With the Echoes of the Dead update, Turbine revamped all the Legendary Item Relics and provided a whole host of new options.  I’ve been going through trying to figure out which are best for my classes as thought I’d share my thoughts on it.  In this, I’m making one key assumption that you’re not considering any of the old relics.  Now I will admit, I did save some of my old tier 9s but for the sake of the post I’ll ignore those.

First up, all the options available (I’m just going to show the Tier 6 and Extraordinary ones):

  • Tier 6
    • Gold Setting of Clear Thought
      • +22 Will, +650 Offense Ratings
    • Gold Setting of the Abyssal Depths
      • +22 Might, +650 Offense Ratings
    • Gold Setting of Precision
      • +230 Morale, +650 Offense Ratings
    • Gold Setting of Grace
      • +210 Power, +780 Outgoing Healing
    • Adamant Gem of the Crags
      • +22 Vitality, +520 Crit Ratings
    • Adamant Gem of the Precise Eye
      • +22 Agility, +520 Crit Ratings
    • Adamant Gem of Lore
      • +22 Fate, +520 Crit Ratings
    • Subtle Rune of the Fortress
      • +1040 Incoming Healing, +520 Block
    • Subtle Rune of Readiness
      • +114 ICMR, +520 Parry
    • Subtle Rune of the Sun
      • +114 ICPR, +520 Evade
  • Extraordinary
    • Extraordinary Setting of Stability
      • -5% Item Wear, +260 BPE, +1300 Incoming Healing
    • Extraordinary Setting of Beginnings
      • +650 Melee Defense, +114 ICPR, +22 Vitality
    • Extraordinary Setting of Endings
      • +7.5% Dev. Mag., +520 All Crits, +114 ICMR
    • Extraordinary Gem of Faith
      • +10% Partial Parry/Block Mitigation, +520 Block, +22 Might
    • Extraordinary Gem of Charity
      • +640 Tactical Defense, +780 Outgoing Healing, +210 Power
    • Extraordinary Gem of Hope
      • +260 Crit Defense, +230 Morale, +210 Power
    • Extraordinary Rune of Courage
      • +10% Partial Evade/Parry Mitigation, +22 Agi, +520 Parry
    • Extraordinary Rune of Power
      • +650 Ranged Defense, +520 Offensive Ratings, +22 Fate
    • Extraordinary Rune of Wisdom
      • -2.5% Attack Duration, +520 Evade, +22 Will

The Tier 6s are obtained just like the rest of the relics, but the Extraordinary ones are obtained through the new Melding system by combining specific Tier 6s and shards to make a new relic.  It is a bit overwhelming at first, but play around with it a bit and it makes more sense – also to note when melding, you are given a choice of which relics to use so you don’t have to worry about it the game picking the wrong one (just yourself picking the wrong one).

One thing I really like is the flexibility in that things like ICPR and incoming healing are available in multiple slots, and there are many other buffs that were previously very rare like partial mitigations.

To talk about these, I’m going to break up in terms of the main classes I play and best understand.

Warden (Tank)

Setting – Extraordinary Setting of Stability and/or Beginnings seems pretty clear cut here and I will most likely use one of each.

Gem – Extraordinary Gem of Hope and/or Faith.  I’m a big fan of the Hope gem on my Warden as crits are pretty rough for them and since there’s no cap on partials Faith is also very nice.

Rune – This one’s a bit trickier as there are a number of situational ones.  Fortress is nice if you’re not capped on either of those stats, Sun is nice for the ICPR, and Courage is quite nice for the Partials and parry boost as it is the rarest of mitigation bonuses.

Captain

Setting – I’m all over the place on this one as it mainly depends on how you play.  I’m going for more of a hybrid Captain and not necessarily focused purely on healing so I may not be the best guide for everyone.  Pretty much all the Tier 6s are nice depending on what you’re trying to build up or lacking.  I would probably lean more towards the Beginnings or Ending Extraordinary Settings as Captains shouldn’t worry about block and for me incoming healing and item wear are secondary worries.

Gem – I like all the Tier 6 Gems as criticals for Captains are great for healing and damage (defeat responses).  Charity to me seems like a great Healing Captain Gem with Hope being nice for a more well-rounded build.

Rune – Sun and Readiness are nice from the Tier 6s as regeneration and mitigations are always nice.  For me, the Wisdom rune is intriguing to get more damage output but Courage is probably better for a defensive build.

Minstrel (Tactical Classes)

Setting – this will really vary if you’re playing a DPS or healing spec.  For healing I think Grace is the clear cut best but many are nice if you’re running more of a DPS build.  This will be a bit tricky for me and I’m probably going to put the appropriate setting on the healing/dps items as appropriate.  Running a War-speech minnie, Beginnings is quite appealing as are all the crit/offensive boosting ones.

Gem – Charity is probably the best healing Gem with the others being situationally viable for DPS specs.

Rune – Sun and Power are probably the best options regardless of the spec.

DPS Classes (Hunter/Champion) (I’m stepping out of my comfort zone a bit here)

Setting – Precision or Endings are probably the best for damage, but others might be helpful if you worry about being a bit less squishy.

Gem – Any of the Tier 6s for pure offense or Hope to help mitigate the nasty one-shot attacks.

Rune – Sun for the ICPR (if an issue), Courage for Defensive buffs, Power for damage, and Wisdom for attack speed.

Based on all these options, yes there may be a bit of a step back from previous tier 9 relics but even with those I’m still slotting the new ones in place of the old ones.