Shaman Wrath reputation rewards and tactics

I have taken a look at the Wrath faction reputation rewards and tried to figure out which ones are of interest to Shaman, at what reputation level they are and how to go about getting such rep levels. Then I've broken down each faction into what sort of rewards (Resto, Elemental or Enhancement) they give at each rep level, to try to get an idea of which ones to go for first. I've not considered any cloth items, only mail and leather. Finally the assumption on the spell gear is that mp5 is for Resto and crit is for Elemental, so any crit based healers should check out the Elemental gear too.



From what I've learnt, all faction reputation, after quests, is earnt from dailies or championing in level 80 instances. There doesn't seem to be any more tactics needed, where you used to do the handins till friendly, then the quests, then finish off with instances. Having said that, some factions cannot be championed, making grinding their reputations harder.


Key C = caster of Elemental spec, H = healer of Resto spec, E = ownage of Enhancement spec, A = all specs.


Quick jumps:
Argent Crusade
Frenzyheart Tribe
The Oracles
The Kalu'ak
Kirin Tor
Knights of the Ebon Blade
The Sons of Hodir
The Wyrmrest Accord
Horde Expedition
Alliance Vanguard
Comparison table


Argent Crusade
Wowhead lists 81 quests for the Argent Crusade, 11 of which are dailies. It looks like you can only do 4 per day, as there is some sort of random factor much like the fishing and cooking dailies. They have a tabard so rep can be gained in level 80 instances.

• Friendly A: Tabard of the Argent Crusade. The championing tabard.
  
• Honoured E: Cloak of Holy Extermination.
  
• Revered C:Battle Mender's Helm. This mail helm looks good for Elemental due to its spell crit, although a Resto Shaman could use it.
  
• Exalted E: Boots of the Neverending Path. These are leather boots but look good for Enhancement failing any mail ones.
  
• Exalted E: Polished Regimental Hauberk. Tasty. This is a fantastic chest piece and definitely the best outside of raids and heroics.
  
• Exalted C H: Signet of Hopeful Light. A caster ring, with haste so this may be of use for Elemental and Resto Shamans.
  

Frenzyheart Tribe
This is the first of the Aldor/Scryer like factions in Wrath, the other being The Oracles. You can only be exalted with one at once, although there is a daily quest which lets you convert from one faction to the other, via handins which increase faction with one and decrease faction with the other... faction.


There is no tabard for the Frenzyheart Tribe, so you can't champion faction for them. Wowhead lists 21 quests, including 9 dailies from levels 77 to 80.

• Revered C H: Scavenged Feathery Leggings. These legs give haste, so they are good for Elemental or Resto.
  
• Revered E: Azure Strappy Pants. These are leather but may be good for Enhancement.
  
• Revered A: Disgusting Jar. This turns into something after 7 days incubation - Wowhead comments suggest a potion which changes appearance. There isn't enough information yet to know precisely what the rewards are, although initially it seems to be fun potions.
  
• Exalted A: Frenzyheart Insignia of Fury. This trinket is reminscent of the Skyguard Silver Cross with 71 haste rating and an extra damage upon kill buff, so something good for grinding.
  

The Oracles
This is the other faction you could chose over the Frenzyheart Tribe. They too have no tabard so rep grinding is done via dailies. They have 20 quests including 7 dailies for level 77 to 80. One quest is to swap factions to Frenzyheart. 3 of the dailies might be a random choice as their titles are very similar. Oh and they resemble Murlocs which may put you off, and actually make you want to get to Unfriendly with them...

• Revered E: Glitterscale Wrap. A leather belt but again may be useful for Enhancers.
  
• Revered C: Sharkjaw Cap. This mail head piece has crit so ideally for Elemental, but a crit-based Resto shaman may want it.
  
• Revered E: Toothslice Helm. This mail head is the Enhancement version of the above. According to my scales it is a very good rare headpiece, beats the Swiftarrow one.
  
• Exalted A: Oracle Talisman of Ablution. This trinkey restores mana when you kill a target which would give XP, again reminiscent of the Skyguard Silver Cross, so a good grinding trinket for any spec. However, currently my enhancement shaman doesn't have any mana issues, so the Frenzyheart alternative may be better.
  
• Exalted A: Mysterious Egg. This egg hatches into one of 4 pets or failure. One for pet collectors. *Cough*
  

The Kalu'ak
These fishy guys again have no tabard, Wowhead lists 52 quests for them, and they only seem to have 3 dailies of level 71 to 72. So rep grinding will be done via dailies.

• Honoured E: Cuttlefish Scale Breastplate. This mail chest has a total of 114 attack power with the Enhancement talent. However I replaced it with various crafted ones at 80, so good for levelling only.
  
• Honoured H: Cuttlefish Tooth Ringmail. A mail chest with mp5 so suited to a Resto shaman or maybe Elemental if you don't have a critty one.
  
• Honoured E: Whale-Skin Breastplate. This is a leather chest with the same 114 attack power as the mail one above. I would go for the mail chest to be honest for Enhancement.
  
• Revered C H: Totemic Purification Rod. This 1 handed mace packs 314 spell power and haste!
  
• Revered E: Traditional Flensing Knife. This 1 handed dagger does 119dps and has a speed of 1.7. This may be good for Enhancement if imbued with Flametongue and you don't have a good offhand. However I would recommend a slow off hand instead, even if its "paper" DPS is lower.
  
• Exalted A: Mastercraft Kalu'ak Fishing Pole. An epic fishing pole with +30 fishing and free underwater breathing. Essential for fisher ppls.
  
• Exalted A: Nurtured Penguin Egg. A penguin non combat pet! Any pet collectors will be after this one for certain. *Cough*
  

Kirin Tor
The mysterious magic dudes we stormed Karazhan for, now freshly installed somewhere in Northrend with a honking great floating city. They have 29 quests, but the only dailies are the cooking and jewelcrafting ones. Both award Kirin Tor faction plus either cooking awards or JC tokens.


They do have a tabard so reputation can be ground in level 80 instances.

• Friendly A: Tabard of the Kirin Tor.
  
• Honoured C H: Shroud of Dedicated Research.
  
• Honoured E: Spaulders of Grounded Lightning. Nice Enhancement shoulders.
  
• Honoured E: Lightblade Rivener. Again a fast 1 handed dagger with melee stats, so might be good for use with Flametongue weapon.
  
• Revered C: Arcanum of Burning Mysteries. A head enchant with crit rating so suited to Elementals.
  
• Revered C: Flameheart Spell Scalpel. This 1 handed dagger packs 34 hit, 25 crit and 355 spellpower, so its ideal for an Elemental shaman. It is also arguably better than the Revered Kalu'ak mace.
  
• Revered E: Mind-Expanding Leggings. These are leather legs but have some solid melee stats, for desperate Enhancers.
  
• Exalted E: Boots of Twinkling Stars. These epic boots have all the enhancement goods.
  
• Exalted C: Ghostflicker Waistband. A leather belt with solid stats for Elementals.
  

Knights of the Ebon Blade
These Emo guys are still smarting from their encounter with the Lich King, but don't let their sweepy haircuts and dour attitude put you off. Wowhead lists 31 quests for them, 3 dailies at level 80, and they have a championing tabard.

• Friendly A: Tabard of the Ebon Blade.
  
• Honoured C: Dark Soldier Cape. A spell power cape with 29 hit so ideal for an Elemental shaman.
  
• Honoured E: Unholy Persuader. A 2.5 speed fist weapon with melee stats, ideal for off hand Enhancement with WF. The Stalactite Chopper is better however.
  
• Revered E: Arcanum of Torment. This head glyph has attack power and crit so it is for Enhancement shaman.
  
• Revered E: Spaulders of the Black Arrow. Very good shoulders, the best you can get outside of instances.
  
• Revered C H: Wound-Binder's Wristguards. Leather wrists but maybe for Elementals or Resto shaman.
  
• Exalted E: Darkheart Chestguard. A leather chest with melee stats for an Enhancement shammy.
  
• Exalted H: Kilt of Dark Mercy. These mail legs have a whopping 29 mp5 so are ideal for Resto Shaman. Elementals may want to take a look.
  

The Sons of Hodir
The Sons of Hodir have no tabard, but have 4 dailies among their 11 quests. They also sell shoulder inscriptions at Honoured and Exalted very much like the old Aldor & Scryer shoulder inscriptions, except we get access to them all!

• Honoured E: Lesser Inscription of the Axe.
  
• Honoured H: Lesser Inscription of the Crag.
  
• Honoured C: Lesser Inscription of the Storm.
  
• Honoured E: Giant Ring Belt.
  
• Honoured E: Spaulders of Frozen Knives. A leather shoulder piece which may serve an Enhancement shaman.
  
• Revered C: Reins of the Ice Mammoth. A massive mammoth mount which Tauren can ride!
  
• Revered E: Broken Stalactite. This 1.8 speed dagger has melee stats and may be useful with a Flametongue weapon imbue in the off hand.
  
• Revered E: Giant-Friend Kilt. Some leather legs which may be useful for Enhancers.
  
• Revered E: Stalactite Chopper. A perfect 1 handed 2.6 speed axe with melee stats. You can use 2 for utterly silly ownage. The best reputation main hand and off hand I can find for enhancement.
  
• Exalted E: Greater Inscription of the Axe.
  
• Exalted H: Greater Inscription of the Crag.
  
• Exalted C: Greater Inscription of the Storm.
  
• Exalted A: Reins of the Grand Ice Mammoth. Another big mammoth, this one can carry 3 people rather than 1 for the other mammoth, but it does not come with vendors like the Dalaran Tundra Mammoth.
  

The Wyrmrest Accord
An alliance of the dragonflights except the blues, the Wyrmrest Accord have 38 quests, 5 dailies at leve 73 to 74, and a tabard for championing. Expect this one to be popular because there is a flying drake mount at exalted.

• Friendly A: Tabard of the Wyrmrest Accord.
  
• Revered H: Arcanum of Blissful Mending. A head glyph with 8 mp5 so ideal for Resto shaman.
  
• Revered C H: Gavel of the Brewing Storm. This 1 handed mace has the same spellpower as the Kirin Tor mace, but has haste instead of hit, so is also suitable for a Resto shaman.
  
• Exalted E: Dragonfriend Bracers. Leather bracers which may serve an Enhancement shaman.
  
• Exalted H: Grips of Fierce Pronouncements. Mail gloves with 26 mp5 so suited for a Resto shaman.
  
• Exalted A: Reins of the Red Drake. This is the flying drake which most rep grinders will really want.
  

Horde Expedition
The other factions in Wrath don't have anything for sale individually. They are for the Horde: The Hand of Vengeance, The Taunka, Warsong Offensive and The Sunreavers. However there is in fact a quartermaster for the Horde Expedition, called Gara Skullcrush, who sells items at a certain rep level from Warsong Hold. From reports from guildies, it seems you gain faction standing with Horde Expedition whenever you gain standing with any of the sub-factions The Hand of Vengeance, The Taunka, Warsong Offensive and The Sunreavers. So doing the quests is the way to go. It also seems you gain rep by running level 80 dungeons without any championing tabard.

• Revered E: Warsong Shanker. Might be an option for an enhancer looking for a fast off hand to use with FT.
  
• Revered C H: Warsong Stormshield.
  

Alliance Vanguard
The other factions in Wrath don't have anything for sale individually. They are for the Alliance: Explorers' League, The Frostborn, Silver Covenant and Valiance Expedition. Again there is a quartermaster for the Alliance Vanguard who sells rep items. I would assume that gaining rep with any of these sub-factions will gain rep with Alliance Vanguard, so doing the quests is the way to go. It also seems you gain rep by running level 80 dungeons without any championing tabard.

• Revered E: Vanguard Soldier's Dagger. Possibly for enhancement off hand with FT.
  
• Revered C H: Lordaeron's Resolve.
  

The following table attempts to summarise what is available for each spec at each level. As before, the key is E=enhancement, C=caster, H=resto, A=all. The brackets are for leather items, and x* is for the head enchant for spec x, for example E*. Where there are more than one item I've written 2xE, for 2 items for Enhancement.

Faction/level	Honoured	Revered	Exalted	Championable
Argent Crusade	E	C	E C (E)	Y
Frenzyheart Tribe		C/H (E)	A	N
The Kalu'ak	E H (E)	C/H E		N
Kirin Tor	C/H 2xE	C* C E	E (E)	Y
Knights of the Ebon Blade	C E	E* E (C)	(E) H	Y
The Oracles		C E (E)	A	N
The Sons of Hodir(1)	E (E)	2xE (E)		N
The Wyrmrest Accord		H* C	H (E)	Y
Horde Expedition/Alliance Vanguard		C/H (E)		N

1 - shoulder glyphs for all specs at Honoured and Exalted.



Choice of faction
So for the choice between The Oracles and the Frenzyheart Tribe, the Tribe have Caster and Resto leggings and a leather item for melee. The Oracles have a head piece for casters, crit-based resto and enhancement. They also have a leather item for melee. The stats on these pieces are fairly similar between the Tribe and Oracles. The trinkets are interesting, I think the one from the Tribe is better for enhancement because thus far I've had no mana issues whatsoever, but I know levelling as Elemental mana is a precious commodity so The Oracle's trinket would be better. Personally I am leaning toward Oracles because of the pets basically.

What to champion first?
Basically it depends on your spec (of course). The Kirin Tor, Knights and Wyrmrest have the head glyphs at revered, so those are worth picking up as soon as possible. The Sons have the shoulder inscriptions, but you can't champion them. So I will be championing the faction which gives the head glyph to revered.


Conclusion
There is a lot of enhancement gear available at various faction levels, plus some elemental and resto items. What I've not done yet is compare the items against quest rewards - in TBC the 5 man quest rewards yielded some very nice items which were ideal for gearing up for raiding and heroics.