WoW Classic Armor Sets - What Will You Get For Clearing The Hardest Raids?

WoW Classic Armor Sets

Endgame in Phase 1 of WoW Classic will revolve heavily around raiding Molten Core to get all the Best in Slot Tier 1 items for your character. Getting there will take a really long time since you’re going to have to face many challenges along the way. Getting to level 60 will be quite tiresome and will require some serious hours of killing mobs and completing quests (especially if you’re planning to play a Warrior). Then you’ll have to get gear that’s strong enough to raid, and you don’t just get strong equipment handed to you in Vanilla. You're going to have to clear some dungeons before you're raid-ready. 

That being said, a man can dream – let’s take a look at the absolute BiS, cream of the crop armor sets for each class. We're going to start with the Tier 1 sets from Molten Core and then we'll make our way to higher tier raid sets that will become available in later phases of Classic, as new raids are unlocked for the players.

Getting Tier 1 sets

In the live patch 1.12, all the items that are parts of the BiS sets drop exclusively in the Molten Core raid. Some of them can be looted from the armies of normal trash mobs that you’re going to plough through during this instance. Other set fragments only drop from specific Molten Core bosses. Of course, there are plenty other strong gear options in phase 1, but to get the absolute best, you’re going to have to venture straight into the home of Ragnaros. The raid is open to players since the game launch. Each one of those sets consists of eight pieces and provides additional bonuses for collecting three, five, and all eight of them.

Warrior – Battlegear of Might

Battlegear of Might is a heavy plate set that, besides a huge amount of armor, provides a lot of Strength, Stamina, Defense as well as dodge, block, parry and hit chance - all of those stats are really useful to Warriors. Each piece grants bonuses to Strength and Stamina as well as one the resistances (fire or shadow) The set consists of:

Helm of Might – brings 1% dodge chance and +7 Defense. Dropped by Garr, the fourth boss in Molten Core.

Pauldrons of Might – provide a 2% chance of blocking with a shield and +5 Defense. Looted from Sulfuron Harbinger – the eighth boss of the raid.

Breastplate of Might – adds 3% block chance and +7 Defense. It is dropped by the seventh boss – Golemagg the Incinerator.

Bracers of Might – no additional bonuses, besides the Strength and Stamina. Looted from normal Molten Core monsters.

Gauntlets of Might – provide +1% hit chance and +5 Defense. Lucifron – the first boss of the raid, can drop them.

Belt of Might – grants 1% dodge chance and +5 Defense. Can be looted from trash mobs.

Legplates of Might – provide 1% parry chance and +7 Defense. The second boss – Magmadar, can drop them.

Sabatons of Might – add +5 Defense. Looted from Gehennas – the third Molten Core boss.

Besides all the stats that we named above, the whole Battlegear of Might armor set provides 4306 Armor, 189 Stamina, 143 Strength, 34 Fire Resistance, and 24 Shadow Resistance.

Moreover, there are the set completion bonuses. For three pieces, you get an additional 30 Block Value on your shield. Five fragments of the set provide extra Rage generation when you’re hit. The full 8-piece set makes you generate more threat with Sunder Armor.

All the bonuses focus mostly on defensive utility. They favor shield usage, and the complete set even provides extra threat generation. It doesn’t take a genius to deduce that it’s designed for role-playing as a tank and playing Prot Warrior. If you’re more into DPS as Fury Warrior, you’re definitely not going to want the whole set, but some elements of it might be worth considering.

Rogue – Nightslayer Armor

Nightslayer is a leather armor set that provides a lot of Agility and Stamina, some Strength and a lot critical strike chance as well as hit rate. Each piece provides some Agility and Stamina, and most of them also provide a bit of Strength.

Nightslayer Cover – grants +2% critical strike chance. As every other tier 1 headpiece, it’s dropped by Garr.

Nightslayer Shoulder Pads – improves your hit chance by 1%. They might be a reward for killing Sulfuron Harbinger.

Nightslayer Chestpiece – provides +1% critical chance. It can be looted from Golemagg the Incinerator.

Nightslayer Bracelets – nothing special, just a healthy boost of Agility and Stamina. They can be dropped by normal enemies in Molten Core.

Nightslayer Gloves – add +1% hit chance. They can be the reward for killing Gehennas.

Nightslayer Belt – provides +1% critical strike rate. It drops from random in the raid.

Nightslayer Pants – another extra 1% to critical chance. This item can be looted from Magmadar.

Nightslayer Boots – no special bonuses, just Agility, Stamina and some Shadow Resistance. They drop from Shazzrah, the fifth boss in Molten Core.

The whole set provides 1152 Armor, 189 Agility, 134 Stamina, 50 Strength, 34 Fire Resistance, 24 Shadow Resistance, 5% critical chance, and 2% hit rate. Beyond that, there also are set bonuses. Three pieces cut off 30 seconds of the Vanish cooldown. When you have five parts, you get ten additional energy to your energy pool. The full set of eight provides 500 HP healing upon using Vanish.

Unlike Warrior, Rogue is pretty linear in terms of builds. No matter if you are playing dual sword or dual dagger, you will always be able to make a good use of Agility, hit rate, and critical chance. Trying to collect as many pieces of this set as possible is definitely a good idea. It is going to be pretty contested though since Rogues are definitely one of the top DPS classes in early Classic WoW.

Hunter – Giantstalker Armor

The Gaintstalker set is a mail armor that provides multiple stats that are really useful to Hunters. Its pieces grant a ton of Agility, Stamina, Intellect, Spirit, resistances as well as hit rate and critical strike chance.

Giantstalker’s Helmet – provides +1% critical chance. As usual, it can be dropped from Garr.

Giantstalker’s Epaulets – add +1% chance to hit. They’re dropped by Sulfuron Harbinger.

Giantstalker’s Breastplate – another +1% critical strike rate. Just like every other Tier 1 chestpiece, it’s dropped by Golemagg the Incinerator.

Giantstalker’s Bracers – nothing exquisite, just some stat bonuses. This item can be dropped from random Molten Core trash mobs.

Giantstalker’s Gloves – they provide a great bonus of +2% hit chance. The gloves can be a reward for killing Shazzrah.

Giantstalker’s Belt – adds +1% critical chance. It’s dropped by the normal monsters in this raid.

Giantstalker’s Leggings – another +1% critical rate boost. They can be looted from Magmadar, just like T1 leg pieces for all the other classes.

Giantstalker’s Boots – only base stat bonuses here. These boots can be a reward for killing Gehennas.

All these items combined provide 2427 Armor, 189 Agility, 128 Armor, 52 Intellect, 40 Spirit, 34 Fire Resistance, 24 Shadow Resistance, 4% critical strike chance, and 4% hit rate. Equipping three pieces empowers your Mend Pet skill. Five parts give your pet extra Stamina and spell resistances. A full set of eight items increases the damage of your Volley and Multishot by 15%.

While Hunters don’t really scale that well with gear in a conventional way, the Gianstalker Armor set brings a lot of value. Base stats are great, hit chance and crit rate are worthwhile for every auto-attacking class. The buffs focused on your pet from three, and five-piece completion is really useful in solo farming scenarios. This set only empowers the aspect of the game that Hunters already excel at.  

Mage – Arcanist Regalia

Arcanist Regalia are a cloth armor set that can greatly empower its Mage user. Unlike some of the pre-raid BiS items, it doesn’t favor a single element. Instead, this set provides a lot of Spell Power that works with every kind of magic. Besides Intellect, Stamina, and Spirit, it also brings additional mana regeneration, spell hit rate, and spell critical chance.

Arcanist Crown – provides +20 Spell Damage and 1% spell hit chance. Can be looted from Garr.

Arcanist Mantle – increases mana regen and adds +14 Spell Power. It can be a reward for killing Baron Geddon.

Arcanist Robes – grants +23 Spell Damage. As usual, dropped by Golemagg the Incinerator.

Arcanist Bindings – provide +12 Spell Damage as well as some mana regeneration. They can be found as loot from trash mobs in Molten Core.

Arcanist Gloves – more mana regen and +14 Spell Power. They’re dropped by Shazzrah.

Arcanist Belt – adds +14 Spell Damage. Looted from random monsters in the raid.

Arcanist Leggings – grant +20 Spell Damage and +1% spell critical chance. Dropped by Magmadar.

Arcanist Boots – provide +11 Spell Damage and another 1% spell critical strike rate. They can be obtained as a reward for killing Lucifron.

All the pieces combined grant 584 Armor, 160 Intellect, 109 Stamina, 72 Spirit, 128 Spell Power, 37 Fire Resistance, 27 Shadow Resistance, 1% spell hit rate and 2% spell crit chance. Collecting three parts of the set provides additional +18 Spell Damage. Five pieces make your spells ignore 10 points of your enemy resistances. Full set reduces the threat generated by your spells by 15%.

It’s a great well-rounded Mage item set. It’s going to stay relevant for longer because it’s not limited to empowering Frost Mages exclusively. That makes it really good for later phases when most Mages will transition into Fire Magic builds. Intellect and Spell Power are always useful, no matter what build you’re playing at the time. Running Bloodvine Garb before collecting enough parts of this set is also a good idea for a temporary alternative.

Warlock – Felheart Raiment

The second spell caster DPS class gets Felheart Raiment. This set also provides a lot of Spell Power, Stamina, Intellect, and Spirit. In general, it adds a lot of overall strong caster stats, with a bit of spell hit rate and spell critical chance. It's all very useful for Warlocks.

Felheart Horns – add +20 Spell Damage. They can be looted from Garr.

Felheart Shoulder Pads – another source of Spell Power, this time +9. This item can be a reward for killing Baron Geddon.

Felheart Robes – provide +13 Spell Damage and +1% spell hit rate. They’re dropped by Golemagg the Incinerator.

Felheart Bracers – another +13 Spell Power. Looted from random mobs in Molten Core.

Felheart Gloves – grant +9 Spell Damage and +1% spell critical strike chance. They can be a reward for killing Lucifron.

Felheart Belt – provides +20 Spell Power. It can be dropped from trash monsters in the raid.

Felheart Pants – add a great amount of +30 Spell Damage. As usual, looted from Magmadar.

Felheart Slippers – increase your Spell Power by +18. They’re dropped by Shazzrah.

All the pieces combined together provide 584 Armor, 180 Stamina, 128 Intellect, 51 Spirit, 132 Spell Damage, 34 Fire Resistance, 24 Shadow Resistance, 1% spell hit rate and 1% spell critical chance. Equipping three parts of Felheart Raiment empowers the Drain Life and Drain Mana skills by 15%. Five pieces of this set provide 15 Stamina and 100 spell resistance to any type of magic to your pet. Collecting all the eight pieces of Felheart Raiment reduces the mana cost of the wearer’s shadow spells by 15%.

Compared to Mage’s Arcanist Regalia, the Warlock’s Tier 1 set is not that great in terms of sheer raid DPS. However, the big amount of Stamina and other bonuses make this armor set really good for PvP and solo farming with your pet. These are the areas where Warlock has the most power in Classic WoW.  Once again, Bloodvine Garb is a good alternative before you can complete the set.

Priest – Vestments of Prophecy

Vestments of Prophecy are a Tier 1 cloth armor set for Priests. It makes use of the fact that Spell Power doesn’t only increase your damage numbers, but also the healing capabilities. Overall, the set provides a lot of Intellect, Spirit, Stamina, mana regeneration, Spell Healing, and the mentioned Spell Power.

Circlet of Prophecy – increases the Spell Power by +12. Looted from Garr.

Mantle of Prophecy – provides +9 Spell Healing/Damage. It’s dropped by Sulfuron Harbinger.

Robes of Prophecy – grant +22 Spell Healing. Like any other tier 1 chestpiece – they’re dropped by Golemagg the Incinerator.

Vambraces of Prophecy – adds +24 Spell Healing and +2 mana regen per 5 seconds. Impressive bonuses, considering that this item drops from random trash monsters in Molten Core.

Gloves of Prophecy – increase Spell Healing by +18 and restore +6 mana per 5 seconds. Looted from Gehennas.

Girdle of Prophecy – provides +9 Spell Healing/Damage and regens 4 mana per 5 seconds. Another great item dropped from regular mobs.

Pants of Prophecy – grant + 22 Spell Healing and +6 mana restoration every 5 seconds. Of course, they might be acquired by killing Magmadar.

Boots of Prophecy – add +18 Spell Healing. They can be looted from Shazzrah.

All the pieces together provide 584 Armor, 170 Intellect, 117 Spirit, 113 Stamina, 104 Spell Healing, 30 Spell Power, 34 Fire Resistance, 24 Shadow Resistance and 18 mana regeneration every 5 seconds. Additionally, collecting three pieces reduces the cast time of your Flash Heal by 0.1 seconds. Five parts provide you +2% critical chance with Holy spells. Finally, the full Vestments of Prophecy set provides you extra +25% for a critical spell hit with Prayer of Healing.

It’s just a really good set for Holy Priest, as it provides tons of useful base stats, while also greatly increasing the HPS numbers. Moreover, the set bonuses are specifically favoring the Holy Priest build (which is the only one that you should be playing in endgame PvE content anyway). Every guild will want to have this set for at least one of their Priests.

Shaman – The Earthfury

The Earthfury is a mail armor set for the Horde-exclusive Shaman class. It gives them a lot of Armor, Intellect, Stamina, Spirit, mana regeneration, Spell Healing and Spell Power among some other stats. Shamans in Classic are this weird class that’s kind of a healer, but also team support in a broader sense, by utilizing totems. This set empowers that playstyle with a lot of defensive stats, stronger healing, and the mana restoration.

Earthfury Helmet – grants +22 Healing Power and restores six mana per 5 seconds. Looted from Garr.

Earthfury Epaulets – provide +18 Spell Healing and 4 mana regen per 5 seconds. They’re dropped by Baron Geddon.

Earthfury Vestments – increases Healing Power by +22 and spell critical hit chance by 1%. They can be obtained for killing Golemagg the Incinerator.

Earthfury Bracers – add +6 Spell Power. They can be dropped by random Molten Core monsters.

Earthfury Gauntlets – provide +9 Spell Power and +1% spell critical chance. Can be looted from Gehennas.

Earthfury Belt – grants +18 Healing Power and restores 4 mana per 5 seconds. Really good item for a regular mobs drop.

Earthfury Legguards – provide +12 Spell Power and +6 mana regeneration every 5 seconds. Can be acquired by killing Magmadar.

Earthfury Boots – add +12 spell healing. Dropped by Lucifron.

The whole set provides 2427 Armor, 148 Intellect, 127 Stamina, 112 Spirit, 98 Healing Power, 27 Spell Power, 34 Fire Resistance, 24 Shadow Resistance, 20 mana regeneration per 5 seconds and +2% spell critical chance. Equipping three Earthfury pieces increases the radius of your totems by 30 yards. The five-part bonus provides some extra mana. The full eight set pieces add up to two additional links to your Chain Healing Wave.

The whole set obviously favors Resto Shaman build, by increasing the healing capabilities by a large margin, while also improving the utility from totems. If you manage to complete the entire Earthfury, it will serve you for a really long time. It remains BiS or at least a really viable option for Resto Shamans for multiple phases of Vanilla. It’s true because of the extremely useful set bonuses and tons of mana regen that are priceless for this inherently mana-hungry class.

Paladin – Lawbringer Armor

For raiding Molten Core, this Alliance-exclusive class can be rewarded with the plate Lawbringer Armor set. It boosts basically every aspect of this class. The stats that it provides are Stamina, Intellect, Spirit, Strength, Healing Power, and mana regeneration.

Lawbringer Helm – grants +22 Healing Power and restores 4 mana every 5 seconds. Can be looted from Garr.

Lawbringer Spaulders – add +18 Spell Healing. They can be a reward for killing Baron Geddon.

Lawbringer Chestguard – provides +22 Healing Power. Dropped by Golemagg the Incinerator.

Lawbringer Bracers – restore 4 mana every 5 seconds. Can be looted from random monsters in Molten Core.

Lawbringer Gauntlets – grant +18 Spell Healing. They can be acquired by killing Gehennas.

Lawbringer Belt – another +18 Healing Power. Can drop from the trash mobs in the raid.

Lawbringer Legplates – provide +22 Healing Power and +3 mana regen per 5 seconds. It is looted from Magmadar.

Lawbringer Boots – once again +18 Spell Healing, but this time there’s also +2 mana restoration per 5 seconds. This item can be obtained by killing Lucifron.

Together, all the pieces provide 4306 Armor, 153 Stamina, 134 Intellect, 92 Spirit, 74 Strength, 138 Healing Power, 34 Fire Resistance, 24 Shadow Resistance and 13 mana regen every 5 seconds. Collecting three Lawbringer items increases your chance of procing Judgement of Light. Five pieces grant an extra 1% to both critical strike chance and spell critical chance. The full set allows you a chance to heal your party when auto-attacking.

 While the set is definitely usable for Holy Paladins, its power budget is not distributed towards any build. The 74 Strength is pretty much useless for healers, while plenty of other stats aren’t used very well by Retribution Paladins. To use this armor set to its fullest, you’d have to play some kind of a hybrid build and they’re definitely subpar during raids. If your pre-raid gear or a dungeon set complements your build better, you can definitely skip the Lawbringer set (but as we said, it’s definitely considerable for Holy Paladin setup).

Druid -  Cenarion Raiment

Cenarion Raiment is a leather Tier 1 set used by Druids. It provides a lot of Intellect, Stamina, Spirit, Healing Power, Spell Power, and mana regen. It definitely empowers the supportive and utility-focused aspect of the Druid class.

Cenarion Helm – grants +12 Spell Power. As always, it is looted from Garr. 

Cenarion Spaulders – provide +18 Healing Power and restore 4 mana per 5 seconds. It is dropped by Baron Geddon.

Cenarion Vestments – add +22 Spell Healing and +3 mana regen every 5 seconds. Just like every other chestpiece, they’re looted from Golemagg the Incinerator.

Cenarion Bracers – grant +6 Spell Power. You can find them by killing regular monsters in Molten Core.

Cenarion Gloves – provide +18 Healing Power. It is dropped by Shazzrah.

Cenarion Belt – adds +9 Spell Power and restores 3 mana per 5 seconds. Really strong item for a drop from trash mobs.

Cenarion Leggings – another +22 Healing Power, while also regening 4 mana every 5 seconds and providing +1% spell critical chance. Of course looted from Magmadar.

Cenarion Boots – grant +18 Spell Healing and +3 restored mana every 5 seconds. Can be a reward for killing Lucifron.

Together, all the pieces provide 1152 Armor, 158 Intellect, 136 Stamina, 112 Spirit, 98 Healing Power, 27 Spell Power, 34 Fire Resistance, 24 Shadow Resistance, 18 mana regen per 5 seconds and 1% critical chance with spells. Three-piece set bonus increases damage and duration of your Thorns ability. Collecting all five parts grants an extra 2% of spell critical chance. Finally, the full Cenarion Raiment cuts the cooldowns of Hurricane and Tranquility in half.

To some extent, this set has similar problems as the Paladin’s Lawbringer armor. It tries to cater to two completely different builds. That being said, Cenarion Raiment is really good for Restoration Druids. Besides some of the set bonuses, the stat allocation is actually very fitting. At the same time, every Feral Druid player would love the Thorns buff, but the stats provided by the set are suboptimal for them.

WoW Classic tier 1 armor sets

These are the Molten Core Tier 1 armor sets in Vanilla. Theoretically, they are available for players to get since the first day of WoW Classic. Of course, it’s going to take much longer than just a few days before the first successful Molten Core raids, since leveling and pre-raid gearing is a huge challenge. That being said, you can be sure that the most hardcore, devoted guilds will try to get these sets as soon as possible.

Tier 2

In order to get a full Tier 2 armor set, you’re going to have to clear all three of the first raids introduced to Classic WoW. All the legpieces can only drop from Ragnaros and every helm can be looted from Onyxia. All the remaining pieces can be obtained by killing different bosses in Blackwing Lair. 

Each type of item has an assigned boss that it can be looted from.

Helmets – Onyxia, dragon that’s the final (and only) boss in Onyxia’s Lair.

Shoulders – Chromaggus, the seventh boss encounter in Blackwing Lair and the final challenge before facing Nefarian.

Chestpieces – Nefarian, The Head of the Black Flight – the powerful dragon that’s the last boss in Blackwing Lair.

Wrists – Razorgore the Untamed – first boss encounter in Blackwing Lair

Gloves – the three Drake bosses in Blackwing Lair: Firemaw, Ebonroc and Flamegor. They’re respectively: fourth, fifth and sixth

encounters in the raid.

Belts -  Vaelastrasz the Corrupt, the second boss in Blackwing Lair.

Legpieces – Ragnaros the Firelord, tenth and final boss of Molten Core.

Boots – Broodlord Lashlayer, the third encounter in Blackwing Lair.   

Before the opening of Blackwing Lair, there will be a possibility of getting another small set. Phase 2, alongside the PvP ranks will also bring PvP sets. It's not even close to as good as the raid tier 2 set though. That being said, if you enjoy killing members of the opposite faction, you can definitely collect the PvP Epic set.

Warrior – Battlegear of Wrath

The Tier 2 Warrior set provides huge amounts of Armor and Stamina, a lot of Strength and some other forms of damage mitigation (block, parry, Defense). While providing a ton of survivability, it’s not perfect for PvE tanking due to the lack of bonuses to threat generation. It’s definitely going to be worth it to run at least a few pieces of this set though. The sheer amount of stats can’t be ignored. All items bring some Stamina and Strength.  

Helm of Wrath – provides some resistances and +11 Defense. It’s dropped by Onyxia in Onyxia’s Lair.

Pauldrons of Wrath – add +27 block to your shield and +7 Defense.

Breastplate of Wrath – besides a ton of raw stats, it also provides +11 Defense.

Bracelets of Wrath – only add some Stamina and Strength.

Gauntlets of Wrath – bring +7 Defense and +1% parry chance.

Waistband of Wrath – provides another +7 Defense and +3% chance to block with a shield.

Legplates of Wrath – add +11 Defense and +2% dodge rate.

Sabatons of Wrath – provide +7 Defense and +14 shield block value.

The whole set provides 4925 Armor, 231 Stamina, 127 Strength, 61 Defense, 40 Fire Resistance, 30 Shadow Resistance and 10 Nature, Frost and Arcane Resistance. Additionally, collecting three pieces of this set enhances your Battle Shout to give extra +20 Attack Power to allies in range. Five parts of the set provide you a chance to consume less Rage when using abilities. The full eight-piece set gets you 4% chance to parry an attack after a successful block.

As you can see, the set provides a ton of stats, but it’s not really designed optimally for any of the builds. As a tank, you can even be unkillable, but without proper threat generation you are not that useful, because you can’t keep the boss’s focus on yourself. Fury Warriors won’t be too happy with this set, because it favors using a shield and in general a ton of power budget goes into defensive stats, which is suboptimal for a DPS build. You can definitely use some pieces, but we don’t recommend going out of your way to collect them all.

Rogue – Bloodfang Armor

This leather set is extremely powerful upgrade for Rogues as it provides really useful bonuses. It provides a ton of Agility, as well as some Stamina, Strength, hit rate, critical chance, dodge rate and some other stats. Bloodfang Armor is overall great for both PvE and PvP. It’s also considered to be one of the best looking sets.

Bloodfang Hood – adds +1% critical chance.

Bloodfang Spaulders – provide +1% dodge rate.

Bloodfang Chestpiece – grants +2% hit chance and +1% critical strike chance.

Bloodfang Bracers – improve your hit rate by 1%.

Bloodfang Gloves – provide immunity to Disarm. This bonus can be really useful for PvP.

Bloodfang Belt - grants extra +1% critical chance.

Bloodfang Pants – another +1% critical rate bonus.

Bloodfang Boots – improve your dodge chance by +1%.

All the parts together provide 1292 Armor, 203 Agility, 141 Stamina, 86 Strength, 4% critical chance, 3% hit rate, 2% dodge chance, 40 Fire Resistance, 30 Shadow Resistance, as well as 10 Fire, Frost and Nature Resists. Equipping three pieces of this set provides you 5% additional chance to apply poison with your attacks. Five parts empower your Feint skill to drop even more threat. Full set grants additional damage and healing on a single auto-attack that recharges every six seconds.

The three-piece bonus makes this set slightly better for Alliance Rogues. They will usually use poisons on both their main-hand and the off-hand weapon. Horde players often save their main-hand buff slot for Windfury Totem, at least if they’re running with a Shaman (which will probably be always if we’re talking about the endgame group content). The Feint bonus is not that useful, because this ability will always be just a secondary threat management tool, due to Vanish being just overall better. Still, the Bloodfang Armor set is definitely worth collecting. It provides great stats, the Disarm immunity gloves can be really useful and the eight-piece bonus is really powerful.

Mage – Netherwind Regalia

This cloth set actually provides less Intellect than the Arcanist Regalia. It makes up for it with additional Stamina and Spell Damage. It’s nice that the set bonuses empower all three schools of magic available in the Mage spec trees, but it doesn’t change the fact that the set is simply suboptimal. Obviously it’s still really good, but there simply are some better options.

Netherwind Crown – provides +32 Spell Power and restores 4 mana every 5 seconds.

Netherwind Mantle – adds +21 Spell Damage and another +4 mana regeneration.

Netherwind Robes – another +32 Spell Power, also brings +1% spell critical chance.

Netherwind Bindings – grant +19 Spell Damage and restore 4 mana every 5 seconds.

Netherwind Gloves – provide +20 Spell Power and +1% spell critical rate.

Netherwind Belt – increases Spell Damage by +23.

Netherwind Pants – grant +30 Spell Power and 1% crit chance with spells.

Netherwind Boots – provide +27 Spell Damage

The whole set provides 666 Armor, 159 Intellect, 116 Stamina, 69 Spirit, 204 Spell Power, 12 mana regeneration per 5 seconds, 3% critical chance with spells, 40 Fire Resistance, 30 Shadow Resistance and 10 Resistances to Frost, Nature and Arcane. Additionally, the set bonuses improve your spells. Three pieces reduce threat generation of your Frostbolt, Scorch, Arcane Missiles and Fireball. Equipping five parts of this set increases the radius of your Blizzard, Arcane Explosion and Flamestrike by 25%. The full eight-piece set provide you with 10% chance of instacast after using Arcane Misilles, Fireball or Frostbolt.

Even though the set bonuses are really nice, you’re not likely to see many Mages wearing the full Netherwind Regalia. Some parts of it (like chest, legs and hands) are definitely worth getting just for the stats. Adding a third piece for lower threat generation might also be a good idea. That being said, completing the whole set will require a lot of effort and it’s simply not worth it.

Hunter – Dragonstalker Armor

The Tier 2 Hunter armor set is a pretty clear upgrade over the Giantstalker Armor that already was really good. Every raiding Hunter will most likely strive to get it. It provides a lot of Agility, Stamina, Intellect and Spirit.

Dragonstalker’s Helm – provides +1% critical strike chance.

Dragonstalker’s Spaulders – grants +1% hit rate.

Dragonstalker’s Breastplate – increases you critical chance by 1%.

Dragonstalker’s Bracers – only provide stat bonuses.

Dragonstalker’s Gauntlets – another +1% critical chance.

Dragonstalker’s Belt – also grants +1% crit rate.

Dragonstalker’s Legguards – increase both your hit and crit chance by 1%.

Dragonstalker’s Greaves – only flat stat bonuses here.

The whole set provides 2773 Armor, 208 Agility, 134 Stamina, 96 Intellect, 57 Spirit, 5% critical strike chance, 2% hit rate, 40 Fire, 30 Shadow and 10 Frost, Nature and Arcane Resistances. Set bonuses are once again really nice for Hunters. Three pieces make your Attack Power buff from Aspect of the Hawk 20% stronger. Five parts of the set give your pet +40 Stamina and +60 resistances to all the magic schools. Full Dragonstalker’s Armor gives your ranged attacks and skills a chance to inflict Expose Weakness, making the target more vulnerable to ranged attacks for 7 seconds.

Overall, all the stats and set buffs are extremely useful. If you’re looking to play a Hunter as a raiding DPS, you definitely should try and go for this set. Of course, collecting the whole thing will most likely require multiple runs of Molten Core, Onyxia’s Lair and Blackwing Lair. However, it’s definitely worth it in this case. Dragonstalker’s Armor is really good for raiding, solo farming and even PvP.

Warlock – Nemesis Raiment

Just like with Mage, the Tier 2 Warlock set provides slightly less primary stats than the Tier 1 armor. It compensates with more Spell Power and some other bonuses. Once again, it’s a great set for PvP, but this time it also works really well for raids, because of the substantial DPS increase, compared to the Felheart Rainment.

Nemesis Skullcap – grants +32 Spell Power and regenerates 4 health per 5 seconds.

Nemesis Spaulders – provide +23 Spell Power and +4 health regeneration.

Nemesis Robes – add another +32 Spell Damage and +1% critical chance with spells.

Nemesis Bracers - grant +15 Spell Power.

Nemesis Gloves – provide +15 Spell Damage, +1% spell crit chance and +4 health regeneration.

Nemesis Belt – adds +25 Spell Power and +1% critical strike chance with spells.

Nemesis Leggings – increase the Spell Damage by 39.

Nemesis Boots – grant +23 Spell Power.

All the pieces combined provide 666 Armor, 171 Stamina, 112 Intellect, 42 Spirit, 204 Spell Power, 12 health regeneration, 3% critical chance with spells, 40 Fire, 30 Shadow and 10 Arcane, Nature and Frost Resistances. Collecting three pieces of this set grants additional +23 Spell Power. Five parts buff your pet with +20 Stamina and +130 resistances to all types of magic. Full set reduces the threat you generate with Destruction spells by 20%.

Similarly to the Felheart Raiment, this armor is also great mostly for PvP and solo farming. While Nemesis set provides more damage than the Tier 1 armor, it’s still not the optimal raiding setup (it’s not bad though). Most Warlocks are likely to try and get at least a few pieces of this set. If you’re not interested in the whole thing, getting the three spell crit pieces is most likely the best option.

Priest – Vestments of Transcendence

Vestments of Transcendence are probably the best set for a Holy Priest in Classic. They basically provide everything that you need as a healer. This armor provides a lot of useful primary stats (Intellect, Spirit and Stamina) and huge amount of extra healing power. Set bonuses also synergize really well with healing, what makes Vestments of Transcendence one of the most sought after sets in Vanilla WoW.

Halo of Transcendence – increases Spell Healing by 48.

Pauldrons of Transcendence – provide extra +26 Healing Power.

Robes of Transcendence – grant +57 Spell Healing.

Bindings of Transcendence – add +33 Healing Power.

Handguards of Transcendence – provide +29 Spell Healing and +1% critical chance with spells.

Belt of Transcendence – grants +26 Healing Power.

Leggings of Transcendence – add +46 Spell Healing and restore 7 mana per 5 seconds.

Boots of Transcendence – provide +35 Healing Power.

All the pieces together combine into 666 Armor, 176 Intellect, 127 Spirit, 114 Stamina, 300 additional Healing Power, 7 mana regen, 1% chance spell critical effect, 40 Fire, 30 Shadow as well as 10 Nature, Arcane and Frost Resistances. Equipping three parts of this set allows 15% of your mana regeneration to work while you’re casting. Five pieces give you 50% chance to Fade after being struck with a melee attack – it allows you to reduce threat, while still healing your team. Full Vestments of Transcendence provide your Greater Heal with an additional healing over time effect. 

As we said, it’s arguably the most efficient set for a raiding Priest. All the stats are very useful and the set bonuses can’t be overestimated. Keeping the 15% mana regen at all times (20% when combined with Meditation) is a huge deal in terms of managing your resources. The passive threat drop can sometimes save your life what can make the difference between wiping or not. The full set bonus is probably the least valuable. You won’t use Greater Heal that often anyway, since the ability is a notorious mana sink.

Shaman – The Ten Storms

This Tier 2 Shaman set provides really useful stats and a great three-piece bonus. Most raiding Shamans will try to get at least a few parts of The Ten Storms. Shamans wear mail, so next to Intellect, Stamina, Spirit and mana regen, the set also provides a significant amount of Armor.

Helmet of Ten Storms – grants +18 Healing Power, +9 Spell Power and +1% critical chance with magic.

Epaulets of Ten Storms - another +1% spell critical rate.

Breastplate of Ten Storms – provides +23 Spell Power.

Bracers of Ten Storms -   restore 6 mana per 5 seconds.

Gauntlets of Ten Storms – provide +8 Spell Power, 15 Healing Power and 6 mana regen over 5 seconds.

Belt of Ten Storms – grants +26 Healing Power and +1% critical spell chance.

Legplates of Ten Storms – increase Spell Power by 29 and spell crit chance by 1%.

Greaves of Ten Storms - provide +20 Spell Power.

The whole set amounts to 2773 Armor, 157 Intellect, 134 Stamina, 105 Spirit, 89 Spell Power, 59 Spell Healing, 3% spell crit chance, 12 mana regen and the usual magic resistances: 40 Fire, 30 Shadow and 10 Arcane, Frost and Nature. Equipping three parts of the set improves your Chain Heal efficiency by 30% on every target that’s not the first one. Five pieces provide extra 3% critical chance on Nature spells. The full Ten Storms set gives your Healing Wave and Lesser Healing Wave 25% chance to apply Lightning Shield to your target.

Stats on this armor are really nice, but the 5 and 8 piece bonuses are pretty lackluster. Most players will want to combine three pieces of this set with some strong healing items or even another full 5-part set. Going for more than three parts is just too much effort for too little reward.

Paladin – Judgment Armor

Once again the Paladin raid set is trapped in the hybrid box. It gives something to multiple builds, but is not the optimal choice for any of them. The Judgement Armor provides a ton of stats and bonuses, but you can’t run a single build that will make a good use of all of them.

Judgment Crown – grants +32 Spell Power.  

Judgment Spaulders – provide 13 Spell Power and +5 mana regeneration.

Judgment Breastplate – increase Spell Power by 25 and provide another +5 mana regen.

Judgment Bindings – grant +7 Spell Power.

Judgment Gauntlets – provide +15 Spell Power and restore 6 mana over 5 seconds.

Judgment Belt – increases Spell Power by 23.

Judgment Legplates – grants +20 Spell Power and +4 mana regeneration.

Judgment Sabatons – provide +18 Spell Power.

All the pieces together bring 4925 Armor, 155 Stamina, 148 Intellect, 92 Strength, 50 Spirit, 153 Spell Power,  20 mana regen and the resistances: 40 Fire, 30 Shadow, 10 Frost, Arcane and Nature. Three-part bonus increases the radius of your auras. Five-piece provides additional +47 Spell Power and the full set inflicts extra damage when you cast Judgment.

Once again, the stat distribution and set bonuses are not great for Holy Paladins and even worse for Retribution builds. As a healer, you can definitely use some single pieces just for the stats and maybe even consider running five parts for the bonus, but it’s definitely not the optimal gear.

Druid – Stormrage Raiment

The Tier 2 Druid armor set is much more focused on the healer build. It’s obviously good, because if you want to raid with this class, you definitely should use the Restoration spec. You obviously can’t have a single set that will be perfect for all roles and builds – that’s one of the main problems of hybrid classes, especially the ones with multiple viable setups. If you’re not interested in playing Druid as a healer, you should definitely skip this set.

Stormrage Cover – grants +29 Healing Power and +6 mana regeneration over 5 seconds.

Stormrage Pauldrons – another +29 healing from spells. Also restore 4 mana per 5 seconds.

Stormrage Chestguard – provides +42 Healing Power and 1% critical chance with spells.

Stormrage Bracers- add +33 Spell Healing.

Stormrage Handguards – grant +42 Healing Power.

Stormrage Belt – provides +26 Spell Healing and +4 mana regeneration.

Stormrage Legguards – increase healing done by spells by 48 and restore 6 mana per 5 seconds.

Stormrage Boots – grant +26 Healing Power and +1% spell crit chance.

Overall, the Stormrage Raiment provides 1292 Armor, 177 Intellect, 122 Stamina, 103 Spirit, 275 Healing Power, 2% spell critical chance, 20 mana regeneration and the usual resistances: 40 Fire, 30 Shadow, 10 Nature, Frost and Arcane. Three-piece bonus is really great, as it allows 15% of mana regeneration to continue, even if you’re casting spells. Equipping five parts reduces cast time of Regrowth by 0.2 seconds. The full set extends the duration of Rejuvenation by 3 seconds, providing an extra healing tick.

The high amount of Healing Power, mana regeneration and Intellect make this set really efficient for Restoration Druids. The eight-piece bonus is somewhat underwhelming, but the items themselves are strong enough to justify wearing a full set. If you want to raid as a Druid healer, you should definitely get at least three parts of the Stormrage Raiment. You can also up it to five pieces, if you can get your hands on them. 

Tier 3

It’s going to be a while before this tier of armor sets becomes available to Classic WoW players. The items themselves (with the exception or rings) don’t drop from mobs or bosses. Instead, they’re quest rewards that require special items that can be looted from specific bosses in Naxxramas. The last raid of World of Warcraft Classic that will open in phase 6.

These are the only nine-piece raid sets in Vanilla WoW. They include rings that drop directly from Kel’Thuzad – the final boss in Naxxramas and oen of the most improtant officers in the Lich King's army. In most cases, Tier 3 sets are the Best in Slot equipment for the entire Classic WoW, as their stats are significantly increased compated to Tier 2. Not only they have the highest item levels in the game, but their power budgets are often much more optimal for certain builds and playstyles. Earlier tiers often “wasted” parts of their bonuses on some suboptimal stats.

Between Tier 2 and Tier 3 sets, some more strong items will be introduced. Phase 4 marks the opening of 20-man Zul'Gurub raid. In the next phase,  the two Ahn'Qiraj raids will be made available to the players, alongside the smaller Tier 2.5 sets. They can serve as good placeholders or even transition items before getting the most desired Naxxramas sets. 

Warrior – Dreadnaught’s Battlegear  

Dreadnaught’s Battlegear set is by far the best tanking gear that you can get in Classic WoW. It’s really great for both mitigating damage and generating threat. Every raiding Protection Warrior player will want at least four pieces of this set, but optimally it would be great to have the whole thing. Singular parts provide a ton of survivability and Strength with their stats, while the set bonuses help with threat generation.

Dreadnaught Helmet – grants +14 Defense and +1% dodge chance.

Dreadnaught Pauldrons – provide +9 Defense, +21 shield block value and +1% hit rate.

Dreadnaught Breastplate – adds +13 Defense, 2% hit chance and 1% dodge rate.

Dreadnaught Bracers – increase Defense by 5.

Dreadnaught Gauntlets – grant +9 Defense, 21 shield block value and +3% chance to block attacks with shield.

Dreadnaught Waistguard – another +9 Defense, the item also provides +18 block value with shield and +3% chance to block successfully.

Dreadnaught Legplates – provide +13 Defense, +32 shield block and +1% chance to dodge.

Dreadnaught Sabatons – increase Defense by 9 and the dodge chance by 1%.

Ring of the Dreadnaught – grants +10 Defense and +1% dodge rate.

The whole set combined amounts to 5672 Armor, 296 Stamina, 147 Strength, 91 Defense, 5% dodge chance, 3% hit rate, 6% shield block chance and 92 block value. Two-part bonus increases damage done by your Revenge skill (which also helps with threat generation). Equipping four pieces increases your hit chance with Challenging Shout and Taunt, allowing you to generate even more threat.

Six Dreadnaught items improve your hit chance with Sunder Armor, Heroic Strike, Revenge and Shield Slam. Wearing eight parts of this set grants you a unique buff that significantly increases the amount of healing you receive for 5 seconds, when you drop below 20% HP.

As you can see from all the primary stats and other bonuses, Dreadnaught Battlegear offers everything that a primary tanks needs. Try and get as much pieces as possible, but you can be sure that every raiding Prot Warrior on the server will have a similar goal. Naxxramas runs will not be that easy to do either, so it’s unlikely that too many players will be able to get the full Tier 3 sets.

Rogue – Bonescythe Armor

As we already established, the Naxxramas items are usually just the best, most desired pieces of equipment in Classic WoW. Rogue’s Bonescythe Armor is no exception to that rule. This set is great for DPS, especially in the raiding scenarios where killing the takes some time and requires multiple skill rotations. Like all the earlier Rogue sets, this one also provides a lot of Agility, critical strike chance and hit rate.

Bonescythe Helmet -  grants 1% hit rate and 2% crit chance.

Bonescythe Pauldrons – increases hit and critical chance by 1%.

Bonescythe Breastplate – provides +80 Attack Power, 1% hit rate and 2% critical chance.

Bonescythe Bracers – improve your crit rate by 1%.

Bonescythe Gauntlets – grant +66 Attack Power as well as 1% hit and crit rate.

Bonescythe Waistguard – improves hit chance by 1%.

Bonescythe Legplates – provide 1% hit and critical strike chance.

Bonescythe Sabatons – grant +64 Attack Power as well as 1% hit and crit rate.

Bonescythe Ring – increases hit chance by 1%.

All together, the pieces provide 1456 Armor, 180 Stamina, 154 Agility, 114 Strength, 210 Attack Power, 8% hit rate and 9% critical strike chance. Set bonuses are really great too. Equipping two pieces gives yourauto-attacks chance to heal you on-hit.

Four parts let you regain energy after critically striking with Backstab, Sinister Strike and Hemorrhage – it really helps with energy management and lets you use more abilities while killing a raid boss, in turn significantly increasing your DPS output.  

Six-piece bonus reduces the amount of threat that you generate with some of your damage abilities. This one is arguably not that useful, since Rogues have some inherent possibilities of easily dropping threat built in their kit. Collecting eight parts of Bonescythe Armor provides additional critical strikes with your damage skills.

Mage – Frostfire Regalia

While earlier Mage sets were somewhat underwhelming, Frostfire Regalia are definitely worth collecting. This might not have the undisputed BiS status, similar to Naxxramas armors for some other classes, but it’s definitely in discussion. It brings a lot of Spell Power and Intellect alongside really useful two and six piece bonuses.

Frostfire Circlet – grants 35 Spell Power, 1% spell hit rate and 2% spell critical chance.

Frostfire Shoulderpads – increase Spell Power by 36.

Frostfire Robe – improve your Spell Damage by 47, as well as your spell hit and crit chance by 1%. It also cuts off 13 of your targets magic resists.

Frostfire Bindings – provide 27 Spell Power and decrease your target’s resistances to all magic schools by 10.

Frostfire Gloves – increase your Spell Damage by 36.

Frostfire Belt – grants +28 Spell Power and +1% spell hit chance.

Frostfire Leggings – provides +42 Spell Damage and +1% hit rate with spells.

Frostfire Sandals – improve Spell Power by 28% and spell critical chance by 1%.

Frostfire Ring – grants +30 Spell Power and +1% crit rate with spells.

All the pieces together amount to 764 Armor, 177 Intellect, 162 Stamina, 49 Spirit, 313 Spell Power, 23 Magic Penetration, 4% spell hit rate and 5% spell critical chance. Two-part bonus reduces your Evocation cooldown by one minute what can be helpful with mana issues Equipping four pieces provides some additional defense against other magic users. The six-part bonus offers a substantial DPS boost when casting subsequent spells on the same target – really useful for raiding. Wearing eight Frostfire items give your spell chance to displace you and generate no threat.

Sheer amount of caster DPS stats make every item in Frostfire Regalia a worthwhile choice. Some of the set bonuses might not be that great for increasing DPS (barring the 6-piece of course), but the stats will often still outweigh a lot of other options. That being said, it’s a Naxxramas armor, getting multiple pieces will require a lot runs through that raid which won’t be easy to do.

Hunter – Cryptstalker Armor

The Tier 3 set basically provides all the most useful stats for Hunters. There are no more Spirit bonuses and slightly less Intellect increase. This means that a bigger portion of the power budget can go into Agility, Stamina, as well as hit and crit, boosts.

Cryptstalker Headpiece – grants +2% critical strike chance and restores 3 mana per 5 seconds.

Cryptstalker Spaulders - provide +1% crit rate.

Cryptstalker Tunic – adds +1% hit and critical strike chance. Regenerates 4 mana every 5 seconds.

Cryptstalker Wristguards – increase your critical rate by 1%.

Cryptstalker Handguards – grant +1% crit chance and +4 mana regen.

Cryptstalker Girdle – provides 1% hit and crit rate as well as +3 mana restoration.

Cryptstalker Legguards – improve your critical strike chance by 1% and regenerate 6 mana each 5 seconds.

Cryptstalker Boots – grant +1% crit rate.

Ring of the Cryptstalker – restores 6 mana per 5 seconds.

The whole set adds up to 3186 Armor, 283 Agility, 184 Stamina, 82 Intellect, 26 mana regen, 9% critical chance and 2% hit chance. Equipping two parts of this set extends the duration of your Rapid Fire by four seconds which is a significant DPS buff. Four-piece bonus grants +50 Attack Power to the Hunter and their pet, which is also really valuable. Collecting six parts of the Crypstalker set makes your critical strikes restore 50 mana. Eight-piece bonus reduces the mana cost of Multi-Shot and Aimed Shot by 20.

Thanks to the great stat allocation and really strong two and four-piece bonuses, this is definitely the BiS gearing option for Hunters in Vanilla, especially if you’re looking at DPS numbers. Two Crypstalker items are the absolute minimum that you should try to get, if you’re a raiding Hunter. In case of this set, you should try to get as many pieces as you can. 

Warlock – Plagueheart Raiment

Unlike the Tier 1 and Tier 2 Warlock sets, Plagueheart Raiment is really well designed for PvE, especially raids. It provides a lot of Spell Power and spell critical chance, Stamina and Intellect. The set is really good for raid DPS, but also works extremely well in PvP. Stat-wise, many of its parts are simply Best in Slot Warlock items in WoW Classic.

Plagueheart Circlet - grants +33 Spell Power, +1% spell hit rate and +2% magic critical chance.

Plagueheart Shoulderpads – increase Spell Damage by 36 and spell hit chance by 1%.

Plagueheart Robe – provides +51 Spell Power as well as +1% spell hit and crit rate.

Plagueheart Bindings – grant +23 Spell Damage.

Plagueheart Gloves – increase Spell Power by 26 and spell critical chance by 1%.

Plagueheart Belt – provides +34 Spell Damage and 1% magical crit rate.

Plagueheart Leggings – grant +37 Spell Power, 10 magic penetration and 1% spell critical rate.

Plagueheart Sandals – provide +32 Spell Damage and 1% magical crit chance.

Plagueheart Ring – increases Spell Power by 29.

All the pieces together bring 764 Armor, 222 Stamina, 143 Intellect, 301 Spell Power, 10 magic penetration, 3% spell hit rat and 7% spell critical chance. Equipping two parts of this set makes it so your Shadow Bolts have a chance to heal you. Four-piece bonus increases damage you deal with Corruption by 12% - a really nice DPS boost. Collecting six parts reduces your threat generation. It shouldn’t be necessary, unless tanks in your guild are really behind the curve in terms of itemization. Eight pieces of Plagueheart Raiment reduce the health cost of Life Tap by 12%.

Overall this armor is definitely worthwhile. Two and four part bonuses are really useful for basically all the Vanilla WoW content (raids, PvP and solo PvE). The later set buffs are in general not as useful, but raw stats on the items definitely justify going for them.  

Priest – Vestments of Fate

Alongside simply providing more sheer stats than the Tier 2 set, Vestments of Fate are actually considered to bring even better stat distribution and more useful set bonuses. The Naxxramas armor is the best Holy Priest gear that you can get and you should strive to collect as many pieces as possible.

Circlet of Faith – grants +75 Healing Power and restores 5 mana every 5 seconds.

Shoulderpads of Faith – increase your Spell Healing by 51 and your mana regeneration by 3.

Robe of Faith – provides 64 Healing Power and 5 mana regen per 5 seconds.

Bindings of Faith – grant +40 Healing Power.

Gloves of Faith – another +40 Spell Healing and 4 mana restoration.

Belt of Faith – increases Healing Power by 48.

Leggings of Faith – provide +66 Spell Healing.

Sandals of Faith – grant +44 Healing Power and restore 6 mana every 5 seconds.

Ring of Faith – increases Spell Healing by 55.

The whole set amounts to 764 Armor, 190 Intellect, 173 Spirit, 154 Stamina, 483 Healing Power and 23 mana regeneration. Two-part bonus reduces mana cost of your Renew spell by 12%. Equipping four pieces makes your Greater Heal crits also provide the target with 500 damage shield. Collecting six parts reduced the threat generated by your healing spells. The eight-piece bonus provides a lot of extra mana regeneration.

Since large amounts of Healing Power and not running out of mana are the main goals of Holy Priest, it’s no surprise that Vestments of Faith are an extremely strong gearing option. It’s a great example of a perfectly distributed power budget. All the stats are useful and nothing goes to waste. If you’re going to transition from Vestments of Transcendence to this set, make sure to keep the 3-piece bonus of the Tier 2 armor for as long as possible. Additional mana regen while casting is basically the only thing that’s missing in the Vestments of Faith.

Shaman – The Earthshatterer

The Earthshatterer is a powerful support/healer Shaman set. It might not be as much of a power jump from earlier sets as in case of some other classes, but it’s still really strong. This Tier 3 set provides a lot of healing power and mana regen alongside Intellect and Stamina. Of course high item level mail set also brings a lot of Armor to the table.

Earthshatter Headpiece – grants +68 Healing Power and +8 mana regeneration.

Earthshatter Spaulders – provide +42 Spell Healing and restore 6 mana per 5 seconds.

Earthshatter Tunic – increases Healing Power by 59 and mana regeneration by 12.

Earthshatter Wristguards – grant +33 Spell Healing and restore 4 mana every 5 seconds.

Earthshatter Handguards – provide +35 Healing Power and 6 mana regen.

Earthshatter Girdle – brings 42 Spell Healing and 7 mana restoration.

Earthshatter Legguards – grant + 59 Healing Power and 9 mana regeneration.

Earthshatter Boots – increase Spell Healing by 37 and restore 7 mana per 5 seconds.

Ring of the Earthshatter – another +37 Healing Power and 6 mana regen.

All together, The Earthsatterer provides 3186 Armor, 223 Intellect, 196 Stamina, 412 Healing Power and 65 mana regeneration. Two-piece bonus reduces totems mana cost by 12%. Equipping four parts increases the efficiency of your Mana Spring Totem by 25%. Six-piece bonus gives your Healing Wave and Lesser Healing Wave chance to buff their target with Totemic Power – an effect that differs between classes, providing really useful stats for each character (unless you’re playing a Fury Warrior). Collecting eight part of this set makes your Lightning Shield spell grant you additional mana regen.

It’s pretty obvious that this set only synergizes with the Resto Shaman build. If you prefer playing as Elemental Shaman, you should definitely look for different gear. That being said, The Earthshatterer is incredibly powerful in terms of supporting your team.

Paladin – Redemption Armor

The situation with Tier 3 Paladin set is kind of similar to Shaman’s. The pretense of versatility has been completely thrown away in order to create gear that’s going to work really well with a single build. You can see it in all sort of stats: high amount of Intellect, mana restoration and Healing Power combined with the total lack of Strength. It’s also visible in set bonuses.

Redemption Headpiece – grants +64 Healing Power, +1% spell critical chance and 8 mana regeneration.

Redemption Spaulders – provide +40 Spell Healing, +1% magical crit rate and 4 mana regen.

Redemption Tunic – increases Healing Power by 59, spell crit chance by 1% and mana restoration by 10.

Redemption Wristguards – grant +31 Spell Healing and +4 mana regen.

Redemption Girdle – provides +40 Healing Power and restores 5 mana per 5 seconds.

Redemption Legguards – increase Spell Healing by 42, spell critical chance by 1% and mana regen by 8.

Redemption Boots – bring +42 Healing Power, +1% spell crit chance and 5 mana restoration per 5 seconds.

Ring of Redemption – grants 37 Spell Healing and restores 6 mana over 5 seconds.

The whole set amounts to 5672 Armor, 208 Intellect, 207 Stamina, 388 Healing Power, 5% spell critical chance and 48 mana regeneration. Two-part bonus increases the amount of healing of your Judgment of Light spell. Equipping four pieces reduces cooldown of your Lay on Hands ability by 12 minutes. Six-part bonus makes your Flash of Light and Holy Light spells provide your targets with the Holy Power buff – it’s an equivalent to Shaman’s Totemic Power, so it can have a different effect depending on the target’s class.  Collecting eight pieces of Redemption Armor makes your Cleanse spell additionally heal your target.

Retribution Paladins have no reason to even look at this set. It’s exclusively designed for the healer spec – Holy Paladin. If you’re okay with the supportive playstyle, you definitely should try and collect as much pieces as you can. If you manage to get a spot in a good raiding guild, there’s a chance of actually collecting it relatively quickly, since the competition might not be that difficult as hybrid classes aren’t that popular in Classic WoW.

Druid – Dreamwalker Raiment

Dreamwalker Raiment is another example of Tier 3 set optimized for a single build. Once again it favors playing as a healer due to high amounts of Healing Power, Intellect and mana regeneration. However, Feral Druids will have to look somewhere else in order to find a good Phase 6 gear.

Dreamwalker Headpiece – provides +66 Healing Power.

Dreamwalker Spaulders – increase Spell Healing by 48 and restore 5 mana per 5 seconds.

Dreamwalker Tunic – grants +66 Healing Power and +8 mana regeneration.

Dreamwalker Wristguards – provide +40 Spell Healing and restore 5 mana every 5 seconds.

Dreamwalker Handguards – increase Healing Power by 53.

Dreamwalker Girdle – grants +51 Spell Healing and 4 mana regen.

Dreamwalker Legguards – provide +66 Healing Power and restore 8 mana per 5 seconds.

Dreamwalker Boots – increase Spell Healing by 46 and mana regen by 5.

Ring of the Dreamwalker – grants +37 Healing Power.

All the pieces together bring 1456 Armor, 205 Intellect, 175 Stamina, 130 Spirit, 473 Healing Power and 35 mana regeneration. Wearing two fragments of this set gives your Rejuvenation ticks a chance to restore mana, energy or rage to your target. Four-piece bonus reduces mana cost of Healing Touch, Regrowth, Rejuvenation and Tranquility by 3%. Equipping six parts of the Dreamwalker Raiment lets your Regrowth spell temporarily increase your target’s maximum HP. Eight-piece bonus regains 30% of mana spent on Healing Touch if the spell procs critical effect.

Arguably, the set special effects are a bit underwhelming, especially compared to Tier 3 Priest and Shaman armors, but the Dreamwalker Raiment is still a great healing set. While you certainly won’t be able to outheal a Priest with a similar gear level, you will definitely bring a lot of value and utility to your raid.

Strongest Armor sets in Classic WoW

That's our overview of the Vanilla WoW raid armor sets. Unsurprisingly, newer phases of Classic will bring more powerful gear for players to strive for. Ultimately, every raiding gamer will eventually want to have at least some Tier 3 items. The only exceptions are Feral Druids, Retribution Paladins, Elemental Shamans and some other unconventional build users (they likely won’t be seen in raid groups that often though).

The difference in power between Tier 2 and Tier 3 is really massive for multiple classes. There’s no reason not to strive for the Naxxramas gear – just remember that you’re going to have some competition. Every raiding players will try to get the strongest available raid tier sets. 

If you’re interested in more content about World of Warcraft Classic or some other hot online games, make sure to follow our blog and check out plenty of news and guides. If you want to get to those Tier 1 sets faster, make sure to take a look at the WoW Classic offers at MMOAuctions!

world of warcraft classic

Vanilla WoW is a return to the old days of MMORPG. Its progression is significantly slower than in contemporary games of the genre, including Blizzard's Battle for Azeroth retail WoW current version. You can join the vast community of players who want that great fun and familiar gaming experience. Tons of people picked up the game during thew biggest release in MMORPG history. Players get the opportunity to play the iteration of WoW back from the day when it just started. 

If you feel like playing World of Warcraft in the way that it was originally designed, Classic might be a nice option for you. Players can develop their character by choosing race and class as well as professions that will let them make some extra gold. All the classes available in Vanilla are: Paladin, Priest, Rogue, Shaman, Warlock, Warrior, Druid, Hunter, Mage. Besides class, you will also be able to choose a profession to get some extra gold.