The Destiny of the Orcish Hordes

Many items have a base item name followed by a suffix. The suffixes are similar to the item naming convention used in other Blizzard games such as Diablo and Diablo II. The suffix will always start with the word of followed by a few words that indicate quickly to the player what enhancements an item will give. How much enhancement an item gives is closely tied to the item quality and item level.

Items of this type are normally uncommon (greens), although rare (blue) and epic (purple) ones exist. On some crafting patterns, and item database websites (like Wowhead), these items are listed with their base name (for example,  [Slatesteel Girdle] or  [Pattern: Wild Leather Shoulders]) and the green text "<Random enchantment>" to indicate that the actual items have a randomly assigned enhancement matching the suffixes.

For the most part, animal, job and attribute suffixes are seen most commonly. Resistance and wrath drop less commonly, and the miscellaneous ones drop the least often. Of course, in some cases item suffixes are simply part of a unique name or are used to signify an item is part of a set.

Cataclysm introduces Four-Stat random enchantment items with the names of elemental powers and forces of nature, to go with the theme of the expansion. These items always have a primary stat, a large amount of stamina, and then two related secondary stats (i.e., expertise rating does not appear with intellect, but does exist with strength and agility; similarly spirit only appears with intellect).

Suffixes that increase a single attribute

Items with an "of Attribute" suffix typically have less total attribute enhancement than "of the Animal". For example, a "Shortsword of Strength" may have +10 strength, whereas a "Shortsword of the Bear" of comparable level may have +6 strength and +6 stamina.

of Spirit

Increase Spirit when equipped.

of Intellect

Increase Intellect when equipped.

of Strength

Increase Strength when equipped.

of Stamina

Increase Stamina when equipped.

of Agility

Increase Agility when equipped.

Resistances

There are some items in the game that increase the chances that a school of magic will be resisted. There are currently no items that increase resistance to holy magic, though there are potions available that can absorb holy magic damage. Often suffix items "of X resistance" have some of the highest resistances available, and are useful for difficult resistances like Arcane or Frost, but are nearly impossible to farm.

of Fire Resistance

Increase resistance to Fire spells.

of Nature Resistance

Increase resistance to Nature spells.

of Arcane Resistance

Increase resistance to Arcane spells.

of [Frost Resistance]

Increase resistance to Frost spells.

of Shadow Resistance

Increase resistance to Shadow spells.

The following newer versions were introduced with the Burning Crusade. They are only available for characters 57+ as drops in Outland, but are significantly superior to the older resistance greens, and in many cases better than the best resist gear blues or purples that previously existed.

of Fire Protection

Increase stamina and resistance to Fire spells.

of Nature Protection

Increase stamina and resistance to Nature spells.

of Arcane Protection

Increase stamina and resistance to Arcane spells.

of Frost Protection

Increase stamina and resistance to Frost spells.

of Shadow Protection

Increase stamina and resistance to Shadow spells.

Animal name suffixes

These are commonly found suffixes that indicate an item increases two attribute stats as shown in the tables below:

Animal suffix	Strength	Agility	Stamina	Intellect	Spirit
Of the Tiger	√	√
Of the Bear	√		√
Of the Gorilla	√			√
Of the Boar	√				√
Of the Monkey		√	√
Of the Falcon		√		√
Of the Wolf		√			√
Of the Eagle			√	√
Of the Whale			√		√
Of the Owl				√	√

	Strength	Agility	Stamina	Intellect	Spirit
Strength	N/A	Tiger	Bear	Gorilla	Boar
Agility	Tiger	N/A	Monkey	Falcon	Wolf
Stamina	Bear	Monkey	N/A	Eagle	Whale
Intellect	Gorilla	Falcon	Eagle	N/A	Owl
Spirit	Boar	Wolf	Whale	Owl	N/A

Class preferences

Certain classes, especially when leveling, will have more of these kind of items than uniquely named items. here is a list of what class will prefer. Do not take this list as a pure guide as some classes will prefer certain items for their play style. This only takes into account PvE builds, especially in classic content (Pvp players would generally favor only the hybrid pieces with stamina).

• Death Knight: Bear - Monkey - Tiger

• Druid (caster): Eagle - Owl - Whale
  
• Druid (feral): Bear - Monkey - Tiger
• Hunter: Falcon - Monkey - Tiger

• Mage: Eagle - Owl - Whale

• Paladin (healer): Eagle
  
• Paladin (melee): Bear - Gorilla - Monkey - Tiger

• Priest: Eagle - Owl - Whale

• Rogue: Monkey - Tiger

• Shaman (caster): Eagle - Owl - Whale
  
• Shaman (melee): Monkey - Tiger

• Warlock: Eagle - Whale

• Warrior: Bear - Monkey - Tiger

(N.B., Boar and Wolf are largely undesirable for all specializations, and can generally be sold or disenchanted.)

Abyssal Suffixes

These only appear on Abyssal items, dropped from members of the Abyssal Council in Silithus.

of Striking

Increases Strength, Agility, and Stamina.

of Sorcery

Increases Stamina, Intellect, and spell damage.

of Regeneration

Increases Stamina, spell healing, and mana regeneration.

Health/Mana Regeneration

of Concentration

Regenerates mana while equipped.

of Regeneration

Regenerates health while equipped.

Spell damage suffixes

These suffixes increase damage for a school of magic or increases healing.

of Frozen Wrath

Increases damage done by Frost spells

of Arcane Wrath

Increases damage done by Arcane spells.

of Fiery Wrath

Increase damage done by Fire spells.

of Nature's Wrath

Increase damage done by Nature spells.

of Healing

Increase all spell power (previously only increased healing spell power).

of Shadow Wrath

Increases damage done by Shadow spells

Three-stat suffixes

For the most part, all of the three-stat suffixes were added in The Burning Crusade. Modifiers on items have very specific drop rules, e.g., the suffixes such as Physician and Prophet will only be found on cloth gear while Hierophant will only drop as leather gear. Bandit will drop as leather or mail gear to facilitate the classes that would most benefit from it. The drop rates are also widely variable. The more standard types such as Beast and Sorcerer will drop quite frequently, while more obscure suffixes like Knight are very rare, and will only drop as Rare quality (Blue) gear.

You will notice that some suffixes add the same stats. These are differentiated by the amount of each stat available on the piece of gear, based on which stat is emphasized.

Strength

Name	Strength	Agility	Stamina	Block	Crit Strike	Defense	Haste
of Blocking	√			√
of Battle	√		√		√
of the Ancestor	√		√		√
of the Beast	√	√	√
of the Champion	√		√			√
of the Grove	√	√	√
of the Soldier	√		√		√
of the Mercenary	√		√				√

Agility

Name	Strength	Agility	Stamina	Intellect	Spirit	Block	Crit Strike	Attack Power	Defense	Spell Crit	Spell Dmg/Heal	Mana Regen	Healing	Shadow Dmg
of the Bandit		√	√				√
of the Beast	√	√	√
of the Grove	√	√	√
of the Hunt		√		√				√
of the Shadow		√	√					√
of the Wild		√	√					√

Intellect

Name	Strength	Agility	Stamina	Intellect	Spirit	Block	Crit Strike	Attack Power	Defense	Spell Crit	Spell Dmg/Heal	Mana Regen	Healing	Shadow Dmg
of the Crusade				√					√		√
of the Elder			√	√								√
of the Hierophant			√		√								√
of the Invoker				√						√	√
of the Knight			√						√		√
of the Mind				√						√	√
of the Nightmare			√	√										√
of the Physician			√	√									√
of the Prophet				√	√								√
of the Sorcerer			√	√							√
of the Sun			√	√							√
of the Vision			√	√							√
of the Wild		√	√					√

of Blocking

+Block Rating +Strength

of Battle

+Strength +Stamina +Critical Strike Rating

of the Ancestor

+Strength +Critical Strike Rating +Stamina

of the Bandit

+Agility +Stamina +Crit Rating

of the Beast

+Strength +Agility +Stamina

of the Champion

+Strength +Stamina +Defense Rating

of the Crusade

+Spell Damage and Healing +Intellect +Defense Rating

of the Elder

+Stamina +Intellect +Mana Regeneration

of the Grove

+Strength +Agility +Stamina

of the Hunt

+Attack Power +Agility +Intellect

of the Hierophant

+Stamina +Spirit +Healing

of the Invoker

+Intellect +Spell Damage and Healing +Spell Critical Strike Rating

of the Knight

+Stamina +Spell Damage and Healing +Defense Rating

of the Mind

+Spell Damage and Healing +Spell Critical Strike Rating +Intellect

of the Nightmare

+Shadow Damage +Stamina +Intellect

of the Physician

+Stamina +Intellect +Healing

of the Prophet

+Intellect +Spirit +Healing

of the Shadow

+Attack Power +Agility +Stamina

of the Soldier

+Strength +Stamina +Critical Strike Rating

of the Sorcerer

+Stamina +Intellect +Spell Damage and Healing

of the Sun

+Spell Damage and Healing +Stamina +Intellect

of the Vision

+Spell Damage and Healing +Intellect +Stamina

of the Wild

+Attack Power +Stamina +Agility

New in Wrath of the Lich King

A new set of random enchantments were introduced in Wrath of the Lichking. These appear in addition to the "of the job" and "of the animal" and are largely found on items dropped from rare mobs in Northrend.

of the Foreseer

+Intellect, +Haste Rating, +Spell Power

of the Marksman

+Stamina, +Agility, +Hit Rating

of the Necromancer

+Stamina, +Hit Rating, +Spell Power

of Restoration

+Stamina, +Spell Power, +Mana Per 5 sec.

of the Squire

+Stamina, +Hit Rating, +34 Strength

of the Thief

+Stamina, +Attack Power, +Haste Rating

New in Cataclysm

This section lists the new random enchantment suffixes introduced in the Cataclysm expansion. Most have four stat modifiers, two primary and two secondary.

Currently, the official database and Wowhead (at least) mistakenly list only ONE rating value on these FOUR-stat items, and gives the impression they are worth less than the 3-stat choices, though looking at them in-game proves otherwise, especially considering some epics have these!

Four-stat random enchantment gear has the same value of Stam and a second primary stat (agi, int, or str) as the three-stat suffixes (like of the Seer), and instead of one amount of secondary stat rating has two ratings, each at 2/3 the value of the single rating on a three-stat item (for example, trading 120 parry for 80 parry and 80 mastery)

There are also some changes to and additions of two- and three-stat suffix gear found after the Shattering of the old world, to better suit the armor and gear for the latest class changes. Item suffixes with mp5 have become spirit, defense rating changed into dodge rating, etc. There is also one new three-stat suffix: Of the Mercenary, Strength, Haste, and Stamina.

Four Stat 'Elemental' Suffixes

• Stamina is the highest stat value.
• One of three 'core attribute stats' (Agility, Intelligence or Strength), equal to the Stamina x 2/3, rounded up or down.
• Two RATING VALUES (or one Rating Value and Spirit), both equal to the 'core stat' x 2/3, rounded up or down.

For example:

Talondeep Vest of the Zephyr 's four random enchant stats are:

330 Stamina

220 Agility

146 Haste Rating

146 Mastery Rating

330 stam x (2/3) = 220 agi

220 agi x (2/3) = 146 haste AND 146 mastery, rounded down.

This ratio remains constant for all of the Cataclysm four-stat random enchantment items.

Listed bellow are charts listing rating combos for each 'core stat' type.

• Every one of these Random Enchant suffixes includes STAMINA as the 1st and highest stat.

Agility

Cata +AGI suffix	Haste	Hit	Crit	Expertise	Mastery
Of the Galeburst		√		√
Of the Stormblast		√	√
Of the Windflurry	√		√
Of the Windstorm			√		√
Of the Zephyr	√				√

Intellect

Cata +INT suffix	Spirit *	Haste	Hit	Crit	Mastery
Of the Feverflare		√			√
Of the Fireflash		√		√
Of the Flameblaze			√		√
Of the Undertow	√	√
Of the Wavecrest	√				√
Of the Wildfire			√	√

* Spirit is treated as mana regeneration rating

Strength

Cata +STR suffix	Dodge	Parry	Haste	Hit	Crit	Expertise	Mastery
Of the Bedrock		√					√
Of the Bouldercrag	√	√
Of the Earthbreaker					√		√
Of the Earthfall			√		√
Of the Earthshaker				√	√
Of the Faultline			√				√
Of the Landslide				√		√
Of the Mountainbed						√	√
Of the Rockslab	√						√

Miscellaneous

• Of Defense - will add points to the player's maximum dodge skill points.
• Of Healing - will add to spells.
• Of Power - adds to the player's melee and ranged attack power.
• Of Blocking - Increases the player's blocking power by a percentage and adds some strength as well. Typically found on Shields.
• Of Marksmanship - Increase in Ranged Attack Power when worn/equipped - Removed since WotLK
• Of Eluding - Increases agility and dodge rating.
• Of Nimbleness - Increases dodge rating.