[Dizzy]

Defensive Stance
A compilation of Information for Warrior Tanks

Tankspot is filled with an amazing amount of information on tanking, theory, talents, tactics, gear, news and progression. So much, that it might sometimes be difficult for a new reader to find the information he’s looking for. This compilation is to help extract basic information.

Content:
01.. Defensive Stats
02.. Offensive Stats
03.. Base Stats
04.. Tanking Talents
05.. Tanking Builds
06.. Tanking Threat & Rotations
07.. Tanking Gear
08.. Professional Advantages for Tanks
09.. Flasks & Food

---- Work in Progress ---

[Dizzy]

01. Defensive Stats

The most important questions about stats are answered by Satrina in the post Frequently Asked Questions. To sum it up:

Defense:
Defense is a skill that helps prevent physical damage, by reducing the chance to be hit or critically hit. It also increases block, dodge and parry. Each point of +defense skill adds 0.04% to the chance to be missed, block, dodge and parry. This means that +25 defense will grant you 1% miss, parry, dodge and block. Also check out Veneretio's post How good is Defense

Crit immunity:

• 540 defense = 5.6% reduction = the minimum to become crit immune against raid bosses (lvl 83)
• 535 defense = 5.4% reduction = the minimum to become crit immune against heroic bosses (lvl 82)

Dodge:
Dodge is the act of avoiding a melee attack, that would otherwise hit you. So if you dodge an attack, you take no damage. 39.35 dodge = 1% dodge (subject to diminishing returns).

Parry:
Targets of melee attack can parry each incoming frontal attack. A successful parry nullifies the attack (so for the attacker it’s like a miss) and reduces the swing timer of the defender. 49.18 parry = 1% parry (subject to diminishing returns).

Block:
Block is the ability of a shield to absorb melee damage. If you block an attack, a fixed amount of damage is removed from the hit you take. 16.39 block = 1% block chance. Check out Satrina’s post on Blocking.

Avoidance vs. mitigation
Defense, dodge and parry are called avoidance stats, as you avoid the entire effect of the attack. Block is called mitigation, as you mitigate (lessen the effect) of the attack. So for example if you have 20% dodge, 20% parry and 20% block, you have 40% chance to take no damage and 20% to block some of the damage.


Ratios:

• 4.92 defense rating = 1 defense skill
• 39.35 dodge = 1% dodge
• 49.18 parry = 1% parry
• 16.39 block = 1% block chance
• 82 Resilience = 123 Defense Rating = 25 Defense Skill = 1% less chance of being crit

Diminishing returns:
Keep in mind that every point in dodge or parry rating gives slightly less percentage than the previous point. This is called diminishing returns. For defense each point rating always equals the same amount of skill, but the amount of dodge and parry you gain from the defense skill does diminish. More information on the subject can be found in the post Diminishing Returns

Balancing stats:
After hitting crit immunity, aim for a defense:dodge ratio of 2:1. Parry is considered the least avoidance stat, as you need a lot to gain 1% parry and because the diminishing return on parry is very steep. More information on the subject can be found in the post Balancing Avoidance

Calculate Avoidance:
More information can be found in the post Block cap + Pure avoidance macro’s . But to calculate your avoidance, run this script:

/script dr=function(x)return 1/(1/16+0.9560/x)end;DEFAULT_CHAT_FRAME:AddMessage("Need 102.4 combat table coverage. Currently at: "..string.format("%.2f", GetDodgeChance()+GetBlockChance()+GetParryChance() +5+dr(GetCombatRating(CR_DEFENSE_SKILL)/122.962)))

Combat Ratings:
For more information on Combat Ratings, take a look at:
* Formulas and Relationships
* Wowwiki: Combat Rating

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02. Offensive Stats

Hit
Hit eliminates the chance you miss. To eliminate misses as a tank, you need:

• 8% hit = 264 hit rating

Q: So why do I still miss while hit capped?
A: Cause some of the warrior moves work of spellhit spell, like taunt & thunderclap. These require a much higher hit rating.


Expertise
Expertise lowers the chance of a mob to dodge/parry your attack. As a tank you need:

• 26 expertise = 214 expertise rating to eliminate being dodged (6,5% dodge)
• 57 expertise = 468 expertise rating to eliminate being parried (14% parry)

More information on the topic can be found in the post Gearing for Threat, The Hit Cap question or Expertise is always better than hit


03. Base Stats

Strength
Strength increases attack power with a melee weapon and it improves Block Value.

• 1 strength = 2 attack power
• 2 strength = 1 block value

Agility
Agility increases ranged attack power, chance on crit, armor and chance to dodge.

• 1 agility = 1 ranged attack power
• 1 agility = 2 armor
• 62.5 agility = 1% chance to crit
• 102 agility = 1% chance to dodge

Stamina
1 stamina = 10 health points. The talent Vitality increases your total Stamina by 6%

Armor
Armor decreases physical damage received. It augments a character’s health to a higher number, which represents the amount of physical damage a player can withstand. For instance: a character with 5.000 health and 50% armor, would be able to absorb 10.000 damage before dying. More calculations can be found here.

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04.Tanking Talents

Before warriors can choose a build, they need to know what each talent means. Off course every Talent Calculator gives you an overview of each talent, but what do they actually mean? In his Protection Warrior Guide Wroar gives his view on all talents.

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05. Tanking Builds

3.08 Builds
The world of tanking changed when Ciderhelm posted about Increase your damage. This resulted in a majority of tanks respeccing to Deep wounds. This build has proven itself perfect for the 3.08 raidcontent, as it enabled a warrior to do decent DPS and TPS.
15/5/51
15/5/51 Malygos

Still not all tanks switched to the DPS/TPS game and were sticking to:
5/8/58: Conventional Build
5/13/53: Progression Build

3.1 Builds
With the release of 3.1 and the introduction of dualspec, people play around with double prot builds. Like:
15/5/51 Threat
16/4/51 Threat
5/10/56 Survivability
37/0/32: Unrelenting Assault - 3.1 Alternative build

Survivability spec is often used in combination with Glyph of Shield Wall, Glyph of Last Stand and Glyph of Blocking
Keep in mind that these are just examples, so adjust to your playstyle and liking.

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06. Tank threat & rotations

Since the release of patch 3.0 tanking entered a new era. No longer was the focus on rotations, but on prioritizing. To know on which focus to prioritize, it’s important to know how much threat they provide. Satrina gives a good insight to that in the post Threat Values and also Elitist Jerk’s provide a nice overview in the post Values


To sum it up, the following abilities generate the most threat:

• Shield slam
• Revenge
• Concussion Blow
• Shockwave
• Devestate
• Thunderclap
• Heroic Strike

To help you with prioritizing, Karilyn came up with a very nice flowchart on Rotations. Veneretio also talks about the prioritizing system in his post The Rotation: Not as easy as you think. But whatever you do, keep in mind: don't be a lazy tank, so try and keep swing (white hits) to a minimum.

[Dizzy]

07. Tanking Gear
Let's dress to impress!

Overview of posts on Tanking Gear:
- Easy to get Tanking Gear
- Best in Slot
- WOTLK Tanking Gear List
- Gearing for Threat

Overview of posts on Enchants:
- Tanking Enchants
- Enchant List

Overview of posts on Gems:
- Tanking Gems
- Best in slot: gems

Overview of Tanking Glyphs:
- Glyph of Blocking: Increases your block value by 10% for 10 sec after using your Shield Slam ability.
- Glyph of Cleaving: Increases the number of targets your Cleave hits by 1.
- Glyph of Devastate: Your Devastate ability now applies two stacks of Sunder Armor.
- Glyph of Heroic Strike: You gain 10 rage when you critically strike with your Heroic Strike ability.
- Glyph of Revenge: After using Revenge, your next Heroic Strike costs no rage.
- Glyph of Sunder Armor: Your Sunder Armor ability affects a second nearby target.
- Glyph of Taunt: Increases the chance for your Taunt ability to succeed by 8%.
- Glyph of Last Stand: Reduces the cooldown of your Last Stand ability by 3 min, but also reduces the maximum health gained by 10%.
- Glyph of Intervene: Increases the number attacks you intercept for your Intervene target by 1.
- Glyph of Shield Wall: Reduces the cooldown on Shield Wall by 2 min, but Shield Wall now only reduces damage taken by 40%.

Most used Tanking Glyphs:
Glyph of Blocking
Glyph of Revenge
Glyph of Heroic Strike
Glyph of Cleaving
Glyph of Sunder Armor
Glyph of Shield Wall
Glyph of Last Stand

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08. Professional Advantages for Tanks

Since the release of the Lich King professions give personal advantages, that can benefit your class. So take these in consideration when you chose your profession as a tank. Here’s a list of the profession unique advantages.

Mining:
Toughness: All your hard work spent mining has made you exceptionally tough, increasing your Stamina by 50.

Blacksmithing:
Socket Gloves: Permanently add a socket to your gloves.
Socket Bracer: Permanently add a socket to your bracers.

Jewelcrafting:
Jeweler’s Gems: Gems with better stats. Matches any socket. Maximum of 3 Jeweler's Gems socketed in your equipment. Like Solid Dragon’s Eye: +41 Stamina
Bound Trinkets: Bind on Pickup trinkets with two sockets, like Figurine – Monarch Crab

Leatherworking:
Fur Lining: Different enchants on bracers, like Fur Lining – Stamina: Permanently enchant bracers to increase Stamina by 90.

Enchanting:
Enchant rings: like Enchant Ring – Stamina: Permanently enchant a ring to increase Stamina by 24.

Skinning:
Master of Anatomy: +25 Crit Rating (0.54% crit at level 80)

Alchemy:
Indestructable Alchemist Stone
Mixology: You receive an increased effect and duration when you drink any elixir or flask you are able to make.

Engineering:
Armored Titanium Goggles

Inscription:
Master’s Inscription of the Pinnacle: Permanently adds 52 dodge rating and 15 defense rating to shoulder armor.

Herbalism:
Lifeblood: Uses your skill in Herbalism to absorb energy and nutrients from the earth, healing you for 2000 over 5 sec

More lenghty information can be found in the post Wrath Professions


09. Flasks and Food

Rhinolicious Wyrmsteak: +40 expertise rating, +40 stamina
Snapper Extreme / Worg Tartare: +40 hit rating, +40 stamina
Poached Northern Sculpin / Mega Mamoth Meal: +80 attack power, +40 stamina
Blackened Dragonfin: +40 agility, +40 stamina
Spiced Wyrm Burger / Spicy Blue Nettlefish: +40 critical strike rating, +40 stamina
Dragonfin filet: +40 strength, +40 stamina
Imperial Manta Steak / Very Burnt Worg: +40 haste rating, +40 stamina
Fish Feast: +80 attack power, +46 spell power, +40 stamina
Hearty Rhino: +40 Armor Penetration, +40 stamina

Flask of Stoneblood: +650 maximum health for 2 hours
Flask of Fortificaton: +500 maximum health, +10 defense rating for 2 hours
Flask of Chromatic Wonder: +35 magic resistance, +18 all stats for 2 hours
Flask of Endless Rage: +180 attack power for 2 hours

Indestructable potion: +3500 armor for 2 minutes

[Magnuss]

Outstanding!

[Morgo]

I got my new link to throw at people for asking "can u help me tank plx???!"

Nice and short, with all the links to the advanced Infos.

[Kazeyonoma]

This is pretty nice. Although we don't normally sticky things in the General forums. This is definitely worth at least sticking/merging with Satrina's FAQ thread.

[Dizzy]

Thanks Kazeonoma. I was a bit in doubt on where to post it. If you rather have me re-post it elsewhere, let me know

[Gehn]

The green font for Overview of Tanking Glyphs is really tough to read.

[Muffin Man]

For completeness sake:

Q: Why do I still miss when hit capped
A: Some of our moves work off spell hit (taunt, thunderclap, I think shockwave?) which has a significantly higher hit cap (in the 400's I believe).

Edit: Good job btw, you've got just about every link I've ever tossed someone asking for help all in one convenient thread.

[dyls]

Great post. If I was to nitpick, I would point out that your apostrophe placement is terrible

I also wonder if the thread title is a little misleading, or unclear....I actually came in here expecting to find a discussion literally about defensive stance.

But don't let these criticisms overshadow the fact that this is a brilliant thread - good job!

[Pruke]

Great thread

[Kazeyonoma]

Don't worry about re-posting, if we need to movie it we can move the entire thread.

[Lilmommah]

This thread is amazing. As the world's largest Non-Theorycrafter, I appreciate the way that the information was presented. Thank you.

[Satrina]

Giving explanations of what dodge, block, parry and other basic concepts are might be an idea. There are still brand new tanks out there!

[Megamoose]

Amazing job, great navigation and summary thread for a tank just joining Tankspot like myself.

Good job! ;D