Kara tank upgrades - Where do the badges go?

[Once]

Let me explain my situation and what I have in mind then you can give me your ideas.

I'm in a small guild that runs 10 man content but not 25. We can clear Kara easilly with the exception of Nightbane because we can't spawn him. As soon as the guild has enough gear we plan to head to ZA and start working on that. I run heroic Magister's Terrace 3-4 times a week trying to get the trinkets but so far no luck on either.

I'm making a Khorium Destroyer soon, just short a couple fire for it. That will be my tanking ranged, with the Heroic MrT ranged and normal MrT ranged for agro. There are a couple enchants I need too, and obviously I plan on picking up the Kara tanking items that I'm missing (boots especially).

I have 67 badges and currently I'm thinking of saving up to 100 to buy the 2.4 chest. The idea being that I'm replacing one of my very few blues remaining. The t4 chest is a longshot for me, the chest of Nightbane is a possibility but who knows when I could get it. I could get the S1 chest, but that doesn't have much in the way of tanking stats, just ac.

Edit: forgot Armory link The World of Warcraft Armory

[Dismember]

If there's a badge item available for a slot, it's pretty much a given that it trumps whatever you can pull out of Kara for said slot. Given that, when you're looking at what to spend your badges on, replace your weakest gear first.

Given that, replace that DPS belt with a badge belt.

Keep hitting Kara and farming badges. You've a ways to go before you can start thinking about ZA.

[Once]

I'm not sure why its showing that belt on Armory.

The belt I wear is the belt off Moroes, with a pair of +12 sta gems in it.

[Brucimus]

don't forget the Maiden Gloves [item]Iron Gauntlets of the Maiden[/item] Keep killing her till she coughs them up.

I would go check Vene's list The Badge Pick Order: 2.4 Edition - Warriors - TankingTips.com

I agree with his list even though his top two picks are not as sexy as a new chest piece

[Once]

My problem is that I would be replacing pretty solid tanking epics in both the bracer and belt slot while wearing a blue breastplate.

Now I could get the S1 chest from pvp and then buy the bracer as thats a decent upgrade. I don't see replacing the Moroes belt with the badge belt until I fix up my chest situation though.

[Brucimus]

I consider your Bracer's one of your weaker items...+ the Badge bracers you may never replace. Our server's first kill of Illidan happened just a few weeks ago and the tank who tanked him wore [item]Bracers of the Ancient Phalanx[/item]

I know wearing a blue chestpiece sucks because i wore the same one ...until i smartened up and grabbed the S2 chest after reading a post by Kazey

Also don't you mongrel Orcs get a hawt tanking axe from Thrallmar?

[Once]

Yeah, there is an axe from Thrallmart that is an upgrade for me. I'm working towards it eventually since Grom'tors charge is pretty good for now.

I can't see giving up axes for anything. The expertise is just too nice. I'm at 17 (not rating) now and maybe a day short of the SSO neck with more of it for when I need agro more than avoidance. I've had as high as 25 but shuffled some gear around for more hp/mitigation and lost expertise.

[Nuberino]

Get the bracers and badge cloak first, then the 2.4 badge belt, SSO neck, then badge chest and legs.

Seriously. I used Vindicator's Hauberk for downing every boss in Kara, ZA (cept for Zuljin but bp wasn't the issue), HKM/Gruul, Mags, and Lurker. Finally replaced it with T4. You never know when the Panzarthar may drop as well.

Season 2 BP will be avialable through honor shortly as well. Along with the Season 2 Shield.

[Brucimus]

Nuuu!

Bracers first
Belt Second!

IMO [item]Slikk's Cloak of Placation[/item] is more of a 25 manner cape then a 10 man cape

The [item]Devilshark cape[/item] should be on your checklist and is still hot even though she is aging (like Nuberino's mom)

[Nuberino]

Zing! Slikk's for the price is just an amazing piece, but one wouldn't go wrong getting the belt after the bracers as well.

[Once]

I did a comparison of what stats I would gain/lose for each of the slots...

belt
180ac
10 sta
-16str
10def
23hit
22ex

chest
600ac
5 def
15 dodge
41sta
39 SBV

cloak
100ac
12sta
-10defense
+25dodge
-29SBV

Bracer
90ac
20sta
-22str
-18agil
+8def
+22expertise

legs
250ac
18sta
16def
6dodge
23expertise

Khorium destroyer
23sta
-10hit
-10ex


The big numbers that jump out are the 600ac and 41 sta upgrade on the badge chest, with 39 block value thrown in. My block value right now is a fairly pathetic 250 so some SBV would help with agro.

The bracer is looking pretty good at 90ac and 20 sta. This looks like more EH but less avoidance, losing 18agil for 8 defense.

If the hit and expertise are what makes you suggest the bracer, belt and legs then does the Khorium Destroyer really make a good upgrade from the MrT knife? Its trading 10 hit 10 expertise for 23 sta.

[Once]

Double post.

[mattdeeze]

Honestly, go with what YOU are comfortable with.

The chest is incredible, and I think it is undervalued on some gear lists. As a side bonus, the graphic is awesome.

However the belt and bracers are also fantastic pieces.

You can't go wrong with any of those choices for your next piece. You should be working towards getting those three and several more (cloak, legs, and ring come to mind, neck not so much since you are planning on getting the SSO neck).

Re: Khorium Destroyer
Get it! your range weapon is one of the pieces you can easily swap for individual fights, and it is one of, if not the, best EH ranged in the game. Although the MrT knife is very sexy and I use it myself for most trash and in instances below my gear level.

[Brucimus]

I wouldnt think of it as replacing one piece with another. I would think of it as building a quiver of items that will allow you to be the most flexible

When tanking a heroic and trying to keep the idiot fire mage alive you want the most expertise/hit/threat you can get. When tanking Halazzi and trying to keep yourself alive (and the idiot mage too) you want to have an EH set available to you that can take a pounding

[Once]

SBV seems to be the way to go for snap agro for tanking heroics. Still I don't feel like I have too much trouble keeping agro on single mobs. When it's 4 mobs with only 1 sheep and dps starts hitting 2 or 3 targets... well in that case I tank the one I marked with the skull and let the other mobs kill off the DPS that can't listen.

I'm pretty close to sold on the bracer, but the 600ac and 41 sta on the BP is an incredible amount of effective health.

I'll probably go bracer, chest, belt, cloak and legs.

[Radhja]

Get the Belt, the Chest, and the Ring... in that order.

The belt is seriously one of the most fantastic pieces I've seen. It's definitely worth it, as it will increase your threat and survivability.

The chest is amazing, but it's not that much better than Nightbane's Chest. Keep killing him until he coughs it up. If you get the badges before he does, get the chest.

Lastly, the dodge ring is simply one of the better rings in the game. A easy upgrade over the Kara tank rings (Shade's ring especially), so get this too.

[Once]

The ring is pretty nice, it's not in the same league as the other items I don't think though.

Compared to the Kara exaulted ring the badge ring is:

ring
8sta
28dodge
-19defense

An upgrade, but for 60 badges you can buy a lot bigger upgrades from Kara gear. The thing that really kills the ring in my eyes is that its an avoidance item. If I have to pick between avoidance and hp/ac I'll take the hp/ac. I realize it's still more hp than the Kara rep ring but it is not even close to the EH provided by even the legs on a per badge basis.

[Once]

Well, I've upgraded some gear. Took a run at the bear boss in ZA, we would have had him but after we wiped at 20% he showed up back at the spot on the stairs and wouldn't trigger. This time I have 2 questions, what to target next for upgrades and how far my current gear can take me.

I've got a whole ton of gear that I haul around that isn't showing on my profile so I'll run down some of the swapping slots.

Shield: SSO shield +18 sta, and S1 +18 sta
Trinkets: Commendation, Dabris, Colossus, Shard of Contempt, Goblin Rocket Launcher
Weapons:Quick Blade of the Prince, Gromtors Charge, Fools Bane, Breaching Comet
Neck:Barbed Necklace of Disipline, SSO Neck
Cloak: Devilshark, Guilded Thorium
Rings: Kara rep ring, Shemanar, That ring with ac/sta and expertise from normal Magisters Terrace.
Range: Gyro-balanced Khorium Destroyer, That knife from normal magisters with 10 hit 10 expertise and 16 sta or something like that.


So what I'm thinking is buying the 2.4 badge belt next, then the badge cloak. Working on thrallmart rep for the epic tanking axe, and running heroic mech from time to time for Suneater to use with an avoidance set.

My avoidance feels a little low, going to spec into 5/5 anticipation for a bit more, dodge enchant to Devilshark cape when I find someone that can do it. Still deciding on dodge vs armor on the Gilded thorium cape.

So assuming the easy stuff (enchants) is done, how far can my current gear take me?

edit: link to armory again so you don't have to look at the first post. The World of Warcraft Armory

[ramboli]

Check my armory. I consider myself geared enough to do any T5 cotent and beginning of T6. I did ZA easy today. I know there is couple upgrades for my kara gear, but it won't hold me back. And thats with 0 25-man raiding.

Here is armory link: http://www.wowarmory.com/character-s...Hand&n=Ramboli

Mind that I just specced back to pvp.

[ebs2002]

You could certainly MT Bear and Eagle bosses in ZA (those are the two my guild's cleared and I tanked them without breaking a sweat), and I'd think as a tank you're capable of getting all the way through ZA.

I'd also be surprised if you had trouble tanking through all of T4.

T5 would be where it starts to get tough; it would be progression for you, and as such you'd want to stack as much EH as you can with your gear choices for the most part.