Stat improvements with Plate armour

[Skullhammer]

I'm looking for some advise...
A large mana pool seems to become more critical as I progress to a level 60 buffbot but I am a little confused about armour options.
For the mana increase I want improved intellegence but the plate armour does not reallly seem to provide and indeed seems more Warrior oriented for stats bonuses.
What do others go for for, a spirit/stamina option or return to mail armour (which seems a bit strange)?

Thanks in advance for any help.

[Suicidal Zebra]

As you increase in level your options should increase. Up towards level 60 there are the usual BoE greens which will provide decent int+sta mods alone, and the odd bit of Blue Plate with int, but really Lightforge is the major set of blue items which you should be aiming for as you enter any sort of buff-bot phase.

In the absence of +Int plate then well rounded mail is okay, but you should always be looking to upgrade and never to take good mail from a Hunter. +Str and +Sta are your other lesser attributes, along with AC, with a greater or lesser balance depending on your roll. I'm pretty sure that Spirit would be wasted however as you will be spamming spells so often that you never break the 5-sec limit. The pro's and con's of Agility are a matter of opinion...

Finally, don't forget Shields as a source of Intellect and very good AC. The Sacred Protector quest reward is the obvious example of this, but there are a great deal of others out there.

[Ablamar]

The Sacred Protector is a very good shield and fairly easy to get with an approx 15 man group, when taking on Blightcaller. I got the shield as well as an upgrade for a shield with + int from Mauradon. I, myself still tend to use a special hammer I got from Mauradon as well, which gives me chance to get mana when the weapon procs. So I can still be an offtank while I keep the party healed.

Dire Maul is an easy dungeon where you can find reasonable + int plate when that is your thing.

[jibbrish]

In the absence of +Int plate then well rounded mail is okay, but you should always be looking to upgrade and never to take good mail from a Hunter. +Str and +Sta are your other lesser attributes, along with AC, with a greater or lesser balance depending on your roll.


I'm of the opinion that the first thing to look for with any item is good stats for the items purpose. So armor should have higher AC than what i have now, weapons have higher DPS than i have now... second concern are stat bonus's. Top of the stat list is +int - always. Bigger mana pool just can't be beat. Second, again, in my opinion, is strength, i like to hit 'em and the harder the better.

Now there are always going to be exceptions but i'm unlikely to take the AC hit by switching to mail from plate.