Prot warrior BiS (Best in Slot)

Hello all. I am having a ton of trouble deciding what my gear plan should be. I am currently a 85 prot warrior, and geared w/ 4/5 tier 12 (helm offset currently). I also have the shoulders off Ragnaros. I have a lot of concerns regarding which pieces are best in slot...

I'm considering using tier 12 head, chest, legs, and gloves, and using the Rag shoulders as my offset piece. I know mastery is the biggest stat, w/ parry and then dodge afterwards. But the rag shoulders have less mastery than the tier one, so are they really better? Also, the tier helm has no mastery, where the Helm of Blazing Glory off Baelroc has it.

Also, is the 4 piece bonus really that great? 6% parry increase everytime shield block expires? I've looked at alot of very well geared warriors in the game, and none of them seem to be following a cookie cutter gear plan. Some are using the setup I've mentioned above, and some are only using the tier legs and gloves, utilizing only the 2 piece bonus.

Any and all advice would be greatly appreciated.

There's a cookie cutter gear plan?

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Originally Posted by Tengenstein

There's a cookie cutter gear plan?

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What I mean to say is that I've been told to follow a particular warriors gear, as he is thought to be the absolute best in game. And I stated that there isn't one, if you reread the post again, which is why I'm asking for advice/help.

Oh, i'm not a great fan of the four piece bonus, its nice, and if you're less than 6% off unhittable is awesome but other wase i'd prefer to get 2% passive avoidance over 6% 30% of the time. Given the choice I'd go for getting as close to unhittable. I'd take the chest off beth, the tier gloves and legs, the helm of blazing glory and whichever of the shoulders gave more CTCoverage, assuming all of them where sitting in my bags.

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Originally Posted by Tengenstein

6% 30% of the time.

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Don't forget you will have your shield block up for another third, leaving you with only one third left without any additional CTC.

I'm a huge fan of 4 piece due to it's accessability for 10m where drops aren't guaranteed but tokens are (to an extent). For 25m it's highly unlikely to never see item x drop over 2-3 months with 5 drops and only 12 items on the loottable.

CTC at ~ 4500+ avoidance rating, -heroic versions-
helmet: Baleroc (parry to dodge) is 0.95% ctc before Tier (parry to mastery)
shoulders: Tier (hit to dodge) is 0.15% ctc before Ragnaros (dodge to parry)
chest: Beth'tilac is 0.42% ctc before Tier (dodge to mastery)
legs: Tier is 0.69% ctc before Shannox (parry to mastery)

But those comparisons and numbers don't take way higher avoidance values into account, eg Ragnaros shoulders are low on mastery but still manage to keep almost on par with small 0.15% ctc gap, providing 281 more avoidance rating (that's 1.16% more avoidance after DR). For chest it's something similar, granted that offset has only two blue sockets the tier one 228 avoidance rating (that's 0.92% more avoidance after DR) ahead at a price of 0.42% ctc.

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Originally Posted by klausi

Don't forget you will have your shield block up for another third, leaving you with only one third left without any additional CTC coverage.

I'm a huge fan of 4 piece due to it's accessability for 10m where drops aren't guaranteed but tokens are (to an extent). For 25m it's highly unlikely to never see item x drop over 2-3 months with 5 drops and only 12 items on the loottable.

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Not sure what CTC means? And I'm also thinking that w/ the increase in mastery you gain from using the offset helm from Baelroc, and the chest off Beth'tilac, it outweighs the 4pc bonus from using the tier chest and helm.

At the same time, my mastery would be pretty good w/ the Spidersilk Spindle from Beth'tilac and Stay of Execution (reforged to mastery), or even the Essence of the Eternal Flame. And on that note, is that trinket good for warrior tanks? i've seen quite a few top geared warrior tanks using it.

CTC = combat table coverage, thus the chance for miss+dodge+parry+block always trying to push regular hits off the table.

I edited my post above and added some numbers, unless it's the tier head piece (which is just aweful with lots of parry + an offensive stat) every exchange comes at a noticeable price. If you're not running a night elf warrior or with double elixir it's still pretty hard to reach full ctc (102.4%), i feel more comfortable with slightly less mastery (still full ctc at least 2/3 of my tanking time, on tankswap fights like Beth'tilac or Ragnaros it's way more) and more avoidance.

Trinkets: spindle is a nobrainer, Stay of Execution is okayish, i prefer Mirror for resist fights and Essence on anything else to produce some nice numbers.

So i'm thinking of going;

Head: Helm of Blazing Glory
Shoulder: Pauldrons of Roaring Flame
Chest: Carapace of Imbibed Flame
Gloves: Tier
Legs: Tier

This will give the 2 piece bonus, while still allowing me the extra mastery from the helm and chest, as well as being able to use the shoulders off rag.

Having the constant block increase from the mastery seems to be a bit better than the 6% parry increase every time shield block expires.

Anyone see why that wouldn't be as good as a choice as going tier helm/chest/legs/gloves w/ the Ragnaros shoulders as the offset?

With us hovering around 43% avoidance, the 6% parry tends to be a 10.5% damage reduction when we're not on shield block: our most vulnerable time tanking.

I feel like it is a lot stronger than people give it credit for.
1) you don't die when shield block is up
2) it covers 50% of the time when you don't have the shield block buff (when you need it)
3) the stat benefits of the off-pieces get averaged into shield block up time (when you don't need it)
4) You can still reach unhittable easily with 4 set bonus.

With the advent of reforging I'm not convinced that you will ever see 2 offset pieces trump a four set bonus.

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Originally Posted by Booi

With us hovering around 43% avoidance, the 6% parry tends to be a 10.5% damage reduction when we're not on shield block: our most vulnerable time tanking.

I feel like it is a lot stronger than people give it credit for.
1) you don't die when shield block is up
2) it covers 50% of the time when you don't have the shield block buff (when you need it)
3) the stat benefits of the off-pieces get averaged into shield block up time (when you don't need it)
4) You can still reach unhittable easily with 4 set bonus.

With the advent of reforging I'm not convinced that you will ever see 2 offset pieces trump a four set bonus.

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Compelling argument. I thought I had made my mind up, but now I'm going to have to rethink where I stood on this matter. Thank you.

I feel silly for asking, but what bracers are you people sporting? I played around with some numbers today, and ended up shocking myself by finding the bracers of regal force (reforging dodge -> mastery) to beat bracers of fiery torment (parry -> dodge) on CTC.

(adding something to the threat, being unhittable for 66% of a fight seems ALOT better than 33% of it to me. you can even delay it if it suits the situation better :). Personally, I'm sticking with the 4 set untill I can cap out passively.

Its due to the gem color. They are almost a complete wash, Fiery Torment is a tiny bit better. If your close to unhittable, take Regal Force.

The easy answer: prot warrior BIS is whatever gear gets them to unhittable. This means that you wear what you have to wear to get to 102.4% (after buffs) combined dodge, parry, block, and +5% miss (built in by default).

From there as you get upgrades, you update your go-to gearset up in such a way that you stay at-or-slightly-above 102.4% while maximizing stamina, as well as trading mastery for avoidance when you can. This means that your gearset will probably start out with lots of mastery, and lose some as you get upgrades since you can budget more dodge/parry in your gear instead of mastery. Every piece of gear becomes viable because it advances your gearset in that direction.

While there *is* a BIS list, it's not necessarily something every tank can get ahold of, and even then some of the pieces in the list aren't viable if you don't have the whole thing. You can get the rep ring no problem and it's on the BIS list, but if you don't have the other pieces to support it you may be better off with the Valor ring because it has more unhittable rating on it. Likewise, several of the pieces on the list require Crystallized Firestone upgrades, which are rare as hell still.

This is probably why you're having trouble finding a tank with a specific gearset - it's not the pieces they're wearing, but the purpose they're wearing it for. Their BIS will be different depending on what gear they have available to them to get to 102.4% combined unhittable.

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Your observations about the tier helm and Ragnaros shoulders are correct. The helm off Baleroc is definitely superior. However, regarding the Rag. shoulders, you should use them if you can stay at-or-above 102.4% unhittable because they have more Dodge rating, as well as more stamina.

Regarding the 4pc: I use it situationally. I used to use it on Beth'tilac because it was another CD I could chain up during the portions I was actually tanking her. Now I use it during Baleroc for Decimation Blades (pop SB 5s before blades pop out; if you have to taunt, that extra 6% parry will be available when you need it).

Don't throw gear away because it's not on a BIS list. I've been able to find a use for every piece of gear in Firelands so far in different sets. The unhittable set, while very good, isn't viable for every boss (ex.: Shannox has bleeds and an unblockable Arcing Slash, so you favor Stamina).

I have a spreadsheet up covering the tanking pieces available.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Aj0C979vKy5tdGQzM0Y1TE13TjlBWGF5Zkc3YU9DR EE&hl=en_US#gid=
3

Copy, use your own stat weights. Reforging is done automaticly, gemming is done with the weights, and the gems used are shown.

As for 4 piece or not, I see no reason to not go for it, even if grabbing it would get you a few percents from unhittable, which would make it only 1/3 of the time with the 4p, and even less if you're including tank swaps (ie rag, beth p2).

As for the offset piece, you'd be surprised, I came up with the 391 Breastplate of Shifting Visions (haste/mastery) being the superior offset against a 378 T12 chest with 378 Helm of Blazing Glory.

I appreciate everyone's contribution to this posting. It has been a great help. I've decided to use the 4pc w/ rag shoulders as my offset. I like the bonus. I tanked rag the other night, and when I taunted off other tank, the only cd I would have to pop was shield block. So um thinking its the right choice, atleast for now.