Alt tank trying to get geared to MT Ony/Uld/VoA 10s

I recently joined a higher progressing guild, and am trying to get my tank geared enough for more than just OT in 10s, and at this point, I don't think I'm quite geared enough to even attempt Koralon. While my guild clears Ony, VoA, ToC and Uld 25s weekly, with good progression on hard modes and almost have heroic Beasts down, my tank doesn't get to do much, mainly due to gear. As a result, badges do not come quickly.

Armory

I've looked at several threat simulators and spreadsheets, and I get different results from every one, even when I enter all my gear and stats. The guild MTs tell me to be Def capped, then work on Expertise till undodgable, then stack stam, as the dodge/parry/block/etc will generally come from gear. At this point, I'm a bit lost as to what's good and what's not, especially with items like the sword I just got. (Advice on an enchant for it would be nice, can't get a good answer on that, either.)

You get to the def minimum and then you stack stamina till no end.

You shouldn't really need to be at the softcap for expertise to hold aggro, if you get threat problems that will most likely be a rotation problem.

And I would advise to get Blood Draining for your your weapon, a free health pot when you get low have saved me many times in raids.

Hit up the heroics in a big way. There is no reason you shouldn't be able to get a set 226 gear. That should boost your stats in a big way.

I never like to see parry gems. If you are looking to grab a socket bonus at least go with a Guardian's Twilight Opal - Item - World of Warcraft When you can afford it, swap you meta to Austere Earthsiege Diamond - Item - World of Warcraft

Other than that it looks like you have the right idea. Good luck!

If you're in a progression guild, don't futz around with blue quality gems - go for epics. They cost more, but if you keep your gear always enchanted and gemmed with the best possible options, you'll let your guild-members know that you're serious about being a part of the team.


As a previous poster said, there is no reason you shouldn't have the T8 chest and T8 Helm - there are also a belt and mittens that are obtainable with conq badges that would be upgrades for you.

The expertise rating recommendation from your current tanks has less to do with threat and more to do with not getting parry-haste pwned by bosses. Mostly I would agree with what has been said to stack stamina and farm heroics for emblems/gear, gem for expertise when you have an open slot, but mostly it is stamina.

Also, farm rep for your enchants. Argent Crusade and Sons of Hodir rep are the main ones for tanking. Of course, (as always) be sure that you are def-capped.

Heroics, heroics and more heroics. You gotta get yourself 116 conquest badges for the 8.5 helm and chest.

Run the daily heroic every day, 14 triumph badges a week adds up faster than you'd think.

Stop gemming parry. Never gem parry. Gem Dodge/stam if you're gemming for avoidance.

Thanks for the advice guys. While I'm not too worried about being in full epic gems (that's for my resto/enhance shaman main toon) I'll definitely be working on getting into as many heroics as I can, especially since I really have no more use for Conquest badges on my main.