4.2 Tank Stages and Cataclysm Gear Guide

[Dankoviich]

First of all thanks for the incredible guide, it is one of the best I have seen. I just had a quick question for you that I haven't been able to find an answer to easily (I very well could have missed it and if I have I apologize in advance).

When evaluating pieces of gear with no mastery do you take into account reforging for mastery or do you just use the given values? I ask because obviously any piece without mastery should be reforged into mastery so I was wondering if this would change anything or if you already account for this. Thanks for your time

[Kalsam]

It looks like he's accounted for it already, Dank.


I'm pleased to see that my own calculations from before the patch were fairly spot on with one exception being the difference between the Helm or Chest for the 4set. I ended up choosing the helm due to the higher value of Mastery on the chest from Beth. *shrugs*

Minor note, Digren. In the trinkets, the Essence of Eternal Flame is linking to Spidersilk Spindle. Just thought you should know.

[Dankoviich]

Ok sweet and I went with the same setup (tier helm, beth chest) as you did for now for various reasons (drops, valor caps and making 4 piece as quickly as possible). That may change in the future due to ease of drops based on heroic boss difficulty etc.

For now though I am pretty much sticking to this list outside of that (although I have reforged a little bit into threat stats until my healers tell me I can't have them anymore lol, on some fights missing initial attacks is just not ideal).

Thanks for the quick reply and helpful comments Kalsam

[Digren]

Yes everything has been gemmed and reforged as per my item enhancement guide. Obviously enchants are irrelevant as long as you don't leave the slot empty.

[Dankoviich]

Very cool and I kind of figured as much just had to ask This guide has been a huge asset to me as I do not have the time to crunch all these numbers myself. Thanks to Theck as well as his numbers have also been very useful.

Another question I wanted to ask is do you have a base stam number you like for FL normal and heroic content? I am at about 175k with block cap (using a mastery elixir as opposed to stam flask) and 5% hit/12 exp (I like a to carry a little bit of threat stats and to me giving up ~2-3% dodge/parry for hit/exp caps against lvl 85 mobs which are the usual level of adds seems like a decent trade off). This puts me around 195k raid buffed which seems ideal for content so far but I wanted to get your opinion on it.

[Rusa]

Forgive the derp moment I'm having this minute, but I should definatly get the Mirrored Boots over the Heroic Cracked Obsidian Stompers or just preference?

Today is not a day of high thinking for me.

[Digren]

Very cool and I kind of figured as much just had to ask This guide has been a huge asset to me as I do not have the time to crunch all these numbers myself. Thanks to Theck as well as his numbers have also been very useful.

Another question I wanted to ask is do you have a base stam number you like for FL normal and heroic content? I am at about 175k with block cap (using a mastery elixir as opposed to stam flask) and 5% hit/12 exp (I like a to carry a little bit of threat stats and to me giving up ~2-3% dodge/parry for hit/exp caps against lvl 85 mobs which are the usual level of adds seems like a decent trade off). This puts me around 195k raid buffed which seems ideal for content so far but I wanted to get your opinion on it.

It really depends on if your healers are happy. It sounds okay to me, but it's more important that it's okay to them.

[Vasilissa]

This guide is great although as far as I can read it's based on getting 4T12 pieces. Is it really worth getting 4T12 even though tier pieces have quite huge pool of threat stats?

[Digren]

This guide is great although as far as I can read it's based on getting 4T12 pieces. Is it really worth getting 4T12 even though tier pieces have quite huge pool of threat stats?

I don't recommend four tier pieces at all. In fact, I explicitly ignore the value of tier bonuses when ranking items. If a tier piece is listed high, it's because it's that good all by itself. If you want to go for the tier set, you can look at the relative rankings of each tier piece to decide which ones to use and which one to skip.

Do keep in mind, though, that I recommend for combat table coverage, and all pieces have been gemmed per the mastery-heavy strategy, and reforged for mastery or dodge/parry, as per my item enhancement guide. So the pieces with mastery/threat become pieces with mastery/threat/dodge and do a decent job of combat table coverage in the absence of a better mastery/dodge piece.

[Vasilissa]

Thanks for the quick reply. I'll read through it again then and decide which pieces to take. Thanks a lot

[DonTirri]

Hi, first post here.

Anyway, I love this list, allows me to quickly check whether to roll for an upgrade or what to buy etc.
EDIT: NVM, posted about porcelain crab but then realized it was discussed already in the thread. Although I'd like to add that I've noticed it's ICD to line up somewhat nicely with Holy Shield (Yes, I'm one of those lazy people who macroed it to CS/HotR), atleast it seems to me that whenever I got the crab proc, I also have HS up. Just some food for thought.

[Ecmelt]

http://www.askmrrobot.com/wow/gear/pala ... ,,CBE40HA2

What do you think about this *goal* i have from pre-heroic content. Also ignored the exalted ring since that will happen even after starting heroic i believe.

1 trinket for stamina so not so gimped on that either. avoidance cap should happen in raid etc. Not going for 4x tier 11 since after avoidance cap reached i really dont believe it is so good.

Any suggestions on how to improve this is more than welcome.

With these items changing with heroic versions the reforges to mastery from dodge or parry can be removed to stay on cap with more avoidance than block. Anything i'm missing at all?

[shaak]

I don't understand how the Ruthless cape is ranked above the Mantle of Patience, I just compared them and lost .24% avoidance. Surely 59 stamina and 60 armor isn't worth that much of a avoidance loss?

[Arincia]

Was looking around on wow head for some easy to acquire ret gear and saw this and was wondering if anyone could confirm/deny it?

http://www.wowheadnews.com/blog=190236/ ... ear-in-4-2

7/6: Clarified info about tier as well as upgradable gear with Firestones. All VP items can be upgraded with Firestones--you 'use' the stone on an item. Source: http://www.img-share.net/uploads/16388gmfirestones.jpg

This would easily push the valor ring as the 2nd tank ring to go with the exalted rep ring if true so that's why I'm asking.

[Eanin]

I don't understand how the Ruthless cape is ranked above the Mantle of Patience, I just compared them and lost .24% avoidance. Surely 59 stamina and 60 armor isn't worth that much of a avoidance loss?

I have to echo this sentiment. I just can't see how losing 134 dodge is made up for by 26 mastery, 59 stamina and 61 armor. Honestly, this ranking casts doubt on the methodology of this entire guide.