Gear Advice

Hello everyone. I have a few questions about various things on my gear. I know its something I'm doing wrong simply because of the fact there are a few paladins I know who are lesser geared than myself and Death Knights lesser geared than myself who have been tanking Heroics and Naxx and don't have near the amount of trouble I have.

I was wondering what viable upgrades I might be able to get. I've ran a few normal instances and have had zero luck on getting items to drop. Right now instance running seems to be a little low with the holidays and people working on 80.

My question is, what would cause me to pretty much get hit by a truck in heroics? I look at my combat log and I'm taking 5-8k damage every single hit. By the time a heal comes in there's no way after about 5-7 hits in a row that I can mitigate enough damage to stay alive for whatever reason.

Here's a link to my Armory.

http://www.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Detheroc&n=Lucetia

Now as I'm not sure accurate the armory is or anything I'll post some stats below.

Also a few answers to questions that might be asked. My helm I've yet to upgrade because I haven't found another helm with a nice amount of avoidance due to the use of the meta socket (which itself could use an upgrade). The boots haven't been upgraded because I'm unsure about the Titansteel ones because I lose more avoidance along with Block Value. The Burning Crusade Jewelcrafting trinket I'm still using for the fact that its got good avoidance and have yet to find anything to match it. The gems could use an upgrade in the Monarch Crab, however. The shield will be getting +22 Defense and the bracers will be receivng a +12 Stamina enchant once mats are gathered for it.

All of these are unbuffed:

With Warsong Punisher as the weapon
Health: 19704
Strength: 835
Armor: 20648 (57.55% Damage Reduction) w/o Devo
22455 (59.58% Damage Reduction) w/Devo
Defense: 554
Dodge: 18.75%
Parry: 15.98%
Block: 12.26%
Block Value: 957


With Hammer of Quiet Mourning (Going to equip after +20 STR enchant is added and stats are figured with the enchant on)
Health: 19734
Strength: 832
Armor: 20648 (57.55% Damage Reduction) w/o Devo
22455 (59.58% Damage Reduction) w/Devo
Defense: 554
Dodge: 18.73%
Parry: 16.10%
Block: 12.42%
Block Value: 953

For Elixirs I've been using Elixir of Mighty Strength and Elixir of Mighty Fortitude. I've been contemplating on whether I should start to use Elixir of Mighty Defense or not even though extra advoidance never hurts anyone.

The usual buffs I've been running with have been Devotion Aura, Blessing of Sanctuary, Mark of the Wild and occasionally Shaman totems, but other than that nothing that would make a difference in stats.

The next major question I have is well which is better. The Caverns of Time Defender or the Argent Crusade Protector enchant if I have access to both? Currently the only one I have access to is the Argent Crusade one.

One last bit of info as I'm not sure if it'd help in suggestions the below is my current reputation levels.

Horde Expedition: Revered
Argent Crusade: Friendly
Kirin Tor: Honored
Knights of the Ebon Blade: Neutral
The Kalu'ak: Exalted
The Wyrmrest Accord: Honored
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T4 head, T5 shoulders and ZA boots? That's a big no...

I've seen better greens at lvl80 then your helm, no jokes...

As per the enchant, all the way the argent crusade one, 37sta 20def is not comparable with 16def 17dodge, that 37sta pwns.
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You're a little too hung up on certain numbers on your old gear, i'm thinking.

Take for an example your T5 shoulders, and compare them with Crusader Square Paudrons, a lvl 78 BOE item that I usually see several listed in the AH.

Your approach means you lose out on some 300 armor and something like 36 stamina, in favor of what? 10 def rating? You're at the minimum by a long way; start thinking a little bit about your health pool.

Also, you have really high jewelcrafting skill, but not much to show for it. Where's the titanium earthguard jewellery? Why are you using green quality gems?



(edit to underline the links)

Letting go of old stuff can be hard, but most of it just isn´t good enough anymore. The same reason why you would want to use the new head-enchant over the old one - huge amounts of stamina outweighs the small amounts of avoidance you gain from the old gear.

Replacing the old epics with blues / quest-rewards gave me some real headaches, but it´s worth it when your health jumps from 18k to 21k just by spending 100g on crafted armor.. Oh and that t4 helm, don´t get too obsessed with the meta-gem. It isn´t *that* overpowered unless you´re stacking block-value :)

A 100-200 armor-gain on each item replaced certainly added up too.

A bit more specific: Have a look at the Wyrmrest-awards at revered! They compliment the rest of your gear nicely, methinks.

Jungle Stompers -> Wyrmrest-boots

Your chest-piece-> Wyrmrest-chest
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Kieras <- armory
Proud cook of Savory Deviate Delight

I wonder why you levelled you Blacksmithing to 440 if you don't intend to get the Titansteel items (or at least some of them). Also the jewelcrafting daily takes 5 minutes and can provide you with some seriously nice gems. I can understand if you are buying patterns for your guild but remember that you should get some benefit out of your professions too. Are the miners in the guild offering you their titansteel cooldowns in return for your hard work making gems available to them? That would be a fair swap I think

You mentioned you are having trouble getting heroics, but even normal level 80 instances can give you some decent rep with the faction of your choice if you bag yourself a tabard.

Good luck.
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Gwayne
<CTSamurai>
Neptulon-EU

I just did what a few people suggested. I crafted the Tempered Saronite Boots, Tempered Saronite Helm, Tempered Saronite Shoulders.

Those Strat shoulders I've yet to see on the AH unfortunately =/

Now I have the following:

Health: 20154 (Gained 420 Health not including the 22 stamina, another 246 HP bringing it to a total of 20400)
Strength: 857 (Gained 25)
Armor: 21487 (58.52% Damage Reduction) w/o Devo (Gained 839 w/ 0.97% DR)
23294 (60.46% Damage Reduction) w/Devo (Gained 839 w/ 0.88% DR)
Defense: 567 (Gained 13)
Dodge: 18.43% (Loss 0.30%)
Parry: 16.08% (Loss 0.02%)
Block: 11.68% (Loss 0.74%)
Block Value: 873 (Loss 80)


Originally Had:
Health: 19734
Strength: 832
Armor: 20648 (57.55% Damage Reduction) w/o Devo
22455 (59.58% Damage Reduction) w/Devo
Defense: 554
Dodge: 18.73%
Parry: 16.10%
Block: 12.42%
Block Value: 953

So what I'm wondering is now that I've changed at least those three pieces was the loss in stats worth it over the small gains I got in other areas?

The above sets are figuring in the +20 STR enchant on the weapon that I'm currently wearing.

I appreciate the feedback so please keep it coming

The entire point of having stamina, as I see it, is to be able to survive the maximum potential burst-damage a mob can do to you over four seconds, ie being able to take x amount of un-avoided hits without healing and survive it.

Take King Dred, for example. Dinosaur, optional boss. Hits for a small ton normally, has an ability that makes him hit you three times in a row very quickly. Now, even naked you can expect to avoid at least one of those hits. The two other hits however, strike for 8-11k each, depending on your gear.

Having less than 20k buffed in this situation is very likely to kill you. Going from 20 -> 22k will do absolutely nothing to help you. You either get healed or die from the next hit.

At your gear-level, your avoidance doesn´t compliment your health. I´d really recommend sacrificing some avoidance to reach a more comfortable health-level. Not only does it look better, it also makes your healer relax a bit since one hit from the boss doesn´t take you to >50% health :)
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Kieras <- armory
Proud cook of Savory Deviate Delight

I must be getting old, I replied to your previous answer.. o.O

I know your tricks now!
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Kieras <- armory
Proud cook of Savory Deviate Delight

I read the post and it doesnt seem you are ready to give away your old gear, meaning you will continue to have trouble with heroics ....

When I dinged 80 I had the following stats ...

21K HP
21K Armor
559 Def
And some avoidance stats (I cant remember what they were, but the 3 above were the ones I was working for)

This was from crafted and quest rewards gear, I have since tanked around 15+ heroic runs with no real trouble ... I have been 80 for 30 hours.

I found it hard to let go of my gear, but I wanted a good base for starting heroics ... I have one piece left from my 70 gear and its the badge Libram.

The avoidance stats you want will come with EPIC gear, for now get some STAM, ARMOR and the DEF min of 535 and get in there.

I am also a JC/BS, which is a very good combo for MAXING tanking stats.