3.1 Talent build conclusion (?)

Hi all.

Having gone through several posts on this forum, reading talent build suggestions and ofc the responses to those suggestions, i'm to understand that basically there are 2 viable tanking specs come patch 3.1:

1. Imp LoH spec : 12 / 53 / 6
2. Threat spec : 0 / 53 / 18

Is this assumption correct? I, myself, would be going for the (glyphed 11 min CD) imp. LoH spec as long as threat isn't a problem.
Feedback / correction(s) are welcome ofc. Afterall i'm posting this for confirmation

Yes those would be the archetypal builds.

There are many more viable tanking specs. I'd say those are arguably the two ideal specs for either survival or dps/tps. I'll personally be going 0/53/18 even though I'm a little nervous about going 1/2 SA. But logic says mana won't be an issue with Divine Plea + BoSanc and 5% SA so it should be fine.

Perhaps "viable" is too strong a word. But looking at it from a raid / 25 man content tank perspective, i'd be assuming that any other choice would be less effective than the 2 specs i posted (?)

Meaning that apart from the basic tanking talents in the Prot tree, you'd either want to use your remaining points to reach Imp LoH for the extra "OH CRAP" utility or Crusade for the biggest added TPS. With that in mind for example, you'd only have 3 points to spend in a talent like Divinity (as opposed to Divine Sacrifice / Divine Guardian)...Keeping in mind that Divinity isn't a strong talent, especially with just 3 points in it.

Of the remaining choices (reduced stun/interrupt CD, bigger mana pool / slightly more spellcrit, decreased stun / fear / disorient duration) the only one that's arguably nice to have in a raid environment is PoJ to faster position a boss. Arguably, because that's a really minor part of an encounter that's most likely successfully dealt with without PoJ.

Yeah, generally speaking those are the two best specs. But I think how you spend points in the upper tiers can vary person to person with not noticeable different. For example, I still haven't decided whether I'm going to take 3/5 Divinity, Divine Sac + Divine Guardian, or 3/5 Reckoning. I also am still debating between 2/2 imp Might + 2/5 Benediction or 3/3 HotC and 1/5 Benediction. They're all reasonable possibilities and equally unimpressive.

Jasari wrote:Yeah, generally speaking those are the two best specs. But I think how you spend points in the upper tiers can vary person to person with not noticeable different. For example, I still haven't decided whether I'm going to take 3/5 Divinity, Divine Sac + Divine Guardian, or 3/5 Reckoning. I also am still debating between 2/2 imp Might + 2/5 Benediction or 3/3 HotC and 1/5 Benediction. They're all reasonable possibilities and equally unimpressive.

I'd agree with all this, including the statement that the choices are equally unimpressive, except for putting 3 / 5 in Reckoning. Please excuse me if my information is outdated on findings as i haven't checked the forums for a while, but doesn't Reckoning not only scale bad, but also increases the chance a raid boss will parry and in the process reduce his swing timer / your incoming damage?

Faeth wrote:I'd agree with all this, including the statement that the choices are equally unimpressive, except for putting 3 / 5 in Reckoning. Please excuse me if my information is outdated on findings as i haven't checked the forums for a while, but doesn't Reckoning not only scale bad, but also increases the chance a raid boss will parry and in the process reduce his swing timer / your incoming damage?

Imo, Reckoning stopped being viable once SoV replaced SoR. As sad as i am to admit it (since i loved the original Reck Comb), Reckoning is a waste of points.

but wouldn't you want PoJ because of the UH DK's not having there speed buff ?

Divinity? I take it the 5% to your healing just isn't worth the 5 points needed to get it.

Ignore this comment read the Divinity thread!

I'm going 5/54/12 and anyone who voices a dissenting opinion can go fornicate themselves on a rusty doorknob!

People who optimize should do that why?

The only thing that pisses me off is that if I go 0/5X/1X then I have wasted talents in T1/T2 of the ret tree. My raids always have a ret paladin for the 3% crit, I'm never the one to hand out BoM, mana isn't an issue, 2/2 Judgement shows no benefit to my rotation, and my GM is an unholy DK so I don't need PoJ. While it is true I don't like to rely on other people to bring buffs that I could bring myself, we have 2 unholy DK and 2 ret paladins with more raid attendance than me and I can't find a WWS parse in the past 2 months where there wasn't one of each in a raid.

5/60/6 was so perfect that it's frustrating to have to change. I'll probably end up with 4/5 benediction to carry me to T3 ret but it's still going to irk me that I had to spend bullshit points to get there.

Snickersnee wrote:but wouldn't you want PoJ because of the UH DK's not having there speed buff ?

Edit: Didn't realize that the aura was going away until just a bit ago. That makes 3/5 Conviction and 2/2 PoJ a lot more reasonable.

I'll most likely end up with 0/53/18 Max DPS Spec and 22 stam to boots but we'll see the shape of things to come once things go live later today. Everyone else looks at 0/53/18 as max threat but I do all I can to maximize my dps. 3300 dps patchwerk-25 as a tank is legit.

Majiben wrote:People who optimize should do that why?

People can optimise all they want. But the moment they tell me I'm wrong for speccing this way, that's when the rusty doorknob sodomy will commence.

Ulushnar wrote:People can optimise all they want. But the moment they tell me I'm wrong for speccing this way, that's when the rusty doorknob sodomy will commence.

Voicing an opinion is quite different from telling someone he's wrong . I often desire to know people's opinion, while i genuinly hate people telling me i'm wrong.

Ulushnar wrote:

Majiben wrote:People who optimize should do that why?

People can optimise all they want. But the moment they tell me I'm wrong for speccing this way, that's when the rusty doorknob sodomy will commence.

Ok, you're not wrong. You're just not optimal.

Just like people who socket with green quality gems and don't have shoulder enchants aren't wrong. They're just not optimal.