Tier Sets

Tier sets are the class armor sets of World of Warcraft's endgame: matching eight-piece outfits, one per class, that drop in dungeons and raids and grant bonuses for wearing several pieces together. Classic had four main tiers, from the blue dungeon sets of Tier 0 to the Naxxramas gear of Tier 3, and each one marked how far a player had progressed through the endgame.

How tier sets work

Each tier has nine sets, one for each class: druid, hunter, mage, paladin, priest, rogue, shaman, warlock and warrior. Paladin sets were Alliance only and shaman sets Horde only, since those classes were tied to one faction in Classic. A set covers eight slots: head, shoulders, chest, wrists, hands, waist, legs and feet. Tier 3 added a ninth piece, a ring.

Wearing more pieces of the same set unlocks set bonuses, usually at two, three, five and eight pieces. These bonuses were often worth more than the raw stats, since many of them changed how a class's spells or abilities worked. Each Tier 0 set also gave +8 to all resistances at eight pieces.

The term "tier" came from players. Blizzard called the dungeon sets "Dungeon Set 1" and "Dungeon Set 2", and the raid sets were simply named sets. Players numbered them Tier 0 through Tier 3 by the order of the content they came from, and the names stuck.

Tier 0: Dungeon Set 1

The first sets are rare-quality (blue) armor from the level 58 to 60 dungeons: Stratholme, Scholomance and Blackrock Spire. Each final boss drops one slot for every class: the chest from General Drakkisath in Upper Blackrock Spire, the helm from Darkmaster Gandling in Scholomance, and the legs from Baron Rivendare in Stratholme. The other pieces come from other bosses in those dungeons, and the bracers, belts and gloves bind on equip, so they could also drop elsewhere and be traded.

Tier 0.5: Dungeon Set 2

Patch 1.10 added a long quest chain that upgrades each Dungeon Set 1 piece into an improved Dungeon Set 2 version, such as the paladin's [[forever:item:22089]]. The chain sends players back through the high-level dungeons and adds new bosses that are summoned with special items in Dire Maul, Scholomance, Stratholme and Blackrock Spire, such as Lord Valthalak in Upper Blackrock Spire. Players called these "Tier 0.5".

Tier 1: Molten Core

Tier 1 is the first epic raid tier, from Molten Core. Each boss drops particular slots. Helms come from Garr, legs from Magmadar, chests from Golemagg the Incinerator, shoulders from Baron Geddon and Sulfuron Harbinger, and boots and gloves from Lucifron, Gehennas and Shazzrah. Bracers and belts bind on equip and drop from trash monsters. Because a boss drops whatever class's piece it rolls, raids often saw the same unwanted piece several weeks in a row.

Tier 2: Blackwing Lair

Tier 2 came with Blackwing Lair in patch 1.6, though two slots came from elsewhere: helms drop from Onyxia and legs from Ragnaros. In Blackwing Lair, bracers come from Razorgore the Untamed, belts from Vaelastrasz the Corrupt, boots from Broodlord Lashlayer, gloves from Firemaw, Ebonroc and Flamegor, shoulders from Chromaggus, and chests from Nefarian. The Tier 2 models were redrawn in patch 1.9, and most players remember them in that form.

Players had long complained about raid bosses dropping pieces for classes nobody in the raid needed. Starting with Zul'Gurub in patch 1.7, Blizzard switched later raids to class tokens: a boss drops an item that several classes can trade in for their own piece.

Tier 2.5: Ahn'Qiraj

The Temple of Ahn'Qiraj in patch 1.9 added five-piece class sets bought with tokens from its bosses, such as the warrior's [[forever:item:21331]]. Players often called these "Tier 2.5".

Tier 3: Naxxramas

Tier 3 came with Naxxramas in patch 1.11 and was the first nine-piece set, adding a ring that drops from [[forever:npc:15990]]. The other eight pieces are quest rewards from the Argent Dawn at Light's Hope Chapel in the Eastern Plaguelands. Each slot needs a Desecrated token from a Naxxramas boss, such as the [[forever:item:22349]] from the Four Horsemen, along with Wartorn scraps, crafting materials and a minimum reputation with the Argent Dawn. The [[forever:item:22416]], for example, costs a Desecrated Breastplate, 25 [[forever:item:22375]], 4 Arcanite Bars and 2 Nexus Crystals, turned in to [[forever:npc:16112]].

Token sources by slot: head from Thaddius; shoulders from Patchwerk, Grobbulus and Gluth; chest from the Four Horsemen; wrists from Anub'Rekhan, Grand Widow Faerlina and Gluth; hands from Maexxna; waist from Noth the Plaguebringer, Heigan the Unclean and Gluth; legs from Loatheb; feet from Instructor Razuvious, Gothik the Harvester and Gluth. Few guilds cleared Naxxramas before the Burning Crusade, so full Tier 3 sets were rare.

Later history

Tier sets continued in every expansion after Classic, and the player numbering carried on with them. Wrath of the Lich King moved Naxxramas to Northrend and reused the Tier 3 models, recolored, for its Tier 7 sets, so the original Tier 3 could no longer be earned. The dungeon sets stopped dropping in patch 4.0.3a. Tier 1 and Tier 2 still drop in the original Molten Core and Blackwing Lair, which remain in the modern game as old raids, and later patches added ways to earn Tier 3 again, first through the Black Market Auction House and then in Wrath of the Lich King's Naxxramas.

Sources

• Dungeon Set 1 on Warcraft Wiki
• Tier 1 on Warcraft Wiki
• Tier 2 on Warcraft Wiki
• Tier 3 on Warcraft Wiki