Leatherworking for Shaman - worth it or not?

[Stabface]

I've been looking ahead to the endgame gear for my elemental Shaman and have been really debating whether or not I want to level Leatherworking. I play on a PvE server, 1 Paladin 4 Shaman, and I'll be doing some PvP but mostly focused on 5-mans / heroics. I will of course be doing an arena team for free epics, but I'm looking to PvE-centric items for the majority of my gear at least for now.


Basically the 4 things I see that LW gives, are the Hurricane Boots, and Netherstrike Armor set. So, lets compare the options.


Hurricane Boots : http://www.wowhead.com/?item=30043
-vs-
Treads of Booming Thunder: http://www.wowhead.com/?item=33537

With 2x Potent Noble Topaz, the Treads of Booming Thunder have: -3 stam, +7 int, -1 spell crit, +11 spell damage, -6 mp5. Since 3.6 int is equivalent to 1 spell crit rating, it seems that these are quite clearly the superior choice.




Netherstrike Breastplate : http://www.wowhead.com/?item=29519
-vs-
Hauberk of the Furious Elements : http://www.wowhead.com/?item=33965

Hmm, tougher to compare. Socketing 3x Potent Noble Topaz give 12 crit rating and 15 damage, the Hauberk has +5 sta, +11 int, -21 spell crit, +2 damage, -8mp5 and +35 haste rating. Lose a bit less than 1% spell crit, but I gain over 2% faster spell casts... hmm.



Netherstrike Belt : http://www.wowhead.com/?item=29520
-vs-
Stormwrap : http://www.wowhead.com/?item=33536

Both socketed with Potent Noble Topaz. Stormwrap gives +11 sta, +9 int, +3 spell crit, +7 spell damage, +13 spell hit, -9mp5. Well, give up 9mp5 and the spell hit is nearly worthless, but still, Stormwrap is much better IMO.



Netherstrike Bracer : http://www.wowhead.com/?item=29521
-vs-
Earthquake Bracer : http://www.wowhead.com/?item=33535

Socket with Potent Noble Topaz - but it is irrelevant as they both get yellow with +2 damage bonus. So, Earthquake bracer gets +6 stam, +8 int, -17 spell crit, +6 damage and +2 mp5. I think these are roughly equivalent, with a slight edge to NS even.

Instead I think I'd actually go with the leather piece Armwraps of the Kaldorei Protector : http://www.wowhead.com/?item=33578
Which give +6 sta, +9 int, +3 crit rating, +6 damage, -6 mp5 and -178 armor, which is straight up better.


Of course if I'm stepping down to leather gear, then Starfire Waistband (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=33559 ) kicks either the Netherstrike or Stormwrap belts.



So it seems that the badge gear is better than the equivalent crafted LW pieces.
On the downside, 230 badges will take me some time to farm, probably 3-4 weeks.

Probably, I should look at what else I could buy with badges, to fill in the non-LW slots... anyone already done that analysis?

[Kyudo]

Can you farm heroics? Multiple Heroics? (since they've got a 12h raid timer on them)

I was full on planning on farming heroics for badges / gear / etc. So far I've been unable to do so. So I've been farming normal instances for gear so I can take another crack at heroics.

In all the farming I've done of normal lvl 70 insntaces I've accomplished:

4x 375 Leatherworkers (bought mats through gold earned from instances)
Bought 4x Hurricane Boots plans
Had 7 Primal Nethers drop
All four of my Shaman have made the Netherstrike Bracers
One of my Shaman has made the Netherstrike Belt and Huricane Boots.
One of my Shaman has made Living Earth Shoulders (Resto gear).
All of my Shaman have leatherworking drums, and use them (chain casted...)
(My tank took the other 4 primal nethers. 2x went to epic blacksmithing boots, other 2 are going twos lionheart blade upgrade.)

I've also maxed out enchanting and almost jewelcrafting (from gold made from instance runs).

So... is Leatherworking worth it? YES. Make the gear, then buy badge gear for the other slots. Using drums is a serious increase in DPS - and the ability to fear in PvP is awesome. :P

/nod

what Fur said.

That is exactly my plan also. Using a mixed approach of Pve/Pvp/arenas and crafting I'll get full epics of one kind or another on all my chars much quicker than one single approach.

[Toned]

I'm just working on farming exalted with Lower City(hammers), Revered with Sha'tar (enchants), Season 1 5/5 all honor off slots, and then season 2 shield to be "competitive" in 5v5 :P. Then I plan on getting everyone 375 leatherworking for the drums and other goodies.

[Stabface]

Thanks for the thoughts, guys, you are correct its best to get LW up to get these epics kitted out early on. So I started my shopping for the 0-300 grind... going to take a couple weeks at the current supply of stuff on the AH. Thanks OK, my Shaman are at 51 so I have some time.