Liar

According to PTR Wowhead Fleshless Girdle and Shadow of the Ghoul are still underbudget. Is WoWhead not updating fast enough or did they really forget those items?

Unexpected TankPoints error Clearly someone doesn't understand how EH works. That, or upgrading from T8 to T9 is optional in beating Arthas. Clearly.

 

Warrok

On the current PTR build they feature the same stats as on live.

 

Simeon-Creel

do [Stormchops] make for an acceptable high end tanking food? or go for the greater stat buff foods?

 

• locriani

Considering that the proc damage on the [Stormchops] sits around ~24 damage, this is a novelty food, at best. This information is readily available on the WoWhead page, with further analysis.

 

Warrok

Back in BC when AE tanking was serious business (a little bit of sarcasm here as warriors were not really suited for it), this bufffood could help a little bit for Hyjal trash. With 3.0 our AE tanking capabilities were improved considerably which would render the contribution of this food buff next to zero.

 

Vysogota

Fleshless Girdle finally got boosted and now has 112 Stamina (up from 75). Shadow of the Ghoul remains unchanged though.

 

Riot

Blade Warding dropped on Mal'Ganis last night and I had the chance to try this enchant out.

FWIW, I considered Blood Draining, but I think that it's garbage for tanking as a Warrior.

I'm not impressed. It doesn't seem like much of an improvement versus Mongoose. I hope this enchant gets buffed. :P

Overslept, / So tired. / If late, / Get fired. / Why bother? / Why the pain? / Just go home / Do it again. - The Commuter's Lament
Norman B. Colp

 

Juno

The itemization in Ulduar 10 as far as Leggings go isn't that great. I managed to swipe both [Valorous Siegebreaker Legguards] and [Archaedas' Lost Legplates]. As far as avoidance and hitpoints go, both of them are pretty much the same. However the non-set ones have a 7expertise edge, while the set ones have 128block value with talents over the others. In normal circumstances I would go for the expertise right away, but missing out that defense can be pretty dire when going with double stamina trinkets. But the main issue pulling me towards the Siegebreaker leggings is the set bonus. What I'm wondering though, are the leggings the weakest part of the set compared to other drops? As far as different sets go, both would fit in the same category anyway. If the Archaedas ones would've had defense instead of parry I would've taken them without any hesitation.

 

◊ Jameson

If you want a 4 piece bonus, legs are definitely the place to ditch the tier piece: [Saronite Plated Legguards].

 

◊ Birdemani

The good about this enchant is that it can stack up to five times, so even with DR you are looking at just above 3% parry with each stack. The bad news is that the buff is consumed when you do parry so it's rare to see it stack beyond three (~27% in current 25 gear). It's also very streaky and I'm not sure why. The proc rate seems to be significantly less than Mongoose and there appears to be a longer delay after the proc. I need to find a mob and a healer to test it on to get real numbers on the proc rate.

Also, I'm not sure what purpose Blood Draining is suppose to serve; is seems like a better choice than Lifeward for soloing old elite mobs and very little else.

edit: On legs, I would also consider [Legplates of the Endless Void] but at i239 you will see Saronoite long before these.

Relwin: Besides, the BB is not some ivory tower of WoW knowledge, it's just less stupid here than elsewhere.
DeeNogger: Not less stupid, better stupid. The BB takes stupid very seriously. Now if you will excuse me, I have to go misspell the word fire.

 

◊ Jameson

Maybe they intended it for bears?

 

Juno

Wow, again, what the hell is up with the tank itemization in Ulduar 10. Today we got, [Fervor of the Protectorate], [Signet of Winter], [Stoneguard] and [Archaedas' Lost Legplates]. None of them have defense on them. Everything is littered with parry though which already has higher diminishing returns and less avoidance gain per point. If you go with two stamina trinkets it's almost impossible to viably use any of these pieces even with defense enchant on chest and shield.

 

Ziggurat

I've made a new list which includes only ilvl 219 and up, which is Ulduar 10/25, conquest badge gear and Malygos/KT-25. Sorted by ilvl.

*edit* updated with more hard mode loot.
*edit* updated again c/o Protection Gear Quick Reference


Head:
219 [Ironbark Faceguard] - Freya-10
219 [Valorous Siegebreaker Greathelm] - 10man token
226 [Conqueror's Siegebreaker Greathelm] - 25man token / 58 conquest badges
226 [Helm of the Faceless] - Vezax-25


Neck:
219 [Fervor of the Protectorate] - trash drop-10
219 [Mark of the Unyielding] - Kologarn-10
226 [Boundless Ambition] - KelThuzad-25
226 [Necklace of Unerring Mettle] - Kologarn-25
226 [Nexus War Champion Beads] - Malygos-25 quest
226 [Shard of the Crystal Forest] - 19 conquest tokens
226 [Titanstone Pendant] - trash drop-25
239 [Bronze Pendant of the Vanir] - Freya-25 Hard


Back:
219 [Cloak of the Iron Council] - Iron Council-10
219 [Saronite Animus Cloak] - Vezax-10
226 [Cloak of the Makers] - Auriaya-25
239 [Titanskin Cloak] - Mimiron-25 Hard

Shoulder:
219 [Shoulderguards of the Solemn Watch] - Kologarn-10
219 [Valorous Siegebreaker Pauldrons] - 10man token
226 [Conqueror's Siegebreaker Pauldrons] - 25man token
226 [Shoulderplates of the Deconstructor] - XT-25


Chest:
219 [Valorous Siegebreaker Breastplate] - 10man token
226 [Conqueror's Siegebreaker Breastplate] - 25man token / 58 conquest badges
226 [Unbreakable Chestguard] - Auriaya-25


Wrist:
219 [Flamewatch Armguards] - Flame Leviathan-10
226 [Mimiron's Inferno Couplings] - Flame Leviathan-25


Hands:
219 [Adamant Handguards] - trash drop-10
219 [Gauntlets of the Iron Furnace] - Ignis-10 (ArP?)
219 [Valorous Siegebreaker Handguards] - 10man token
226 [Conqueror's Siegebreaker Handguards] - 25man token
226 [Gauntlets of the Royal Watch] - 28 conquest badges
226 [Handguards of the Enclave] - Iron Council-25
239 [Handguards of Revitalization] - Freya-25 Hard


Waist:
219 [Stormtempered Girdle] - Razorscale-10
226 [Indestructible Plate Girdle] - crafted
226 [Dragonslayer's Brace] - Razorscale-25
226 [Shieldwarder Girdle] - 28 conquest tokens


Legs:
219 [Archaedas' Lost Legplates] - Ayriaya-10
219 [Valorous Siegebreaker Legguards] - 10man token
226 [Conqueror's Siegebreaker Legguards] - 25man token
226 [Gilded Steel Legplates] - Flame Leviathan-10 Hard
226 [Legplates of Sovereignty] - Malygos-25
226 [Saronite Plated Legguards] - Kologarn-25
226 [Wyrmguard Legplates] - 39 conquest badges
239 [Legplates of the Endless Void] - ???-25 Hard


Feet:
226 [Charred Saronite Greaves] - Ignis-25
226 [Greaves of the Stonewarder] - trash drop-25
226 [Spiked Deathdealers] - crafted
226 [Greaves of the Iron Army] - Mimiron-10 Hard


Ring:
219 [Signet of Winter] - Hodir-10
226 [Platinum Band of the Aesir] - Auriaya-25
226 [Signet of the Earthshaker] - XT-25
226 [The Leviathan's Coil] - Flame Leviathan-25
226 [Seal of Ulduar] - XT-10 Hard
239 [Fate's Clutch] - Thorim-25 Hard

Trinket:
219 [Furnace Stone] - Ignis-10
219 [Royal Seal of King Llane] - Yogg-10
226 [Heart of Iron] - Ignis-25
226 [The General's Heart] - Vezax-25


Weapon:
219 [Legacy of Thunder] - Thorim-10
219 [Stoneguard] - Kologarn-10
226 [Last Laugh] - KelThuzad-25
232 [Shiver] - Hodir-10 Hard
232 [Titanguard] - Flame Leviathan-25
239 [Sorthalis, Hammer of the Watchers] - XT-25 Hard


Shield:
219 [Shieldwall of the Breaker] - Auriaya-10
226 [Northern Barrier] - Hodir-25
226 [Wall of Terror] - KelThuzad-25
232 [The Boreal Guard] - Hodir-10 Hard


Ranged Weapon:
232 [Veranus' Bane] - Razorscale-25

 

Gorkk

It's worth adding to the list of weapons the new [Axe of the Sen'jin Protector] that you buy from tournament quartermasters for 25 [Champion's Seal]. This is roughly 2 weeks worth of dailies for the tournament (8 days to become champion and 3 days to get the additional 15 Champion's Seals you need, as you get 10 when getting champion), and this axe is on par, and better if you're already hit capped, than the [Red Sword of Courage] from UP Heroic. Getting mine tomorrow

 

Riot

Thanks for that list Drunk.

There's quite a few BiS items there that should change the outlook. There's a huge amount of hit on Warrior T8, and getting expertise seems to be pretty easy as well.

I do wish the T8 bonuses weren't completely garbage though. :V

Overslept, / So tired. / If late, / Get fired. / Why bother? / Why the pain? / Just go home / Do it again. - The Commuter's Lament
Norman B. Colp

 

illusive_2008

Feet not listed, hmm Wowhead link not working. Greaves of the Iron Army - Item - World of Warcraft
. Thanks for list, looks very accurate from looking at what has been found so far.

 

Lepodey

I think ur crazy. The 4 set tanking bonus is amazing. A full 20% dmg reduction on a spell with shield block, unheard of kind of spell mit for a warrior.

 

Healium

This is a band-aid over the core problem. We shouldn't need a gear bonus to achieve this, talented would be more appropriate.

 

Bonepuncher

It seems to me that if double stamina trinkets are unavoidably the best available at the moment, then Expertise and Hit will be in somewhat short supply until achieving all the hard mode pieces. Essentially, we will be unable to scale our stats up evenly and will be forced to pick and choose until obtaining all the Best in Slot items. Now I have yet to do all the math on this but I think the best option currently for gearing up in Ulduar, (assuming one wishes to obtain 4 pieces if T8) would be to replace the helm with Ironbark Faceguard, and have the legs, chest, shoulders, and gloves as tier gear. This should allow an even balance of Block Value, Hit, and Expertise while retaining a respectable amount of avoidance.

Personally I think the 4 piece set bonus is an absolute must. I was somewhat skeptable to drop 10% damage from Shield Slam for 10% critical on Devastate, but Blade Ward seems to proc from it very often, so I suppose it is a good combination to have. Not to mention the amount of Block Value available on Ulduar tanking gear is high enough that It makes up for the lost threat from my former Tier 7 gear, and adds mitigation on top of it.

 

Warrok

Blade Ward proc frequency is not related to your crit chance, so the T8 2pc bonus does nothing for that. It's a clearly inferior threat-bonus to 2pc T7 though since we are tanks we have to swallow the threat loss (which is compensated somewhat with other stats as you mentioned) to bolster our mitigation/avoidance.

 

Firath

How many of you are using blade ward?


I just got it, and the proc rate seems low. An addon I have watching procs says it was up 2% of the time for a heroic CoS


Need some feedback before I replace it though

 

Arghoslent

I didn't do much research on this, but it also deos seem to be low to me. I use MSBT, and I set the proc announcement to display in the middle of my screen, so that I can notice it. Yesterday at Yogg Saron, through all phase 1 and 3 I saw it proc 3 times?
Having read about Blood Draining I'm inclined to switch to it, but I need some more evidence.

 

Fellwraith

Bladewarding is garbage. I don't know anyone who started using it and kept it. There's a bunch of posts on the official wow tanking forums about it.

Pre-DR mongoose gives a warrior ~1.6% to dodge and 240 armor. Pre-DR, blade warding gives you ~4% parry per proc. You will get less than these avoidance values because of DR, it's just a question of how much, everyone will be different based on their gear choices. Parry has a hard cap of 47% for warriors, dodge has a hard-cap of 73.5%. The parry will diminish much more quickly than the dodge will. You need to do some math to really figure out how much avoidance you are getting from either enchant.

For bosses I tanked for the full duration of the fight without any tank swaps, etc. I had an average uptime on bladeward of about 15%. Your mileage will vary based on your pre-existing parry statistic from your gear. Mongoose has an uptime of at least 30-45% for most fights. So it's up at least 2x as much. The base proc rate on bladewarding appears to be somewhere between 5-8%, which is far too low for an enchant that falls off the next time you parry.

The value of the avoidance on this enchant not only scales slower with your DR on parry, but it also "clears" itself much more quickly if you've got too much parry. As you get better gear, it's considerably worse than mongoose because of the clearing mechanic. Items like the royal seal of king lane make the proc even worse.

The damage proc from bladeward was ~1-2% of my total damage dealt. Mongoose increases my haste and increases my physical crit rate by about 1.9%. In my threat spec, a crit is worth more than 2x damage because of deep wounds and impale. It's safe to say that between the faster heroic strikes and higher crit rate on specials, mongoose is more damage (even when you factor in parry haste). In addition, the proc from mongoose adds to your damage even if you aren't getting attacked, unlike bladewarding.

I also wouldn't suggest blood draining.

Your options are what they were before 3.1 - mongoose or accuracy (maybe a weapon chain if you're trying to cut costs).

 

Firath

Thanks for the advice, it's good to have people who know what they are talking about

 

Vysogota

A few additional things to Ziggurat's post:
1) 226 [Greaves of the Iron Army] - Mimiron-10 Hard -> It's Army, not Armory, hence the lack of WoWhead tooltip.
2) 226 [Seal of Ulduar] - XT-10 Hard -> Drops from XT and it's already on WoWhead
3) 239 [Fate's Clutch] - Thorim-25 Hard -> It's already on WoWhead
4) 232 [Shiver] - Hodir-10 Hard -> It's been buffed to ilvl 232
5) 232 [The Boreal Guard] - Hodir-10 Hard -> It's been buffed to ilvl 232

PS: Titanskin Cloak is confirmed - dropped for Chinese guild Stars on their Mimiron HM kill.