When I started compiling this set I actually started with the
Boulderfist Epaulets. In my usual fashion I went through and selected the rest of the boulderfist items. Well, the shades of black and red on the shoulders were a touch different than the rest of the
Boulderfist set. The Boulderfist set had more of a dark maroon feel rather than actual black. So I went back to square one and started with the chest piece attempting to match a different chest to the shoulders. After going through a ton of chest pieces I came across the
Dark Iron Plate. It matched perfectly, especially considering I was using a Dwarf maid model to start with! Lo and behold, the Dark Iron Shoulders had the same graphic as the Boulderfist ones, no surprise.
I selected the full set of Dark Iron Plate gear. Since there is no Dark Iron belt I used the
Avenger's Waistguard. Then I moved on to cloaks. There were a great many cloaks that looked well with this armor! I selected the
Crimson Paragon's Cover due to the way the black background and little spikes of red fit the armor set. The green was a nice touch of color without being too much. There are several cloaks from Wrath that are the same style such as the
Royal Crimson Cloak or
Greatcloak of the Turned Champion so be ready to run some Wrath raids if you're looking for black and red cloaks. There were plenty of plain black or red cloaks to choose from such as the
Bloodmoon Cloak (red) or
Blood Knight War Cloak(black) that looked well with the armor. For the alternate picture I used the
Cloak of the Inciter. The white with a red border relieves the stark blackness of the armor set.
Next onto the shield! This was a tough one to start. There were a good many shields that matched or would look decent with the set. I took a moment to decide what I wanted for the look and tone of the set. The shield should be one with only black and red, no other colors and was well, intimidating. Once I set those standards the shield selection was cake. The
Gladiator's Shield Wall had it all. Unfortunately, after doing all this work to put everything together I took a moment to jump in game to verify that this shield could still be purchased at the legacy honor quatermaster. It can not. So if you have it in your bank still, bully for you. As the other shield I chose one of my favorite ever in game shield,
Ward of the Red Widow. The heroic version is blue I believe so you want the one from regular. This is a bind on equip drop from Beth'tilac. So if you're lucky you can get it off the Auction House for 50k gold.
For the sword,
Broken Promise just looks so freaking cool. And hey! It's black and red. There were a couple other options such as
Blackguard, however, I feltthe size and shape of Broken Promise balanced the Gladiator's Shield Wall quite nicely. For the alternate weapon I selected an axe,
Rising Tide.
The only problem with this set? Other than the shield not being available of course... It's crafted. You will need to find a blacksmith who can
A) Smelt Dark Iron and
B) Has the Dark Iron Plate plans. The plans can be purchsed from
Lokhtos Darkbargainer if you have the required reputation with Thorium Brotherhood. Be prepared to help your blacksmith farm Blackrock Depths, to mine the ore and get faction drops for Thorium Brotherhood!
