Best gear available to a Druid Tank!!

Greetings TankSpot,

This is my 1st post hopefully it will be a good one. I did this 1st for my guild then decided to share with the community. Here is the best gear available at the moment for druids tanks. (This is my opinion, suggestions are always welcomed).


HEAD: Hood of the Exodus - Item - World of Warcraft (Naxx)
Gothik The Harvester

NECK: Boundless Ambition - Item - World of Warcraft (Naxx)
Kel'Thuzad

SHOULDERS: Valorous Dreamwalker Shoulderpads - Item - World of Warcraft (Naxx)
Loatheb
Gluth (Random T7.5)
Archavon The Stone Watcher (Random T7.5) (Vault)

CLOAK: Cloak of the Shadowed Sun - Item - World of Warcraft (Naxx)
Gothik The Harvester
Heigan The Unclean
Grobbulus
Maexxna

CHEST: Valorous Dreamwalker Raiments - Item - World of Warcraft (Naxx)
The Four Horsemen
Gluth (Random T7.5)
Archavon The Stone Watcher (Random T7.5) (Vault)

BRACERS: Thrusting Bands - Item - World of Warcraft (Naxx)
Noth The Plaguebringer
Gluth

GLOVES: Valorous Dreamwalker Handgrips - Item - World of Warcraft (Obsidian Sanc.)
Sartharion
Archavon The Stone Watcher (Random T7.5) (Vault)

BELT: Sharp-Barbed Leather Belt - Item - World of Warcraft (Utgarde Keep)
Ingvar The Plunderer

LEGS: Valorous Dreamwalker Legguards - Item - World of Warcraft (Naxx)
Thaddius
Gluth (Random T7.5)
Archavon The Stone Watcher (Random T7.5) (Vault)

BOOTS: Footwraps of Vile Deceit - Item - World of Warcraft (Naxx)
Loatheb

RING (1): Gatekeeper - Item - World of Warcraft (Naxx)
Sapphiron

RING (2): Keystone Great-Ring - Item - World of Warcraft (Drak'Tharon Keep)
The Prophet Tharon'ja

TRINKET (1): Valor Medal of the First War - Item - World of Warcraft (Dalaran)
40 Emblem of Heroism - Item - World of Warcraft

TRINKET (2):Darkmoon Card: Greatness - Item - World of Warcraft (Darmoon Fair)
Nobles Deck - Item - World of Warcraft

WEAPON: Origin of Nightmares - Item - World of Warcraft (Naxx)
Grobulus
Gluth

OFF HAND: ---------

IDOL: Idol of Terror - Item - World of Warcraft (Shattrath)
20 Badge of Justice - Item - World of Warcraft

ENCHANTS

HEAD: Arcanum of the Stalwart Protector - Item - World of Warcraft
SHOULDERS: Greater Inscription of the Pinnacle - Item - World of Warcraft
SHOULDERS: Greater Inscription of the Gladiator - Item - World of Warcraft
CLOAK: Enchant Cloak - Major Agility - Spell - World of Warcraft
CHEST: Enchant Chest - Powerful Stats - Spell - World of Warcraft
BRACERS: Enchant Bracers - Major Stamina - Spell - World of Warcraft
GLOVES: Enchant Gloves - Major Agility - Spell - World of Warcraft
BELT: Eternal Belt Buckle - Item - World of Warcraft
LEGS: Frosthide Leg Armor - Item - World of Warcraft
BOOTS: Enchant Boots - Greater Fortitude - Spell - World of Warcraft
WEAPON: Enchant Weapon - Mongoose - Spell - World of Warcraft

GEMS

-Meta
Austere Earthsiege Diamond - Item - World of Warcraft

-Blue
Solid Sky Sapphire - Item - World of Warcraft

-Green
Vivid Forest Emerald - Item - World of Warcraft
Forceful Forest Emerald - Item - World of Warcraft
Jagged Forest Emerald - Item - World of Warcraft

-Purple
Regal Twilight Opal - Item - World of Warcraft
Puissant Twilight Opal - Item - World of Warcraft

Items exclusive to certain professions

-Jewelcrafter
Monarch Crab - Spell - World of Warcraft
Ruby Hare - Spell - World of Warcraft
Delicate Dragon's Eye - Spell - World of Warcraft
Precise Dragon's Eye - Spell - World of Warcraft
Rigid Dragon's Eye - Spell - World of Warcraft
Solid Dragon's Eye - Spell - World of Warcraft
Subtle Dragon's Eye - Spell - World of Warcraft

-Leatherworker
Fur Lining - Stamina - Spell - World of Warcraft

-Enchanter
Enchant Ring - Stamina - Spell - World of Warcraft

-Inscription
Master's Inscription of the Pinnacle - Spell - World of Warcraft

Please comment and let me know if you disagree with some of the choices i have made and why.

Please check out my thread about Druid tank specs patch 3.1 recommendation.

to make the links work simply look up the item on wowhead and paste the URL

Valorous Dreamwalker Handgrips - Item - World of Warcraft

Yep nice gear list thank you! That's pretty much what I run with. However, dont forget that depending on the encounter, you may want to swap in dps gear. Eg I use journeys end for all except the very hard hitting bosses. And I'll use gossamer/defenders combos too. Depending on your healers + the rest of the raid, you may be able to get away with MTing using even more dps orientated gear.

The only things I would argue with here are Boundless Ambition over Heritage, and I think Thrusting Bands are a little better than Sinner's, but it's about a wash.

wrong on several points

1) boundless ambition better than heritage, believe it or not, the tanking neck from the 25 man saph drop (you know the one with block and parry) that neck is also better than heritage.

2) thrusting bands are FAR FAR FAR and away the best tanking bracers in the game.

3) 25 man set gloves are actually really bad for tanking. there are 3 separate gloves that are better
-dislocating from farelina
-frost adriot from maly 25
-the BOE gloves from saph i cant remember the name right now but they have a blue socket

4) if you are a JCer, the monarch crab is much better than the badge trinket, if you are not a JCer then essence of gossomer is better than teh badge trinket, either way the badge trinket is aweful becaue of DR.
-i totally forgot about the alchemy trinket the stam dodge one, it too is better, as well as the 81 stam engi trinket.

5) shoulder enchant, 18 stam hands down.

edited 4

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Darksend

wrong on several points

1) boundless ambition better than heritage, believe it or not, the tanking neck from the 25 man saph drop (you know the one with block and parry) that neck is also better than heritage.

2) thrusting bands are FAR FAR FAR and away the best tanking bracers in the game.

3) 25 man set gloves are actually really bad for tanking. there are 3 separate gloves that are better
-dislocating from farelina
-frost adriot from maly 25
-the BOE gloves from saph i cant remember the name right now but they have a blue socket

4) if you are a JCer, the monarch crab is much better than the badge trinket, if you are not a JCer then essence of gossomer is better than teh badge trinket, either way the badge trinket is aweful becaue of DR.
-i totally forgot about the alchemy trinket the stam dodge one, it too is better, as well as the 81 stam engi trinket.

5) shoulder enchant, 18 stam hands down.

edited 4

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I think he was keeping the t7 gloves in there for the 4 piece bonus, since he was using the Gothik helm. Also there is a 30 stam shoulder enchant now, recently added for 10k honor. The Valor Medal of the First War is far from awful btw... If you aren't tanking Sarth in 3 drake, then there's really no reason to have a huge focus on stamina, and DM:G and Valor Medal are the best two non stam trinkets.

Why have the 18 STA enchant when i have 34,727 HP unbuffed i think its enough for the current content that is the reason i have decided to go with the 20 dodge rating from sons of Hodir. As for the gloves yes i kept de T7.5 for the 4 piece bonus. I don't think beeing a druid tank is ALL about Stamina you need dodge, hit rating and some crit i have 40% dodge rating, 37% crit some expertise and hit rating you wouldnt believe the amount of TPS i am able to do. I think its all about balance.

Personally I prefer the Platinum Mesh Cloak over the Cloak of Shadowed Sun -- trade about 300 armor for +hit & some avoidance. Definitely down to personal preference.

Oh, and Archavon doesn't drop shoulders.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Glorycia

Why have the 18 STA enchant when i have 34,727 HP unbuffed i think its enough for the current content that is the reason i have decided to go with the 20 dodge rating from sons of Hodir. As for the gloves yes i kept de T7.5 for the 4 piece bonus. I don't think beeing a druid tank is ALL about Stamina you need dodge, hit rating and some crit i have 40% dodge rating, 37% crit some expertise and hit rating you wouldnt believe the amount of TPS i am able to do. I think its all about balance.

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I really look at my gear 2 ways. 1) Gear for Sarth 3D. 2) Gear for everything else.

Well in regards to stam shoulder enchants.. if you are doing stam for Sarth 3D i would go for 30 Stam Greater Inscription of the Gladiator - Item - World of Warcraft over 18 and i did.

I also think that if you are OT not MT using alot of DPS gear is more advantagious in many cases. With the change to leather mulitipliers cat gear got a huge Buff when in Bear form. For trash i usually use cat gear and when OTing on bosses. MT i go full bear gear.

Trinkets depend on the fight too. I use greatness and Gossamer most of the time tho.

I just dropped skinning to pick up JC for the crab, its ridiculous how much stam you can put onto this one slot, saving gems for pure agility. I have the badge trinket and I hate it... might as well not even be there. Emmerald's list has Commedation of Kael'thas listed higher than that.

Updated 12/02/09

If the community has other suggestions i would love to hear them.

http://www.wowhead.com/?item=41460 Perfect Shifting Shadow Crystal should be on your list of purple gems.

There is a pvp shoulder enchant that gives +35 stamina + 15 resil, 10k honor points only. I think its the best one for a feral druid.

The Darkmoon trinket is great, but really expensive and it isn't much better than the essense of osgormar (something like this) that drops from tha second boss on heroic AN. It gives +111 stam + a usefull proc.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Raiss

There is a pvp shoulder enchant that gives +35 stamina + 15 resil, 10k honor points only. I think its the best one for a feral druid.

The Darkmoon trinket is great, but really expensive and it isn't much better than the essense of osgormar (something like this) that drops from tha second boss on heroic AN. It gives +111 stam + a usefull proc.

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how can you call that proc usefull, it would honestly be better with 2 more stam and no proc at all.

there is a total of 1 use for that proc, running friends alts through low level instances and getting hit by 100 mobs in 10 seconds, its the only time ive ever seen the full shield absorbed

greatness is by far the best tanking trinket in the game followed closely by the jewelcrafting monarch crab and the alchemy tanking trinket, essence is 4th behind them but because of the stam not the proc

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Raiss

There is a pvp shoulder enchant that gives +35 stamina + 15 resil, 10k honor points only. I think its the best one for a feral druid.

The Darkmoon trinket is great, but really expensive and it isn't much better than the essense of osgormar (something like this) that drops from tha second boss on heroic AN. It gives +111 stam + a usefull proc.

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The pvp enchant is only 30 stamina not 35.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Darksend

4) if you are a JCer, the monarch crab is much better than the badge trinket, if you are not a JCer then essence of gossomer is better than teh badge trinket, either way the badge trinket is aweful becaue of DR.
-i totally forgot about the alchemy trinket the stam dodge one, it too is better, as well as the 81 stam engi trinket.

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i use the ruby hare for the red sockets, the use isnt worth anything but raid buffed im at 48% dodge so not having the button doesnt really bother me

With patch 3.1 approaching I intend to update this list i know we curently do not have alot of information on gear for druid tanks. Feel free to help by posting your choices and why. This thread is 1st to help players pick the best gear available and 2nd to help them learn about there class.

Thanks to all the community.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Glorycia

-Blue
Austere Earthsiege Diamond - Item - World of Warcraft

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I suppose everybody knows which gem you meant to link here, but if you want to edit, here's the link for your convenience: Solid Sky Sapphire - Item - World of Warcraft.
Thanks for compiling this list.

Updated 01/04/09