World of Warcraft is a constantly changing game. Patches come and go. Items are added in the hundreds every year, and thousands with every expansion. Set bonuses are created for each specialisation in the game for each new tier set. These items undergo extensive testing both internally at Blizzard, and on the PTR by the general public, and for the most part the items are bug free.
In time, items become obsolete as better items come into the game, though that’s not to say they’ll always remain obsolete. Through class, gameplay and mechanical changes, some items find their way out of obscurity and into the spotlight, albeit generally for a short period.
The so-called “Stat Squish” that was introduced in Warlords of Draenor contributed greatly to this effect, as many items’ set bonuses and proc effects were overlooked.
| Annihilator The most recent item to come into this category is the one handed axe Annihilator. There are no stats, the DPS is low and it is equipable at level 58. The proc, however, scaled with level, making it absolutely amazing in PvP. The proc reduced armour to 0%, allowing for easy kills against any class, even up to one-shotting. For the time that this was known until it was hotfixed on the 17th of August, a number of melee teams gained large amounts of rating in Arena. |
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| Bulwark of Azzinoth The famous Black Temple shield was brought back into use for a brief period of time by tanks around the world when someone discovered that the proc it provides - an increase of 2,000 armour - was not scaled. Though it only had a 2% chance to activate, the fact it provided more than double the amount of armour an average tank had at level 100 it was, quite simply, overpowered. As advanta pointed out in his post in January this year, this was not the only item of its type. It was entirely possible for a tank to collect a full set of bonus armour gear and dominate in both PvP and PvE damage meters, as bonus armour directly increases attack power. |
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It isn’t only mechanic changes that cause items to become OP. A simple oversight on Blizzard’s end has historically caused anything from a minor amusement, to an unintended playstyle, to all-out exploits.
| Gladiator’s Spellblade Gladiator’s Spellblade is a prime example of an oversight by Blizzard that opened up one very specific option - dual wielding Elemental Shamans. In Burning Crusade at Level 70, a Shaman could spec far enough into the Enhancement Tree to unlock Dual Wielding, and swap over into the Elemental Tree far enough to unlock a lot of major Elemental talents. Gladiator’s Spellblade was the only One-Handed caster weapon in Burning Crusade, allowing you to use a powerful mainhand, and this dagger as an offhand for a large spellpower and stat boost, as well as the very unique option of two Caster enchants. This was only made possible because of Blizzard not making this a Main-Hand weapon along with all of its caster weapon companions. |
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| Scroll of Touch of Death While technically not an equippable item, it’s an item that Blizzard made one huge oversight on - it was usable outside Ashran, despite what the item said. This allowed monks to go around literally one shotting any non-WoD content. Videos such as a monk one shotting Heroic Lei Shen and Ra-Den and the scroll being used in Rated Arena show exactly how OP this bug was. |
| Hunter Tier 2 Bonus The three set bonus for the Dragonstalker Armour set was “Increases the ranged attack power bonus of your Aspect of the Hawk by 20%.” That was until someone discovered that the bonus was active even without the gear being equipped. With most set bonuses, the bonus is only active while the gear is equipped - a mechanism that’s been in a place a long time to prevent this exact scenario happening. But whatever the reason may be, it wasn’t the case here. Equipping three pieces of Dragonstalker Armour, activating Aspect of the Hawk and swapping back to your proper gear still left you with an additional 20% Ranged Attack Power for as long as you were in that aspect. As you could imagine, the damage benefit was quite large. |
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| Enti’s Quenched Sword On first inspection, it may look like just another vendor item, but there was a time when this was an outstanding twink weapon, especially in the 19s bracket and with Level 1 twinks. It had no level requirement, and because of the combination of its high item level allowing BC and WotLK enchants, as well as having high damage stats, any low level character with this weapon could slay higher level opponents with ease. Though this was eventually fixed by finally adding the Level 70 equip requirement, it stands testament to how something as simple as a grey trash item could become an overpowered item in the right circumstances. |
| Martin Fury Martin Fury - the item anyone who’s played with a Private Server has likely spawned and used themselves. Martin Fury is likely the greatest Blizzard-Item related mess up in the history of the game, when one lucky player, Karatechop of Vek’nilash (US), won the lotto and received this item in the mail after recovering from a hacked account. What do you do with an item that can one shot everything in the game? One shot everything in the game - and that’s exactly what Karatechop and his guild did. They cleared Ulduar with Hard Modes, Malygos and Sartharion with the simple click of a shirt. As expected, Karatechop and anyone attending the raids were promptly hit with the banhammer. |
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Aside from these, there are a huge number of items that just weren't bugged, but worked well through general use, in combination with other items or in niche circumstances for a period of time.
| The Judge's Gavel The infamous Judge's Gavel was dreaded in Warsong Gulch for one single reason - it made your target invulnerable for ten seconds. When used on Flag Carriers in Warsong Gulch, it caused them to drop the flag. While it wasn't a max level item - only level 47 at the time - it was used by those lucky enough to have one before it was changed to a stun in mid 2005. |
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| Stormherald Stunherald, Skillherald, Rogue-on-a-stick. These are some of the names given to Stormherald - the mace many believe lead to the big push for better Diminishing Returns within PvP. This mace used to have an on-proc 10 Second stun, and when combined with Arms Warrior's Mace Specialisation, Arms Warriors using this weapon were almost the undisputed champion of 2v2 Arena. |
| Cunning of the Cruel This rare trinket from Dragon Soul was the prized possession of any caster in Rated Battlegrounds during Season 11. It was so powerful that it wasn't uncommon for serious PvPers to pay guilds for Heroic Dragon Soul runs in order to get the trinket, and to be denied entry into an RBG team if you didn't have it. So powerful that entire top-rated RBG teams were casters with Cunning of the Cruel and Dragonwrath with a couple of healers for good measure. So powerful that opposing teams straight up quit if they went up against Cunning/Dot Cleave teams. So powerful that RBG teams paid PvE casters with the trinket and staff to borrow their account. Why was it so good? The proc could break steath, did a huge amount of damage, procced off dots, and when multiple DoT-slinging casters had it equipped, it could wipe out entire teams in no time at all. |
There are significantly more than listed here, which is only a brief overview. Have you ever found or used an item that didn't quite work as intended, an item which was just perfect for a situation, or an item which was straight out bugged and completely overpowered?
With every hotfix, patch and expansion, the chance of another unlikely item coming back into fashion increases. I'd encourage everyone to always keep looking for new-old items to bring back in a major way, and take the player-base by surprise! Procs that increase or reduce a stat, unusual equip requirements and set bonuses are always a great place to start.
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Moki92- 10-06-2015vBulletin Message