Heya guys!!  Welcome back to the next segment of Best in Slot Items for Death Knights!!  Today we’re gonna talk about the best Gauntlets for your hands 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 Gauntlets

1. Crude Discolored Battlegrips  492.093 APE
2. Frosted Adroit Handguards  479.77 APE
3. Dislocating Handguards  472.613 APE
4. Zeliek’s Gauntlets  454.52 APE
5. Valorous Scourgeborne Gauntlets  440.037 APE
6. Gloves of Calculated Risk  397.561 APE
7. Heroes’ Scourgeborne Gauntlets  393.178 APE
8. Rusted-Link Spiked Gauntlets  383.836 APE
9. Gilt-Edged Leather Gauntlets  366.997 APE
10. Rapid Attack Gloves  363.837 APE

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

1. Zeliek’s Gauntlets  454.52 APE
2. Dislocating Handguards  386.913 APE
3. Frosted Adroit Handguards  380.358 APE
4. Valorous Scourgeborne Gauntlets  371.999 APE
5. Crude Discolored Battlegrips  365.257 APE

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

1. Frosted Adroit Handguards  380.358 APE
2. Crude Discolored Battlegrips  365.257 APE
3. Valorous Scourgeborne Gauntlets  361.231 APE
4. Gloves of Calculated Risk  332.429 APE
5. Heroes’ Scourgeborne Gauntlets  324.656 APE

Blood - Top 5 Best in Slot Gauntlets: Hit Capped

1. Zeliek’s Gauntlets  454.638 APE
2. Rapid Attack Gloves  360.495 APE
3. Horn-Tipped Gauntlets  354.339 APE
4. Dislocating Handguards  339.689 APE
5. Valorous Scourgeborne Gauntlets  335.137 APE

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

1. Frosted Adroit Handguards  325.49 APE
2. Valorous Scourgeborne Gauntlets  324.337 APE
3. Gloves of Fast Reactions  320.993 APE
4. Grotesque Handgrips  319.965 APE
5. Zeliek’s Gauntlets  304.862 APE

Blood - Top 5 Best in Slot Gauntlets: Expertise Capped

1. Crude Discolored Battlegrips  492.093 APE
2. Frosted Adroit Handguards  479.77 APE
3. Valorous Scourgeborne Gauntlets  435.477 APE
4. Gloves of Calculated Risk  397.561 APE
5. Heroes’ Scourgeborne Gauntlets  388.618 APE

Frost - Top 10 Best in Slot Gauntlets

1. Frosted Adroit Handguards  476.489 APE
2. Crude Discolored Battlegrips  464.631 APE
3. Dislocating Handguards  435.934 APE
4. Valorous Scourgeborne Gauntlets  415.235 APE
5. Gloves of Calculated Risk  398.15 APE
6. Zeliek’s Gauntlets  391.051 APE
7. Heroes’ Scourgeborne Gauntlets  371.552 APE
8. Rusted-Link Spiked Gauntlets  370.224 APE
9. Gilt-Edged Leather Gauntlets  356.231 APE
10. Gauntlets of Dragon Wrath  347.862 APE

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

1. Frosted Adroit Handguards  401.611 APE
2. Zeliek’s Gauntlets  391.051 APE
3. Dislocating Handguards  371.384 APE
4. Crude Discolored Battlegrips  369.097 APE
5. Valorous Scourgeborne Gauntlets  358.974 APE

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

1. Frosted Adroit Handguards  401.611 APE
2. Crude Discolored Battlegrips  369.097 APE
3. Valorous Scourgeborne Gauntlets  358.11 APE
4. Gloves of Calculated Risk  349.092 APE
5. Gloves of Fast Reactions  324.647 APE

Frost - Top 5 Best in Slot Gauntlets: Hit Capped

1. Zeliek’s Gauntlets  391.051 APE
2. Frosted Adroit Handguards  337.057 APE
3. Gloves of Fast Reactions  325.511 APE
4. Rapid Attack Gloves  324.838 APE
5. Dislocating Handguards  315.734 APE

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

1. Frosted Adroit Handguards  337.057 APE
2. Gloves of Fast Reactions  324.647 APE
3. Valorous Scourgeborne Gauntlets  314.703 APE
4. Grotesque Handgrips  311.5 APE
5. Gloves of Calculated Risk  310.354 APE

Frost - Top 5 Best in Slot Gauntlets: Expertise Capped

Unholy – Top 10 Best in Slot Gauntlets

1. Crude Discolored Battlegrips  457.902 APE
2. Frosted Adroit Handguards  447.294 APE
3. Dislocating Handguards  431.843 APE
4. Zeliek’s Gauntlets  405.971 APE
5. Valorous Scourgeborne Gauntlets  403.953 APE
6. Gloves of Calculated Risk  369.671 APE
7. Heroes’ Scourgeborne Gauntlets  359.862 APE
8. Rusted-Link Spiked Gauntlets  351.674 APE
9. Gilt-Edged Leather Gauntlets  348.393 APE
10. Gauntlets of Dragon Wrath  342.153 APE

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

1. Zeliek’s Gauntlets  405.971 APE
2. Frosted Adroit Handguards  357.568 APE
3. Dislocating Handguards  354.493 APE
4. Crude Discolored Battlegrips  343.424 APE
5. Valorous Scourgeborne Gauntlets  339.876 APE

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

1. Frosted Adroit Handguards  357.568 APE
2. Crude Discolored Battlegrips  343.424 APE
3. Valorous Scourgeborne Gauntlets  338.292 APE
4. Gloves of Calculated Risk  310.885 APE
5. Heroes’ Scourgeborne Gauntlets  303.483 APE

Unholy - Top 5 Best in Slot Gauntlets: Hit Capped

1. Zeliek’s Gauntlets  393.766 APE
2. Rapid Attack Gloves  310.777 APE
3. Frosted Adroit Handguards  304.44 APE
4. Valorous Scourgeborne Gauntlets  302.568 APE
5. Gloves of Fast Reactions  300.502 APE

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

1. Frosted Adroit Handguards  304.44 APE
2. Valorous Scourgeborne Gauntlets  302.568 APE
3. Gloves of Fast Reactions  300.502 APE
4. Zeliek’s Gauntlets  293.318 APE
5. Grotesque Handgrips  283.446 APE

Unholy - Top 5 Best in Slot Gauntlets: 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