The value of block?

[bristly]

I'm having a bit of a problem. I was tanking 25 man Faerlina today, the raid leader decided to use the 'not dispelling enrage' tactic. I died very quickly after she enraged .
I was told by several people that the problem was my low block rating (a stat I've tried to avoid). Now, I was under the impression that block rating/value is useful for tanking mobs which don't hit very hard, but nigh on useless for a mob which hits very very hard (an enraged Widow Faerlina for example).
We've used this strategy without a problem several times before using our feral tank as MT. And the Deathknight offtank (who took over after I died) seemed to last a lot longer than I did.
My Armory
I guess I have 2 questions;
1) Is there an easy way to improve my gear so I can take the hits?
2) Who is right, me or my friend? How good is block rating?

[Andenthal]

Your gear looks fine to me. Armory does not show SBV and I'm too lazy to guess it from gear.

Assuming you have a really low amount of SBV (like 600), even doubling it would not stop your dieing to the Enrage.

Also, Warriors/Paldadins take more damage than other classes when incapacitated or stunned. We can not Block, Dodge, or Parry while stunned. Druids can not dodge either when stunned, but their superior armor allows them to soak more damage. Deathknights are the same way if any of their shields are up.

If your raid does not want to dispell the enrages, your healers need to be able to step it up a notch when she enrages. There's a reason Blizzard gave us a way to dispel it - it kills tanks =p

[kolben]

Block rating is good, and gets better with block value.

As mentioned, while stunned you can't do jack and the hit will only be mitigated by your armor value and whatever shields or damage reduction effects you had on you.

[Foolishness]

i would advocate stam, avoidance and armor for that fight rather than block.

I wait for the first enrage, then use my first dodge trinket, then after it wears off my second dodge trinket, then after it wears off use my shield wall, then my last stand, then keep my finger on the healthstone/ healthpot.

Heals need to know to spam you like nuts even when you are at full hp.

[robbon]

we only do the enraged with no dispell using a druid for the huge health pool (50k) and high avoidance.

I tend to just OT the worshipers.

Even during enrage the healers need to spam up the MT.

[Shawshank]

There is no way in hell that you can expect to survive her without at least 3-4 healers doing overheals on you.

Using Block as an excuse to justify that your gear isn't up to scratch is just stupid..

Think about it, 20k-30k hit with block mitigating 2k+ is just simply ridiculous no?

Avoidance (parry/dodge) is 100%.

[Tarkonn]

Personally I just save shield wall for the enrage, and all my CDs for after SB wears off. The group I run 25-mans with prefers we do it that way instead of using the adds because it's faster, and I'm not dying.

Again, if the heals/DPS can blow her up fast enough and keep you up, good. If not, they can't blame you for dying when she's popping huge hits on you.

[Aethelas]

I've tanked through the enrage. I did blow shieldwall at first, Shield block right after, then last stand/armor potion (and well, prayed a little). The healers needed to step it up a notch, but from what I heard they were only happy they had something to do for a change.

First time we did the achievement was with our druid tank, and he popped his 'shieldwall and last stand too' so yeah... Just use your cooldowns, potions and trinkets. The rest is up to the healers!

Aethelas

[Xav]

It would be nice if you had a WWS link so we could browse the parse and see what kind of healing you took in that time.

Otherwise, having max armor buffs and demo shout up is about all you can do, and staggering cooldowns.

[Ahke]

Shield Block Rating/Value is good, but won't really help you on her enraged hits unless you have a bunch of healers overhealing you like you're OTing heroic Patchwerk.

The easiest way to do it, in my opinion, is tanking her until all of your cooldowns are up (I usually only hit shield block/last stand/shield wall) then having one of the other tanks ready to taunt her off of you with his/her cooldowns ready to go.

We end up doing this every run now because 1) we're too lazy to do the MC thing. 2) we think it's faster (not sure if it's true :P).

[Criminalmind<eu-eonar>]

to be honest, it is a combination of healers and popping cooldowns.
with the following gear:
The World of Warcraft Armory

i tanked widdow from 100% to 25%. Our priest was a retard and managed to die at the beginning so no enraged where dispelled (maybe 1).
using shieldblock/dodge trinket/shieldwall/last stand/ enraged regeneration/ other trinket, on the right time, can save ur ass a lot off times. Get ur mouse to the action bar and click one of ur CD's if u think that is wise to survive.

as well 5 healers were spam healing me. then i died, the other tanked picked it up and did te same.

what the point of this is: it is possible with good communication between the healers-tank. (loads of healers!!!) and proc cooldowns if ur for a while in bad health.

AND ME LOVE THE EVASION!!! dodge/block/dodge/dodge/parry/big hit

[squats]

your fine to tank her thru the enrage, your healers were probly just werent expecting to have to heal that much.

one thing im seeing is that your not def capped unbuffed. tisk tisk.
also.. you got some damn good bracer, enchant dem things!

also.. regarding block as a usefull stat.
block is the only midigation stat that isnt affected by diminishing returns, it is verry usefull and will get better with higher gear levels, however i would not gem for it ever.

just to make ya feel better.. my guild cant to her the normal way..heh.. i have to take it like a man and hope to god my healers keep me up, it normaly isnt an issue

[Bokeh]

Just a little tip what helps if you feel like healers have a problem keeping you up, get a mage to use amp magic on you, it increases the healing of certain classes by a massive amount and makes it so much easier to keep you up.