the guide) where i was previously going to choose something with a meta socket.



Also id like to point out that this IS theorycraft.  it started off to prove that the gear was obtainable, if a lot of work was put into it, to hit cap and have non-laughable dam, sta, int and crt.  i saw that it wasnt just possible but EASY.

take a look at that list of gear again, besides 2 from heroics (which hopefully will be changed) all that gear is from normal 5 mans, and scryer rep. all things many people do often and plenty before that first step into kara.



capn, what other gear do you feel could be replaced easily?  any gear choices you think have better stats?  suggestions for that open second trinket slot?

[capnpop]

purely pve stuff?

Battlecast
FSW set
Belt of blasting/girdle of ruination/unyielding (unyielding pref)
Hortus' Seal of Brilliance
Continuum Blade or Horrid Dreams
Horseman's Signet and The Black Pearl (only add +dmg enchant to Signet)
Mark of Defiance and Darkmoon Card: Crusade
Veteran's Pendant of Dominance (omg pvp....) or ...nothing really compares with it actually...
Shatt wraps (either +9 dmg or +12 stam gem)

also, you're still 1-shot by a bad shatter..can't fix that with anything other than more stam...you may survive it, but if you're under health at all you're dead...

your ring will be upgraded quickly by the trash drop one or the rep ring with kara (or both..)
your trinket should be replaced with the heroic badge one (Icon of the silver crescent) and maybe Quag's eye if you can get it
sword/dagger will take a while to upgrade most likely...  Curator may drop the Staff of Infinite Mysteries which could/would be an upgrade
as you continue through kara pretty much every single piece of your gear can/will be upgraded (provided lucky drops, winning rolls, and set bonus considerations).  To throw so much into gear that's only point is to propel you into a dungeon so you can vendor/disenchant it all is simply wasteful.  It's like burning down your house to get a hold of the police.  Sure, it works, but don't you think going about it a little more patiently would've been better?

Basically it comes down to: Your +dmg is fine, your stam is dangerously low (especially on Gruul or any boss with decently strong AoE or even weak AoE), your mana pool gives you 1 min of DPS before you tap your already low HP pool (or dark pact..but the imp will run dry too...). 

Still, I maintain that stacking +hit is unnecessary until post-kara/gruul.  Any +hit in gear is simply a bonus.

[herothirtythree]

AS TO SPELLHIT:

why do you INSIST that +hit isnt valuable for those starting kara? 

moroes, curator, and prince are considered the same level to hit as lady vashj, archimonde, and illidan.  if its important to hit boss mobs in ssc, hyjal and bt, its important to hit them in kara.  if you mean kara is an easier instance, and therefore one can be lazier about ones stats, then i'd ask why we dont yet have kara on farm. 

furthermore, until 202, 1 Spell Hit = 1.125 Spell Damage

please take a look at this thread: http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html;jsessionid=1DF515FE44C1C3B85CCC9B216921AA7C?topicId=2720294444&sid=1
it explains correlations with spellhit in a raid environment for affliction locks.



AS TO GEAR:
i find it hard to believe youd want to WASTE the dkp getting most of the "upgrades" (most of which are hardly upgrades) from kara.

as you said, youd have to get lucky on drops.  and youd have to have the dkp.  thats one of the main attractions of the pre-kara gear - you can get it at your leisure without 24 other people who may or may not be there for the exact same item.

for what? well lets pull some names of items into this discussion, heres a list of kara items and their pre-kara choice in my theorycraft:

firstly, im only looking at items for the following slots (those not taken up by FSW Battlecast/Spellstrike)

Neck, Back, Wrists, Hands, Waist, FingerA, FingerB, TrinketA, TrinketB, Mainhand, Offhand, Ranged

Neck:
Pre-Kara: [wowitem]Brooch of Heightened Potential[/wowitem]
Kara: [wowitem]Ritssyn's Lost Pendant[/wowitem]
NOTES: Awesome upgrade, however, rare drop from Trash that will have competition.
Kara: [wowitem]Brooch of Unquenchable Fury[/wowitem]
NOTES: Decent upgrade, however, 9sta 7int 6hit 4dam may not be worth your dkp.

Back:
Pre-Kara: [wowitem]Sethekk Oracle Cloak[/wowitem]
Kara: [wowitem]Ruby Drape of the Mysticant[/wowitem]
NOTES: Decent upgrade, however, 4sta 5int 6hit 8dam may not be worth your dkp.

Wrists:
Pre-Kara: [wowitem]Crimson Bracers of Gloom[/wowitem]
NOTES: Heroic Hellfire Ramperts drop
Kara: [wowitem]Harbinger Bands[/wowitem]
NOTES: Not a great upgrade, adds 3sta 3int and 4dam.  you loose 12 hit
Kara: [wowitem]Bands of Nefarious Deeds[/wowitem]
NOTES: Again, you will loose hit, but get 9sta 4int and 10dam. Decent upgrade.

Hands:
Pre-Kara: [wowitem]Gloves of the Deadwatcher[/wowitem]
Notes: Heroic Auchenai Crypts drop
Kara: [wowitem]Handwraps of Flowing Thought[/wowitem]
Notes: This is a great example of an item that is far easier to obtain in kara then pre-kara. you will loose 2int and 4hit upgrading, but socketing with two +9dam gems gives you 24dam boost.  For some, it will stll not be worth the dkp.

Waist:
Pre-Kara: [wowitem]Sash of Serpentra[/wowitem]
Kara: [wowitem]Malefic Girdle[/wowitem]
Notes:  loose 4sta and 17hit for 5int and 12dam. This is NOT an upgrade
Kara: [wowitem]Nethershard Girdle[/wowitem]
Notes:  loose 9sta and 17hit for 9int and 10dam. This is NOT an upgrade

Fingera:
Pre-Kara: [wowitem]Scintillating Coral Band[/wowitem]
Notes: This is a poor choice for a pre-kara ring
Kara: [wowitem]Spectral Band of Innervation[/wowitem]
Notes: Great upgrade adds 8sta 9int and 8dam

Fingerb
Pre-Kara: [wowitem]Seer's Signet[/wowitem]
Kara: No upgrade.  The rep ring for kara is trash, comparitively.  Even at exalted, it only adds int and a smidgen of crit, for a loss of 5 dam.  Oh, and enchanting it is a nightmare since you have to turn it in 3 times.

Trinketa:
Pre-Kara: [wowitem]Scryer's Bloodgem[/wowitem]
Kara: No upgarde

Trinketb:
This was left blank in the template because of the amount of options.  Certainly if you want to spend the badges, the icon of silver crescent would do well here.  Quags eye is not a great item for affliction locks due to spell haste not effecting how quickly dot rotations are cast.  correct me if im wrong (have never had spell haste items before)

Mainhand/offhand
Pre-kara: [wowitem]Greatsword of Horrid Dreams[/wowitem] [wowitem]Lamp of Peaceful Radiance[/wowitem]
Kara: [wowitem]Staff of Infinite Mysteries[/wowitem]
Notes: If your not worried about loosing the utility of an offhand, this is a good upgrade (if not too many others are bidding) this will add 33sta 23int and 34dam, while only loosing 3hit
Kara: [wowitem]Nathrezim Mindblade[/wowitem]
Notes: mostly a damage upgrade, adds 3sta 4int 73dam, but you loose 12 hit.  worth it, i hope you have the dkp.

Ranged:
Pre-Kara: [wowitem]Nether Core's Control Rod[/wowitem]
Notes: This was choosen because of its +hit, however its possible to pick other wands without loosing out too much.  Pretty much whatever end-game wand drops first.
Kara:[wowitem]Tirisfal Wand of Ascendancy[/wowitem]
Notes: add 1int 3hit and 2dam, all for a loss of 1sta.  great upgrade.

oh and [wowitem]Jewel of Infinite Possibilities[/wowitem] is a perfect upgrade to the lamp.

So please take a look at that list.  Yes, there are a number of upgrades.  Are all those going to drop in your first dozen runs? no.  Are you going to want to spend the dkp on such small upgrades for some slots? no.


As for your suggestion to use the horsemans signet ring, i agree. I'm using it.  But i can't use items that will no longer be attainable for this theorycraft.



i am also, like you, concerned with how little sta these gear choices are putting forth.  it may by itself warrant the Battlecast.  Is there anything you can think of to give a large boost to STA?