So, slowly but surely, I am progressing closer and closer towards my ultimate goal of having a kick *** feral tanking set of gear. This is my current armory:
http://www.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Thrall&n=Edravat
The problem I am having thus far is balancing out my Defense Rating. When I acquire 31 more badges I will be purchasing the 100 badge epic pants off the QD vendor, the leather ones with high armor, tasty agi/sta stats and haste/AP (Tameless Breaches I think they are called). The problem I have come across is that once I incorporate these pants into my tanking gear setup, I will dip below the minimum 415 Defense for uncrittable.
1. One way of alleviating this is by bringing my Earthwarden, re-enchanted for extra stamina, back into my gear setup. I am wary of doing this because I will lose the agility and hit rating of the Illhoof staff, not to mention 100+ AP. My tanking hit rating is already kind of crappy, and I definitely cannot stand to lose more base AP, crit or dodge.
2. Another way of alleviating this is to re-gem for Defense. I am also wary of this because I will most likely lose the meta gem bonus of my T4 helm, not to mention I'd end up with less health.
3. A 3rd way of fixing this is to run SL over and over and over again until Blackheart finally drops that damn Adamantine Figurine. So far out of 6-7 runs he has not. I hate SL and really do not feel like running it constantly for one blue trinket but this item alone would fix the issue the easiest for me.
Right now I'm at 14.9k health, 26.5k armor and about 36% dodge in bear form with Mark of the Wild on me.
Does anyone have gear recommendations for me that could fix this issue I have come across? Is there epic tanking leather out there with Defense Rating that I've never seen?
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Earthwarden is far better than the squidstick for tanking; both for threat and mitigation.
http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm309/Bloodheifer/Edravat.jpg
If you upgrade it later, you could also enchant defense on your chest/cloak/bracers. As a side-note, Exceptional Stats is better than 150 HP.
http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm309/Bloodheifer/Edravat.jpg
If you upgrade it later, you could also enchant defense on your chest/cloak/bracers. As a side-note, Exceptional Stats is better than 150 HP.
I've set aside the goal of getting my Ring of the Stalwart Protector because at this time, my Shermanaar Great Ring offers me much needed defense rating. My next upgrade for the Shermanaar Great Ring will probably be the tanking ring you get for downing Mag. The Ring of the Stalwart Protector is great, but I need to be (and remain) uncrittable vs. raid bosses or the extra dodge/armor isn't going to be much help.
I'm hemorrhaging stamina trying to keep ahead of the defense curve. Replacing stamina or agility enchants with defense enchants hurts the ego, but it's worth it.
Some ideas:
Replace +150 health to chest with +15 defense to chest (enchant, SSO revered formula) (I would do this before you consider anything else...+150 health enchant receives no augments in bear form...it's a flat 150 health no matter what you do, and that's not much to a feral druid).
Replace two +4 crit/+6 stamina gems with one +12 stam and 1 +8 defense gem. I'm guessing you got a good deal on the crit gems. Otherwise, there's no practical use for them on a feral tanking druid. Make the swap and your stamina will remain the same and you'll pick up some defense. If you find yourself making the defense cap after your leg upgrade without swapping gems, I'd think seriously about replacing one of the gems with +12 stam and the other with +8 agility...it will scale better with Kings, will offer some extra dodge, and the loss to crit% will be nominal.
Replace agility on cloak with +12 defense (Steelweave, pattern drops in MagT). Hate doing that, but it's an option.
Replace stamina on bracers with +12 defense enchant. Hate doing that too, but it's another option.
Keep in mind that the staff from Illhoof is more a dps staff than a tanking weapon. Tanking weapons will normally have armor on them...500 from Earthwarden. That translates to 2500 in bear form that you're missing out on for the sake of some hit rating and a bit of AP. I'm not being critical, just pointing out the obvious...you can decide if it's worth it or not. (Also note that the expertise on Earthwarden doesn't hurt, either. In fact, it may be on par with the hit on the Illhoof staff and be more helpful in terms of mitigation.) I used my Earthwarden right up until I got a Wildfury Greatstaff out of SSC.
Right now, self buffed in bear I'm at 15.7k health...not much above yours considering my gear is a slight step up in terms of progression...but my armor is just shy of 32k and my dodge sits at 39.99% self buffed. I sacrificed a fair chunk of stamina meeting defense cap requirements, but based on where I'm at in terms of gear, I won't have to making that defense sacrifice anymore and each upgrade will help that much more in getting my health up. There's a huge dip between T4 and T5 where our stamina seems to suffer for the sake of defense, but there's light at the end of the tunnel.
I'm hemorrhaging stamina trying to keep ahead of the defense curve. Replacing stamina or agility enchants with defense enchants hurts the ego, but it's worth it.
Some ideas:
Replace +150 health to chest with +15 defense to chest (enchant, SSO revered formula) (I would do this before you consider anything else...+150 health enchant receives no augments in bear form...it's a flat 150 health no matter what you do, and that's not much to a feral druid).
Replace two +4 crit/+6 stamina gems with one +12 stam and 1 +8 defense gem. I'm guessing you got a good deal on the crit gems. Otherwise, there's no practical use for them on a feral tanking druid. Make the swap and your stamina will remain the same and you'll pick up some defense. If you find yourself making the defense cap after your leg upgrade without swapping gems, I'd think seriously about replacing one of the gems with +12 stam and the other with +8 agility...it will scale better with Kings, will offer some extra dodge, and the loss to crit% will be nominal.
Replace agility on cloak with +12 defense (Steelweave, pattern drops in MagT). Hate doing that, but it's an option.
Replace stamina on bracers with +12 defense enchant. Hate doing that too, but it's another option.
Keep in mind that the staff from Illhoof is more a dps staff than a tanking weapon. Tanking weapons will normally have armor on them...500 from Earthwarden. That translates to 2500 in bear form that you're missing out on for the sake of some hit rating and a bit of AP. I'm not being critical, just pointing out the obvious...you can decide if it's worth it or not. (Also note that the expertise on Earthwarden doesn't hurt, either. In fact, it may be on par with the hit on the Illhoof staff and be more helpful in terms of mitigation.) I used my Earthwarden right up until I got a Wildfury Greatstaff out of SSC.
Right now, self buffed in bear I'm at 15.7k health...not much above yours considering my gear is a slight step up in terms of progression...but my armor is just shy of 32k and my dodge sits at 39.99% self buffed. I sacrificed a fair chunk of stamina meeting defense cap requirements, but based on where I'm at in terms of gear, I won't have to making that defense sacrifice anymore and each upgrade will help that much more in getting my health up. There's a huge dip between T4 and T5 where our stamina seems to suffer for the sake of defense, but there's light at the end of the tunnel.
The gnome-eating-squid-on-a-stick from Illhoof is definitely a DPS weapon, stick with your Earthwarden until you get the staff from SSC trash or Hyjal. Also, you have .5% crit reduction from Resilience, so you only need enough defense to hit 2.1% fewer crits (around 123 Defense rating). Unless there's a really good yellow socket bonus, you should socket for Agi and Stamina. Also, you're using the DPS head glyph, switching to the tanking glyph from KoT rep will help your defense.
Since you have your T4 helm, you've cleared Kara at least once and you're maybe starting ZA or Gruul/Mag. Your armor seems really low, I'd look for Bands of the Swift Paw, Belt of Natural Power/Waistguard of the Great Beast, and a Badge of Tenacity.
Since you have your T4 helm, you've cleared Kara at least once and you're maybe starting ZA or Gruul/Mag. Your armor seems really low, I'd look for Bands of the Swift Paw, Belt of Natural Power/Waistguard of the Great Beast, and a Badge of Tenacity.
For the best crit reduction, go with the [wowitem=29193]SSO Head enchant[/wowitem] (Resilience & Stam) instead of the [wowitem=29186]KoT one[/wowitem] (Def & Dodge).
The 20 resil is equal to over 30 def do it gives you almost twice as much crit reduction as the KoT glyph.
The 20 resil is equal to over 30 def do it gives you almost twice as much crit reduction as the KoT glyph.
Thank you all for the info.
To reply to a few things, Bands of the Swift Paw are next on my list of badge items after the 100 badge pants. As for the DPS glyph on my T4 helm, it's a bit of a compromise for me because much of my DPS set is made up of my tanking set. I would much rather have the SSO glyph with sta/res but for the moment I need the AP and hit rating for tanking.
I MTed Kara tonight with a slightly changed build. I put on the Earthwarden, changed my chest enchant to +6 all stats, swapped out Violet Eye tanking ring (the exalted one) for Shermanar Great Ring (or w/e it's called), put a third +12 sta gem into my pants and ended up with 34% dodge, 418 defense, around 14.6k unbuffed health, 28k armor, 1700 AP and 74 hit rating.
It's that AP and hit rating that really bothers me. Sure I absolutely need sta and armor for tanking but honestly if I am not putting out good damage or hitting often enough all that sta and armor won't do be a bit of good if I can't keep aggro. And more so than a warrior I need to dish out good dps in tanking gear to maintain my hold of aggro. If only I could tank in my dps setup, I've got almost 3k AP and 138 hit rating in that gear.
Again, thank you all for the helpful information, especially Aurelius, very good tips.
To reply to a few things, Bands of the Swift Paw are next on my list of badge items after the 100 badge pants. As for the DPS glyph on my T4 helm, it's a bit of a compromise for me because much of my DPS set is made up of my tanking set. I would much rather have the SSO glyph with sta/res but for the moment I need the AP and hit rating for tanking.
I MTed Kara tonight with a slightly changed build. I put on the Earthwarden, changed my chest enchant to +6 all stats, swapped out Violet Eye tanking ring (the exalted one) for Shermanar Great Ring (or w/e it's called), put a third +12 sta gem into my pants and ended up with 34% dodge, 418 defense, around 14.6k unbuffed health, 28k armor, 1700 AP and 74 hit rating.
It's that AP and hit rating that really bothers me. Sure I absolutely need sta and armor for tanking but honestly if I am not putting out good damage or hitting often enough all that sta and armor won't do be a bit of good if I can't keep aggro. And more so than a warrior I need to dish out good dps in tanking gear to maintain my hold of aggro. If only I could tank in my dps setup, I've got almost 3k AP and 138 hit rating in that gear.
Again, thank you all for the helpful information, especially Aurelius, very good tips.
This is my tanking gear atm
I'm not in bear form atm, but if you add the feral AP on the staff, I have about 1800 AP fully buffed and 12 +hit!
This gear has allowed me to tank 5/6 SSC, 2/4 TK with no problems. My threat is at least as good as our warrior tank, although I do go though the odd patch when I get a string of me dodging when I struggle for rage for a few seconds. More +hit would be nice, but frankly it isn't that big an issue and I would have to give up a lot of other stats to get more +hit.
If I need more threat, I can swap in my Shard of Contempt and a piece or two from my DPS gear, but so far it hasn't been a big issue so I haven't bothered. As a rule, just go for the defensive stats and the threat stats will look after themselves.
I'm not in bear form atm, but if you add the feral AP on the staff, I have about 1800 AP fully buffed and 12 +hit!
This gear has allowed me to tank 5/6 SSC, 2/4 TK with no problems. My threat is at least as good as our warrior tank, although I do go though the odd patch when I get a string of me dodging when I struggle for rage for a few seconds. More +hit would be nice, but frankly it isn't that big an issue and I would have to give up a lot of other stats to get more +hit.
If I need more threat, I can swap in my Shard of Contempt and a piece or two from my DPS gear, but so far it hasn't been a big issue so I haven't bothered. As a rule, just go for the defensive stats and the threat stats will look after themselves.
SSO head glyph has more crit reduction, but 0 avoidance. Adding in his existing Resil, he's well past being immune to crits (3.25 % fewer crits from Resil and Defense skill).
I don't know if anyone really cared, but to update:
I got my Tameless Breeches! I spent a lot of gold making them just right too, bought 2 +15 sta gems (the non-unique ones) and a nethercleft leg armor kit for them. I'm now sitting at 15.1k health, 29.1k armor, 37.29% dodge, 1721 AP and 416 Defense (all stats based upon Mark of the Wild up).
And all I had to do to offset the loss of Defense rating was swap out my Bloodlust Brooch for my Regal Protectorate. I won't even need Blackheart's Adamantine Figurine unless I opt to one day use the 150 badge Staff of the Forest Lord in my tanking set whenever I manage to acquire it.
I want that staff...so...much...
Starting to feel like a real tank, thanks for all your help guys! The druid forum really is a good bunch.
Edited, Aug 13th 2008 9:26pm by Tavarde
I got my Tameless Breeches! I spent a lot of gold making them just right too, bought 2 +15 sta gems (the non-unique ones) and a nethercleft leg armor kit for them. I'm now sitting at 15.1k health, 29.1k armor, 37.29% dodge, 1721 AP and 416 Defense (all stats based upon Mark of the Wild up).
And all I had to do to offset the loss of Defense rating was swap out my Bloodlust Brooch for my Regal Protectorate. I won't even need Blackheart's Adamantine Figurine unless I opt to one day use the 150 badge Staff of the Forest Lord in my tanking set whenever I manage to acquire it.
I want that staff...so...much...
Starting to feel like a real tank, thanks for all your help guys! The druid forum really is a good bunch.
Edited, Aug 13th 2008 9:26pm by Tavarde
Congratulations. As long as you're using your S2 shoulders, you can drop up to 30 defense rating for other stats. With your resilience, you only need 123-124 defense rating. I'm saying this again because it seems like you're focused on having 415 Defense without realizing why. The really important number is 2.6% fewer crits, which you can get from a combination of Resilience and Defense rating. If you can get them, two of the best tanking trinkets are the Commendation of Kael'thas (Heroic MgT, 3rd boss) and Badge of Tenacity (BoE world drop). You can replace both your trinkets with these and still stay crit immune.
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The truth is that druids really dont need a ton of AP. We can Hold aggro better than most tanks our gear lvl. I'm at 1100 AP and 38 hit and i tank kara with 800-1000 dpsers and I almost never get aggro pulled off of me... goin for the extra AP and Hit if fine for kara but you hit ZA and Mags and Grulls... and it becomes a Heck of alot tougher and the stamina your losing will make it tough to progress.
my armory...
http://www.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Azuremyst&n=Rennu
If your dead it doesnt matter how much aggro you hold.
my armory...
http://www.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Azuremyst&n=Rennu
If your dead it doesnt matter how much aggro you hold.
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