Phase 2 Wrath of the Lich King is nearly upon us and for most of us, our main goal will be to gear up. So how to get full gear in Wotlk Classic phase 2? Today we're going to discuss every way you can gear up in Northrend and reveal the fastest method for getting your character geared up in Wrath Classic. 

Wotlk Classic Phase 2 Gearing Guide - How To Get Full Gear In WOTLK Classic

World of Warcraft Wrath of the Lich King Classic Phase 2 goes available on Tuesday, January 17, 2023. This Wotlk Phase 2 gearing guide is focusing on the best way to get full gear. You can follow this guide at any point in Wrath Classics since these methods will only get better with time and there will be catch-up methods for gearing later on in Wrath Classic as new Phases release.

1. Pre-raid Best In Slot Items

Believe it or not, you can start collecting your pre-raid best in slot items before your even max level by participating in PvP. There's a ton of pre-raid best in slot gear that can be purchased for honor points and getting honor and wrath is super easy. Every three hours, there is winter grasp and if it's AV weekend, you'll be getting into AV in less than 5 minutes even in the 71 to 79 bracket. It rewards an absolutely epic amount of XP at the same time. So you're essentially leveling and gearing simultaneously. With the end of Arena season 5 gear that was previously only available with arena points will be available for purchase with honor, making gearing through honor even more worth it.

It's a good idea to know what spec you want to play at 80 and to have the Abyss list open while you're doing this. So in case you reach the mark of honor, you're ready to go and buy some items. You'll also acquire wintergrasp marks of honor which can be exchanged for gear. The cheapest piece costs 15 marks which is just 5 wins. Just 5 wins aren't always so easy especially since you might not win or you might not be on when wintergrasp is about to start. So this isn't necessarily the fastest WotLK Classic Phase 2 gear method.

2. Professions

Another source of gear is professions such as engineering goggles, blacksmithing weapons, jewel crafting rings, necklaces, and trinkets along with tailoring cloaks and armor. Professions can provide you with a ton of gear right when you hit level 80. Even if you don't have the profession, the gear that these professions craft is often buying and equipped, so you can purchase them. If you have the gold you can also so buy a lot of your pre-raid bis gear, but also bis gear once Phase 2 comes out and Ulduar recipes are in the game.

You can bet that these new Ulduar Boe epics will cost thousands if not tens of thousands of gold and gradually decrease in price as the supply of roomed orbs go up which is the new crafting reagent in Ulduar and demand decreases as more people acquire their gear. Also, don't forget that if you have a main character that is exalted with any of the new factions that sell boa enchants that you can also buy those for your alts, saving you a tedious reputation grind.

3. Heroic+ Dungeons

Another source of gear actually comes from these same reputation vendors. If you're a healer, there's a nice mace you can get from getting revered with the Wyrmrest accord for example. Reputation gear is probably the hardest to get and the least worth it, especially since in Phase 2 you can just do Titan Rune Heroics which already dropped 10-man Naxx Malygos, and Sartherion gear. This is one of the fastest ways you can go about gearing up a fresh 80 in Wotlk Classic. These Heroic plus dungeons aren't much harder than regular Heroics and you get really good gear from them. So it's definitely one of the best Wotlk Classic gearing Phase 2.

Another bonus is that Titan Rune dungeons will also drop emblems of Valor which you can use to buy tier 7 and the daily Heroic quest reward will give emblems of conquest which you can use to purchase your tier 8 chest and helm. Not to mention the Heroic plus dungeons once again are dropping raid loot. So there are a ton of reasons to run Heroic plus. Since Titan Rune Heroics reward 10 man loot, 10 man raids are now going to drop 25 man gear and 25 man raids are now going to drop one extra piece of loot. So this means running Phase 1, 10 and 25 man raids is actually still a great way to gear up your character fast in Wrath of the Lich King Classic Phase 2 especially since 25 man will be dropping extra loot on every single boss.

4. Vault of Archavon

Another great source of gear is going to be Vault of Archavon 10 and 25 player modes with the addition of Emalon in Phase 2, there's going to be another whole boss to give you more chances at loot. In 25 player mode, Emalon drops the tier 8 conqueror chest, hands, leg pieces, and the new furious gladiator PVP set, along with the deadly gladiator pieces in 10 player mode and the new valorous pieces and 2 emblems. Definitely a great place to gear up in Phase 2 Classic Wotlk.

At this point, your character should have enough gear to head into Ulduar which will be the source of everyone's best in slot gear. Even Ulduar 10 has best in slot gear from bosses like Algalon who drops item level 239 gear in 10 man and 252 on 25 man, so finding a group won't be difficult. 25-man Ulduar will be the destination for a lot of bis items for everyone including the 25 man hard modes.

Future Wotlk Gearing Tips

We also mentioned in the beginning that we would talk about future gearing methods with Trial of the Crusader released in Phase 3. We might have a similar effect to what we saw in Phase 2 which means 25 in Ulduar gear gets extra drops, 10 man Ulduar drops, 25 man loot, and so on down the chain making loot more accessible. It might not happen but blizzard has released a statement that they might continue what they're planning on doing in Phase 2 in future Phases.  Phase 3 also comes with a new dungeon Trial of the Champion which is another avenue for gearing up, dropping gear from item level 200 to as high as item level 219.

In Phase 4, when the Icecrown Citadel dungeons release, these are the Forge of Souls, Pit of Saron and Halls of Reflection. Within these Halls, new powerful gear will be much more easily acquired, dropping entirely item level 219 gear. Also within the Frozen Halls instances, there is a chance for the battered hilt to drop. This item drops randomly from both elite trash mobs and bosses within any of the Frozen Halls instances on Heroic mode and begins the quest to create Quel'Delar, by far the most powerful weapon you can acquire before setting foot into a raid with 251 item level. 

The hilt itself can be traded and will sell for thousands if not tens of thousands of gold as well. The battered hilt also doesn't need to be turned into Quel'Delar since not all classes can use swords. There are other weapon rewards like maces with equal item level and stats which can make the battered hilt a high-demand item for anyone who is looking for pre-raid bis.

Conclusions

For now, in Phase 2 the fastest way to gear will be Heroic plus Dungeons and Vault of Archavon and from there you can head straight to Ulduar. In Phase 3, Vault of Archavon and Trial of the Champion until you are raid ready. Then once Phase 4 releases, the fastest way to gear will be Vault of Archavon and Frozen Halls instances in order to prepare to head straight to Icecrown Citadel. Vault of Archavon will always be a great way to gear throughout the expansion. With each new Phase, an additional boss is added to the raid with the new raid tier sets until all 4 bosses are in the game. Heroic or Heroic plus dungeons will also be a staple with their increased item level loot as more are released.