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

1. Girdle of Razuvious  458.424 APE
2. Girdle of Chivalry  439.231 APE
3. Belt of the Tortured  408.584 APE
4. Jorach’s Crocolisk Skin Belt  406.761 APE
5. Girdle of the Ascended Phantom  391.002 APE
6. Sharp-Barbed Leather Belt  377.888 APE
7. Ablative Chitin Girdle  376.815 APE
8. Torn Web Wrapping  369.819 APE
9. Vereesa’s Silver Chain Belt  346.825 APE
10. Flame-Bathed Steel Girdle  341.853 APE

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

1. Girdle of Razuvious  458.424 APE
2. Jorach’s Crocolisk Skin Belt  406.761 APE
3. Sharp-Barbed Leather Belt  377.888 APE
4. Girdle of Chivalry  360.387 APE
5. Flame-Bathed Steel Girdle  341.853 APE

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

1. Girdle of Chivalry  349.619 APE
2. Girdle of Razuvious  335.684 APE
3. Flame-Bathed Steel Girdle  331.085 APE
4. Belt of the Tortured  322.884 APE
5. Torn Web Wrapping  320.113 APE

Blood - Top 5 Best in Slot Belts: Hit Capped

1. Girdle of Razuvious  458.5 APE
2. Jorach’s Crocolisk Skin Belt  406.869 APE
3. Sharp-Barbed Leather Belt  378.006 APE
4. Flame-Bathed Steel Girdle  341.885 APE
5. Trollwoven Girdle  331.659 APE

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

1. Girdle of Razuvious  335.684 APE
2. Flame-Bathed Steel Girdle  331.085 APE
3. Verdungo’s Barbarian Cord  318.917 APE
4. Stalk-Skin Belt  317.577 APE
5. Deadly Gladiator’s Girdle of Triumph  310.124 APE

Blood - Top 5 Best in Slot Belts: Expertise Capped

1. Girdle of Chivalry  439.231 APE
2. Belt of the Tortured  408.584 APE
3. Girdle of the Ascended Phantom  391.002 APE
4. Torn Web Wrapping  369.819 APE
5. Ablative Chitin Girdle  376.815 APE

Frost - Top 10 Best in Slot Belts

1. Girdle of Razuvious  420.972 APE
2. Belt of the Tortured  405.433 APE
3. Girdle of Chivalry  398.249 APE
4. Torn Web Wrapping  372.921 APE
5. Jorach’s Crocolisk Skin Belt  371.341 APE
6. Girdle of the Ascended Phantom  369.914 APE
7. Ablative Chitin Girdle  342.745 APE
8. Sharp-Barbed Leather Belt  335.758 APE
9. Stalk-Skin Belt  326.775 APE
10. Flame-Bathed Steel Girdle  322.857 APE  

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

1. Girdle of Razuvious  420.972 APE
2. Jorach’s Crocolisk Skin Belt  371.341 APE
3. Belt of the Tortured  340.883 APE
4. Girdle of Chivalry  338.863 APE
5. Sharp-Barbed Leather Belt  335.758 APE

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

1. Belt of the Tortured  340.883 APE
2. Girdle of Chivalry  337.999 APE
3. Torn Web Wrapping  335.482 APE
4. Girdle of Razuvious  329.05 APE
5. Stalk-Skin Belt  326.775 APE

Frost - Top 5 Best in Slot Belts: Hit Capped

1. Girdle of Razuvious  420.972 APE
2. Jorach’s Crocolisk Skin Belt  371.341 APE
3. Sharp-Barbed Leather Belt  335.758 APE
4. Stalk-Skin Belt  326.775 APE
5. Flame-Bathed Steel Girdle  322.857 APE

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

1. Girdle of Razuvious  329.05 APE
2. Stalk-Skin Belt  326.775 APE
3. Flame-Bathed Steel Girdle  321.993 APE
4. Verdungo’s Barbarian Cord  309.399 APE
5. Torn Web Wrapping  303.205 APE

Frost - Top 5 Best in Slot Belts: Expertise Capped

1. Belt of the Tortured  405.433 APE
2. Girdle of Chivalry  397.697 APE
3. Torn Web Wrapping  372.921 APE
4. Girdle of the Ascended Phantom  369.914 APE
5. Ablative Chitin Girdle  342.505 APE

Unholy – Top 10 Best in Slot Belt

1. Girdle of Chivalry  409.625 APE
2. Girdle of Razuvious  406.389 APE
3. Belt of the Tortured  381.412 APE
4. Girdle of the Ascended Phantom  364.896 APE
5. Jorach’s Crocolisk Skin Belt  355.057 APE
6. Ablative Chitin Girdle  351.186 APE
7. Torn Web Wrapping  344.722 APE
8. Sharp-Barbed Leather Belt  334.491 APE
9. Spiked Metal Cilice  318.227 APE
10. The General’s Steel Girdle  311.169 APE

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

1. Girdle of Razuvious  406.389 APE
2. Jorach’s Crocolisk Skin Belt  355.057 APE
3. Girdle of Chivalry  338.463 APE
4. Sharp-Barbed Leather Belt  334.491 APE
5. Flame-Bathed Steel Girdle  308.703 APE

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

1. Girdle of Chivalry  336.879 APE
2. Girdle of Razuvious  308.235 APE
3. Flame-Bathed Steel Girdle  307.119 APE
4. Belt of the Tortured  304.062 APE
5. Torn Web Wrapping  299.859 APE

Unholy - Top 5 Best in Slot Belts: Hit Capped

1. Girdle of Razuvious  397.003 APE
2. Jorach’s Crocolisk Skin Belt  344.087 APE
3. Sharp-Barbed Leather Belt  322.286 APE
4. Flame-Bathed Steel Girdle  307.119 APE
5. Verdungo’s Barbarian Cord  295.971 APE

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

1. Girdle of Razuvious  308.235 APE
2. Flame-Bathed Steel Girdle  307.119 APE
3. Verdungo’s Barbarian Cord  295.971 APE
4. Girdle of Chivalry  294.743 APE
5. Stalk-Skin Belt  292.751 APE

Unholy - Top 5 Best in Slot Belts: Expertise Capped

1. Girdle of Chivalry  408.547 APE
2. Belt of the Tortured  381.962 APE
3. Girdle of the Ascended Phantom  365.457 APE
4. Ablative Chitin Girdle  350.009 APE
5. Torn Web Wrapping  345.041 APE

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