New Tank: Ready For Naxx?

[Tyndil]

WoW Heroes
The World of Warcraft Armory

Armor: 26039
Defense: 540
Resilience: 0
Dodge: 18.61%
Parry: 14.23%
Block: 0

Is my avoidance good enough? Should I replace any gems for avoidance or expertise?

Thanks for any suggestions.

[Cayleb]

You look to be fine for Naxx, certainly the early portions. That said, there's a few relatively easy upgrades that you may want to look into. The Unfaltering Sigil that gives defense upon IT use will free up nearly all your defensive gem slots for avoidance/stamina or threat. The legs from VH would be recommended, as would the belt from AN. A couple rings are available in heroics, but the first boss in Heroic OK is the first that comes to mind. There's a decent set of shoulders from the first boss of HoL, and the gloves from Gundrak wouldn't hurt.

All that said, I just want to re-iterate, you should be fine for at the very least the early portions of Naxx. Nothing from your gems or enchants stick out as being terrible. You could gem for more threat if you find yourself lacking, but I wouldn't jump to do it quite yet.

[Tyndil]

If defense gems are dropped, then I'm below 540. Does the Sigil make up for that? Wouldn't it need 100% uptime to be worth it?

[Cayleb]

The Sigil will have 100% uptime if you keep your diseases up like normal, the buff lasts 30 seconds, far longer than your diseases do, so as long as you refresh as you should be, the Sigil will always be active. It'll give a straight 10 defense, allowing you to drop to 530 and still being able to push crits off the table.

That said, many 'upgrades' that you may see in Naxx may be a little light on defense, so while you could drop some gems for now, chances are you may need them again if you get a couple drops.

[CommodoreWinky]

If you have the opportunity, you could try to run a few heroics to replace some of those blues. I've been tanking Naxx10 for a couple weeks and have yet to come across upgrades that will replace some of my heroic gear. Most notably:

Bolstered Legplates - Cyan in H-VH
Ancient Aligned Girlde - Anub in H-AN (Or EoH x40 belt)
Horn-Tipped Gauntlets - Gal'darah in H-Gundrak

And don't forget the tanking chestplate from being Revered with Wyrmrest.

I still use the legs and belt, but got lucky getting my tanking T7.25 chestplate from VoA25 and the T7.25 gauntlets from OS25, otherwise I'd probably still be in heroic gear. Been unlucky in Naxx with the tank drops so far.

[Ray]

Get the sigil as its the best entry tank sigil no matter your def skill (but dont use it to cap def, thats just not a good idea and no reason too becuz...)

You need to be gemming for more def. Your avoidance is way to low. For MT of naxx 10 you need min 20% dodge and 15% parry. Def gems are the best way to get there. As of right now, your gear is fine to tank heros and OT naxx 10. There are still a few easy upgrades though, BoE shoulders from CoT strat, belt out of AN, and some easy badge loot.

[Stompbox]

The Sigil will have 100% uptime if you keep your diseases up like normal, the buff lasts 30 seconds, far longer than your diseases do, so as long as you refresh as you should be, the Sigil will always be active. It'll give a straight 10 defense, allowing you to drop to 530 and still being able to push crits off the table.

Relying on the RNG to maintain your immunity to critical hits is bad.

Don't tank Naxx10 without 540 defense.

[Kaytee]

Relying on the RNG to maintain your immunity to critical hits is bad.

Don't tank Naxx10 without 540 defense.

Well, you really aren't relying on RNG for this because every time you cast Icy Touch you will refresh the 30-second buff from the Sigil. I can't think of any situation where you can't use a 20-30 yard spell for longer than 30 seconds.

Thinking about it, I have to agree that tanking without 540 defense without the Sigil is not a very good idea. I was merely saying that it was doable to tank without the defense cap but isn't recommended.