Guardian Druid Tank Gear and Best in Slot — Shadowlands 9.0.5

The best loot in the game will come from the weekly chest (now the Great Vault), and from Mythic raiding. Prior to the raid being released you can do your daily Covenant quests which can reward some good gear, Mythic 0 dungeons, or even Heroic dungeons to increase your item level early on.

The following is a recommendation for what items might constitute a best in slot list for Guardian Druids with items purely available from dungeons. The majority of your gearing decisions will be based off what items have the best stats on them. To fully understand what stats are the best to prioritize and why, please visit the Stats page linked below.

Slot	Item	Source
Head	Vicious Surge Faceguard	Spires of Ascension
Neck	Azure-Venom Choker	Spires of Ascension
Shoulders	Malodorous Gristle-Sown Spaulders	Plaguefall
Cloak	Blighted Margrave's Cloak	Plaguefall
Chest	Anima-Splattered Hide	Sanguine Depths
Wrists	Radiant Light Binders	Sanguine Depths
Gloves	Gloves of Haunting Fixation	Halls of Atonement
Belt	Shadowhirl Waistwrap	Spires of Ascension
Legs	Abyssal Disharmony Breeches	Spires of Ascension
Boots	Viscera-Stitched Footpads	The Necrotic Wake
Ring #1	Stitchflesh's Misplaced Signet	The Necrotic Wake
Ring #2	Ritual Commander's Ring	The Necrotic Wake
Trinket #1	Blood-Spattered Scale	De Other Side
Trinket #2	Overcharged Anima Battery	Spires of Ascension
Weapon	Xav's Pike of Authority	Theater of Pain

Patch 9.0.5 brought the ability to upgrade Mythic+ gear with Valor points.

Below is a small list of the some of the best Mythic+ items that can use your Valor points on to upgrade.

Slot	Item	Source
Trinket	Blood-Spattered Scale	De Other Side
Trinket	Inscrutable Quantum Device	De Other Side
Trinket	Overcharged Anima Battery	De Other Side
Trinket	Phial of Putrefaction	Plaguefall
Weapon	Xav's Pike of Authority	Theater of Pain
Legs	Abyssal Disharmony Breeches	Spires of Ascension

Below is a guideline of which items to seek from Castle Nathria.

Slot	Item	Source
Head	Sadist's Sinister Mask	Sire Denathrius
Neck	Charm of Eternal Winter	Huntsman Altimor
Shoulders	Wicked Flanker's Gorget	Stone Legion Generals
Cloak	Crest of the Legionnaire General	Stone Legion Generals
Chest	Miasma-Lacquered Jerkin	Hungering Destroyer
Wrists	Precisely Calibrated Chronometer	Artificer Xy'Mox
Gloves	Bleakwing Assassin's Grips	Sun King's Salvation
Belt	Heedless Pugilist's Harness	Sludgefist
Legs	Volatile Shadestitch Legguards	Hungering Destroyer
Boots	Enchanted Toe-Tappers	The Council of Blood
Ring #1	Hyperlight Band	Artificer Xy'Mox
Ring #2	Ritualist's Treasured Ring	Lady Inerva Darkvein
Trinket #1	Dreadfire Vessel	Sire Denathrius
Trinket #2	Hateful Chain	Sludgefist
Weapon	Mystic Anima Spherule	Sire Denathrius

Whenever you get a new piece of gear, make sure to enchant it or gem it, if possible. In Shadowlands, sockets can come with or be put on: Head, Belt, Wrists, Rings, and Necks. The optimal enchants and gems for Guardian Druids can be found in the page linked below.

Shadowlands brings us multiple choices as to which item slot we would like to apply the unique legendary powers to, sometimes this can be quite significant as some item slots have different stat weights applied to them or some can be socketed. Choosing the right item slot to apply your special legendary power to can generally be the piece with the highest stat budget. You can check out our guide on Runecarving to learn more about this new feature.

Below is an in-depth guide for all the information you will need to decide which are the best legendary powers for you.

The following is a list of the most noteworthy trinkets available overall, ranked in order of power assuming equivalent item level. If you do not have any of these, your best bet will be to use a stat proc trinket with a reasonably high item level.

1. Blood-Spattered Scale
2. Dreadfire Vessel
3. Hateful Chain
4. Sanguine Vintage
5. Stone Legion Heraldry
6. Inscrutable Quantum Device
7. Shadowgrasp Totem
8. Overcharged Anima Battery

Offensively, you can refer to the chart below (courtesy of Bloodmallet.com). Note that these are only recommendations based on general sims; for the most accurate results, you should sim yourself.