Ranking the Venomous Abyss tier set looks from best to worst

The Venomous Abyss raid is in full swing, so hopefully your snake-whacking is going well and you’re on your way to completing one of Midnight Season 2’s tier sets. As always, we are less concerned with the bonuses and stats of the equipment and more focused on how high each ensemble reaches on the slay-meter.

Wring the venom out of your Gloves of Fashion Critiquing and feast your eyes on these 13 head-to-toe looks. Some embrace the poisonous theme and look like they were meticulously crafted from salvaged bits of serpents, while other classes appeared to have stayed home in Silvermoon on raid night and submitted an off-theme ensemble. Let’s hit the runway and find out which looks are toxic leftovers and which have acid-green appeal.

Dripping with style

Demon Hunters are looking authoritative and strong in the Abyssal Doomhound’s Pursuit. Those aren’t snake skulls, but they do give off the appearance of being infused with Corrosive Souls. The whole ensemble is a bit of a street Demon Hunter look and I’m here for it: studded leather, clomping boots, and just enough fangs to align with the serpentine theme.

Druids. I love when a tier set is striking and unique without losing any class identity, and that’s exactly what Druids have pulled off with the Bark of the Enigmatic Dreamwatcher. The horns and glowing moons are bringing it, but the shoulders scream “I’m mad that you poisoned those trees so I’m going to fashion armor out of the poisoned trees and use it to kick your butt.”

Hunters. The Skulking Viper’s Ambush is my runaway favorite, in a departure from my normally tepid review of Hunter outfits. From first impression to careful examination, the whole look is nothing but wins. I am highly entertained by the thought of the careful work that goes along with creating a cohesive look out of the remains of your vanquished serpentine foe, and then sticking its head on top of your own and having it look unexpectedly amazing.

Shamans. While the other classes were plucking fangs and peeling scales for their transmog creation process, Shamans sucked out the spirit of some cobras and popped them onto their shoulders for the Ophidian Oracle’s Prophecy. And the result is pure awesomeness. The mask is a great on-theme finishing touch for an overall stunning outfit.

Mean green fashion machines

Death Knights are embracing the venom with the Baleful Grave-Knight’s Crucible. I’m always a fan of a set that could not possibly be mistaken for any other class. The down-turned acid-dipped horns on the helm are a nice touch, but the spiked cages containing glowing green skulls are the true highlight.

Priests. The Cosmic Penitent’s Raiment is my highest scoring ensemble among those classes whose invitation to the Venomous Abyss raid night got lost in the mail. Despite a lack of snake bits, I really do like to overall vibe of the set. It’s never a bad thing when your fashion involves a mystery: those shoulders look very cool, but who is trapped in there? And why?

Warlocks. It looks like Warlocks started out the creation process for the Damned Necrolyte’s Shattered Restraints by vowing not to craft another demon cosplay, and then gave up halfway through and created a fairly stunning demon cosplay. The horns and shackles are high points, but why isn’t the wearer’s face covered as much as the other sets? My ginger goatee is sort of tanking the intimidation factor.

Took a wrong turn at the Strait of Hexx’alor

Monks appear to have spent the opening of patch 12.1 on the wrong island, as the Guile of the Monkey King seems more attuned to a raid full of banana-flinging Hozen. While I am indifferent towards the overall Formal Monkey Pajamas look, I can’t rank it too low because of the physics of those eyebrow feathers. They transform you into a punching monkey moth and that sounds fun to me.

Evokers. The Echo of Calamity is an understandable entry from the history-obsessed Evoker tailors. They’re still coming to terms with their identities and their long hibernation, and so an out-of-context “Look! Deathwing!” shoulder piece makes sense. The animated earth on the shoulders is a great detail, but at the end of the day the set didn’t have that lasting spark that brings me transmog joy.

Mages. I’d take the three-bladed cloak from the Mage’s Primal Leywarden’s Attire for my wardrobe and probably pass on the rest. It comes in just about average on the “unique” and “striking” scales, and all that fur is probably not going to be very breathable in the bubbling poison cauldron that is the Vaults of Atal’Utek.

Pass on these poison pills

Paladins. I think my main issue with the Paladin set, Radiance of the Consecrated Flame, is that a number of other classes could be under that armor. Is it a muscle-bound Evoker? Those horns make me think Demon Hunter. The hanging scrolls and red ribbons scream “we have Judgment at home.”

Rogues. When I first saw the Rogue’s set, Chosen Bloodslayer’s Hexweave, I thought, “yup, another Hunter ensemble that I don’t love.” The tusks and tatters are a bit of an odd choice, almost as if the Rogues got the the raid late and all of the best materials were taken from the boss’s corpse so they had to make do with the scraps. Also, I hope you like that poofy hair — it’s part of it.

Warriors have some cool pauldron details on the Jade Warlord’s Dominion, but it’s another Venomous Abyss set that’s fur-lined. Were there woolly snakes in a raid wing that I missed?

With all 13 looks in the books, we can doff our Gloves of Fashion Critiquing and get serious: every single one actually looks pretty amazing, once again. It will be hard to resist organizing my army of alts and lining them up at the Catalyst in order to collect each and every one. Don’t forget to browse the recolors for each set: between the four raid difficulty tiers and two PVP tiers, there are six color schemes for each ensemble. So which of these looks are you wearing for your triumphant return to Silvermoon after vanquishing Ula’tek, and which are you stuffing under the Altar of Corrosion to be forgotten?