The set below is what our gear search picked from items with published Forever stats that you can collect before the first raid opens on 9 December: dungeons, quests, crafting, reputation and vendors. Across its 17 slots the item level averages 61.2. Three things drive it: the Devilsaur pair's 2 % hit, Agility, and weapons that suit your race and Hack and Slash.

Pre-raid gear

Beside each pick are the next items down, with what each would cost you here. Where it says "level", the difference is noise: wear what you own.

Weapons

The Alliance main hand is a sword, Teebu's Blazing Longsword, a world drop. It gives a Human Sword Specialization's 2 % crit and every race Hack and Slash's extra attacks. The next sword, Sword of Zeal, costs 4.3 DPS. Teebu's Firebolt proc isn't simulated, because the client data gives it no proc rate, so the sword is worth a little more than shown.

The Horde set takes Persuader, a Blacksmithing mace that binds on equip. Undead and Orcs have no sword bonus, and a mace makes every attack ignore 15 % of the boss's armor through Hack and Slash. On three minutes Teebu's is 1.6 DPS behind it, so the two are level, and the uncounted Firebolt tips it to the sword if you have both.

Both factions put Julie's Dagger in the off hand, a 1.3-speed world-drop dagger. A dagger gets Hack and Slash's 5 % crit for its own hand, and a quick off hand applies its Deadly Poison more often. Several off hands come within a few DPS of it.

Hands and legs

Devilsaur Gauntlets and Devilsaur Leggings are the Devilsaur pair, worth 2 % hit together. No other slots lose as much when you swap: on three minutes the next gloves cost 8.7 DPS and the next legs 9.6 DPS, set bonus included. Leatherworkers make them, and since they bind on equip they reach the auction house.

Chest and head

Dawn Armor, a Leatherworking craft, carries Agility, hit and crit, and Darkmantle Tunic is 2.1 DPS behind. Darkmantle Cap is a quest reward, and the next helm costs 3.5 DPS.

Trinkets

Every set wears Adaptive Combat Assistant, sold by Pix Xizzix in Stranglethorn Vale and one of the few pre-raid sources of expertise (2 %). The sim counts its expertise, not its on-use shield. The other slot changes with the fight. Here it is Molten Heart of the Mountain.

Its on-use gives 55 attack power for 15 seconds, lined up with Adrenaline Rush at the pull. The tooltip doubles that in volcanic areas, the Blackrock raids among them, which our zoneless boss never gets.

Reputation and vendor pieces

Your shoulders are an Exalted reward from one of Forever's new Barrens factions, Darkspear Raiders (Horde) or the Theramore Expeditionary Force (Alliance). Ferocious Watcher's Signet asks for Exalted standing with The Watchers. Those grinds take longer than anything else here, so begin early. Pix Xizzix also sells Howler's Furs and Assassin's Waistguard.

Enchants

• Main hand: Crusader. Holy Strength, the Strength it procs, is up 47.5 % of the time.
• Off hand: Agility, for 15 Agility.
• Head and legs: this fight's set uses Arcanum of Rapidity. The searches switch between Arcanum of Rapidity and a Lesser Arcanum of Voracity from fight to fight.
• Chest: Greater Stats. Hands: Superior Agility. Wrists: Agility. Feet: Greater Agility. Back: Lesser Agility.
• Neck: Agility. Necklaces take enchants in Forever.

Consumables

Your two poisons are the biggest consumables here. Deadly Poison V earns 4.5 % from your off-hand weapon and Instant Poison VI 3.1 % from the main hand. Windfury Totem is a buff in Forever, so it doesn't push your main-hand poison off. Forever also lets a poison share its weapon with a sharpening stone or weightstone, but our simulator holds one coating per weapon. These numbers carry no stones, so an Elemental Sharpening Stone's 2 % crit on each weapon is damage this guide doesn't count. The simulator doesn't count poison charges either (175 and 180).

Add Elixir of the Mongoose (3.2 %) and Ground Scorpok Assay (1.7 %) for Agility, Juju Might (1.4 %) and Juju Power (1.2 %) for attack power, and Dragonbreath Chili (1.5 %). Flask of Supreme Power looks wrong for a Rogue, but its 150 spell damage goes into the Chili, which scales fully with spell power: 1.1 % on one boss, 2.8 % against three, where the Chili hits every boss.

Smaller gains: Grilled Squid (0.8 %), the Goblin Sapper Charge (1.5 %, Engineers only) and the Mighty Rage Potion (0.9 %) for its 60 Strength. Wowhead's Forever tooltip lists that potion for Warriors and Druids only, so you may not be able to drink it. The benchmark gives it to Rogues anyway. Thistle Tea reads zero because the simulated rotation never drinks it, as the Rotation page explains.