Our gear search built this set from items you can get before the first raids: dungeon and world drops, quest rewards, crafts, reputation and vendor gear, all with published Forever stats. Its average item level is 62.6. The search wants Agility, crit and hit first, then Intellect for Careful Aim. The legs are where a lesser item costs you most.

Pre-raid gear

Under each slot are the runners-up and what wearing one instead would cost on this fight. A "level" swap is within the noise, so wear whichever you already have.

Ranged weapon

On one boss the set takes Hyper Deluxe Sniper Rifle Mk XVII, an Engineering gun that binds on equip, so you can buy it. At 2.5 speed it is fast for a gun, and more Auto Shots are what a single target rewards. On a three-minute single-boss fight the next best, The Purifier, costs 9.9 DPS.

On three bosses for two or three minutes the set swaps to The Purifier, a 3.0-speed gun from a quest. Multi-Shot is your biggest shot there, and it adds the weapon's whole hit damage, so a slower gun with a bigger hit and 1 % crit comes out ahead.

Whichever gun you use, fit SAF-T Ultra Precision Scope: 2 % crit with ranged attacks.

Melee weapon

Your melee weapon never swings, but its stats count. The set takes Ironbark Staff, a caster staff from the Arathi Basin reputation at Exalted, for its 2 % crit, Intellect and 94 spell damage. As a two-hander it also takes the 25 Agility enchant. The next best, Warmonger, costs 8.5 DPS.

Head, chest and hands

Black Dragonscale Helm and Dawn Armor are Leatherworking crafts that bind on equip, so you can buy them if you don't make them. After the legs they have the biggest gaps in the set: on a three-minute single-boss fight the next helm costs 10.8 DPS and the next chest 12.6 DPS. For your hands, the Mourning Handguards (also Leatherworking) and the Theramore or Darkspear reputation gloves come out level on several fights, so wear whichever you have.

Legs

Sentinel's Chain Leggings come from the Warsong Gulch reputation: sold by Illiyana Moonblaze (Silverwing Sentinels). They are the slot with the largest gap in the set, 15.2 DPS to the next pair on this fight, so start that reputation early.

Trinkets

Talisman of Ascendance is a quest reward and the set's first trinket on every fight. Its stacks of spell damage reach Arcane Shot and Serpent Sting. Our simulator lets every shot, Auto Shot included, add a stack and ignores the item's limit of six spells, so its lead over Frozen Heart of the Mountain (8.1 DPS) is probably smaller in game. The second trinket, Rune of the Guard Captain, also comes from a quest.

Reputation and vendor pieces

The rest of the set is mostly reputation and vendor gear. The shoulders come from Forever's factions in The Barrens at Exalted: the Theramore Expeditionary Force for the Alliance, the Darkspear Raiders for the Horde. Ranger's Belt and Cutthroat's Signet are sold by Pix Xizzix in Stranglethorn Vale. Don Julio's Band carries 1 % hit and 1 % crit.

Quiver

The simulator gives you a quiver or ammo pouch with 15 % ranged attack speed. In Forever's data the 15 % ones are the Harpy Hide Quiver and the Gnoll Skin Bandolier. The Harpy Hide Quiver is sold in Alterac Valley. Thorium arrows or shells match the benchmark's ammo.

Enchants

• Head and legs: Lesser Arcanum of Voracity on both, 8 Agility each. The Horde's three-minute set puts an Arcanum of Rapidity on the helm instead.
• Chest: Greater Stats.
• Wrists, hands and feet: Agility, Superior Agility and Greater Agility.
• Back: Lesser Agility. Neck: Agility. Forever adds necklace enchants, so don't leave the slot bare.
• Staff: Agility.
• Gun: SAF-T Ultra Precision Scope.

Consumables

The always-bring list: Flask of Supreme Power (3.8 %), for the spell damage your Arcane Shot and Serpent Sting use, Elixir of the Mongoose (3.6 %), Ground Scorpok Assay (1.8 %) and Juju Might (1.0 %).

On a one-minute fight against one boss the mana items add nothing you can measure.

The benchmark also brings Juju Power, Smoked Desert Dumplings, Rumsey Rum Black Label, Dragonbreath Chili and a sharpening stone. None of them does anything for you: each is worth 0.0 %. Strength gives you only melee attack power, Dragonbreath Chili procs on melee hits, and you have no off hand for the stone. A food with crit or Agility is the better choice. Grilled Squid gives 1 % crit in Forever, but we haven't measured it.