Is Tier 5 tanking set just inadequate?

Hi, my name is Bendekar, and I'm a Maintankadin


My guild is farming Void Reaver and Lurker, and we've just downed Leotheras. We're downing Morogrim and then Magtheridon next (assuming we have enough tanks and locks for Mag).

I've been the guild's co-MT since our first pull in Karazhan. I share MT duties with an excellent warrior tank named Haarr, in fact he serves as MT in most cases due to class advantages, however his RL schedule means he is late or absent for many of our raid nights. We also have an exceptional feral tank/DPS named Sarafina, as well as another tankadin Trelic who is nearly as geared as I am.

We switch player roles around depending on what the raid needs, what's available, what the needs of a particular boss fight are, etc. We have tried for months to find another prot warrior who is skilled and reliable, but can't find any. So we four tanks are it.

So I find myself looking forward... and the tier 5 tanking set is woefully inadequate for boss tanking. Upgrading an entire tier of tank gear nets me a couple hundred hit points, about 500 armor, and 100 block value, and I have to sacrifice a few percent avoidance. And the set bonuses are terrible for boss tanking.

So I'm asking maintankadins who have progressed to Vashj/Kaelthas and then into Hyjal/BT... How did you gear yourself for these challenges? The class disadvantages and gear disadvantages compared to what warriors have available are extremely discouraging to me, I already have serious difficulty "balancing" threat output with stamina and mitigation/avoidance.

The tier 6 set looks very well designed but getting there just seems like one hell of a difficult time as a Maintankadin, and it pains me to think the road is going to be that much more difficult on my guildmates because paladin design and itemization is so poor at this level.

If you read this far, I thank you
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"Chance favors the prepared mind."
--Louis Pasteur

T5 makes a pretty good threat/AOE tanking set. Most Karazhan tanking gear passes it as far as straight up mitigation, though.
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Me, LOL!

the shoulders suck horribly.

There are several peices of the set that I really like, however.
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Tanking setup:
http://ctprofiles.net/4325913

I like T5. My niche role in my guild is aoe tank and high threat tank. T5 is exactly that. For people who main tank I would still say pick it up. Every piece is a decent armor upgrade over kara level gear and you can make up some of the mitigation loss in other gear. Trinkets/rings etc.

Block Value is highly underrated in the tankadin community. Try it....I guarantee you will like it.

I would end up getting my T5 shoulders last over all the others, because between my T4 and the Netherspite shoulders, I am pretty well set for either high avoidance/stamina, or block/threat.
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"Judgement day's not coming soon enough."




Defense < 490 = Healing gear or Hydross gear.

And, even then, the T4 shoulders fit the threat/block value equation better, having block value on them, and giving a better threat oriented set bonus. Save the DKP for the other t5 pieces first, and keep the t4 helm/shoulders for the 2 piece bonus.
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I am actually concerned by the T5 set now. Our guild is playing around in SSC and TK now and I am kind of scared to take any of the T5 pieces, except for the chest. It seems like the other 4 pieces will hurt my stats to badly in one area: avoidance. I currently sit at about 19% dodge and 16% parry unbuffed. If I start taking T5 pieces, I lose dodge on my helm, dodge and stamina on my pants (trading for block value), block value on my shoulders (though I gain parry).

I should still remain uncrushable due to the block rating, but substituting out all that dodge for more stam, armor, and BV seems kinda scary.

Granted, the stamina, armor, and BV are all making me drool, but I am worried about losing too much dodge in the process.

Any suggestions on how to balance that? My armory is http://www.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Llane&n=Jere

Should I just wait it out till T6 and only pick up the T5 pieces if I have left over DKP? Is it ok to lose the dodge off both my helm and pants (as well as the stamina drop)?

EDIT: On the flip side, I have considered picking up the pants despite the drop in stamina...just not sure atm
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T5 has it downsides such as the retarded set bonuses but you have to keep in mind that far from all bosses hit like trucks and they often have enrage timers.

T5 gives you a high threat set which unlike T4 doesn't have glaring hitpoint/CB issues.
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I really like the legs and the chest is very nice too. I don't think it's that bad a set really, it's just a pity that the gloves have no sockets and the shoulders aren't as attractive as T4.
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I am running around in 4/5 T5, and apart from the set bonus, I dont think the set suck at all.

For example...
Compared to Crystalforge counterparts:

Justicar Shoulderguards has: -10.6HP, -180Mana, +4Spelldamage, -129.8Armor, +35.1Block Value, -0.19%Dodge, -0.99%Parry, +1.97%Block and -4.7Defence

So the only think JS has over CS is 1.97%block, but why would I want that when I already have ~30% and are uncrushable? I'd much rather stack up on dodge and parry.

Basically I dont see T4 or Kara gear as better than CF at all. I have better stats, imo, in my CF than in any other gear, excpet when it comes to HP. I have ~500 less in my CF than in my pure warrior gear, but that hasn't been an issue yet. And I really cant give up on my spelldamage becuase of the insane dps my guild puts out at times and its extremely rare that ANY boss or add manage to break thru all 8 charges of my Holy Shield.

The only thing I'd consider swapping in is the Wrynn Dynasty Greaves (and boots of elusion/battlescar boots should they drop).

That said, I am not the main tank in my guild. I am just the other main tank at the moment, and thats how I like it. Me and the warrior work together alot to make sure the kills are as smooth and easy as possible instead of working against each other.

Just my 2c
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When starting to get T5 you should have enough spelldmg to be able to switch you spelldmg weapon for a real tanking one.
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