Q: Does Shield Mastery increase Shield Slam damage?

[Graalsemk]

Playing around with possible tanking builds which include impale and wondering about the necessity of 3/3 shield mastery. Does this talent increase block value, and hence shield slam damage, or does it simply function as the tool tip states and reduce incoming damage?

[Ciderhelm]

Increases Shield Block Value directly, which increases Block Value's portion of Shield Slam Damage.

Simply, yes. It's a sin not to take it if you pick up Shield Slam.

[Graalsemk]

That's what I was afraid of Certainly makes impale builds a little more restricted.

This is about the best I can come up with as I am loath to give up any points in vitality:

WorldofWarcraft.com -> Info -> Classes -> Warrior -> Talent Calculator

[Ciderhelm]

If you were willing to give up some points in Vitality, you could pick up:
WorldofWarcraft.com -> Info -> Classes -> Warrior -> Talent Calculator

Which is pretty much the most AOE threat a Warrior will ever get. (Mind the 1 point in Imp Charge)

[Graalsemk]

Interesting. I'm currently MT for my guild so I think in my case the vitality has more value then the multi target threat generation.

As to the impale builds, I need to sit down tonight and crunch some numbers as to the relative value of impale vs cruelty. My gut feeling is that 2/2 impale will have a slight edge of cruelty in terms of threat generation, with that edge increasing as the frequency of heroic strikes increases, but I want to actually go through the numbers so I can weigh that edge versus the extra points in protection.

[Wartorn]

Just my 2 cents.

1) Bleed effects are bad for MT's.

2) Impale scales with crit. Most MT's don't have more than 15%, even after buffs.

3) Imp. Def stance is invaluable for MT's. 6% more HP vs Hydross in already gimp gear is a huge plus.