Heya guys!!  Welcome back to the next segment of Best in Slot Items for Death Knights!!  Today we’re gonna talk about the best Bracers for your wrist slot that you can get for your DK.  For those of you who have been keeping up with the site, I mentioned we’re gonna change how we look at items for ranking.  And this is it.

Items have been broken up into 6 categories depending on your current Hit and Expertise Rating.  Please refer to the Hit and Expertise Revisited post if you have any questions regarding Hit and Expertise caps, their value, and how to get there.

PLEASE read the notes at the bottom of the post.  The notes are important.

Blood - Top 10 Best in Slot Bracers

1. Bracers of Unrelenting Attack  389.993 APE
2. Thrusting Bands  359.237 APE
3. Wristbands of the Sentinel Huntress  356.225 APE
4. Bracers of Lost Sentiments  345.51 APE
5. Bracers of the Tyrant  320.109 APE
6. Slime Stream Bands  298.175 APE
7. Sinner’s Bindings  271.189 APE
8. Vengeance Bindings  266.405 APE
9. Armguard of the Tower Archer  264.587 APE
10. Cast Iron Shackles  243.283 APE

Blood - Top 5 Best in Slot Bracers: Melee Hit Capped

Blood - Top 5 Best in Slot Bracers: Melee Hit and Expertise Capped

Blood - Top 5 Best in Slot Bracers: Hit Capped

Blood - Top 5 Best in Slot Bracers: Hit and Expertise Capped

Blood - Top 5 Best in Slot Bracers: Expertise Capped

Frost - Top 10 Best in Slot Bracers

1. Bracers of Unrelenting Attack  360.521 APE
2. Thrusting Bands  326.037 APE
3. Wristbands of the Sentinel Huntress  325.451 APE
4. Bracers of Lost Sentiments  300.652 APE
5. Slime Stream Bands  289.149 APE
6. Bracers of the Tyrant  280.603 APE
7. Sinner’s Bindings  263.867 APE
8. Armguard of the Tower Archer  260.319 APE
9. Vengeance Bindings  254.273 APE
10. Bands of Anxiety  240.247 APE

Frost - Top 5 Best in Slot Bracers: Melee Hit Capped

Frost - Top 5 Best in Slot Bracers: Melee Hit and Expertise Capped

Frost - Top 5 Best in Slot Bracers: Hit Capped

Frost - Top 5 Best in Slot Bracers: Hit and Expertise Capped

Frost - Top 5 Best in Slot Bracers: Expertise Capped

Unholy – Top 10 Best in Slot Bracers

1. Bracers of Unrelenting Attack  354.177 APE
2. Thrusting Bands  321.341 APE
3. Wristbands of the Sentinel Huntress  314.751 APE
4. Bracers of Lost Sentiments  310.389 APE
5. Bracers of the Tyrant  291.089 APE
6. Slime Stream Bands  268.429 APE
7. Armguard of the Tower Archer  252.899 APE
8. Vengeance Bindings  248.313 APE
9. Sinner’s Bindings  244.777 APE
10. Cast Iron Shackles  229.679 APE

Unholy - Top 5 Best in Slot Bracers: Melee Hit Capped

Unholy - Top 5 Best in Slot Bracers: Melee Hit and Expertise Capped

Unholy - Top 5 Best in Slot Bracers: Hit Capped

Unholy - Top 5 Best in Slot Bracers: Hit and Expertise Capped

Unholy - Top 5 Best in Slot Bracers: Expertise Capped

Things to remember

1. Please see my “Best in Slot Items” (BISI) page for a comprehensive list of all BISI items.
2. THIS DOES NOT WEIGH SET BONUSES.  I CANNOT STRESS HOW IMPORTANT THAT FACT IS!!!  I have not yet seen a good model for measuring the DPS gain from our T7 set bonuses, however the 4 set bonus is extremely good and will have a significant impact upon our DPS.  If you can attain 4 pieces of T7/T7.5, you should consider giving those items more value.  I do.
3. These items are weighted using a system commonly refered to as APE, or Attack Power Equivalency.  This uses mathematical formulas, and often times simulators, to determine how much each attribute contributes to your dps.  It equates item stat values into a numeric value that equals 1 Attack Power, or 1 AP.
4. APE means exactly what it says, this item has an equivalent value of x AP.  So if it says 1 is 519 APE and 2 is 492 APE, swapping from 2 to 1 would be like gaining 27 Attack Power.
5. Take everything here with a grain of salt.  If you had all of your gear epic’d out from Naxx+, it’s likely your personal stats will skew the results of “best in slot”.  Short of running a simulator, it’s nearly impossible to know what the best stats are for any one character.  APE changes as your stats change.  As one stat goes up, its value to your dps goes down.  Meanwhile other stats’ values will go up in value.  This however is a good baseline, assuming you have the equivalent best in slot items and have kept your stats balanced while gearing out.
6. Keep in mind also, my information could be wrong.  But even if it is, it is most likely the closest source of information to the actual truth about DK APE values.
7. 18 Agi is effectively 1 AP due to the armor gain from Agi (read: Bladed Armor talent).  Also keep in mind that Agi affects only your physical crit, not your spell crit.
8. Some stats can be capped.  You do not want more than you can actually use.  Items with a stat that you’ve exceeded the cap are not worth their “true” value anymore because you’re not getting all of the benefit.
9. 262.32 Hit Rating is equal to 8% Melee Hit (this is the Melee Hit cap).
10. 445.91 Hit Rating is equal to 17% Spell Hit (this is the Spell Hit cap).  The spell hit cap is 288.53 rating or 17% if you have 3/3 Virulence and Misery debuff up.
11. The expertise cap is 123 rating or 15 skill for Blood.  The cap for Unholy/Blood is 172.15 rating or 21 skill.
12. Your stats need to be balanced.  If you pick gear that always has +Strength on them, then you’re going to be screwed. These items are balanced around the concept that you do not overstack certain stats.  Aka, 4% hit and 3000 AP is bad.  But so is 15% hit and 1500 AP.  Sticking with these item lists will usually avoid that however.
13. If you don’t agree you should seriously take a moment to stop and think about what factual data you have to back up that feeling.  Often times the number crunchers out there find things that look wrong to the average person.
14. When gemming gear most of the time you will ignore the slot colors.  Only pay attention to slot colors when trying to meet a metagem requirement if you need to.  Otherwise every gem slot should be either +Strength, +Expertise, or +Hit.  These numbers assume you are using Rare gems available to any player.
15. For more information on the Expertise and Hit caps you should read here: Hit and Expertise Revisited.

-Suffer Well Brothers and Sisters.

Tags: Best in Slot Items