S3 shields vs. Bulwark of the Amani Empire

[Minn]

http://www.wowhead.com/?item=33755
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=33326

With Toughness, the S3 shield comes out about 800 armor ahead. I wanted to find out where this extra armor starts outperforming the extra block value on the Bulwark.

SBV comparison: 167*X for the S3 shield, 183*X for the Bulwark, where X= 1.3 with Shield Spec 3/3 or 1.4 with that and the metagem. We'll say 1.4 to favor the Bulwark, so 234 BV vs. 256.

For armor, I used 18k as the baseline, with an additional 800 for the S3 shield.

(Armor / (Armor + 11960)) * 100

18000 = 60.08% reduction
18800 = 61.11% reduction

1k unmitigated: 601 reduced vs 611 reduced (hits for < 400, block reduces it to < 200)
2k unmitigated: 1202 reduced vs 1222 reduced (hits for < 800, block reduces it to < 600)

Anyway, in this example, it looks like 2k unmitigated is the crossover. Below that, and as long as you're blocking everything, the SBV from the Bulwark is outperforming the armor. Above that, and you'll be better served by the armor on the S3 shield.

Eh, didn't factor in Improved Righteous Fury... still, close enough? Block Rating aside, it looks like the S3 is going to be a lot better vs. heavy hitters, where post-armor, post-block hits are still coming in around 3k+.

[Seloei]

In reality, the only place where you see most doing 2k unmitigated hits is in kara... anything higher they are in the 3-6k unmitigated range (trash and bosses)

The bulwark is good for a major aoe fest, but if you can then nab the s3 shield and use it for your maintanking set. The extra `20 block value is insignificant to the armor you get from the s3 shield. You can actually get 2 more stamina with the bulwark tho.

[Salamandra]

By unmitigated it seems you mean before armor? I can't even think of any elites in Kara that do that low damage. Even those stupid horses right at the beginning do like 4k unmitigated. 10k unmitigated is a better benchline for those two shields.

And the s3 shield is clearly better in general. Much more armor, slightly more or slightly less stamina (depending on gem). Block rating doesn't matter what-so-ever in most situations. The block value difference is tiny and not at all significant damage reduction compared to the armor.

[sbeacher]

So by that argument would that make the trash BT shield better than the Bulwark? It's like 500 more armor.

We had one drop the other night and I didn't bid need I bid greed and so a holy pally (???) beat me. No clue why he actually bid on it since I doubt he'd even use it farming. Now I'm sorta wishing I had bid on it. (No Hardened Heart has dropped yet)

[SmurfZG]

yes