Direct from tankspot.com:
Meta gems
1. Austere Earthsiege Diamond (629p) Rare
The boss tanking meta gem. Scales directly with the quality of your gear. No reason not to have this as your primary meta gem.
2. Eternal Earthsiege Diamond (384p) Rare
This meta gem is kind of a joker. The benefit from using it scales with how much Strength, Block Value, and Block Chance you have. Certainly the meta gem to use if you have a dedicated "TPS" tanking hat. For non-raid tanking where mobs don't hit so hard, this meta gem will most likely be one offering the most damage reduction.
I'm seeing a lot of people who are all about the Eternal - rather than the Austere... (Counter to Tankspot's opinion)
Which is it? I'm not yet in Naxx, I could use more STA. I have about 22.5k HP, I'm something like 545 Def at the moment. I have yet to buy badge gear.
I have both in my bank - and nothing in my Titansteel Helm.
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Austere or Eternal - Earthsiege Diamond Follow
I'd still say Austere for raiding. Tanks who are just getting started with raids should go with EED, but I'd definitely replace it with AED once you get better gear.
I use the Eternal Earthsiege Diamond...I just put one in my shiny new T7.5 helm last night. I'm also block capped, meaning that as long as I've got holy shield up, every physical hit that comes my way is either a miss, dodge, parry, or...block. 5% block value in my case turns into about 65 block value. That's not going to scale with big fat hits, but for me, we're talking about a 0.2% damage reduction between the two gems. (2% of my current armor value works out to an additional 464 armor). The stamina is nice and with my current build, it would add just over 2k effective health, but I've yet to encounter a fight where that 2k is going to make that much of a difference.
If we're talking sheer min-maxing for survivability, the Austere wins out. For a lesser boost to survivability but a slight boost to threat, Eternal is the way to go. I'm still working towards my first 10k SoR crit, so I'm going to stick with my Eternal Earthsiege for now ;D
If we're talking sheer min-maxing for survivability, the Austere wins out. For a lesser boost to survivability but a slight boost to threat, Eternal is the way to go. I'm still working towards my first 10k SoR crit, so I'm going to stick with my Eternal Earthsiege for now ;D
Taken straight from EJs Prot pally field manual:
Edited, Jan 27th 2009 5:43pm by mahlerite
Quote:
Meta
[Austere Earthsiege Diamond]: 32 stamina, +2% armor from items
[Eternal Earthsiege Diamond]: 21 defense rating, +5% shield block value
[Effulgent Skyflare Diamond]: 32 stamina, reduces spell damage taken by 2%
Effulgent Skyflare is really only useful for extreme magic-damage fights; the real choice for standard tanking gear is between the two earthsiege diamonds. The stamina and defense rating on these gems has the same itemization cost; obviously if you need the defense rating on the eternal to reach the crit cap then your choice is made for you, but otherwise you can take either the stamina or the defense rating and make up for the other by shuffling gems around somewhere else.
So it comes down to the 2% armor bonus vs the 5% block value bonus. For most realistic armor values (DR's between 50% and 65%) an extra 2% armor will reduce the damage taken by approximately 1%. So the two gems are equal in overall damage reduction when 5% of your total blocked damage is the same as 1% of the total incoming damage before blocking. That is, if you're blocking 20% or more of the incoming physical damage, you'll get more damage reduction out of the 5% blockvalue bonus than out of the 2% armor bonus.
This is something you'll have to determine for yourself, because it depends on what content you're doing, what kind of other gear you have, what your overall gearing strategy is, etc, etc. Also, keep in mind that in situations where you can't block at all, such as stuns, extra block value does absolutely nothing for you, but the armor is always there. On the other hand, the block value bonus increases your threat, especially your burst threat, whereas the armor bonus doesn't.
[Austere Earthsiege Diamond]: 32 stamina, +2% armor from items
[Eternal Earthsiege Diamond]: 21 defense rating, +5% shield block value
[Effulgent Skyflare Diamond]: 32 stamina, reduces spell damage taken by 2%
Effulgent Skyflare is really only useful for extreme magic-damage fights; the real choice for standard tanking gear is between the two earthsiege diamonds. The stamina and defense rating on these gems has the same itemization cost; obviously if you need the defense rating on the eternal to reach the crit cap then your choice is made for you, but otherwise you can take either the stamina or the defense rating and make up for the other by shuffling gems around somewhere else.
So it comes down to the 2% armor bonus vs the 5% block value bonus. For most realistic armor values (DR's between 50% and 65%) an extra 2% armor will reduce the damage taken by approximately 1%. So the two gems are equal in overall damage reduction when 5% of your total blocked damage is the same as 1% of the total incoming damage before blocking. That is, if you're blocking 20% or more of the incoming physical damage, you'll get more damage reduction out of the 5% blockvalue bonus than out of the 2% armor bonus.
This is something you'll have to determine for yourself, because it depends on what content you're doing, what kind of other gear you have, what your overall gearing strategy is, etc, etc. Also, keep in mind that in situations where you can't block at all, such as stuns, extra block value does absolutely nothing for you, but the armor is always there. On the other hand, the block value bonus increases your threat, especially your burst threat, whereas the armor bonus doesn't.
Edited, Jan 27th 2009 5:43pm by mahlerite
So, EJ is calling them pretty close to equal and I guess it comes down to my need for STA vs DEF as I progress.
I guess right now the STA is more of a benifit. Luckily I bought both for about 20G each. If I need to swap later, it's not so hard.
I guess right now the STA is more of a benifit. Luckily I bought both for about 20G each. If I need to swap later, it's not so hard.
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