Best in slot! Paladin tanking gear at a glance.

Hey guys, I posted a thread on Tankspot.com that I wanted to share with the maintankadin community. It is basically a guide showing the best piece of gear for a Paladin at each slot... for each role (EH, Avoidance, Threat, Block).

Hopefully it's a help!

Best in slot! Paladin tanking gear at a glance.

Edit: This thread has now been stickied with the Best in Slot tanking guides under the gearing and enchanting forum on Tankspot. Also, adding full guide per Lieris' request, copy/pasting from Tankspot, so if something seems out of context... it's because it is.


I]I. Introduction
II. The 25man List
III. The 10man List[/I]


I. Introduction
Halandir has finally bugged me enough to get me to create this list. If you are wondering who Halandir is, you can view his Warrior BiS guide here. Basically, what this list is going to do is break down what pieces are best for the Paladin in each of several roles (i.e. several different sets). When you get a BiS piece for given set, the idea is to gem it to that strength, so rather then having every single piece with full Stam gems, the Tempered Titansteel Helm (for example) you would want a Stam Meta and a Solid gem in to complement the EH strength. Then Thane's Tainted Greathelm you would probably put the Def Meta and a Thick/Enduring gem in as it is a pure avoidance piece at the top end.

I'll be using Hal's guide as a template (because I'm too lazy to try and be creative) so it should look fairly similar to his. Also, this thread by Cordelia was used as reference to find pieces rather than filtering wowhead for plate defense gear.

Legend
EH = Effective Health set (Please realize that armor only helps EH, not M(agic)EH, consider building a pure-stam/polar gear set for MEH fights)
AV = Avoidance (Miss, Dodge, Parry)
T = Threat (Strength, Hit, Block Value, Expertise. In that order. Yes... expertise sucks for Paladins. Check here to see that mapped out. [Updated! tables for Prot TPS/DPS are here.] Thanks to theck for the great work.)
B = Block set (BV/BR)

For the threat set, please check this post to see some discussion on the logic behind these choices (I recommend getting Hit capped even prior to really stacking Strength).

If you are looking to build an Unhittable set as listed in the Warriors' guide, feel free to put Lavanthor's Talisman on as well as a few Block Rating pieces in your Avoidance set and call it good. Yay! for Holy Shield.

Another tag you will see on some of the pieces is a MT tag. What this means is I recommend this piece for general boss main-tanking. It perhaps has the best spread of stats or is the best "overall" survivability. Just my suggestion. Also, if 2 pieces are tied for top EH and I think one is the better MT piece, I put my stam gems/enchants on it even if it might be a great avoidance/threat piece and throw it into my MT set.

Disclaimer
This gear list was compiled "at a glance." I haven't done a lot of math or set up formulas for my "best in slot" picks, but merely compared the top pieces of gear in each slot to determine what set to put it in. If you don't like my choices, take the gearing-set principles with you and make your own decision.


II. The 25man List

I'll not be posting drop locations, click on any of the links to see where it drops (as listed by wowhead).

Head

AV/MT - Helm of Vital Protection: Good avoidance as well as pseudo avoidance in the form of Expertise.
EH - Tempered Titansteel Helm: Best Stam and EH potential, I suggest putting a Stam/Magic damage mitigation Meta in it and using it for dragons/magic bosses.
B/T - Valorous Redemption Faceguard: If this was Hit rather than Expertise, this helm would take the MT designation. Def/BV meta and gem for threat.
AV - Thane's Tainted Greathelm: Phenomenal itemization for it's iLvl, best avoidance in slot.

Neck

EH/MT - Nexus War Champion Beads: Great EH potential, good avoidance, gem Regal to get your meta requirements.
EH - Boundless Ambition: Armor pieces are always nice to have for a Physical EH fight.
AV/T - Heritage: Good avoidance and Hit Rating for your threat set.
B/T - Medallion of the Disgraced: High Str and BV make this nice for threat as well.

Shoulders

EH/AV/MT - Valorous Redemption Shoulderguards: Very nice piece, best avoidance, tied for best EH. Hopefully you can get 2 : ].
T - Abomination Shoulderblades: Hit, also the red gem slot will help you get your BV meta requirement.
B - Burdened Shoulderplates: BR here.
EH - Pauldrons of Unnatural Death: As stated, Expertise is not a good threat stat, but these are still tied for top EH.

Cloak

EH - Cloak of the Shadowed Sun: Armor/Stam, best cloak overall for simply staying alive.
AV/T/MT - Platinum Mesh Cloak: Best avoidance, high Stamina, and Hit Rating. Great Cloak.
B/T - Shadow of the Ghoul: High Strength, BV, and BR make this cloak my preference for trash.
?? - Gale-Proof Cloak: Only cloak with a socket. Potential to have the highest Stamina or strong avoidance depending on how you gem it. I would Solid gem it and use on magic bosses.

Chest

EH/AV/MT - Dragonstorm Breastplate: Tied for top Stam, best avoidance, great piece. Beg the RNG for 2 of them.
T - Breastplate of Tormented Rage: Hit Rating piece.
B/T - Valorous Redemption Breastplate: Cursed block tier-gear. Alot more Str/BV on this than Tormented Rage if you can afford to lose the Hit in your threat set.

Wrist

EH/AV/MT - Bracers of the Unholy Knight: Best Stam, best avoidance. Get 2.
T - Bracers of Dalaran's Parapets: Hit = threat set.
B/T - Bindings of the Hapless Prey: Another Str/BV piece.

Hands

EH/T/MT - Valorous Redemption Handguards: Top Stamina, Hit Rating and good avoidance.
AV - Callous-Hearted Gauntlets: Top avoidance in slot assuming some DR on Dodge.
B/T - Gauntlets of the Disobedient: Higher Strength and BV than Valorous Redemption Handguards, make sure you are wearing at least 2 Valorous pieces for the 2-piece set bonus in your threat set though.

Waist

EH/T/MT – Ablative Chitin Girdle: Best Stamina in slot, high Strength, good avoidance and Hit Rating all make this the belt to have.
AV – Waistguard of Living Iron: This may or may not be best avoidance in slot depending on diminishing returns (Ancient Aligned Girdle), but this is the preferred belt due to higher Strength and “better” avoidance in the sense that Parry increases white damage (slightly).
B/T – Waistguard of the Tutor: High Strength, Block Rating and good Block Value.

Legs

EH/AV/MT – Legplates of Sovereignty: Without the very nice T7.5 legs that warriors get, these become the best avoidance in slot for Paladins as well as very similar to the T7.5 for EH.
T – Dragon Brood Legguards: Nice chunk of Hit Rating here.
B/T – Valorous Redemption Legguards: While with Solid x2 gemming these are 4 Stamina ahead of Sovereignty legs, the huge amount of Strength, Block Rating and Block Value make these perfect for a Block set as well as good in as a threat piece.

Feet

EH/AV/MT – Kyzoc’s Ground Stompers: Best avoidance in slot, tied for 2nd highest EH in slot with Sabatons of Endurance. (Note: Tempered Titansteel are technically higher EH, but pretty useless realistically.)
T/B – Inexorable Sabatons: The 25 extra Strength (assuming a Champion’s gem) and 77 Block Value far outweigh the 38 Expertise on the Sabatons of Endurance for threat.

Rings

You will notice there are no MT designations in this section. A good tank should switch rings often to match the situation. There are some that may “overall” be better, but the choice is still situational.

EH – Gatekeeper and Keystone Great-Ring. (Note: Titanium Earthguard Ring is top Stam in slot.)
AV – Sand-Worn Band and Titanium Earthguard Ring
T – Gatekeeper and Signet of the Impregnable Fortress. (Note: Sand-Worn Band may actually be better threat than the Impregnable depending on your strength.)
B – Unsmashable Heavy Band is the only current WotLK ring with BV/BR on it. Sand-Worn Band is the defensive ring with the highest strength stat currently.

Trinket

Same as the Ring section, there are no MT designation’s here as you should go through trinkets like a rich kid goes through toys (no offense to the rich kids out there, please keep reading : ]). I personally prefer 1 Stam trinket and 1 (usually avoidance) trinket with a strong (again, usually avoidance) “on use” ability for most situations. That’s a hold-over preference from the BC Commendation/Pocketwatch days.

EH – Essence of Gossamer and Defender’s Code for the average joe. Figurine - Monarch Crab, Indestructible Alchemist’s Stone, Figurine – Ruby Hare and Sonic Booster listed in order of general tanking “quality” for those of you with these professions. (Note: If you want a second Stamina trinket and have non of the appropriate proffessions, consider the Commendation of Kael’thas.)
AV – Repelling Charge and Valor Medal of the First War, both with very strong “use” abilities.
T – Darkmoon Card: Greatness is the best available trinket for both threat and block value. Battlemaster’s Accuracy is a great piece (for those of you who PvP), with both a ton of hit and a very nice "on use" ability. Grim Toll, Figurine – Twilight Serpent and Sphere of Red Dragon’s Blood all have Hit with a moderately useful proc/use threat ability.
B – Lavanthor’s Talisman and Gnomeregan Auto-Blocker 600/Coren’s Lucky Coin each have their place in a block set depending on your situation.

Shield

EH/AV/MT – Hero’s Surrender: Great avoidance, highest Stamina in slot.
T/B – Wall of Terror: While The Skull of Ruin technically has higher BV, the additional Strength and other stats on the Wall brings it out far ahead of the Skull.

Weapon

I left weapons for last because I am going to change the format here to a ranking system. The Last Laugh currently stands head, shoulders, and most of the torso above the other weapons for Paladins in the three categories of EH, AV, and T (you don't want to look to a weapon for Block stats generally).

1. Last Laugh is the best threat (DPS, Hit, and Str all being higher), EH, and avoidance of all the available weapons.
2. Broken Promise is a solid step above the Slayer for threat with the additional DPS and the tiny threat gain from Expertise while weapon speed affects Seal of Vengeance damage 0.
3. Slayer of the Lifeless has the second highest avoidance at the weapon slot. (Note: Broken Promise may actually pull ahead in avoidance with a high Dodge DR.)
4. Red Sword of Courage falls behind the pack with the lowest Strength, (tied for) lowest DPS, and avoidance (before DR) of all the weapons.




III. The 10man List

Acknowledgement: Petrus' WotLK Master Gear List was used quite a bit as reference for the 10man section.

Head

AV/MT – Thane’s Tainted Greathelm: Best helm in game at the 10man level.
T/B – Heroes’ Redemption Faceguard: High BV here for a Threat set.
EH – Tempered Titansteel Helm: Huge EH potential when compared to the other 10man helms available.

Neck

MT – Drakescale Collar: Almost contradicting the theme of this guide, I am going to say that this non-specialized neckpiece is the BiS overall at the 10man level. Good avoidance, top Stam, high un-hittable contribution, all depending on the gemming.
EH – Titanium Earthguard Chain: Armor/Stam, top EH available.
AV/T – Chained Military Gorget: High avoidance, Hit Rating if you are still looking for the cap.
B/T – Medallion of the Disgraced: Decent Strength as well as BR and BV.

Shoulders

EH/AV/MT – Heroes’ Redemption Shoulderguards: Top AV in slot, tied for best EH as well, great piece.
T/AV – Abomination Shoulderblades: Hit Rating, and a gem slot make this a great threat piece with solid avoidance as well.
B – Pauldrons of the Colossus: BR, good Strength, and a gem slot make these nice for a block set.

Cloak

EH/AV/MT – Gale-Proof Cloak: BiS hands down. Top avoidance, top EH, top Stamina, and pseudo-avoidance (Expertise). Sarth +1D is very doable at the 10man gearing level also.
T/EH – Cloak of Armed Strife: Hit cloak. It’s worth mentioning that this is the 2nd highest EH cloak available.
B/T – Tattered Castle Drape: Good Strength and BV make this a decent threat cloak as well as a block cloak.

Chest

EH/T/B/MT – Heroes’ Redemption Breastplate: Best EH, high Strength, Block Rating, and Block Value bring this the MT designation.
AV – Massive Skeletal Ribcage: Best avoidance for Paladins at the 10man level.

Wrist

EH/T/B/MT – Minion Bracers: Best EH, high Strength, great piece.
AV – Bracers of the Herald: Technically a miniscule higher in the avoidance department, basically a slight downgrade from Minion in all cases.
(Note: EH/T/MT – Bracers of Dalaran’s Parapets are purchasable for those of you with gold to spare.)

Hands

EH/T/MT – Heroes’ Redemption Handguards: Top EH (assuming a Solid gem), Hit, and good avoidance. (Note: Gauntlets of the Master are basically the same item with 12 less Stamina, 1 less Hit and 5 more Dodge rating.)
AV – Fireproven Gauntlets: Top avoidance, still strong EH.
B – Refined Ore Gloves: BR here.

Waist

EH/MT – Waistguard of Living Iron: Best Stamina available, great avoidance, and good Strength. I’d recommend gemming Enduring/Solid and using this as a 10man MT belt.
AV – Ancient Aligned Girdle: Great avoidance piece.
B/T – Waistguard of the Tutor: High Strength, Block Rating, and Block Value.

Legs

EH/B/T/MT – Heroes’ Redemption Legguards: Tied for top Stamina, good blocking stats, and high Strength. (Note: Legplates of Inescapable Death are nearly identical with slightly higher Defense at the cost of some Strength. Great in-between piece if you are on the edge of your Def cap.)
AV/T – Bolstered Legplates: The high Defense makes these the best avoidance available in 10man as well as Hit for threat.

Feet

AV/MT – Plague-Impervious Boots: Very nice avoidance piece with decent Stamina to “boot”. (I know, terrible…)
EH – Tempered Titansteel Treads: Top Stam and EH in slot, nothing else.
B/T – Inexorable Sabatons: Great Threat/Block boots, BoE Naxx25 drop can be found in the AH. (Note: There are multiple rare quality boots with Block and Threat stats on them.)

Rings

You will notice there are no MT designations in this section. A good tank should switch rings often to match the situation. There are some that may “overall” be better, but the choice is still situational.

EH – Keystone Great-Ring & Titanium Earthguard Ring. In pure, physical-damage, avoidance-matters-zero situations, Nerubian Shield Ring and Band of Torture come out above the Earthguard.
AV – Titanium Earthguard Ring & Deflection Band.
T - Deflection Band & Unsmashable Heavy Band.
B - Unsmashable Heavy Band is the only current WotLK ring with BV/BR on it.

Trinkets

Same as the Ring section, there are no MT designation’s here as you should go through trinkets like a rich kid goes through toys. I personally prefer 1 Stam trinket and 1 (usually avoidance) trinket with a strong (again, usually avoidance) “on use” ability for most situations. That’s a hold-over preference from the BC Commendation/Pocket Watch days.

EH – Essence of Gossamer and Offering of Sacrifice for the average joe. Figurine - Monarch Crab, Indestructible Alchemist’s Stone, Figurine – Ruby Hare and Sonic Booster listed in order of general tanking “quality” for those of you with these professions. (Note: If you want a second Stamina trinket and have none of the appropriate professions, consider the Commendation of Kael’thas.)
AV - Repelling Charge and Valor Medal of the First War, both with very strong “use” abilities.
T – Darkmoon Card: Greatness is the best available trinket for both threat and block value. Battlemaster’s Accuracy is a great piece (for those of you who PvP), with both a ton of hit and a very nice "on use" ability. Figurine – Twilight Serpent and Sphere of Red Dragon’s Blood each have hit with a moderately useful proc/use threat ability.
B – Lavanthor’s Talisman and Gnomeregan Auto-Blocker 600/Coren’s Lucky Coin each have their place in a block set depending on your situation.

Shield

EH/AV/MT – Barricade of Eternity: Top EH in slot and best avoidance, highest iLvl piece from 10mans. (Note: In a perfect world, with no DRs, Crygil’s Discarded Plate Panel has .02% more avoidance than the Barricade.)
T – Skull of Ruin has highest total threat potential, Crygil’s Discarded Plate Panel and the Royal Crest of Lordaeron each have Hit Rating in equal amounts.
B - Skull of Ruin: Highest BR and BV in slot.

Weapon

I left weapons for last because I am going to change the format here to a ranking system. The Slayer of the Lifeless currently stands tall above the other weapons for Paladins in two of the three categories: EH, AV, and T (you don't want to look to a weapon for Block stats generally).

1. Slayer of the Lifeless has the best avoidance, best threat, and is only one point behind the Red Sword of Courage in total Stamina.
2. Red Sword of Courage falls behind the Slayer with lower Strength, same DPS, and lower avoidance.
3. Infantry Assault Blade & Cloudstrider’s Waraxe are both viable options for the starting Protection Paladin.

Well i've just seen it on TS a while ago, well written and even though i'm not all up for these guides (ya know,everyone likes something else for his stat balance..unless he's mindless:P), it can help when one isnt sure, and even though i thought i know(and have:p) pretty much every drop ingame, i didnt even know about that helm ya listed up there, i think i'll need to add it on my list of items i want (well,there's only last lawl now :/).

Heh, thanks for the good word. You are right that different people like different pieces, it's not a rule-book to abide by, just a guide to help you along the way.

I do plan to update once Ulduar is release as well. I think that with the addition of more gear, more and more decisions will have to be made. Currently, most gearing choices are fairly simple with the relatively small amount of content currently available. Hopefully this guide will continue to be a help as more content is released.

I like that you've noted best for Avoidance, EH, and threat -- as they're not always the same. Petrus' guide does a good job of this but isn't as explicit in its explanation of why A is better than B. Nice job!

I tend to say "A is better than B" if something is clearly an upgrade overall, with high-avoidance and high-block pieces being listed as sidegrades because of the nature of them. The block piece is not inherently worse and the avoidance piece is not inherently better just because of one thing or another - thus, I listed them as sidegrades.


And I too will be updating my list when 3.1 hits. Would you all like me to add commentary to mine? If so, I am perfectly able and willing to do so.

Chill Petrus,

This wasn't built as "competition" to yours. It really isn't even the same kind of thing as your guide. You did a comprehensive, near-exhaustive list of tanking gear available in WotLK. I built mine as a counter-guide to one a guildmate (Halandir) did for Warriors, that can be seen here.

The whole point of the guide is encouraging people to build several different sets and demonstrating what pieces might be considered the "best" for each role. Your guide gives an entire listing of what is available, where to find it, and an order of which piece is better for MTing in a progression from bottom to top.

You keep your exhaustive list, I'll keep my multi-set list. I'll use your guide on occasion (as others will) and perhaps my guide can be a help to you on occasion (as it will be for others).

~Jayson

Kelaan wrote:I like that you've noted best for Avoidance, EH, and threat -- as they're not always the same. Petrus' guide does a good job of this but isn't as explicit in its explanation of why A is better than B. Nice job!

Thanks for the compliment Kelaan, good to know that my guide has been a help.

Petrus wrote:I tend to say "A is better than B" if something is clearly an upgrade overall, with high-avoidance and high-block pieces being listed as sidegrades because of the nature of them.... Would you all like me to add commentary to mine?

Meh; I don't think so. Your guide is excellent too. I like seeing that: "oh look, all 3 of these are a 2 -- I guess I can pass that to someone else that needs it". (what a poor way of wording that. Sorry.) If you were to annotate that one was an EH-centric sidegrade while another was avoidance-centric, that might help, but for the most part it's pretty clear which of the 2 or 3 are suited for what.

I only have issues on things like legs, where it's not always clear what the total stamina will be on some of the socketable ones. {edit: And then, usually it's close enough that I Just Don't Care yet, since our other 3 plate tanks need gear too.}

I really like it. I like seeing a guild that recognizes that you can't compare screwdrivers and hammers and doesn't try.

My only complaint about it is that it overvalues hit for threat. On a couple of those comparisons, it's just way off on what is the best threat piece.

Otherwise, I really like this guide.

Eanin wrote:I really like it. I like seeing a guild that recognizes that you can't compare screwdrivers and hammers and doesn't try.

My only complaint about it is that it overvalues hit for threat. On a couple of those comparisons, it's just way off on what is the best threat piece.

Otherwise, I really like this guide.

I understand that point for point Strength beats out Hit on single targets at our current gear level. But the basic idea with my choices is that right now it is really easy to pick up enough hit pieces to get capped? At that point you then don't have to worry about Avenger's Shield missing on the pull or any of your first HotR/Judgement/SS rotation to miss, letting someone pull off initially.

Another thing to consider is that currently... I can tank any boss fight in any gear-set... and still be 50-75% ahead of the nearest DPS on threat (MTed Patch for the first time in a couple weeks, waiting for the WWS parse to figure out my overall TPS there). So my threat set mainly falls to trash where hit grows even higher in value in comparison to your Str due primarily to SotR single target mechanics.

In our last 10 man Naxx we decided (finally) to focus less on speed and more on safety, going for Undying. When we pulled Stalagg and Feugen, the first four abilities that Halandir (our warrior tank) threw all missed (you'd have to ask him, but I would guess he had somewhere in the range of ~3% miss chance)... Stalagg then took off running down the ramp towards a healer on my side who had hots up, this caused a Tesla Coil overload and the raid wiped... 1 in a million chance, but still... hitting on the pull is key.

Another thing to consider is that currently... I can tank any boss fight in any gear-set... and still be 50-75% ahead of the nearest DPS on threat (MTed Patch for the first time in a couple weeks, waiting for the WWS parse to figure out my overall TPS there). So my threat set mainly falls to trash where hit scales even higher in value when compared to Str due primarily to SotR single target mechanics.

Finally, if you check the TPS stat-graph that I linked from here on MTadin you see that in about the 1800-2000 Str range (I never actually check my character sheet in raid, but I would imagine that is about where we are), hit is starting to to look pretty solid in relation to Strength (again, till cap) so you gain the double benefit of stacking your 2nd best TPS stat as well as having 100% hit ratio on your pull.

Thanks for the comment Eanin, I think I am going to quote you on tankspot for the benefit of viewers there. Let me know if that is a problem for whatever reason and I'll take your name off the quote.

I haven't had a chance to look at the Guide yet but I will do asap.

Thanks for taking the time to write it and link it here.

Barathorn

Barathorn wrote:I haven't had a chance to look at the Guide yet but I will do asap.

Thanks for taking the time to write it and link it here.

Barathorn

Thanks man. I appreciate the Maintankadin site alot and figured it might be useful to some here. If you would rather I re-post here instead of just having the Tankspot link, I can do that. Wasn't sure if having a link to another site-guide would be at all a no-no.

Just for reference:
I just cranked out updated graphs, which now include a more complete picture of the rating differences. If I get some time I'll try and add Armor Penetration as well.

Also, the plots are vs. unbuffed character sheet strength, which should be between 1200 and 1400 for an end-game geared tank.

However, the results are still the same - STR > Hit > BV > AP > Expertise for threat in that range.

Tankspot is pretty much a sister site to Maintankadin, I don't think anyone objects to you linking your guide but I think it's best if you reproduce it verbatim in your opening post to this thread.

As for the guide itself it's pretty much spot on but the problem with best in slot guides is it assumes access to all items in game which is not a luxury most people have and if you do you probably do not need to be told the strengths of such and such item. I tend to prefer the standard boss tanking progression guides because of that with clear cut upgrades ranked higher and similar items with different strengths ranked equally which is the approach I took to my old TBC guide.

I totally agree with you on the utility of +hit. I routinely get burned at the stake around here for holding that same position.

The question, really, is what is meant by "maximizing threat". I took it to mean, "maximizing tps", but it seems you mean something like "maximizing threat, including both tps and snap". Strength is a much better tps stat, while hit is an infinitely better snap threat stat.

Snap threat and tps are a little different, so you should probably make that distinction somewhere in your guide so people know what you're doing. Even as maintankadin's hugest proponent of +hit, I didn't realise what you meant .

Yes, you are welcome to quote me, but please correct the typo where I said "guild" instead of "guide" .