S1 Gladiator Shield + Mace = 5 Free Talent Points

Want five *free talent points?

Gladiator's Shield Wall is 29 resilience rating.

Gladiator's Gavel is 18 resilience rating.

25 Defense Skill = -1% chance to be crit
39.4 Resilience Rating = -1% chance to be crit

47 Resilience Rating = -1.19% chance to be crit = 29.75 less Defense Skill needed

With the Shield Wall and Gavel, you'd only need 460 Defense Skill to be uncrittable.


Now here's what you do.

Start with your current 490+ Defense. Grind some honor and buy the shield and mace. 5/5 Anticipation = 20 Defense Skill. Go 0/5 Anticipation and you've got 470+ Defense -- 10 over what is necessary to be uncrittable.



*You still need to come up with 102.4% avoidance/mitigation to be uncrushable.

14.75 Defense Rating = 1% total avoidance/mitigation

20 Defense Skill = 47.28 Defense Rating = 3.2% total avoidance/mitigation

So you're going to have to scrounge up 3.2% more avoidance in exchange for 5 more open talent points. Good exchange, I'd say.
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My new 0/46/15 build

Not doubting you or anything, but do you know if this actually does work?

BTW Very interested in this as I seem to be losing defense as Im theorycrafting upgrade gear - and also I plan to get the gavel

...or you could keep Anticipation and lose defense elsewhere for more stam

this is decent for kara/heroics and such but for anything where you need a resist set this is not an option at all to be honest since i use the season two mace and shield i can get away with wearing some greens for my resist set but with 20 def POINTS not rating but defskill it is really hard to replace anticipation and like someone said you are also giving up the extra miss/dodge/parry/block from the def skill.
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Thats right, but if you can cover the missing avoidance, is it actually worth doing, assuming that I wont be raiding past kara, or if I do, not much past it

I have the S2 gavel and am only a little bit from the S2 merc shield too so kinda interested in this.

I think I will keep the points there but if it means I can drop defense elsewhere for more Stamina stacking I am all for it
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Winter is Coming

I think if you do this you'll virtually be forced to spec into reckoning. Which I'd be ok with.
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Forced into Reckoning...?

I'd just move 5 from Anticipation into One Hand Specialization, like this 0/46/15.

I'd say look at your numbers. If you can spare 3.2% avoidance/mitigation, seriously consider Resilience Rating gear. In comparison to Defense Rating, it does a far better job, itemization cost-wise, at making you uncrittable.

And yes, if you want to, you can keep Anticipation and switch out Defense gear for more Stamina gear. But I think you'd be hard pressed to find tanking plate with stupid high amounts of Stamina and no Defense.
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My new 0/46/15 build

And from what I've read on resistance fights like Hydross, elemental hits can't crush -- only physical hits crush. Elemental hits bypass all Armor -- they rely solely on resistance. Therefore, you don't have to worry about 102.4% avoidance/mitigation.
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My new 0/46/15 build

If you don't want 2/5 Reckoning, you could keep 2/5 in Anticipation, sure. But if you've already got resilience on your gear, I'd keep 2/5 Reckoning. It helps with AOE farming, and with the expertise in my 0/46/15 build (in addition with being human) significantly mitigates the risk of Parry damage spikes.
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My new 0/46/15 build

If you've already got the resilience on your gear, you can either use the extra defense for more avoidance (which is a good thing) or shift around stats so that your gain is in pure avoidance or stamina. With threat not a serious issue for me at the moment, I'd much rather improve my survivability. I suppose it's a personal thing: I consider only tanking maximization in picking my spec, I'll figure out how to making farming work whatever that is.

From a pure survivability standpoint, PoJ and Spell Warding definitely increase survivability. You can afford them now with help from Resilience.

The point of bringing all this up: Resilience is a viable supplement to Defense.

(And itemization cost-wise, Defense just for avoidance is overpriced in comparison to basic +block rating, +dodge, and +parry.)
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My new 0/46/15 build