Item Spotlight: Ogri'la Aegis

[item]Ogri'la Aegis[/item]
Revered, Ogri'la

This shield tops my gear list as having the highest avoidance of any shield in the game. But does that necessarily mean it's useful? I'd like to think so.

Shield of the Wayward Footman is one of my favorite pieces of gear, because I don't think anyone else knows just how awesome it is. It's like having an Impeding Scarab on your back. It has by far the highest block of any shield in the game, and is very useful in being passively invincible against a lot of soft-hitting mobs. I use it with my block set in the old world, soloing in Outland, and doing dailies, because it helps to render me virtually invincible in these situations.

Ogri'la, though, boasts only avoidance. When is avoidance important but block not? Encounters which hit so hard that blocking isn't a particularly effective means of mitigation. I know, I know, many of you are thinking "every little bit helps, shaving 400 off of a 10k hit will save your life, etc.", but if I was up against a mob who hits for 10k, the farthest thing from my mind would be block rating, unless of course I wasn't confident in my ability to keep crushings off the table with Shield Block.

Anyway, where was I? Situations like this, as do all encounters, call for EH minimums, after which avoidance can theoretically be stacked safely instead of extra stam/AC. ~85% of farmed raid content, including bosses and trash, finds me favoring avoidance heavily. Avoidance, not block. This is something that Ogri'la offers.

However, does that mean it's useful? Unfortunately I'm inclined to say no. It is heavy in a particular stat, which I always find interesting in an item, but in this case its lack of other stats really makes it rather useless. It has a scrawny 3800 AC and 110 block value. The low block value would only have a notable effect on threat in most cases. The AC is the important part here. On encounters where avoidance, not block, is favored (farmed raid content; I can't speak for everyone of course), sacrificing that much AC would be detrimental.

Example: Your guild is progressing through MH and your current raid is against some hard-hitting, farmed boss. You are tanking. The boss still hits hard, but you are quite well geared. Would you sacrifice the, say, 2k extra AC you'd have with the Hardened Heart for extra avoidance? It's a big difference to your EH. In addition to that, the difference in block value (~50) would over time have a pretty potent effect on your threat output.

Basically, on encounters where the avoidance this shield comes with is favored, this shield is sub-par. The shield is a central part of the tank's gear; like the weapon, it can't be (too heavily) compromised to help stack some novelty stat like block rating or a resistance, or in this case post-EH-minimum avoidance. You need it for mitigation and threat. However, it is always nice to see such a humble item, like this or the Wayward Footman, excel somehow.

I may yet find a use for this shield.