How to Gear Up for Raiding in World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King

Many of the boss fights in World of Warcraft raids include what is commonly known as a "gear check". This consists of some form of gimmick that a boss does that is mitigated by having a certain level of equipment on your character. If you are well-geared, you will survive and kill the boss. If you are not, you will die. To ensure that you and your raid do as well as possible, here are some tips to help you get the gear you need before you raid.

Instructions

1. Hit level 80. Nearly all the gear you will need to raid is either in high-level instances, Heroic instances or from Emblem of Heroism purchases (which are obtained by killing bosses on Heroic difficulty.) You cannot enter a Heroic instance below level 80, nor can you raid below level 80.

2. Research your class. Each class in the game has different Statistics that they need to focus on in order to get the most out of gear and talent specs. For instance: Spirit is very important for Restoration Druids, Balance Druids and Priests, but is practically useless to nearly everyone else. Armor Penetration is extremely important for Warriors, but is not very helpful for Retribution Paladins. The WoW forums, blogs and fansites all have a wealth of information on each class and spec in the game. Knowing your class is essential to knowing what gear you need to be the best you can.

3. Download Atlasloot. This is an Addon that shows you every loot table in the game. It allows you to quickly scan loot tables so you can compile a list of items that are helpful to you. It is easy to use and takes up relatively little memory. It can be found here: http://wow.curse.com/downloads/wow-addons/details/atlasloot-enhanced.aspx

4. Build a regular instance group. While Pick Up Groups (PUGs) can be fun, they are not very conducive to regular instancing and getting geared up to raid in a reasonable amount of time. Try to find people from your guild (or join a guild if you do not have one) so you can hook up with a group of people you trust. Run instances regularly, and your gear will drop sooner or later. If it does not, there are many Craftable alternatives, as well as lots of Emblem of Heroism loot (which is purchased with Emblems of Heroism, which are found off every boss in every Heroic-difficulty dungeon.)

5. Consider doing some PvP. If instancing isn't your thing or you don't have a group of friends to regularly run instances with, PvP can be a viable alternative gear source. While it is not well-itemized for raiding, PvP gear can be better than a lot of instance gear. For example: all PvP gear makes allowances for Resilience, which is a defensive stat. In PvP, the only players that need to stack defensive stats are Tanks, making Resilience a wasted stat for anyone but a Tank. PvE gear is light on defensive stats and Stamina in favor of more healing/damage.

6. Work on your professions. If you do not have the time to run lots of Heroics to gear up, professions such as Engineering, Blacksmithing, Leatherworking and Tailoring are excellent sources of Epic-quality gear that will easily take you into entry-level raids such as Naxxramas. The materials required to make these items are relatively easy to farm and can all be purchased at the Auction House. If you are short on time and don't like to PvP, Crafted items are the best way to gear up for raiding. Nearly all Crafted Epic items are also Bind on Equip. If you don't mind farming gold, you can simply buy most of the gear you need to raid.