In this WotLK Classic Phase 3 Tier 9 Gear Guide, we dive into how to get 258 item level gear sets fast from VOA, ToC, and Onyxia's Lair in the new season 3!

WotLK Classic Phase 3 Tier 9 Gearing Guide - How To Get 232-258 iLvl Gear Sets Fast?

When it comes to Tier gear in Phase 3, it actually works quite a bit differently from how it has so far in Wrath of the Lich King. Right now you're used to some tier coming from VOA bosses being able to farm the current tier of emblems to get a couple of pieces, as well as obviously getting tokens inside of the raid, then you just visit your armor-type specific vendor, and trade in the tokens. Surely it's the same? No. Things are about to change! Now follow us to discover how you get your Tier 9 gear in Phase 3, there is a big difference to Phase 2!

In WoTLK Classic Phase 3, what you're also probably used to is the fact that there are two different types of item level sets, so a 225 set which comes from all do 10 man and VOA 10, and then there's a 232 item level set which comes from Uldar 25 and VOA 25. 

The first and biggest change really is that there are actually 3 item-level sets:

• You've got 232 item level which is 10 man

• You've got 245 item level which is 25 man

• You've got 258 item level which is 25 heroic

How To Get 232 Item Level Tier 9 Gear in WotLK Classic Phase 3?

Let's talk about how you actually get the baseline set which is the 232 item level:

It's fairly simple, all you need is emblems and you can still get these drop in VOA from the new boss. With the new boss being Coral, you'll be able to get the 232 hands or legs, and then in 25 man the same applies. 

How To Get 245 Item Level Tier 9 Gear in WotLK Classic Phase 3?

The big difference to getting 245 item level gear is the addition of the new currency, so here are the ways you can get these tier 9 items:

Trade Emblems of Triumph from 10 Heroic & 25 Normal Raids

First of all, you're going to be able to get the 245 items outside of getting lucky in VOA, the only way you're going to be able to obtain your tier set is by farming lots and lots of emblems. The shoulders and the gloves both cost 30 emblems each, and the head chest, and legs all cost 50 each. So let's say we want to start working on getting our tier, so the 10 man will cost 30 Emblems of Triumph for the gloves. Remember if you're already raiding 25 man in Uldar, this is only the same item level it would only be the set bonuses that you're going for if it's decent for you.

However, if we wanted the 25 man version which is 245 item level, it's going to cost 45 Emblems of Triumph for the hands and the shoulders, and 75 emblems for the head chest, and legs. But you'll notice one more type of currency that we need which is the Trophy of the Crusade and these come from the actual raid. Trade Trophy of the Crusade from 25 Heroic Raids

The good news is you don't actually need quite as much RNG to get your tier sets because you might not see a single vanquisher token in a raid leaving your Rogues, DKs, Mages, and Druids extremely sad, but then on the flip side you'll see so many protector tokens that no one even wants them anymore for their off-spec. But that's no longer the case because of this new currency which is Trophy of the Crusade, these are not restricted to any specific sets of classes like the tokens that we're used to and instead anyone can get them. So ordinarily you would likely prioritize it to the people that have already got the emblems to be able to purchase the item. You do get them quite a lot in 25 man and you can even get them in 10 man heroic from the tribute chest if you achieve a couple of different thresholds. So there are a few ways you can get Trophy of the Crusade that you need to combine with your Emblems of Triumph to actually get the 245 tier which is obviously not the top tier but definitely better than the 232 gear. The lowest level of difficulty you can actually obtain these on will be 10 man heroic and they don't drop from any of the bosses. 

To get them on 10 man heroic, you need between 1 and 24 attempts left on your attempt counter and you'll get two bonus trophies, and if you manage to kill all the bosses including the last boss with more than 45 five attempts left you'll get another two. So you can actually get 4 pieces of tier from 10 man heroic.

Although arguably the easiest way to get them is doing 25 man normal, so each boss from 25 man normal will drop a trophy. Let's say one to two from Beasts, one to two from Lord jaraxxus, same for faction Eredar Twins and Anub'arak in 25 heroic, you'll still get one from each boss along with all the heroic loot you're going to get, so it goes without saying that smashing through a 10-man heroic and making sure that you've got at least 45 attempts left so you get in the maximum amount of trophies that you can, even though the cloaks from even 10 man heroic are super strong being 258 item level. 

Everyone really is going to want the 272 item level cloaks though from having 150 attempts left on 25 heroic, but this is not about how overpowered these cloaks are it's about tier gear.

How To Get 258 Item Level Tier 9 Gear in WotLK Classic Phase 3?

What about the big tier the 258 item level gear? There's actually only one way of obtaining these and there's no way of upgrading your 245 gear up to 258, it's a completely different item and Trophies of the Crusade are not going to help you at all. 

Doing Tribute Runs in 25 Heroic for Tokens

The only way you're going to be able to get these tier tokens assuming no changes is by doing Tribute Runs in 25 heroic, the good news is you'll get a couple of these tokens even if you do it with one remaining attempt.

Now, these are the old-school tokens, so you've got Regalia of the Grand Conqueror, Protector and Vanquisher, and all the same rules apply. So the Paladin, Priest, and Warlock is conqueror, the Warrior, Hunter, and Shaman is protector, and the Rogue, Death Knight, Mage and Druid is vanquisher. If you've got between 1 and 24 attempts left on your counter when you kill Anub'arak, you're going to get two random drops of these; 25 to 44 attempts you're going to be able to get a weapon; and then 45 to 49 is another bonus two pieces of tier. So to get the maximum of the 4 tokens assuming no changes, you're going to need 45+ attempts left on your counter. 

Now the only minor change to these tokens is they're not specific to each armor slot, so there's no head, shoulders, chest, gloves and legs, instead, it's just one token that can be traded in for any of those item slots. So if you were lucky and you got four vanquisher tokens to drop and you got all of them, you could go get whatever 4 of the 5  pieces that you wanted.

That's about it, we would say that sums up how you get Tier gear in WoTLK Phase 3, if you want 232 gear you just have to trade in Emblems of Triumph, if you want 245 gear you need to be trading in Triumph and the Trophies from either the end of 10 heroic 25 normal all bosses and 25 heroic all bosses; or if you want the max 258 tier gear you need to be doing tribute runs in 25 heroic at least killing the last boss, so you at least get the chest because as we say as long as you kill the last boss with at least one attempt remaining you're going to get two pieces of tier set.