[Transfel]

Heya, I'm a warrior tank in a guild that is working on clearing Ulduar (25-man) and have everything cleared up to and including Hodir.
I'm one of the off tanks in the guild. I don't have a problem with this, because my gear is behind our main tank's, who also happens to be a druid with 10k HP more than me buffed and ~10% more avoidance...

Anyhow, I've been having some real trouble lately with, well, staying alive. I feel that my gear is getting pretty strong but my survivability is not matching it. Today, for instance, I was the secondary tank for Kologarn and I got killed 2 times while tanking him, causing 2 wipes. And after we downed him, we went to Iron Council where I died another 2 times while tanking Runemaster, causing another 2 wipes and forcing the raid leaders to switch up some assignments I really think sometimes that I must be just having some terrible luck, because how could a stinking off mob from Iron Council be owning me like that?

To be honest, I was embarassed. Like I said, I feel that my gear is pretty strong and my talents are good, but my survivability is just crappy at times. I understand that I have a few weak points in my gear setup, but here's my armory:

The World of Warcraft Armory

If some of you could maybe point out some gem changes, talent changes, or key pieces of gear I should aim for, that'd be great. I guess I'm looking for a tanking Report Card, heh.

Oh and as far as keeping debuffs up, using shield block, and popping trinkets, I try and keep a solid rotation and trinkets and shield block are always on cooldown. I'm not just sitting there hoping my gear does all the work

Thanks in advance for any helpful info.

[Bulk]

You have very similar gear and stats to me, and I sometimes find my self in a similar positions of getting the crap knocked out of me and dying while the paladin and druid MT's (or worse, the DPS DK who can switch to frost presence mid fight) roll their eyes and pick up what ever I was tanking.

I don't have an answer for you I'm afraid - I don't think there particularly is one - Warriors were balanced around block, which has been proven to be a worthless stat for all intents and purposes, while other classes seem to do much better. Perhaps its just a perceived failing, or a real one - either way I find ulduar much more punishing than the other tanks in my guild do.

[dirt]

Looking over your Armory link, your stats don't look bad. Comparatively, gear wise I have a few more Uldar pieces, but your EH & Armor are actually a bit higher than my own. I've always considered my own EH to be somewhat on the low side compared to the other tanks in my guild. However, ironically enough as of late I'm finding the opposite happening. That being I usually seem to be the last tank standing while the Pally & DK tanks we have are getting crushed in certain fights.

I also serve as the OT on Kologarn and most of the time have few issues. Although a couple of times once I got the debuff on me, my healer seemed to slack a bit or I was not paying close enough attention to my CDs and got clocked. The trash prior to IC can wipe any tank if they are not handled properly, those big guys with that charged punch can one shot you if you stand in there to long. And the IC itself can be tricky depending on who your tanking. Providing your managing your CDs properly and are adequately raid buffed maybe the issue is not all on your shoulders but that of your healers?

If you want more survivability, you might want to add Glyph of Shieldwall & Last Stand along with putting 2 points into Imp. Disciplines. Those will lower your CD times, thus give you more chances to use them. You can also pop a Indestructible Pot right before the pull. The only other glaring thing I see is that your Expertise is a bit low, although as you get more gear from Uldar that will certainly increase.

[Transfel]

Hmm yes I could possibly see it being my healers sometimes, and I could also see parry haste coming into play because of my low expertise. I always eat the rhinolicious wormsteak for the 40 expertise to help that out a bit. Also, I did notice a few times when I was getting unlucky streaks how my priest healer (only healer on me for Runemaster) would throw that little bouncy heal on me after I took some hits real fast and went down to about 10% health. That's when I knew I was in trouble. I think what I'll do is switch my enchant to blood draining for a little bit more EH there and switch my glove enchant to 15 expertise, and maybe even switch a +24 stam gem to a 8exp/12stam gem.

Thanks for the tips guys and if anyone's got anything else please do comment.

[Transfel]

Just want to bump this and see if I can get a couple more people's advice

[mattdeeze]

Could very well be that the healers aren't switching targets when the taunt takes place. there should be a couple hot's rolling on you and the MT heals have to switch targets IMMEDIATELY when you taunt the boss.

Often healers get locked onto a target and kind of tunnel vision on him. They have to be planning ahead and be ready for that call out that the tanks are executing a taunt.

Your gear looks good enough for the fight and I would hesitate to swap out stam for expertise if you are capable of generating enough threat.

I kind of doubt that a parry haste is killing you in that situation. More likely that heals just werent rotated to you fast enough. Might want to pop shield block an instant before you taunt to give you a little bit of a cushion for the heals to get on you.