What to Wear: Frost Emblem Gear for Shadow Priests

Patch 3.3 brought with it a new top-end emblem (Emblem of Frost), and a nice assortment of gear to fill in some lingering holes or help with the never-ending hit-swap dance. Personally, for now, I am hanging on to my badges to see how my luck fares in our ICC 10 runs, and how our progress goes in ICC 25. I'm not at all tempted to purchase my first few pieces of tier gear. Overall, other than the shoulders, it's looking like it's not worth wearing until you have the 4-piece bonus, or have been able to upgrade pieces via the marks that drop off each wing's final boss. So, after giving it a couple more weeks, I'll decide if I want to take the plunge and upgrade my less than 245 iLvl pieces, or wait until I have the 300-something badges for 4 pieces of tier gear.

Tier Set

• Crimson Acolyte Cowl (95 emblems). This is your base tier helm. By itself, can be surpassed by helms later in the 10-man and the 25-man. Upgrades to Sanctified Crimson Acolyte Cowl(264) (251 T10+Conqueror's Mark of Sanctification), then Sanctified Crimson Acolyte Cowl(277) (264 T10+ Heroic Conqueror's Mark of Sanctification). The iLvl 277 upgraded version is your BiS helm, with the middle upgrade your best non-heroic helm.
• Crimson Acolyte Mantle (60 emblems). This is your base tier shoulders, and a good first purchase, bettered only by a trash drop in ICC 25, heroic drops, or upgrading itself. Upgrades to Sanctified Crimson Acolyte Mantle(264) (251 T10+Conqueror's Mark of Sanctification), then Sanctified Crimson Acolyte Mantle(277) (264 T10+ Heroic Conqueror's Mark of Sanctification). The iLvl 277 upgraded version is your BiS shoulder, with the middle upgrade your second-best.
• Crimson Acolyte Raiments (95 emblems). This is your base tier chest.By itself, can be surpassed with the other badge chest and normal 10-man and 25-man ICC drops. Upgrades to Sanctified Crimson Acolyte Raiments(264) (251 T10+Conqueror's Mark of Sanctification), then Sanctified Crimson Acolyte Raiments(277) (264 T10+ Heroic Conqueror's Mark of Sanctification). The iLvl 277 upgraded version is your BiS chest, with the middle upgrade your 4th best non-heroic chest.
• Crimson Acolyte Handwraps (60 emblems). These are your base tier gloves, generally considered to be pretty far down the BiS list due to their big dose of hit. Upgrades to Sanctified Crimson Acolyte Handwraps(264) (251 T10+Conqueror's Mark of Sanctification), then Sanctified Crimson Acolyte Handwraps(277) (264 T10+ Heroic Conqueror's Mark of Sanctification).
• Crimson Acolyte Pants (95 emblems). These are your base tier legs, generally considered to be pretty far down the BiS list due to their big dose of hit. Upgrades to Sanctified Crimson Acolyte Pants(264) (251 T10+Conqueror's Mark of Sanctification), then Sanctified Crimson Acolyte Pants(277) (264 T10+ Heroic Conqueror's Mark of Sanctification).

Non-Tier Gear

• Volde's Cloak of the Night Sky (50 emblems). If you are not doing 25-man content, and do not have a heroic ToC cloak, this will be your best option for this slot. You will not want to purchase the other badge cloak, Drape of the Violet Tower (50 emblems), as its MP5 is not useful for damage dealing.
• Meteor Chaser's Raiment (95 emblems). This is your third-best chest, bested only by a heroic chest and the max-upgraded tier chest. The other non-tier badge chest, Ermine Coronation Robes (95 emblems), is itemized a little better for healers.
• Gloves of False Gestures (60 emblems). If you have all your hit taken care of in other slots, these are considered to be your second best gloves. The other emblem gloves, Gloves of Ambivalence (60 emblems), are better itemized for healers.
• Circle of Ossus (60 emblems). If you are not doing ICC 25 or heroic ICC 10, this will be your BiS belt.
• Belt of Omission (60 emblems). If you are looking for hit in this slot, this will be your best option.
• Maghia's Misguided Quill (60 emblems). If you have been using the Ulduar hit trinket you may want to spend the badges to upgrade to this even larger dose of hit (thus freeing up other slots for non-hit gear.)

If you purchased all 5 of your tier items, you would be looking at an emblem spend of 405.