The set is the search's best from what you can reach before raiding, counting only items whose Forever stats are published: drops, quests, crafts, reputation and vendors. It averages item level 60.5. Hit drives it: the set reaches the 9 % your specials need, and the rest is Agility, crit and attack power.

Pre-raid gear

Under each slot are the items that came next and what each costs you on this fight. "Level" means the difference is inside the noise, so use what you have.

Weapons

The Alliance sets take Teebu's Blazing Longsword, a world drop, and Humans get Sword Specialization's 2 % crit from it on top. The Horde sets take Persuader, a crafted 2.8-speed mace with 1 % hit and 1 % crit. It binds on equip, so crafters can sell it. A dagger raises Hemorrhage to 145 % weapon damage, but Hemorrhage counts a dagger's attack power at 1.7 seconds instead of 2.4, and the search puts no dagger in the main hand on any fight.

The off hand is Julie's Dagger, an old world drop, on every fight. It carries Deadly Poison, which rolls its 30 % chance on every off-hand hit that lands, and at 1.3 speed it lands more hits than the daggers that out-damage it on paper. The next best on this fight, Vendetta, costs 5.7 DPS.

The Devilsaur pair

Devilsaur Gauntlets and Devilsaur Leggings are crafts that bind on equip, and together they give 2 % hit as a set bonus. Swap either and you lose the bonus, which is why replacing the gloves costs 12.4 DPS and the legs 13.8 DPS, two of the biggest gaps in the set.

Waist and head

Assassin's Waistguard is a rogue-only belt with 2 % hit, sold by Pix Xizzix, and the hit is why the next belt costs 11.2 DPS. Darkmantle Cap is a quest reward with 1 % crit. The set wears no other Darkmantle piece, so none of its set bonuses apply, and Outlaw's Collar is close behind at 3.9 DPS.

Trinkets

Adaptive Combat Assistant cuts the boss's dodge by 2 %, which few items do, and Pix Xizzix sells it too.

On a one-minute fight Everlook Pathcarver takes the other slot: its use deals 607 Physical damage, which counts for more when the fight is short. It needs Honored with Everlook.

Reputation and vendor pieces

The shoulders need Exalted: Darkspear Pauldrons with the Darkspear Raiders, Theramore Pauldrons with the Theramore Expeditionary Force. So does Ferocious Watcher's Signet, with The Watchers. Of the whole set, these Exalted pieces take longest to earn. Forest Stalker's Bracers and Don Julio's Band are vendor items, and the cloak is Howler's Furs (sold by Pix Xizzix).

Enchants

• Weapons: Crusader (main), Agility (off hand). Crusader procs often enough to be up 46.0 % of the time.
• Head: Lesser Arcanum of Voracity. Legs: Lesser Arcanum of Voracity.
• Chest: Greater Stats. Wrists: Agility. Hands: Superior Agility.
• Back: Lesser Agility. Feet: Greater Agility. Neck: Agility.

Consumables

Poisons come first. The off hand takes Deadly Poison (4.2 %), the main hand Instant Poison (2.8 %). Each rolls on every landed hit of its weapon, and the main hand's hits include Hemorrhage, your finishers and Windfury's extra attacks. Each poison hit is about a third weaker than in Classic, and Windfury Totem no longer pushes the main-hand poison off.

The rest of the list: Elixir of the Mongoose (3.2 %), Thistle Tea (6.2 %, more on short fights), Ground Scorpok Assay (1.7 %), Dragonbreath Chili (1.5 %) and the two jujus, Juju Might (1.5 %) and Juju Power (1.2 %). Flask of Supreme Power is a caster's flask that earns its place through the chili, whose fire scales with spell damage: 1.1 %. Forever's Grilled Squid gives 1 % crit instead of Agility, worth 0.7 %. The Goblin Sapper Charge needs Engineering: 1.6 % here, 4.5 % against three bosses for a minute.

Forever also lets a sharpening stone or weightstone go on a weapon alongside its poison. Our simulator has room for one or the other, so these numbers leave the stones out, and a stone on each weapon is damage you have that the guide doesn't count.