Merciless PVP Shield vs SSO Shield

[Xagan]

Hi,

Its one of those horrible "whats the better choice" threads..

The guild is now blasting through Kara in a single night and we've moved onto ZA and starting Grull/Mag on Friday.

We only raid 2-3 nights a week so the rest of the time I either do Badge runs (working towards Stocism chest) or a bit of PVP.

I noticed with Season 4 going live that this shield was now available...

Merciless Gladiator's Shield Wall - Item - World of Warcraft

and i had the marks and honour for it, Tankpoints was showing it as an upgrade over the SSO shield

Dawnforged Defender - Item - World of Warcraft

so I went for it...

I've lost a bit of Hit and BV and some dodge.. but my defense hasn't changed..

however Be.Imba is showing me as being worse off with the PVP shield??

Am I right to use this shield or should I have stuck with the PVE one???


Armory Link - The World of Warcraft Armory

(any other gear advice welcome).

[Squeegiemama]

You gain a metric ton of armour using the S2 shield.

I've been using my S2 shield with +18 stamina to tank bosses for a long time. I picked up the SSO shield and put a +18 block enchant on it for trash pulls.

That's my current setup...perhaps something similar could work for you?

[ebs2002]

Use both depending on the fight.

For EH, use S2.
For Avoidance, use SSO.
For Threat, use SSO.

[Thedom]

Problem is Gruul doesn't like dropping his shield and SSC/TK doesn't have a shield. Because of that I grabbed S2 as soon as it hit and feel that it was a huge upgrade over SSO and Nighthbane's shield regardless of what Be.Imba says (I still don't fully trust a site that gripes at me for having more than 490 defense)

So all that nonsense was saying I got S2 and dont regret my decision because of the HUGE EH boost that the shield is.

[Kamani]

TBH, there isnt' a single fight I'd use SSO over S2. 1000 armor is worth 60 or so stamina. Using SSO would be trading 13 hit for 77 stamina. Even for a threat fight that is dumb. There are plenty of other slots where you could get a much better exchange rate.

[Kamani]

Problem is Gruul doesn't like dropping his shield and SSC/TK doesn't have a shield. Because of that I grabbed S2 as soon as it hit and feel that it was a huge upgrade over SSO and Nighthbane's shield regardless of what Be.Imba says (I still don't fully trust a site that gripes at me for having more than 490 defense)

So all that nonsense was saying I got S2 and dont regret my decision because of the HUGE EH boost that the shield is.

Be.imba.hu rates items based on ilvl and lowers the value of PvP gear. It doesn't actual value items based on how good it is.

[thedrawrf]

Ehm, Idk, I had both untill I got the ZA gnome-skull-laden shield. Took me 2 weeks to grind out the crap for the s2 shield, and I never really used it. I have 0 respect for hit rating, but I loved the dodge. Then I lost the dodge when I switched to the ZA shield, and found that i didnt miss it. S2 all the way, I guess.

[ebs2002]

Using SSO would be trading 13 hit for 77 stamina.

[item]Merciless Gladiator's Shield Wall[/item]
[item]Dawnforged Defender[/item]

850armor 17sta
vs
3bv, 18dodge, 13hit

I'd use it for an avoidance fight for sure (extra 1%). I agree that the 13hit isn't really worthwhile for a threat fight, but for trash and very sensitive threat fights (ie, Leo), I'd certainly use it.

[Tatt]

I do not think they compare, dawnforged defender to me is the kara shield that you do not need to go to kara for, with a little hit and dodge to make it pretty. S2 is the raiding shield that helps people push new content with an extra 900+ armor to keep you standing for another few seconds.

[Kamani]

[item]Merciless Gladiator's Shield Wall[/item]
[item]Dawnforged Defender[/item]

850armor 17sta
vs
3bv, 18dodge, 13hit

I'd use it for an avoidance fight for sure (extra 1%). I agree that the 13hit isn't really worthwhile for a threat fight, but for trash and very sensitive threat fights (ie, Leo), I'd certainly use it.

Shields scale at a MUCH MUCH MUCH faster rate then every other item. That means down scaling your shield for a threat/avoidance shield causes you to sacrifice a huge amount.

You are drastically undervaluing armor if you believe 18 dodge is better then 17 stam and 850 armor.