Is Fandral's Flamescythe really worth it?

Ok, so we have all probably seen someone with Fandral's Flamescythe by now. A flaming cat hanging out in Stormwind or Orgrimmar, showing off their new look.  But is it really worth it? Is this weapon more then just a gimmicky weapon put in by Blizzard?  Lets examine the facts shall we...

Here is Fandral's Flamescythe:


Fandral's Flamescythe
Binds when picked up
Two-Hand Staff
1428 - 2143 Damage Speed 2.40
(744.1 damage per second)
+408 Agility
+611 Stamina
Durability 120 / 120
Requires Level 85
Item Level 378
Equip: Increases your critical strike rating by 276 (1.54% @ L85).
Equip: Increases your mastery rating by 265 (1.48 @ L85).

We also know that the unlisted trick to this weapon is that druids using it get a new fiery cat form.  Now, the stats are nice, very high and in the right spots.  The mastery on it is nice and the critical strike always helps.  But is this really worth going crazy to go after?

Well, if you like your fair share of PvP, another weapon in your grasp can be:


Ruthless Gladiator's Staff
Season 10
Binds when picked up
Two-Hand Staff
1190 - 1786 Damage Speed 2.00
(744.1 damage per second)
+408 Agility
+611 Stamina
Durability 120 / 120
Classes: Druid
Requires Level 85
Item Level 378
Equip: Increases your critical strike rating by 272 (1.52% @ L85).
Equip: Increases your resilience rating by 272 (3.44% @ L85).

or


Ruthless Gladiator's Pike
Season 10
Binds when picked up
Two-Hand Polearm
2142 - 3215 Damage Speed 3.60
(744.1 damage per second)
+408 Agility
+611 Stamina
Durability 120 / 120
Requires Level 85
Item Level 378
Equip: Increases your critical strike rating by 272 (1.52% @ L85).
Equip: Increases your resilience rating by 272 (3.44% @ L85).


Now, you do lose out on the mastery on these 2 choices, but although mastery is a nice stat to have, it's not the top stat in most builds at the moment. You can always reforge to get some mastery back, but ultimately, the 265 mastery that the Fandral's Flamescythe gives you does not actually translate in to that much of an improvement.  You have to remember that 265 does not translate in to actually 265 more mastery.  It gets tossed in to the conversion tables like all other stats and then the correct amount is added to your stats.

Now, if you do not have access to or do not like to PvP, there is always "


Witch-Hunter's Harvester
Binds when equipped
Two-Hand Polearm
1614 - 3000 Damage Speed 3.50
(659.2 damage per second)
+361 Agility
+541 Stamina
Durability 120 / 120
Requires Level 85
Item Level 365
Equip: Increases your critical strike rating by 241 (1.34% @ L85).
Equip: Increases your mastery rating by 241 (1.34 @ L85).

Ok, I know what you are going to say.  And yes, the ilvl and stats are lower.  But look at the big picture here and not the numbers on the polearm.  You are only losing out on 47 agility, 70 stamina, 35 critical strike and 24 mastery.  If you were to add these missing amounts to your stats you would see almost no change in your over all stats. For example, 70 stamina is only going to give you about 700 more health over all. In today's WoW, 700 health doesn't make a  ton of difference, or really any at all.

If you sit back and do that over all math and run that numbers in your stats, you can see that, unless the staff drops while you are in there anyways, it does not seem that Fandral's Flamescythe is the end all/be all of weapons in the game for druids at this point.  Sure the higher stats and ilvl numbers all make it the "best" weapon in game for druids.  But if you stand back and look at it for what it really is, the shine on it seems to die down and it's not really that awesome of a weapon.  Now if you want a weapon that will change you form, then this is simple the best for you.  I feel that this just isn't worth farming for.

If you have any questions or comments you'd like to make on this topic, please feel free to comment.  I will respond to any and all questions posted here.  If you like this or any of my other topics, please follow me. You can also find me on twitter @neosroar.

So you need a good tanking weapon....

With some of the coming changes in patch 4.2, namely, the fact that Blizzard is moving druids away from using strength items.  Since these items will no longer hold any real benefit, some people may be a bit confused at to what a good weapon would be for a bear tank.

To ease this transition a little I've created a list of staffs throughout the game, jumping up 10 levels at a time, that would make the best choice for your bear.  Lets start at level 15 since that is when you get your bear form now.


At level 15:

Staff - Befouled Staff

obtain from the quest in Darkshore: A Cure in the Dark

• Binds when picked up
• Two-Hand Staff
• 19 - 30 Damage Speed 3.10
• (7.8 damage per second)
• +1 Agility
• +2 Stamina
• Durability 45 / 45
• Item Level 11
• Sell Price: 3s 81c

At level 20:

Staff - Staff of the Green Circle

obtain from the lvl20 druid quest

• Binds when picked up
• Two-Hand Staff
• 46 - 70 Damage Speed 3.30
• (17.6 damage per second)
• +5 Agility
• +7 Stamina
• Durability 75 / 75
• Item Level 20
• Equip: Increases your haste rating by 5 (2.17% @ L20).
• Sell Price: 20s 93c

At level 30:

Staff - Loksey's Training Stick
Boss drop off Houndmaster Loksey in Scarlet Monastery Library

• Binds when picked up
• Two-Hand Staff
• 71 - 108 Damage Speed 3.10
• (29.0 damage per second)
• +14 Agility
• +7 Stamina
• Durability 100 / 100
• Requires Level 29
• Item Level 34
• Equip: Increases your critical strike rating by 5 (0.88% @ L29).

At level 40:

Staff - Chillwind Staff

Obtained from the quest in Western Plaguelands: Alas, Andorhal

• Binds when picked up
• Two-Hand Staff
• 94 - 142 Damage Speed 3.30
• (35.7 damage per second)
• +12 Agility
• +15 Stamina
• Durability 100 / 100
• Item Level 40
• Equip: Increases your haste rating by 8 (1.39% @ L38).

At level 50:

Staff - Slavedriver's Cane

Boss drop off Ramstein the Gorger in Stratholme (servants gate/live side)

• Binds when picked up
• Two-Hand Staff
• 110 - 166 Damage Speed 3.00
• (45.9 damage per second)
• +16 Agility
• +16 Stamina
• Durability 100 / 100
• Requires Level 48
• Item Level 53
• Equip: Increases your hit rating by 16 (2.22% @ L48).

At level 60:

Staff - Ursol's Claw

Random chance to drop from the Reinforced Fel Iron Lockbox located at the end of Hellfire Ramparts Dungeon.

• Binds when picked up
• Two-Hand Staff
• 165 - 249 Damage Speed 3.00
• (68.9 damage per second)
• +27 Agility
• +52 Stamina
• Durability 100 / 100
• Requires Level 60
• Item Level 85

At level 70:

Staff - Terestian's Stranglestaff

Random chance to drop off Terestian Illhoof: Karazhan (10 man BC raid)

• Binds when picked up
• Unique
• Two-Hand Staff
• 273 - 411 Damage Speed 3.00
• (114.0 damage per second)
• +37 Agility
• +79 Stamina
• Durability 120 / 120
• Requires Level 70
• Item Level 115
• Equip: Increases your hit rating by 25 (1.69% @ L70).

OR...for non-raid drop weapon...

Staff - Fleshling Simulation Staff

Quest Reward from Netherstorm:  Nexus-King Salhadaar

• Binds when picked up
• Two-Hand Staff
• 167 - 252 Damage Speed 2.40
• (87.5 damage per second)
• +27 Agility
• +51 Stamina
• Durability 100 / 100
• Item Level 109
• Equip: Increases your hit rating by 26 (1.96% @ L68).
• Equip: Increases your expertise rating by 17 (5.13 @ L68).

At level 80:

Staff - Origin of Nightmares

Chance to drop off Grobbulus and Gluth: Naxxramas (25 man)

• Binds when picked up
• Two-Hand Staff
• 391 - 587 Damage Speed 2.40
• (203.7 damage per second)
• 204 Armor
• +100 Agility
• +199 Stamina
• Durability 120 / 120
• Requires Level 80
• Item Level 213

OR, for non-raid drop.....

Staff - Staff of Trickery

Chance to drop off Cyanigosa: Violet Hold (heroic)

• Binds when picked up
• Two-Hand Staff
• 358 - 538 Damage Speed 2.40
• (186.6 damage per second)
• +89 Agility
• +201 Stamina
• Durability 120 / 120
• Requires Level 80
• Item Level 200

At level 85:

Staff - Malevolence

Chance to drop off Halfus Wyrmbreaker: The Bastion of Twilight (10man normal)

• Binds when picked up
• Two-Hand Staff
• 1196 - 1796 Damage Speed 2.40
• (623.3 damage per second)
• +341 Agility
• +512 Stamina
• Durability 120 / 120
• Requires Level 85
• Item Level 359
• Equip: Increases your critical strike rating by 228 (1.27% @ L85).
• Equip: Increases your mastery rating by 228 (1.27 @ L85).

OR, for non-raid drop....

Staff - Jin'do's Verdict

Chance to drop off Jin'do The Godbreaker

• Binds when picked up
• Two-Hand Staff
• 1556 - 2335 Damage Speed 3.30
• (589.4 damage per second)
• +323 Agility
• +484 Stamina
• Durability 120 / 120
• Requires Level 85
• Item Level 353
• Equip: Increases your critical strike rating by 215 (1.20% @ L85).
• Equip: Increases your mastery rating by 215 (1.20 @ L85).

Now I know what some of you are saying out there. "But I really like to use polearms.".  Well, that is all well and good, but since there are more staffs then polearms in game as a whole, it's generally best to focus on what will be over all easier to obtain.  Now this list is not the end all be all of list, there are staffs out there that are rare world drops (Braxxis' Staff of Slumber) and other items that you may come across that will work better for you.  This is simply a list of very good tanking weapons that are relatively easy to obtain and will easily get you through your next 10 levels.

Remember, keep up the good work bears!  We have to teach these other tanking classes how it's done!

If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to comment and I will respond quickly.  If you enjoy this blog, don't be afraid to become a follower.