[sophielle]

I have recently switched mains for my guild, so now I'm in a scramble to gather all the info I can to make my self a better tank so I got a few questions, i would appreciate direct answers and also links to forum posts that would help explain it further, I'm looking to learn.


Looked on the forums for shield enchants, could not find a shield enchant thread >.< so here is my question what would you personally put on Aldori Legacy Defender - Item - World of Warcraft Aldori Legacy Defender , I have tossed 18 stam enchant on it, but have been thinking in terms of threat, a shield block value enchant would be better, to me the shield seems to be designed around it being meant as a threat shield with a nice bit of avoidance on it (the defense rating)


For multi mob tanking would it be a good idea to toss a fel shield spike on one of my older shields, like the one off Nightbane, to help put threat on those mobs that I don't have currently targeted, Also I could use some help on my rotation for multimob tanking, right now I'm using cleave, TC on every cool down, and using a mouse over macro for devastate, and on the main target I'm using shield slam. But I'm still losing aggro on the off targets to healers, or those aoers even if I have established my self on them, Is there anyway I can improve this?


Single target threat I'm currently using a shieldslam revenge dev dev for once I have established aggro, still working on knowing when to cut out heroic strike out of rotation to keep the above rotation going. Unlimited rage heroic strike is paired with everything, but there are still those times when my rage drops sub 20ish and I sometimes right out fail at cutting it out, should I be cutting out heroic strike earlier? if so at what rage point should I do it? Of course the whole time shield block is rolling when I'm tanking a boss(only really able to tank ssc/tk boss right now) so I'm OT for bt/hyjal. picking up gear here and there. A pally has been and will be main tanking alot of the bosses until I can catch my gear up.


Expertise, seems like a good thing to grab and from what I've read somewhere around 9% expertise is the cap, could I get a thread that explains this a bit more in depth?


Also any pointers in terms of gear/enchants would be extreamly apprecative.
The World of Warcraft Armory

I have recently replaced my violet eye sig with a shapeshifters ring, that one expertise one from lower city rep.

for my avoidance gear i'm using t5 legs, the pocket watch, kings defender with a mongoose enchant on it, and the original badge neck, and also still trying to figure out if my violet eye ring would be better in terms of avoidance. The rest of the gear stays the same.

Now in terms of my avoidance weapon is there one around that level that would be better until i get my unbreakable will?

Also in low rage situations would it be better to go with a slower weapon for more threat, or does a faster weapon still yield better net threat?


currently working on picking up more badge gear

Sorry for so many questions and the block of text, but I would like to improve my knowledge of the class, as this is gonna be my main now.

I realize I fail at spelling and grammar but I tried, lol

I would like to thank in advanced for any helpful replies.

[mero12513]

Here's the short version of quick answers:

Shield block value is an ok threat enchant, but probably not worth it over 18 stam. I actually use the Gruul Shield as my EH/survivability shield (although the Season 2 shield is much better for boss fights, I'm just too lazy to farm honor). It might be worth the time to grind out the SSO exalted shield, as it has some nice block value on it to begin with, and use it for threat.

A shield spike is also a decent threat enchant if you're considering trash mobs or aoe groups. I use on my SSO shield on trash. As far as AOE rotations go, TC, cleave and work on your tab devestates or your mouseover macro. It's very very difficult to hit everything correctly with just a mouseover macro, so use tab targetting as well. I find that 2 devestates is almost always enough to keep anything off a healer.

Stop Heroic Strike well before you're at 20 rage. I generally use about 35 (but there could be a more optimum solution that I don't know of).

9% is the hit cap, not the expertise cap. 23 expertise skill (the number that appears under your "melee" tab) will allow you to never be dodged, and 55 will allow you to never be parried. Expertise is amazing--get it.

In terms of sheer avoidance, Sun Eater with a mongoose enchant is slightly better than KD, but the loss in threat probably isn't worth it.

Always fast weapon.

As far as references go, just go read everything in the Tankspot Library section. I haven't found anything in there yet that hasn't helped me. Also, take everything I said with pounds of salt because I'm still pretty new here myself.

[sophielle]

cool thank you ^,^

[jlafleur]

I believe the boss expertise soft-cap is 26 not 23 for a 6.5% reduction to eliminate dodge. Trash is 22 as far as I know.

Guide: Hit Rating, Spell Hit, and Expertise

[ebs2002]

Boss expertise soft-cap is 26. 55 is indeed the hard-cap. Trash is most likely 24 (6% for level 72s).

For heroic strikes, don't use it over 50 rage if you're having trouble keeping your rotation going. As you become more comfortable in tanking, you can use your judgment in heroic striking more liberally (personally, I sometimes queue heroic strike even with only 20 rage saved, and sometimes I only hit it when I'm over 50, it depends on the situation. 50 is a good starting point though).

Definitely go with 18stamina on your main shield, and definitely put a shield spike on a second shield. If you have access to the SSO exalted shield, that's a good one to put 18 block value on, for whenever you have to maximize your threat output and your survivability isn't an issue...I use it in heroics, when I have to down-grade my gear to keep my threat high enough to compete with T5/6 DPS).

In a low-rage situation, yes it is better to have a slower weapon equipped for bigger devastates, but only if your slower weapon's DPS competes with your normal tanking weapon (consider the Heroic MgT axe, [Breeching Comet], or Prince's [The Decapitator]).

For avoidance weapons, I have to disagree with the above poster: the sun eater is hands down the best item you can get, especially when your other option is the king's defender. Put executioner on the KD and Mongoose on the Sun Eater, and you're set until the mallet/unbreakable will/brutalizer drops)

[sophielle]

I already have a mallet and i got executioner on it I'm Human btw. was looking at a decent avoidence/mitg weapon untill my unbreakable. I'll have to take a look sun eater its sitting in my bank with a weapon chain, used to use it when that stopped ya from being disarmed in heroics, just been kinda chilling in my bank.

[jlafleur]

Pretty certain the expertise cap for trash is 22. Refer to the following post:

Expertise, SBV and Hit.

[Centx]

It is not worth losing the expertise from your racial and the weapon for the minimal avoidance gain from swapping weapons. This would be true even if you weren't a human, there are better/easier places to get avoidance than from your weapon slot.

If youa re the main tank use the mallet for high threat fights, and unbreakable will for all else. Offtanking switch a slow weapon for high devastates for higher threat per rage.

[Ukk]

I think the consensus is that Heroic Strike is to be used at all times at 50 rage or more; as was mentioned above use it situationally at lower rage levels. Using it below 50 rage means you may not have enough rage for your optimal rotation.

What situations? Well if you need some snap aggro at the outset of a fight when a missed special would mean losing aggro, HS is a good idea. Also if you have 3 or 4 mobs pounding on you odds are you can cue HS and you will have enough rage for that shield slam when it lights up. Anyone else care to share their sub-50 rage HS uses?

[Horacio]

Thoughts on shields: The Gruul shield with Stam is your best bet for your main tanking shield. 18 BV is strong but in the grand scheme of things, 18 stam is usually more valuable. You can stick BV on another shield with more block like the Nightbane or SSO shield and swap them in depending on the situation. The Sporegarr rep shield with a shield spike is nice for AoE tanking because of the damage it puts out but you are sacrificing a fair amount of armor with it.

You're set for a weapon, that's the best set up until Unbreakable Will in Hyjal and even then its debatable.

In general, I'd suggest focusing on EH until you really get up to speed with the content then work on avoidance and threat. There's alot of stuff, particularly badge gear, that delivers alot of what you need in multiple areas.