Tanking in 25 man Ulduar, some issues...

Hello all! Been watching the videos here forever, but never made an account. Now that I am a MT/OT in my guild, I made an account to start asking some questions.

Here is a link to my Armory:
The World of Warcraft Armory

As you can see, I am gemmed for all hit/stam and exp/stam. After searching WoW forums and here, I realized that to be a little better in threat generation I wanted to have good expertise and hit. I have a few changes out in gear as well, that can put me at about 220 hit rating and 35 expertise, at the expense of some dodge and stam.

The main reason for my hit/exp craze came when tanking Brundir in Ulduar. My Mind Freeze, Death Grip, and Strangulate were being missed/resisted fairly often. There were times when he'd be in a power rune, and I could not get him out of it, and his abilities would own a couple people. It was rare, but it did happen. Kind of like "The Perfect Storm" of fail :(

My question is, how much is too much? I feel like I should be gemming for def/stam, dodge, etc since I am a tank after all. My avoidance (using some of the wonderful macros posted here) with Stoneskin Gargoyle, and fully buffed, is approximately 61%. Also, for a Blood Tank, my HP is a tad on the low side. I tend to get nailed pretty hard in some encounters, and my healers have to be very reactive. I have been lucky that I have good healers, or else I'd be dead a lot more often :(

I know there are a few upgrades I still need. I am working on a new helm (the one I have is from Naxx 10) and my gloves are in need of an upgrade. I could also use a new trinket, although the Monarch Crab is nice for a JC ability. Armory isn't showing it, but I just got the Rune Strike Sigil from 25 man Razorscale last night :)

What do you think? Bye bye with the hit/stam and go with def/stam? Throw in some more dodge instead of expertise? You input is greatly appreciated :)

Best solution is to have multiple pieces of gear that you can swap, that way you don't have to socket good EH pieces for threat and vice versa.

But if you're struggling with Brundir, have warrior tank him if possible. Warriors have 7 different abilities that can be used to interrupt his casts.

Well afaik the expertise cap is 26 for 2-handed weapons, meaning you are way over the cap. You are a little low on +hit which should be closer to ~262. Swap out some of those exp+stam gems for dodge+stam. I would never be gemming for pure +hit, always use a hybrid x+stam gem. In your JC trinket you are using a prismatic in a blue socket, which is kind of a waste. Replace it with a +24 stam then use that dragons eye in a different socket.
You haven't specced into Improved Icy Touch, which reduces the melee and ranged attacked speed of mobs by a further 6%, grab that talent and you'll be getting hit less.

Looking at your talents and gear there's no reason why your threat should be low, which means maybe it's your rotation. Are you using Rune Strike whenever it's up? (alternatively try macroing it to your other abilities).
What rotations are you using on bosses ?

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Originally Posted by vine

Well afaik the expertise cap is 26 for 2-handed weapons, meaning you are way over the cap. You are a little low on +hit which should be closer to ~262. Swap out some of those exp+stam gems for dodge+stam. I would never be gemming for pure +hit, always use a hybrid x+stam gem. In your JC trinket you are using a prismatic in a blue socket, which is kind of a waste. Replace it with a +24 stam then use that dragons eye in a different socket.
You haven't specced into Improved Icy Touch, which reduces the melee and ranged attacked speed of mobs by a further 6%, grab that talent and you'll be getting hit less.

Looking at your talents and gear there's no reason why your threat should be low, which means maybe it's your rotation. Are you using Rune Strike whenever it's up? (alternatively try macroing it to your other abilities).
What rotations are you using on bosses ?

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My threat isn't low at all. My issue is the occassional miss with spells in clutch situations (like mentioned, missing when trying to interrupt on Brundir's lightning whirl).

I'm not having any threat issues, even with lower hit no one pulls aggro from me. I managed close to 10k TPS according to Omen on Patchwerk in 25 man Naxx the other day, so I'm not worried about my ability to generate threat.

I am contemplating getting rid of all my hit/stam and exp/stam gems and gemming for dodge and stam again. I never had threat generation issues before even when I wasn't gemmed hit and exp. Out guild doesn't have a warrior tank, odd I know, we have a pally, a druid, and me. A couple other druids are offspec tanks, but not as well geared as us three. We switched it around and the Pally usually tanks Brundir, so I don't have to worry about it anymore anyway.

My rotation on a boss is simple. PS > IT > HS > HS > DS > HS > HS etc etc, use Blood Tap when needed, DC/RS for RP dump, I am glyphed into DS too, which makes things easier. Pretty close to the same rotation you'd use for a blood dps spec, but I am tanking. AoE it is very different. A lot of it depends on how quickly I need to gain threat. Sometimes I will do a DnD and just BB whenever possible. Sure it doesn't do a lot of damage, but the threat isn't too bad when I keep hitting it. If I have some time I will PS or IT (or both) a mob, pestilence, then BB away, refreshing DnD if I need to.

On fights where a taunt or interrupt has to land, i bring out hit trinkets like Grim toll and hitcap my special attacks. Now I personally am a warrior so that allows me to cap all of my interrupts. I am not sure for DK's if they use spell or melee cap. But getting something like that, for a nice amount of extra hit, would ensure that you dont have those unlucky misses