New Heirlooms in 4.3

In Patch 4.3 the Darkmoon Faire is going to get a nice little revamp (details here). I’ve never been too big on the faire beyond abusing the vendors there to get high selling mats for cheap vendor prices that I could toss on the AH for a quick, easy profit. My lack of interest almost made me ignore the information regarding the faire, but I was bored anyway (and about to leave work for the day) so I figured I might as well take a look.

Most of what the notes mentioned weren’t bad, but nothing that would get me otherwise interested in the DMF, until I stumbled onto this:

“We have adorable companion pets inludin’ a fez-wearing monkey, a plethora of profession recipes, toys, balloons, souvenirs, delectable carnival snacks and beverages, heirlooms for the little ones, and even replicas of long-lost suits of armor that we’re offering for your Transmogrification needs.”

Unfortunately for us, there’s no more mention of heirlooms in the article, so we don’t know for sure what it refers to. It could be new heirlooms, it could be existing heirlooms, or it could be other items all together that they simply used the word to describe. Without the details, one can only hope and imagine.

But wait… we do have details!

Not details about the DMF, but of heirlooms that have been sitting in the PTR database for over 8 months now. Heirloom Legs and Heirloom Rings, to be exact. I’ll throw out the disclaimer here, just in case you didn’t read the rest of this post: The heirlooms I’m about to mention have not been confirmed for patch 4.3 as of the writing of this post.

Heirloom Rings
There are four new heirloom rings in the Wowhead database that do not currently exist in the game. Each of these four puts the existing Dread Pirate Ring (DPR) to shame. So much so, in fact, that if you have access to any of these they will be better than the DPR even if you only have Strength rings and you’re playing a Mage.

I would like to see the DPR get an upgrade when/if these four do become available because of how much weaker it is in comparison. Whether or not they’ll do so remains to be seen, though I kind of doubt that they’ll change anything about it at all given that it’s from a previous expansion and an upgrade isn’t necessarily…well, necessary.

The important thing to note about these rings is that all of them are Unique-Equip, so you can’t wear two of the same ring. That’s not much of a problem for Strength-based melee classes since there are two Strength rings, and Agility-based classes aren’t too bad off since they can get at least some benefit from the Strength (Hunters less than others, of course). Casters get the short end here with only one ring that grants caster stats (sorry Healers, no Spirit here at all), so a second heirloom ring only benefits you so far as the secondary stats and stamina bonus are concerned.

Antique Myrmidon’s Signet: Strength, Stamina, Hit, Crit, +5% Exp
Burnished Dark Iron Ring: Strength, Stamina, Dodge, Expertise, +5% Exp
Gleaming Seal of the Archmagus: Stamina, Intellect, Crit, Haste, +5% Exp
Ornate Band of Accuria: Agility, Stamina, Crit, Haste, +5% Exp

Strength-based melee classes will want both the Antique and Burnished rings. Agility-based melee will want the Ornate and Antique rings. Hunters will want either the Ornate and Antique (Hit/Crit) or the Ornate and Gleaming (Crit/Haste) rings, but I’m not familiar enough with the Hunter to tell you exactly which one is better. All casters will want to use the Gleaming ring and either the Ornate (Crit/Haste) or Antique (Hit/Crit) depending on which secondary stats are more beneficial for their given class and spec.

Ring Enchants
There are a total of seven enchants that you can put on these heirlooms, and all of them require the character wearing the ring(s) to have the Enchanting skill and a skill level high enough to cast the enchant themselves (even if they don’t have the pattern themselves). Three of the enchants can be used with a skill level of 400, and the other four require 475.

The numbers in parenthesis below represent the Enchanting skill level required to activate the enchant.

Enchant Ring – Assault: (400) +40 Attack Power
Enchant Ring – Greater Spellpower: (400) +23 Spell Power
Enchant Ring – Stamina: (400) +30 Stamina
Enchant Ring – Agility: (475) +40 Agility
Enchant Ring – Greater Stamina: (475) +60 Stamina
Enchant Ring – Intellect: (475) +40 Intellect
Enchant Ring – Strength: (475) +40 Strength

Of the options available, you’ll get more use out of the first three options simply because of how many levels you can make use of them compared to the other four. As far as stats are concerned, the last four are definitely the more beneficial option as they’re roughly twice as good as the others.

Personally, I’d go with Greater Spellpower for the caster ring, and +40 Attack Power for all of the others. I would consider +30 Stamina for the tanking ring, though I’d probably stick with the attack power as I don’t often find Stamina to be high on my priority list while leveling.

Heirloom Legs
There are seven heirloom legs in the database, and up to this point we’ve had none. Legs can sometimes be a pretty hard slot to find upgrades for, so I’m pretty happy to see this slot get heirlooms. I couldn’t tell you how many times I’ve been to Outlands while still wearing level 20-30 legs.

There are Leg options for every class and spec. The stats that they offer follow the same pattern we’ve seen in the other armor heirlooms up to this point, so you’ll find that some pieces might not have the perfect stats for you but you’ll at least be able to find something that works well enough.

Tattered Dreadmist Leggings: [Cloth] Stamina, Intellect, Crit, Haste, +10% Exp
Preened Wildfeather Leggings: [Leather] Stamina, Intellect, Spirit, Crit, +10% Exp
Stained Shadowcraft Pants: [Leather] Agility, Stamina, Crit, Haste, +10% Exp
Mystical Kilt of Elements: [Mail] Stamina, Intellect, Spirit, Crit, +10% Exp
Tarnished Leggings of Destruction: [Mail] Agility, Stamina, Crit, Haste, +10% Exp
Burnished Legplates of Might: [Plate] Strength, Stamina, Parry, Hit, +10% Exp
Polished Legplates of Valor: [Plate] Strength, Stamina, Crit, Expertise, +10% Exp

Leg Enchants
There are a lot of options for leg enchants. The main question you have to ask yourself when deciding which you want to use is at which level you want to benefit from an enchant. The higher the level requirement, the larger the stat benefit (as you would expect), but of course the fewer levels you get to benefit from it.

If you’d like to take a look at the enchants available as a search, you can follow this link: Link. Just make sure there’s something inside that Source column, as those without a source are ones which can no longer be obtained. If you happen to have made/obtained some of those enchants back in the day when they were available then you can still use them, but I don’t expect many people at all to still have them sitting around (unless you’re an old school twink player). Also note that there are a few leg enchants that require an item level instead of, or in addition to, a character level and none of those can be used at all since heirlooms are considered item level 1.

In the list below, the number in (parenthesis) is the player level required to use the enchant. Rather than putting a full list here, I’ve gone through and listed the ones I’d particularly consider for my own heirloom legs. I’ve also categorized them by the types of bonuses that they give.

—Generic Bonuses—
Medium Armor Kit: (5) +16 Armor
Heavy Borean Armor Kit: (70) +18 Stamina
Savage Armor Kit: (78) +36 Stamina
Earthen Leg Armor: (80) +28 Stamina, +40 Resilience
Heavy Savage Armor Kit: (81) +44 Stamina

These will likely be the easiest for you to obtain as well as the cheapest. They all provide a decent bonus for their level range even if they’re not that impressive overall. If you’re planning to use them on low level twinks then only the Medium Armor Kit is useful to you, but if you’re going to level characters with them then you’re better off going for the Heavy Borean or Heavy Savage armor kits. If you really like PvP, then the level 80 Earthen Leg Armor is for you.

Personally, if I were going to choose between just these, I’d go for the Heavy Borean Armor Kit so that I could benefit from the enchant for 15 levels. However, I’d still prefer to pick an option that’s more class-specific from the lists below than any of these. But that’s because I’m a crazy min/maxing fool, and overall none of these bonuses are high enough for me to care about using them.

—Melee Bonuses—
Clefthide Leg Armor: (50) +30 Stamina, +10 Agility
Cobrahide Leg Armor: (50) +40 Attack Power, +10 Crit
Nethercraft Leg Armor: (60) +40 Stamina, +12 Agility
Nethercobra Leg Armor: (60) +50 Attack Power, +12 Crit
Jormungar Leg Armor: (70) +45 Stamina, +15 Agility
Nerubian Leg Armor: (70) +55 Attack Power, +15 Crit
Frosthide Leg Armor: (80) +55 Stamina, +22 Agility
Icescale Leg Armor: (80) +75 Attack Power, +22 Crit
Scorched Leg Armor: (80) +110 Attack Power, +45 Crit
Twilight Leg Armor: (80) +85 Stamina, +45 Agility

For your melee classes, I would lean towards the Attack Power/Crit options over the Agility/Stamina. The main reason for that is that Stamina isn’t that big of a deal for leveling, and the amount of AP you get from the Agility doesn’t match the amount given from the other options of the same level. If you choose to go for one of the level 80 enchants, then I might change my mind and go for the Agility instead (for Hunters, Rogues, and Shaman) since the stat does offer more than just attack power, but otherwise I’d stick to AP.

My personal preference for these would be Cobrahide, Nethercobra, or Nerubian; in that order. The difference between those three isn’t all that big, and there’s a 10 level difference between each of them. I’d lean more towards an enchant that gave me 35 levels worth of benefit over one that gave me only 15 levels worth and only 15 more Attack Power.

—Tanking Bonuses—
Core Armor Kit: (50) +5 Dodge
Vindicator’s Armor Kit: (55) +8 Dodge

The tanking enchants are available if you really want them. Personally, I’d just go for a melee enchant instead since the amount of Dodge on these things is so small. If you want survivability then go for one that offers Agility, otherwise stick to the AP/Crit options as I suggested for other melee classes. The only thing the AP/Crit gives you as a tank is better threat generation and easier solo play which may or may not be appealing to you.

Personally, I won’t bother with either of these for my tanks. I’d suggest you go with the melee enchants I listed above.

—Caster Bonuses—
Mystic Spellthread: (50) +25 Spell Power, +15 Stamina
Silver Spellthread: (50) +25 Spell Power, +15 Stamina
Golden Spellthread: (60) +35 Spell Power, +20 Stamina
Runic Spellthread: (60) +35 Spell Power, +20 Stamina
Azure Spellthread: (70) +35 Spell Power, +20 Stamina
Shining Spellthred: (70) +35 Spell Power, +20 Stamina
Brilliant Spellthread: (70) +50 Spell Power, +20 Spirit
Sapphire Spellthread: (70) +50 Spell Power, +30 Stamina
Enchanted Spellthread: (80) +55 Intellect, +65 Stamina
Ghostly Spellthread: (80) +55 Intellect, +45 Spirit

There are quite a few caster leg enchants available to you, though some of them require various reputation grinds to get their patterns (if you don’t already have them). There are also some Tailor-specific spellthreads that I have listed down below in case you’d like to consider those. If you like your casters to be tailors, then I’d definitely consider at least looking at them. Otherwise you’ve got plenty of options here.

Much like the melee enchants above, I would lean towards the level 50 versions myself for the sake of getting 35 levels worth of benefit from the enchant. In order of preference, I’d go Mystic/Silver, Golden/Runic, and then Brilliant. The one benefit of Brilliant over the others is that it gives Spirit rather than Stamina which is more appealing in my opinion (even for casters that get no benefit from Spirit beyond passive mana regen).

—Tailor-Only Bonuses— Number in parenthesis is the Skill Level required to activate
Master’s Spellthread (Rank 1): (405) +50 Spell Power, +30 Stamina
Sanctified Spellthread (Rank 1): (405) +50 Spell Power, +20 Spirit
Master’s Spellthread (Rank 2): (475) +95 Intellect, +80 Stamina
Sanctified Spellthread (Rank 2): (475) +95 Intellect, +55 Spirit

The tailor’s special spellthreads are quite good. While the Rank 2 versions are significantly more powerful than the Rank 1’s, I would still lean towards the Rank 1’s myself because of how much Frostweave it takes you to level from the 405 mark for Rank 1 to the 475 mark for the Rank 2. That’s a lot of cloth to farm for an upgraded enchant that you can only use for 11 levels. Especially for someone like me who rolls a lot of alts, as I’d have to level tailoring on every one of them if I wanted to benefit from these. If you’re an altoholic, these enchants probably aren’t the best option for you.

So my preference, if I was going to use any of these, would be Sanctified 1, Master’s 1, Sanctified 2. Personally, I roll too many alts to seriously consider any of these when other options exist that don’t force me into a specific profession to use them. Rings don’t have any non-Enchanter options so it’s either those or bust, but there are way too many leg enchants available for me to really consider these worth it.

Heirlooms Guide
If these heirlooms do end up confirmed for patch 4.3, then I will update my Guide to Heirlooms to include which rings, legs, and respective enchants that I would suggest for each class and spec just as I’ve done with all of the other heirlooms to date.

I would also like to take a moment to thank all of those who have sent me emails or who have left comments regarding how useful they’ve found the various guides that I’ve written here. The Guide to Heirlooms post has consistently been my most frequently visited post since just a few days after I wrote it, and I’ve gotten more emails from readers about that post than any other. So thank you, one and all.