Defense and MitigationFollow

Beautiful!

Yay - my rateups bumped you to sage :)

It was my understanding that chances in game could never be reduced to 0%.

Even if that's true, you will still want to minimize it to the bare minimum, so you still want to get that amount of Defense.

It wouldn't make sense, though. Against some of the bosses it's practically impossible to get enough hp to eat the crits well.

And again, I don't understand the rating system. Scudderfunk's post got rated down, just because he commented about something in my posts. Totally undeserved if you ask me, since he made a rather valid comment. He's not the only one who thinks that way, and I'm actually not sure if it's proven one way or the other.

Stuff like that makes me simply not use the rating system. I don't understand it at all.

Block Value is always nice. You will be blocking a lot, so your Block Value will apply a lot.

For Block Rating, there are 2 situations:

Shield Block is up. The total Miss/Dodge/Parry/Block chance is already 100% or more. Adding more Block Chance doesn't modify anything.

Shield Block is not up. The total Miss/Dodge/Parry/Block/Crush chance is quite below 100%, so the remainder is filled with Regular Hit. By raising the Block Chance, you're only lowering the Regular Hit chance.

Say you equip a piece of equipment that adds 16 Block Rating for 2% (and a bit, but I'm just gonna neglect that for now) Block Chance. 2% from all swings against you will turn from a Regular Hit into a Block. Crushing Blow is not affected, since it's not enough to push Crushing Blow off the table.

So for 2% of the swings against you, you can subtract the Block Value from the damage you take. The average damage per swing against you would lower by 2% of your Block Value. Yes, it helps damage mitigation when Shield Block is not up, but in a very minor way. There are other stats that will help you a lot more.

I'm only rating the ones that say "Placeholder" on them!

Seriously though, best post I've seen in a while, which is why I enjoy the alla boards. Coherent thoughts are much better than all the leet speak that goes on at the o-boards. Rated up.

I don't play any of the tanking classes and I still read the post because it was well laid out and will help me as a healer to evaluate party members, ie when a bear druid and a warrior both want to tank, how to decide which would be better for the job. Awesome guide!

Outstanding.

Very nice post. I'd rate you up if I could. :D

wonderful writeup

Great Post!

I have a request. I am not practiced at all this formula stuff and was trying to follow your recomendations. I find myself at a brick wall however in regards to 1 item:

Dauntless Handguards - Alliance Quest Reward: Fel Embers (Hellfire Citadel)
722 Armor, 25 BlockR, 38 BlockV, 36 Sta.

I got this item long ago and got rid of it before I understood its importance. I am a Tanking Paladin and wish very much to follow you advice. I contacted blizzard and they will not restore the item to me. The quest is completed so I can not get the item back.

Please can you put together another configuration for gear/gems/enchants that achieve the same results but not using this item. I may just be the most foolish person for vendoring them but there is nothing I can do about it now. Your expertise in this area would be hugely appreciated. Also, what is your build? I have 10/41/10 but am not sure if all my points are best used.

Again, I know this is asking alot but I really appreciate you help. Thanks in advance.

Those gloves are exactly the gloves Horde can't get their hands on. If you're a Human, you should be fine with the Scryer gloves. If you're Aldor, you'll have to be patient. I'm planning on adding the stuff for Blood Elves this weekend. If you're a Dwarf/Draenei using those gloves, you'll have to change a jewel around.

Just keep in mind that Alliance races are slightly less agile, resulting in a dodge value that's 0.08 to 0.24% lower.

I'm currently using a 0/38/23 spec, which should be available in the Armory (see my signature). Intellect should be around 4K.

You can completely rely on Spiritual Attunement if you're tanking something heavy. For 5 mans and/or trash it might be worthwhile to equip Righteous instead of some other pieces.