[luv2tank]

I have recently thought about where i could take points out of and put somewhere else from my prot tree. Being as I am rarely ever geared w/ stuff that has block value or block rating, would it be wise to take out the damage shield 2/2 talent points. My thought is that 20% damage of my current BV is kinda junky(almost 300 damage or more) however i really have not studied how much uptime this has in fights. Any thoughts?

[Travelsize]

Since as a tank, your main job is to get hit by trash and bosses, the 2 points of this talent give you free damage whenever you fill your primary function.

Assume a 6 minute boss fight with a 2.5 swing timer, no parry haste to make math simple, 25% dodge, 20% parry, 5% avoid (to make math simple), 300 damage from damage shield.
6 min * 60 sec/min *1/2.5 swing speed = 144 boss swings.

Half the swings are avoided, the other half proc damage shield from white hits or blocks. 72 hits*300 damage/hit = 21600 damage by standing there and taking it.

This does not factor in (asuming the mechanics are correct)
1: double block rating due to shield block, with 25% uptime if you're doing it right.
2: unavoidable boss swings (gormok's impale strike) should proc damage shield
3: Dual wielding bosses (algalon)
4: adds

Basically, the talent gives you at least +60dps on a raid boss. Against trash, the damage output will scale with each additional mob swinging on you. And of course, the talent scales with block value and ToC gear has boatloads of both stam AND str on it.

[Jungy]

TBH, I took out dmg shield in my build.

Damage shield was great in Naxx with the amount of trash that could just be AOEed down, as well as when 5 mans were still in our daily routine.

With most the two most commonly run raids being Ulduar and ToC right now, the days of multi add tanking seem to be gone. This might change with Icecrown but i havent seen the trash from PTR yet.

Ulduar had more CC involved, therefore you couldnt just AOE everything down. A lot also changed when damage shield didnt proc deep wounds. From a PvP standpoint, I could see why. Rogues could kill themselves and I would just laugh. ToC, well, no trash = boring = specing only from a boss standpoint.

SBV does come into factor on this, but unless youre stacking it for the sole purpose of only running 10 mans and heroics, Damage shield still seems like a point waster.

As I said, i no longer put points into it. I spec for progression and current 25 man raiding, and I for one dont see any advantage in using it. From a DPS standpoint, it might help, but in the long run, tank killers and hard enrage timers like in ToC take priority and I spec accordingly.

EDIT:

This is my current build

Talent Calculator - World of Warcraft

[fuddjupp]

Source: Jungy As I said, i no longer put points into it. I spec for progression and current 25 man raiding, and I for one dont see any advantage in using it. From a DPS standpoint, it might help, but in the long run, tank killers and hard enrage timers like in ToC take priority and I spec accordingly. [/url]

Where did you use the points from Damage Shield to increase your survivability? The only talent outside the prot tree (and 5% parry from arms) which decreases the amount of damage taken is imp Demoshout, which you haven't specced.

I assume you went for 2% more block instead of Damage Shield which actually doesn't help for ToC heroic bosses in terms of survival.

[Travelsize]

Yes, if anything you just specced yourself short an extra 60dps in order to increase the amount of overhealing your healers are doing. 2/5 shield spec has been more than sufficient for tanking in toc10 and heroic attempts for me, and things only hit harder in 25 man and 25 man hero. Rage should not be an issue and an extra 2% of attacks blocked won't do a whole lot either.

(unless you're going for unhittable to tank 25man heroic anub adds, but even then you should have all 5 points there and maybe use that spec as an offspec)

I thought you were concerned with progression and hardmodes, where every little bit of dps counts?

Personally I think imp. demo is a bit of a wash, but I tank with a pally so most of the time he has his debuff already up and when we're on separate targets the untalented demo shout suffices.

Plus the damage shield talents help out in making daily heroic runs faster and more enjoyable for everyone involved. I end up running with either raid-geared dps that put out significant amounts of threat and damage shield helps me hold mobs, or I run into pathetically undergeared alts and damage shield helps me contribute more to the party damage.

Getting the three raid-geared dpsers and a competent healer equals a 15-minute gundrak run, because while I pull like a maniac normally the mobs die so much faster. Those extra triumph emblems certainly add up

[swelt]

Log some fights. Look at how much damage you get from damage shield. You may be quite surprised to see just how much damage it does to a typical boss. Not so good on bosses like Lord Jaxx that cast a lot, but normally around 4% damage for 2 talent points, which is decent.

Personally, I dropped imp revenge when I saw that glyphed devastate was matching it for threat.

[Aggathon]

Source: Travelsize (unless you're going for unhittable to tank 25man heroic anub adds, but even then you should have all 5 points there and maybe use that spec as an offspec)

If you're tanking H-Anub adds Damage Shield is MUST for both threat and DPS. World of Logs - Real Time Raid Analysis