Cloaks, cloaks, and more cloaks

(Image from elfwood.com, ©Anna Thomas)

So on a visit to ol' Hyjal mountain last night, the very lovely Pepe's Shroud of Pacification dropped, and was soon in my eager greasy paws. After lots of internal Woohoo-ing (and some external), it got me to thinking about tanking cloaks, and how it may be worth taking a look at the options we have in this often overlooked gear slot. We'll start with the most readily available, and go from there:

Devilshark Cape: Don't be fooled by the colour - consider this cloak epic in quality, the stat distribution is that good. Not a point goes to waste here, and it provides mitigation, avoidance and threat. Very much worth running Steamvault over and over for (the good news is it drops in normal as well as heroic).

Resolute Cape: Made by tailors, and available on the AH. This is primarily a druid tank cloak however; the points in resilience are pretty much wasted on a 490+ defense warrior. Useful as a stop-gap measure, but there's much better options out there.

Cloak of Blade Turning: Drops of Kael in Magisters' normal (and note, only the normal version). Again, mainly a druid tank cloak - only use it if you're desperate, or not at 490 defense.

Farstrider Defender's Cloak: The first badge cloak, this will set you back a measly 25 badges from the vendor. A decent cloak, but rendered somewhat obsolete by the more recent badge cloak (see below). Still, this is very much worth getting for a block value set - just make sure you get yourself a primary cloak first.

Slikk's Cloak of Placation: A fantastic cloak, arguably the third best warrior tank cloak available - and at 35 badges, it's a steal. This will last you well into T6 content. No threat stat on here, but a tonne of avoidance and good mitigation.

Gilded Thorium Cloak: A decent cloak, but nowhere near as good as Slikk's. This drops from Illhoof in Karazhan, and is worth picking up if you're yet to save up the 35 badges for Slikk's - although if you're running Karazhan, that's unlikely to take long.

Icebound Cloak: Pretty much identical to the Gilded Thorium Cloak. This one dropped off the Midsummer Festival boss in Slave Pens, so if you didn't get it then, you won't be getting it now. This and the Gilded are worth keeping when playing around with gear for resistance sets.

Phoenix-Wing Cloak: Drops from Al'ar in Tempest Keep. It's pretty much a coin toss between this and Slikk's - Phoenix gives 2.44% avoidance, 108 armor, 37 stamina; Slikk's gives 2.13% avoidance, 346 armor and the same stamina. The choice is then between +0.31% avoidance or +238 armor - there's no great advantage either way. If this drops and you already have Slikk's, I'd just pass it on to another tank.

Pepe's Shroud of Pacification: I don't know who Pepe is, but I sure am glad he's dead or missing, so that I can have his cloak. It drops off the trash mobs in Hyjal, so make sure you're combing every undead body around for it. This has a little less avoidance than Slikk's, but makes up for it with a big chunk of hit rating, not to mention 8 more stamina. It may look like a kaleidoscope has thrown up on your back, but boy is it worth it (especially with the blessed option that is Hide Cloak).

Crimson Paragon's Cover: The best warrior tanking cloak in the game. 61 stamina is insane, and then we get a hell of a lot of dodge and expertise to round it off. Of course it's not so easily available... you'll have to take care of the eredar twin bosses in Sunwell Plateau for this beauty.