What to stack after hitting defense capFollow

stamina first and then block/dodge/parry, but in the end stamina will always, well not always but usually keep you alive just that second longer to defeat a boss

Juggle stamina and pure avoidance stats (dodge/parry). Being crit immune is still a long way from being block capped. Raid buffed (entry level), one extra block is worth the equivalent of about 100 extra stamina. (My unbuffed block value is 990, and sees a significant boost from raid buffs, Libram of Obstruction procs, etc.) The difference is, HP lost from damage is HP that has to be healed. Most healers would likely tell you'd they're rather heal 4k damage on a tank with 30k HP than 6k damage on a tank with 32k HP.

Oddly enough, it's much easier to reach the block cap through pure avoidance stats. Very little gear outside of class-specific raid token pieces comes with any significant amount of block rating. Not that I mind...I'd rather avoid damage altogether than just mitigate a chunk of it.

Regardless, once you're crit immune, stamina/strength are great, but also keep an eye on your total avoidance. We don't need 102.4% avoidance to avoid crushes anymore, but it's still nice to have to ensure that as long as you've got Holy Shield up, every single physical hit that comes your way is going to be avoided or mitigated beyond just what your armor would allow. (It's great for non-stop BoSanc procs while solo, too ;D)

Edited, Dec 21st 2008 9:12pm by AureliusSir

Nuuu...I'm refering to the act of blocking and mitigating that extra 1k damage + bonus block value from buffs + Libram of Obstruction etc. I'm sure if you were to break down the math, my "estimate" of 100 stamina being less of a benefit than getting that extra block in would be off by a fair bit, but it still boils down to the same thing: less damage taken is always good.



I agree that point for point, block rating is the cat's meow. Unfortunately, I rarely see block rating on gear (especially pre-Naxx). Second to block rating in terms of avoidance benefit/point seems to be dodge. I like having more defense than necessary not just because of the avoidance, but because a lot of the upgrades I'm looking at now have less defense rating but more avoidance stats on them. Being well above 540 defense means I can afford to drop defense for better avoidance, end up with better overall avoidance and still remain crit immune.

As a pretty decent example of this, I just had my 3pc Icebane set made anticipating a progression showdown with Sapphiron in the not too distant future. Loads and loads and loads of stamina on the ice resist plate, and a total of 7 sockets for gems. What it doesn't have is anything evenly remotely resembling avoidance stats. No defense, no block/dodge/parry. Not even agility. It's all stam, strength, and sockets.

My first priority was to gem/enchant to preserve crit immunity. No point rocking 417 frost resist with those three pieces + Frost Protection Aura if I could still be crit. I managed to gem/enchant to handle that, wound up crit immune with about 26.5k HP unbuffed (up from 25.4k), but my avoidance took a beating. I lost over 10% avoidance overall just from swapping in the frost resist pieces. I can justify the lost avoidance in that I'll be taking far less frost damage, but given a "ready for anything" build, I'd much rather have the avoidance as close to block capped as I can at the expense of some health than to be like that warrior I saw in Naxx10/badge epics with 30k HP unbuffed. I'd hate to have seen what his avoidance was at...

Just a point, the boots alone are more than enough FR (with a paladin aura) for the end of Naxx.

On your character sheet with the page for defensive values:

You have a 5% base chance to be missed
540 defense gives another 5.6% chance to be missed (more with higher defense)
Parry (whatever value you have)
Dodge (whatever value you have)
Block (whatever value you have)

Add all of these up, then add 30% for holy shield being up all of the time.

This is your total avoidance. 102.4% is not strictly necessary anymore, but it is still a darn good number to shoot for. If you have 540 (or more) defense and 102.4% avoidance with holy shield up, then you can just start stacking stam and strength like a mad fiend.

For example, if your defense is exactly 540 and you have:

Parry 15.5%
Dodge 17.2%
Block 16.1%

That would give you:

5% base chance to be missed
5.6% chance to be missed from defense
15.5% Parry
17.2% Dodge
16.1% Block
30% Block from Holy Shield

Total = 89.4% (still well below the "ideal" 102.4%)

if that is your number, you want to add block RATING, Dodge, Defense, and Parry until you get to 102.4. Sacrificing a little stam to get to 102.4 is fine... taking less damage gives you more effective health.

Edited, Dec 22nd 2008 4:07pm by jeromesimina

Thanks all for the great info. This should be a stickied post or recondensed into the FAQ. I've got all that gear and some more so now I'll crunch the numbers and start juggling stuff and gems to hit 102.4% then stack stam. Thinking about adding blacksmithing along with my jewel crafting for the extra 3 sockets.

Most of this information and more is in the link in my signature, though the discussion there is always evolving to add lots of great information.

Yes, if you factor out block Dodge will get you more than Defense whether you account for diminishing returns or not -- for the first little bit.

After stacking a bit of Dodge (and I'm talking the amount that you can get on maybe 2 pieces of good gear) Defense balances out again. The net effect is that to maximize avoidence it ends up being best to stack Dodge and Defense in proportional amounts where the portion of it that is Defense starts out smaller and gradually increases and the portion that is Dodge starts out larger and gradually decreases.

There's actually a very nice mathematical breakdown with graphs for easy analysis at maintankadin's forums -- I didn't want to bring it up though because it really shouldn't matter that much to the OP. He's really just looking where to go after Defense Capping.