Future maintank, help!

[Titangrip]

The World of Warcraft Armory

I'm currently gearing up to be a future MT for my guild. I was wondering if I have too much expertise and just want to ask what other upgrades can I aim for (I'm currently following Halandir's BiS guide and gearing accordingly, working towards a Block Value and Threat Set).

I'll really like to know what areas can I improve in (stats, gemming?).

Also my guild is currently farming ALL 25man raids (Naxx, OS3D and EoE).

All help is appreciated, please give your advises/suggestions.

Cheers!

[Squirrelnut]

If looking to gear for MT I would look more at an EH set and a TPS set. BV is kind of for trash and I don't see much point in it.

Looking at your gear it seems fine other then waiting for some BiS pieces to drop to replace your
Neck - Boundless Ambition - Item - World of Warcraft or Nexus War Champion Beads - Item - World of Warcraft
Legs - Legplates of Sovereignty - Item - World of Warcraft
and Belt - Ablative Chitin Girdle - Item - World of Warcraft

Beyond that you start to get into simply theory crafting what you consider more important things like hitting expertise hard cap & hit cap or getting as much health as possible.

You do need to get rid of any gems like that defense one in your belt, there are much better alternatives for staying def capped without gemming for avoidance.

If you decide to really go for the expertise hard cap you could also considering grabbing
Horn-Tipped Gauntlets - Item - World of Warcraft from heroic gundrak and socket with another 16expertise gem. Even if you don't I would switch one of those 24 stam gems with an 8 expertise/12 stam gem so that you get the socket bonus of another 6 stam so in effect you would have 8 expertise / 18 stam which would seem like a better alternative. An additional 8 expertise > 6 stam

Last thing you NEED to grab the best talent spec possible if you want to be effective. 15/5/51 > anything else
Talent Calculator - World of Warcraft

<3 ur dark moon card, I want one though I probably wouldn't use it for much besides Patch

[Titangrip]

I appreciate the advise given, but isn't cruelty better than impale? I read that somewhere here...

Regarding my DMC:Greatness, I was thinking about it and I was like what the heck might as well try lol.

Do you mind sharing the other alternatives for staying def capped? I've been playing a fury warrior for the past 2-3 years so tanking and stuff is a little new to me.

Is it worth it to try to get the expertise hard cap and sacrifice some other stats such as stam or str?

Edit: Also, what are some good trinkets to be looking out for?

[Kaad]

With your current expertise, I can't imagine you'll have any issues with threat.

I'd start looking at other stats, Maybe a little dodge and parry.

[Squirrelnut]

The thing about 15/5/51 is that it provides you with Deep Wounds. If you don't have it you are gimping yourself:
http://www.tankspot.com/forums/f64/4...ur-damage.html

Defense is a shifting thing, there are a couple upgrades that will allow you to stay capped and not even worry about it such as the legs and belt I mentioned so just hope the Nax drop gods smile on you.

Expertise hard cap removes both parry & dodge from the table. Just being over the soft cap is nice which you have already taken care of but I make it a personal mission to get as close to the hard cap as possible without gimping other stats too much. Similar with the hit cap the objective is to get as close to 263 as possible but no one can really tell you how important it is to hit those two caps when compared with more health or more avoidance since that is a personal choice and largely affected by whatever boss you are on.

The greatness card is entertaining but if you are interested in more life or other stats and not just trying to see how high you can get your DPS on patch you could definitely grab an Essence of Gossamer - Item - World of Warcraft from heroic ajol-nerub and a Repelling Charge - Item - World of Warcraft from Nax.

[Titangrip]

The thing about 15/5/51 is that it provides you with Deep Wounds. If you don't have it you are gimping yourself:
http://www.tankspot.com/forums/f64/4...ur-damage.html

Defense is a shifting thing, there are a couple upgrades that will allow you to stay capped and not even worry about it such as the legs and belt I mentioned so just hope the Nax drop gods smile on you.

Expertise hard cap removes both parry & dodge from the table. Just being over the soft cap is nice which you have already taken care of but I make it a personal mission to get as close to the hard cap as possible without gimping other stats too much. Similar with the hit cap the objective is to get as close to 263 as possible but no one can really tell you how important it is to hit those two caps when compared with more health or more avoidance since that is a personal choice and largely affected by whatever boss you are on.

The greatness card is entertaining but if you are interested in more life or other stats and not just trying to see how high you can get your DPS on patch you could definitely grab an Essence of Gossamer - Item - World of Warcraft from heroic ajol-nerub and a Repelling Charge - Item - World of Warcraft from Nax.

Hmm yes yes I see what you mean now. Appreciate your replies

As for trinket slots, Wouldn't the Mark of Noragannon be slightly better than the repelling charge if I'm def capped? I know the use ability on Mark is useless but the passive expertise granted is quite formidable?

Yes, I do hope the Raid Gods will bless me next week. They blessed me with 7 drops this week.

This is up to you and should be based off your goals -- for all non-Achievement 10 and 25-man encounters, however, you don't need to put a single socket in for Stamina.

So it's not actually necessary to put 24stam gems in every socket now?

Edit: What is the reason for str/bv being useful only for trash? Is it because of Damage Shield?

Also, what do you think of my enchants? I know the 16 def on the cloak needs to vanish asap...

Also also, currently I have Mark of Noragannon, Lavanthor's Talisman, Valor Medal of the First War, DMC Greatness and Offering of Sacrifice. What would be the best for me at the moment when I MT?

[Squirrelnut]

I <3 expertise so until you can get capped from your gear and nolonger need it I vote Norgannon. If you need survivability I would go get an Essence of Gossamer

[Titangrip]

What about glyphs?

For Major Glyphs I'm using Blocking, Devastate and Revenge.

[Eisen]

my setup is:

Major:
Blocking
Revenge
Heroic Strike

Minor
Charge
Bloodrage
Thunderclap

works out pretty well.

[Titangrip]

Why Heroic Strike and not Glyph of Devastate?

[Kaumu]

Why Heroic Strike and not Glyph of Devastate?

Devastate is the last ability you use in your tanking arsenal. Whilst Heroic Strike is spammed on every swing, rage allowing.

[OnourisofRavencrest]

Also also, currently I have Mark of Noragannon, Lavanthor's Talisman, Valor Medal of the First War, DMC Greatness and Offering of Sacrifice. What would be the best for me at the moment when I MT?

All of them, be ready and willing to switch items after every fight to maximize your gear.

Why Heroic Strike and not Glyph of Devastate?

Glyph of Devastate has it's place, like learning S3D when you're the drake tank; but if you're not trying to kill something in 30 secs or less, you'll benefit more from the rage generation from glyph of heroic strike. Don't be afraid to switch glyphs either depending on what your assignement is on any given night.

[Titangrip]

But I don't find myself rage starved on bosses, is that a good thing or a bad thing?

What would Offering of Sacrifice fall under, EH?

[Titangrip]

bump

[Kaumu]

Offering of Sacrifice is passive mitigation, with a 3min EH cd. You have plenty of unbuffed AP. So wouldnt worry to much about this trinket.

But it does depend on the fight which trinket to arm. I run outfitter and carry my 3 sets all the time. I flip between quite often during a raid, each set is situational.