DK armor comparison (part 2, level 80)

So it's been a month since I posted a comparison of armor values between the plate-wearing classes. Level 80 entry level raid gear is now on the database sites, so it's time for one more armor comparison post, this time with actual level 80 values.


ilevel 200 Epic items
(Naxx 10-man / level 80 heroic 5-mans)

Heroes' Scourgeborne Helmet 1821
Heroes' Scourgeborne Shoulderplates 1681
Cloak of Armed Strife 486
Heroes' Scourgeborne Chestguard 2241
Minion Bracers 980
Heroes' Scourgeborne Handguards 1401
Waistguard of Living Iron 1261
Heroes' Scourgeborne Legplates 1961
Plague-Impervious Boots 1541
Total: 13373

Royal Crest of Lordaeron 7530
100 / 13373 * 7530 = 56.3
Shield provides an additional 56.3% of armor value from other items combined.

Warrior/Paladin w/ 5/5 Thoughness: (13373 + 7530) * 1.1 =
22993 armor (60.15% mitigation vs. L80)
With Defensive Stance: 64.14%
With Imp Righteous Fury: 62.54%

Death Knight w/ 5/5 Toughness and Frost Aura: 13373 * 1.15 * 1.45 =
22299 armor (59.41% mitigation vs. L80)

This is all very similar to the level 70 mitigation values. Shields still provide the same percentage of a tank's armor, and Frost Presence still falls a bit short. Big deal? Still early to tell. Abilities and talents are still being tweaked on the beta realms, and other forms of damage reduction may actually warrant the different mitigation values.


Damage taken

One thing I left out of my last entry is a comparison of damage taken after mitigation. But first, let's add an arbitrary 750 armor to factor in agility and a few armor enchants. New mitigation values are as follows:

Warrior: 65.05%
Paladin: 63.50%
Death Knight: 60.47%

Damage taken is effectively 1 - mitigation.

Damage taken for each class (includes D-stance / F-presence / RF / Toughness):

Warrior: 34.95%
Paladin: 36.50%
Death Knight: 39.53%

When comparing Paladin and Warrior mitigation with Death Knight mitigation, we find the following:

The Paladin takes 7.66% less damage per successful hit than the Death Knight.

The Warrior takes 11.59% less damage per successful hit than the Death Knight.


At the time of this writing, Death Knight in the beta still have the best "active" defenses of all three classes. I will be doing some more math soon, but I also suspect that DKs have significantly better passive avoidance as well, at least based on Naxx-25 gear. If that remains the trend, it may be that the damage intake will even out between classes, albeit DK's will probably have the most spiky version.