You might have heard the term item level "iLvl" and not really known what it meant. It's sort of an extension of the tier system (or vice versa), and it's easy enough to understand at face value: a higher iLevel means more overall stats and superior item.
Item levels are not something that you can see in the game with the default interface. You'll need an addon like iLevel Buddy. Most database websites have it as well, you can see it on WoWHead under "Quick Facts". These Conqueror's Darkruned Legguards have an iLevel of 226.
The iLvl of an item has some complicated formulas that were reverse engineered by players. Basically, the iLvl of an item, its rarity, and the slot it goes in, like shoulders, waist, and chest, give the item a pool of points to take from. Chest and helms get more points than say bracers and belts. With these points, stats are allocated. Each stat has a certain percentage of these "points" that it costs. For stats like Agility and Intellect, the trade-off is one to one, that is, it costs the same amount of "points" from the iLvl to get +1 Agility as it does +1 Intellect. Gear of the same iLevel then differs based on its armor class and the stats on it. Lets check out how many of these "points" each of the stats take up (via elitistjerks).
| Stat |
Modifier |
| Strength |
1 |
| Agility |
1 |
| Stamina |
2/3 |
| Intellect |
1 |
| Spirit |
1 |
| Ratings |
1 |
| Attack Power |
1/2 |
| Spell Power |
6/7 |
| Mana per 5 |
5/2 |
| Block Value |
13/40 |
So if you had two items of the same iLvl, some stats might be +40 Intellect, +10 Intellect and +30 Spirit, +10 Intellect and +45 Stamina, or +10 Intellect and +35 Spell Power. A Priest might desire the +10 Intellect and +30 Spirit gear, but a Mage might prefer a +40 Intellect or +10 Intellect and +35 Spell Power. This is called itemization, that is, Blizzard pulling stats that players should want for their class on gear.
For example, lets compare 3 iLevel 200 leather belts:
Dragonfriend Bracers,
Bindings of the Tunneler, and
Advanced Tooled-Leather Bands. If you add up all of the points (after multiplied by the modifiers in the table) on the Dragonfriend Bracers, you see that you will result in 163 (49/1 Agility+ 38*(2/3)=26 Stamina +38/1 crit rating + 100*(1/2)=50 attack power). All epic iLevel 200 bracers will result in that sum. For example, the Advanced Tooled-Leather Bands also give us 163 (+36/1 agility +43 *(2/3)=28 stamina + 49 Haste Rating + 100*(1/2)=50 Attack Power). However, because Bindings of the Tunneler are not epic, they should have lower stats, even though they are iLevel 200. Doing the calculation shows us that (+31 Agility +67*(2/3)=45 Stamina + 25 Expertise Rating + 84*(1/2)=42 Attack Power) is 143.
These calculations would give us the same numbers, 163 and 143, if we chose epic and uncommon cloth iLevel 200 bracers. We know something is
Rogue gear when it's leather and has Agility and Critical Strike Rating on it, and something is
Mage gear when it's cloth and has Intellect and Spell Power on it. However, the stats should sum up the same between them.
That was just for bracers. There are all sorts of equations that can tell you exactly how many of these points each slot will have at each iLevel, but it's complicated and boring.
Set Bonuses and special procs are (usually) a freebie. This is why tier pieces are usually so heavily valued; they come with awesome set bonuses without sacrificing stats. Sockets are usually 16 points.
When deciding which piece of gear is better, iLevel is a good guide, but not the end all. PvP items have Resilience on them, which is all but useless in PvE. Some stats may be less valuable to you than others; for example, few classes would value Stamina over AP/SP. Look at the stats carefully before deciding before you give up 10 Agility for 70 Stamina in what you think is a fantastic upgrade because you went from iLevel 200 to 213.
| 10-man |
ilvl |
25-man |
| Naxx |
200 |
|
| KT, EoE |
213 |
Naxx |
| Ulduar |
219 |
|
| Ulduar hard |
226 |
Ulduar, KT/EoE |
| CC
|
232 |
Ulduar weapons |
|
239 |
Ulduar hard |
| CC hard |
245 |
CC
|
|
258 |
CC hard |
The last thing you need to know is where to get what iLevel gear. Usually, the harder the raid, the higher the iLevel of the drops.
Wow.com made this handy little table. Usually, you will want your gear to be within about 20 points of a raid before even considering it. Some gear can be crafted at high iLevels, but it requires Orbs, like
Frozen Orbs or
Runed Orbs which drop in the same areas as your desired iLevel gear does. You can buy them at top price at the auction house.
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