Heya guys!!  Welcome back to the next segment of Best in Slot Items for Death Knights!!  Today we’re gonna talk about the best Sigil for your Ranged/Misc. 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 - Best in Slot Sigils

1. Sigil of Awareness - For any build that uses Obliterate or Scourge Strike as one of their primary attacks, this is the best possible Sigil.
2. Sigil of the Dark Rider - Depending on the Rotation that you use as a Blood spec, this will either be the best, 2nd best, or tied for best possible Sigil.  SoA is generally speaking the Sigil in contention for the best Blood sigil.

Frost - Best in Slot Sigils

1. Sigil of the Frozen Conscience - Generally speaking, this is the best Sigil for all Frost builds.
2. Sigil of Awareness - For any build that uses Obliterate or Scourge Strike as one of their primary attacks, this is the best possible Sigil.  For some Frost rotations that lean more heavily upon Obliterate, this is a very viable Sigil.

Unholy – Best in Slot Sigils

1. Sigil of Awareness - For any build that uses Obliterate or Scourge Strike as one of their primary attacks, this is the best possible Sigil.
2. Sigil of Arthritic Binding - Basically the weaker version of SoA, it is far easier to attain until you can get a SoA drop.

Notes on Sigils:

1. There are very very very few Sigils in existence, and as such there is not an extensive list of them available.  Generally speaking there is one to three good ones for any given spec for a DK, and out of those at least one of them is very easy to attain.
2. Sigils are unique in that you compare them more by the DPS gains they can bring to the table, rather than by APE.
3. Sigils are compared by the relevant spec that you will be using, and not by anything else.  Your spec will determine your rotation and ability usage, which will in return determine which Sigils are actually useful.
4. If Sigil of the Dark Rider is listed, it is the last one mentioned because every single DK in the game gets this Sigil.
5. If a Sigil is listed that can be purchase from the Venture Co. in Grizzly Hills, it is the last possible Sigil listed.  These Sigils can be acquired solo in the process of less than an hour.  They are entirely too easy to gain to consider listing Sigils of lesser value.

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