Returning to Prot, Spec/Gear help please?

[sorn_frostmourne]

Hi Guys,

Long time reader first time poster.

I am returning to Prot after spending the entire Ulduar period as Arms and gearing up to improve DPS, now I am slotting into a tanking role for the guild.

I have read a lot of posts on this forum and others and done a bit of research into a balanced mitigation/threat spec and have looked at other prot warriors and to be honest out of the 5 or 6 I have looked at, I have seen 4 unique specs.

I was wondering if anyone had the time to look at my gear/spec/glyph's and reply post with any gems of wisdom. I have been out of the tanking game for a little while and need to brush up very quickly! :D

The World of Warcraft Armory (http://www.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Frostmourne&n=Sorn)

I logged out in my Prot gear but as of the time of this post my armory still shows Arms gear. Regarding my Prot set, I realise my expertise is a little low still, from what I gather I need 26 expertise for specials to be no-dodge. And I still need to replace a 24stam gem with expertise/stam.

Other than that a little guidance would be appreciated!

Regards,

Sorn.

[sorn_frostmourne]

Any chance of someone taking a quick peek and offering any pearls of wisdom?:rolleyes:

[Aethelas]

Well... I'm not a big fan of the +2% threat enchant/10 parry enchant - in my opinion you'd be better off with the +18 stamina armor kit (unless threat is really an issue, but then you'd really need to look into your ability useage).

By the looks of things you've compiled a decent tanking set but are missing some good fillers. For Ulduar 25 tanking duty I'd feel a little squishy though being under 30k hitpoints unbuffed. That'll move up when you get more upgrades - I'd recommend a naxx 25 run/ulduar 10 or two to see if you can flesh your gear out a little (rings, waist, possibly neckpiece). The Azjol Nerub trinket would be a nice way to get yourself some extra health to swap in for your dodge or armor trinkets.

The deep wounds specc is fine, but remember it's a threat specc so you might want to go more survival depending on the fight you're tanking.

[sorn_frostmourne]

Thanks a lot for that, appreciate your time and especially since you obviously know what you're on about....

I do have the Essence of Gossamer which I might swap in while I try to get the nice 162(?) stam trinket from Ulduar.

As far as spec goes I am going to remove 2 points from Cruelty and put them into improved Defensive Stance. What do you think about the glyphs I am using? I am going to swap out the Glyph of Sunder Armor for the Glyph of Vigilence..

Regards,

Sorn.

[pright]

One thing that I think would help is putting 24 stam gems in the prismatic sockets and blue sockets to boost your health a little. You can make the expertise back with a few more pieces of gear from Naxx, or even the Malygos 10 man shield (or Hodir 25 man now) if you're lucky to see one drop (I've had awful luck with both!). I'd also suggest using Essence of Gossamar over Defender's Code.

Also, depending on personal preference, I tend to stack stam where the gem socket bonus isn't stam related (6 dodge, 6 defense etc). Entirely up to you. This is just my preference since Ulduar has hit. I've valued high effective health over hitting the expertise dodge cap and avoidance for progression tanking.

Taking 2 points out of Imp Spell Reflect and placing them into Imp Defensive Stance would be a good choice. Imp Spell Reflect isn't as beneficial and is situational, where as you will always see the benefits from Imp Defensive Stance.

As you mentioned, replacing Glyph of Sunder Amor with Vigilance, or another popular choice these days is Shield Wall. If you choose the Shield Wall glyph then I would suggest putting 2 points into Improved Disciplines (taken out of Cruelty) taking it to a 2 min cooldown.