Concerning Bonefist Gauntlets and +10 Dodge gems

[Futeko]

Hello there

There's a gear question I would like to hear some feedback about. First of all, here's my armory link : The World of Warcraft Armory
I'm currently wearing the T4 gauntlets ([item]Warbringer handguards[/item]) and I was thinking of buying the 60-badge [item]Bonefist Gauntlets[/item]. It would give me a massive boost in HP and 21 hit rating but I'd lose 2% avoidance. Regarding my overall stats, is it really worth it ?

Also, I was wondering if it was better to gem red sockets with +4 dodge +6 stamina or +10 dodge. I guess the answer is "It depends on the gear/situation", but I would like some insight about it.

What I was thinking, was to buy the gauntlets and replace all of my +4 dodge/+6 stam with +10 dodge ones ; that way I would still get a minor HP bonus, lose nearly no avoidance and still get 21 additional hit rating.
However, I would also lose the T4 2-piece set bonus. Should the gauntlets be a good choice, should I wait until I get a better shoulders item (like the T5), or would it be all right to lose the T4 set bonus ?

On a side note, I've used the TankPoints addon for all of my gearing choices, but I don't really feel 100% comfortable with them ; so if you have any advice on what I should absolutely upgrade or something I enchanted/gemmed wrong, I'd be really glad to hear it

Thank you in advance for your advice

[Caireagin]

Assuming you socket a 4 dodge/6 stam and a 12 stam gem and enchant with 2% threat, with [item]Bonefist Gauntlets[/item] you'll see a gain of 24 stam, 61 armor, 1.33% hit, and 2% threat from the enchant. And as you said you'll see an avoidence loss of right around 2% (1.99% by my math).

While you could offset your loss by stacking 10 dodge gems, I don't see much of a reason to. Replacing 4 4 dodge/6 stam gems would keep your hp static and get you back 1.26% avoidence, which would make the gloves only an upgrade in threat.

As I see it, you're at about the same health I had through most of SSC/TK and have around 6% more avoidence. You'll be fine losing the avoidence for most bosses, though I'd suggest keeping the [item]Warbringer Handguards[/item] around and putting 15 agi on them if you're working your way through SSC and TK right now. I really wished I'd had them when working on Tidewalker.

[Bodasafa]

The ussual answer is it depends on the contnet your tanking.

Im seeing you have some ZA gear and some Gruul gear.

Are you planning on progressing into SSC/TK and beyond?

If the answer is yes then I would suggest more +15 stam gems in your gear and less mixed ones.

Your armory link would be great if this is your avoidance set with 27% dodge, but for threat/trash that has to be hard on rage generation.

So if your using this set for threat and EH, then it kinda losses.

I personally have the bonefist and I was using the Maiden ones before that, I find the T4 glove suck just about as bad as the T4 pants. I never wore either.

Todays Badge/ZA gear really provides better options in most slots than T4 or even T5.

Your gems should reflect what your tanking, if its going to be new content then you should stack stamina gems to help your guild get new boss kills. Keep a avoidance set of items and use avoidance gems in those.

I personally have several sets these days:

Threat - Trash and threat fights (Void Reaver/Gruul)
Max Hp - New bosses
Max Expertise - For bosses that Parry Gib (Bear boss in ZA)
Max Avoidance - For bosses that hit like a truck (Morogrim Tidwalker)
5 Resistance Sets - Frost/Nature for Hydoss

[Bodasafa]

Ya I just tanked Morogrim last night as the first successful Warrior Tank to do so in our guild, we ussually had a druid MT.

I was running with about 23% dodge. Used the SSO neck (Im aldor) for the extra dodge proc and The Pocket watch and its use every 2 mins.

I found this to be a fight where avoidance is definatly the way to go.

[Futeko]

We're currently running SSC/TK - we've killed Vashj two weeks ago and are now focusing on dealing with Kael'thas. We've also cleared the first 3 boss of Hyjal, although I think they're easier than end-SSC/TK.

Unfortunately, I haven't had the occasion to build a second or a third set, like I should have ; we're running 3 raids a week and are usually focused on progression (for instance, last week we killed Al'ar, Void Reaver and Solarian the first evening, and made tries on KT on the next two), so I don't have many opportunities to loot same-tier gear that I can gem/enchant differently. I always keep my "old" gear when they are better in avoidance or health, but that's like 3-4 pieces of gear per "set". Hence why I'm trying to balance EH, avoidance and threat into one set, even if it is not the best thing to do - I consider it to be the most "possible" thing to do in my situation, although I may be wrong.

If it can help, I'll calculate my buffed EH/Avoidance this evening if I have the opportunity ; I thought about using this chart ( http://www.tankspot.com/forums/warri...-minimums.html ) to check if I'm well balanced or not. I get to 56,7k EH buffed I believe, and I have 55% avoidance unbuffed so I'll have to see how much the buffs affect it.

As for threat generation, I believe I'm doing fine - our DPSers have a hard time capping their aggro, and I balance my survival abilities depending on the damage input/mob we're fighting (for instance I hardly ever use thunder clap, demo shout and shield block on trashes ; I let them hit me harder in order to generate more threat, but when we're on something that hit harder or if something goes wrong I go back using these skills, and on bosses they're always up). I'm running Kara every week with that set and except on Attumen where uncautious DPSers sometimes pull aggro in the end (but it may have something to do with the healers being slow on dispelling that -hit debuff ), I don't have a hard time keeping a good margin between my DPSers and me.

Back on topic, many people have said the same thing - I'm tanking new encounters, I have plenty of avoidance for my contents ; sacrificing avoidance for more HP has many more benefits than disadvantages.
What I'll do is to get the Bonefist, gem them with +4 dodge/+6 stamina and +12 stamina, enchant them with +2% threat and keep the T4 gauntlets with a +15 agi on them for when I need the extra avoidance, following your advice.

Thank you for your time and your advice