Drops from heroics and badge items will be included in another post later this week.

Step One – Reputation

The very first thing you’re going to want to do is make sure you’ve done all of the quests in Dragonblight that have to do with the Wyrmrest Accord, this will save you massive amounts of time getting to Revered and picking up their amazing tanking pieces. I completely missed the long question chain that starts with A Strange Device and it cost me; don’t be like me. This quest chain also leads to the ability to do the Wyrmrest Accord daily which you should run every day until that magical limit has been reached.

• Honored – Cloak of Peaceful Resolutions
• Revered – Breastplate of the Solemn Council
• Revered – Sabatons of Draconic Vigor

Make sure to pick up your tabard and wear it in level 80 dungeons!  Once you hit Revered, switch it out with the Argent Crusade Tabard and start working your way to Revered with them for the helm enchant.

Step Two – Crafted BoE Items

If you know a blacksmith, are a blacksmith, or have some gold laying around to spend on the Auction House, then I highly recommend getting these pieces to bump you up to the defense cap. These items should last you quite a while until you replace them with pieces from Naxx and heroics.

• Tempered Saronite Belt – 6x Cobalt Bars, 5x Saronite Bars
• Tempered Saronite Bracers - 13x Saronite Bars
• Tempered Saronite Gauntlets – 14x Saronite Bars
• Saronite Bulwark – 14x Saronite Bars

Total materials: 46 Saronite Bars, 6 Cobalt Bars.

Step Three – Quest Items

• Argent Vangaurd, Icecrown – Do the fast and fun quest line that starts with Into The Frozen Heart Of Northrend and ends with The Crusaders’ Pinnacle for the reward of The Crusaders Resolution.
• Halls of Stone, Storm Peaks – This is both a dungeon run and a quest item. You pick up the quest Halls of Stone right in the front of the instance from Brann Bronzebeard, after you complete it you are rewarded with Pauldrons of Reconnaissance.
• Camp Tunka’lo, Storm Peaks – Complete the quest Changing the Wind’s Course for the reward of Weighted Throwing Axe.
• Gundrak, Zul’Drak – Another reward from a quest that is completed inside an instance. First you must complete the quest Just Checkin’ , which is found in a small camp just to the west of the Gundrak summoning stone. After Just Checkin’ , the quest you want to pick up is called For Posterity which will reward you with the Solid Platinum Band.
• Light’s Breach, Zul’Drak - Pick up the quest Wanted: Ragemane’s Flipper, a quick quest that will reward you with the Hammer of Quiet Mourning. If you have some of the high defense trinkets from Burning Crusade and are already at 540 Defense you might want to pick up the Sword of Heartwrenching Laughter instead since it isn’t as ugly as the Hammer. This is a very quick group quest but I managed to solo it, your mileage may very.
• Ebon Watch, Zul’Drak – There is an item drop called the Unliving Choker that drops off of Withered Trolls and begins a chain of nine quests starting with An Invitation of Sorts… and ending with Betrayal. The quest chain rewards the neck piece Betrayer’s Choker. The last quest in this chain pretty tough, I had to bring a friend along.

Step Four – Dungeon Drops

• Halls of Lightning, Storm Peaks – The last boss in this instance, Loken, drops the Seal of the Pantheon.
• The Occulus, Borean Tundra- The last boss in this instance, Ley-Guardian Eregos, drops the Dragonflight Great-Ring.

Step Five – Not Quite Done!

If you have acquired every single piece of loot from this guide then you will still be short 21 defense raiting from being uncritable.  I suggest either swapping out one of the high +defense trinkets from The Burning Crusade listed here on TankingTips.com or you can get +22 defense to chest and +20 defense to shield enchants to bump you over the edge.  Don’t forget that you can use the shoulder and helmet enchants from the Burning Crusade, too!