Heroic/Hardmode Tanking

[Lithix]

Hi Guys

Long time reader, First time poster

I've been playing a warrior for the better half of 2+ years now. I've always been a DPS warrior in Arenas/Battlegrounds/PVE situations.

I have loved tanking but could never find a spot in raids as a tanking warrior
and i was always told i do brilliant DPS and i should stick to it.

I've made the move from offspec gear that i have been collecting and have
what you see now is what i have.

Here comes the "BUT".... BUT! i feel so weak as a tank, i get absolutely destroyed! and i really cant find out why?!

Lithix

My threat is NOT! an issue at all. I currently sit at 5.6k comfortably bursting up to 8-9k (All without Vigilance)

Could anyone give me some advice/gear/enchants/gems i should do/change to my gear/spec.

Changing to this spec tonight: 5/10/56

Thanks in advance, cant wait to see what you guys have to say.

[Bulk]

I don't have an answer for you because I'm in basically 100% the exact same situation - I've DPS'd in raids for all of LK (occasionally tanking when required, but not main spec). Our gear is also very similar (The World of Warcraft Armory). Last night I moved to being a main spec tank and got dropped more times than I can count on heoric 25 man beasts while the pally and DK tank did just fine (their gear is not miles better than mine).

Hopefully someone has some ideas

[drae]

The key to tanking hardmodes is to stack stamina. The vast majority of fights in heroic modes have un-avoidable / un-mitigatable "Shit That's Gonna Kill Me". Thus the best way to increase your survivability is via stamina.

Gear - Your avg ilvl indicates your a little early for heroic ToCr; however, that doesn't mean it cannot be done!

Shoulders - I would start by replacing the defence / stam gems with straight stam gems. And switch your shoulder enchant to the PvP one for the 30 stam.

Boots - Change your enchant to 22 stam.

Ring and Belt - I would prioritize replacing these two slots, Block is a weak mechanic in ToCr (no trash!). I would advise a Clutch of Fortification (emblem vendor) for your ring.

These changes can net you upwards of ~1000 hp buffed and will reduce your defense skill by about 10. (Still over the defense floor)

Your hit rating is ridiculously high, If I may point you to an excellent blog by Veneretio here . Basically Expertise is always as good or better then hit until the hard-cap.

Talents
After reviewing your talents, it appears the goal is survivability (no Deepwounds, full shout bonus') yet you don't take improved disciplines. I would highly recommend two points here, probably removed from shield spec. If you don't have someone else in your raid providing the de-haste buff (Thunderclap) I would advise finding a way to maximize the 3 points in imp thunderclap.

Glyphs
I would advise removing glyph of blocking and glyph of shockwave. I would advise a glyph of shieldwall to accompany the 2 points in imp. disciplines and give you a 2m shieldwall.

The shockwave glyph is easy to dismiss in ToCr because there's no trash. Glyph of Blocking does not provide great enough a benefit (as block is a crappy mechanic), really we block so little so rarely, does 10% really benefit us? I would recommend glyph of vigilance for threat, or glyph of last stand for survival.

Heroic Mode General Commentary
The important part is the 2m shieldwall, fighting Gormok you should really have a shieldwall up whenever your tanking and Gormok has more then 3 snowbold buffs (usually your second time tanking gormok).
Should you feel it is necessary Call for external cooldowns, or use your trinkets and armor pot, during your first rotation in on Gormok (will probably have one or two snowbold buffs depending on your tank rotation.) Having a 2m shieldwall means it will be back up sometime mid-worms, and again on icehowl.

Make sure the boss is always debuffed with demo and TC, these de-buffs can drastically lower your chances of getting killed by the follow up melee after the impale.

Hope that helps!

[Sproutster]

Looked over armory and to reaffirm Drae's comments:

- re-gem and go for stam unless there is a great stam socket bonus
- ditch the block ring for emblem ring and belt for conquest belt
- drop hit rating for expertise whenever you find new gear
- glyph of shield wall instead of shockwave
- points from creulty into imp. demo shout
- MOST importantly, 3/3 improved thunderclap, 2 or 3/5 shield spec. (even if other people in the raid can provide this I would never trust anyone else to keep it up)

[Griff]

The first thing I'd ask is what boss(es) are doing you in? If its ToGC Gormok, that's one thing, but if its Ignis or Hodir, you need to be looking at your healers and your own strategy a little.

Another issue I see are your trinkets - the stam trinkets are pretty good, but you are giving up some things that could help you stay alive when the chips are down. Iron Heart, Black Heart while both providing less static stamina provide procs and on-use effects that can help you survive.

Drae already addressed your enchant/gemming issues.

[drae]

I agree on the stamina trinket front, I would recomend Black Heart over brewfest everyday of the week.

If you'd like something to compare.

Drae

Now I gem for socket bonus' in many cases because I many of the bonus' are stam, it would make little sense to sacrifice 10def for 30 hps. Stuff like parry and dodge are rarely worth trying to meet the socket bonus requirements.

Oh and I prefer deepwounds, because I run with a guild that has RETARDED STUPID good DPS. (like our fury warrior broke 10k dps on tues night)

[Griff]

Your fury warrior broke 10kdps? Single target? What encounter?

[Lithix]

Thanks for the great response's guys!

[drae]

Actually it was on Anub. Our Fury warrior took the cleave glyph and absolutely destroyed the adds. I've seen him do that kinda DPS on the twin valks as well.