How to Enchant These

[Bearrorist]

I posted on the Blizz Druid forums, but I figured I'd ask for a second opinion here. I'm a feral tank and most of my set pieces are in the 226 range. Resto is my main, and I've been tanking lately, just heroics. Anyway, I have almost all the mats for both the Death-Warmed Belt and the Footpads of Silence and was wondering what to gem them with. I figured I'd go for the set bonus in the Death-Warmed Belt with the 10 agi/15 stam gem and a 30 stam gem, and then an eternium belt buckle with another 30 stam gem in it. As for the boots I was thinking the same thing, 10 agi/15 stam gem, a 30 stam gem, and Tuskarr's Vitality. By the end of the week I'll have enough of everything for the Bracers of Swift Death too, but that is easy enough (the LW fur and a 30 stam gem for the measly +4 agility). Thoughts? I eventually want to tank bigger and better things if needed, so I'm trying to gear for that while keeping resto my priority (such as t9.25).

[Fealthas]

Personally as a feral tank I dont like to use agi/stam gems, trying to stick with purely one or the other. Id make sure you have ~30+ expertise before you toss agi gems into red sockets. I recently switched some gear out and I had to switch to some 20 expertise gems to keep cap in my feral dps gear and to keep myself at 30-33 as tanking. Ideally you want to have 40%+ dodge with 0 buffs sitting in bear. Once you have that you're free to gem for more stam or agi, whatever you would like to.

Edit: Gaffigan being my druid tank :P

[owlcapwn]

Never gem for expertise, you should be able to hit 40% dodge with just agi from your gear and if you want to hit the red socket bonuses 10 agi / 15 stam is a good option. Id also go with the straight agi enchant for your boots

[geros]

putting agi/stam gems in the red slots on those items is the correct call.

As for the foot enchant, go with whatever you like most. Some enjoy the run speed, others don't find it necessary.

[Fealthas]

If you're not soft exp capped and dont have any thing to switch out for more, then you gem for it. Its hard for a druid to not be soft capped but its possible

[geros]

soft cap is 26, not 30-33.

[Fealthas]

Yes I know this, you'd think that since I posted a range and not a set number..... and the hard cap is like 56 but if you go with 26 you're going to be at the same as a dps which Ive found never works well for holding agro. The dps in my guild are threat whores and I have never had someone pull off me when my expertise was between 30 and 45 but when I dropped to 26, our warlocks and rogues pulled off me. Just what Ive noticed as a tank /shrug

[geros]

If you are merely looking at maximizing TPS then you take the following route: expertise until dodge cap > hit until cap > expertise until parry cap > haste.

Source is here: ThinkTank: [Druid] Some sample values of threat per 100 itemization points

Anyways, for general purposes stick with stam or agi/stam gemming. Start looking for specific threat pieces to create a max TPS set and you can decide to gem them appropriately.

[owlcapwn]

Yes I know this, you'd think that since I posted a range and not a set number..... and the hard cap is like 56 but if you go with 26 you're going to be at the same as a dps which Ive found never works well for holding agro. The dps in my guild are threat whores and I have never had someone pull off me when my expertise was between 30 and 45 but when I dropped to 26, our warlocks and rogues pulled off me. Just what Ive noticed as a tank /shrug

all the high aggro classes have aggro dumps, even if your threat isnt the best it their fault if they pull.

[felhoof]

all the high aggro classes have aggro dumps, even if your threat isnt the best it their fault if they pull.

Which is not really a great argument when they're bitching about your bad threat and they're having to lower their personal DPS so that you can tank.

Expertise is a reasonable thing to gem for, especially given the massive lack of it in gear. I wouldn't do a red gem with it, but purples are totally reasonable given a good socket bonus - and the socket bonuses for the belt and boots certainly apply here.

[owlcapwn]

Which is not really a great argument when they're bitching about your bad threat and they're having to lower their personal DPS so that you can tank.

Expertise is a reasonable thing to gem for, especially given the massive lack of it in gear. I wouldn't do a red gem with it, but purples are totally reasonable given a good socket bonus - and the socket bonuses for the belt and boots certainly apply here.

if 1 gcd over a 5 min fight lowers your dps, i think your guild is having bigger problems than threat

[felhoof]

if 1 gcd over a 5 min fight lowers your dps, i think your guild is having bigger problems than threat

Perhaps. Other classes (like ferals) don't have said threat dumps. Doesn't really matter; it's a social issue more than anything, and sometimes you have the authority to tell people to not pull aggro or there will be consequences; some times you won't and they'll tell you to fix your threat. Both are valid.

[Liquidska]

I personally went +30 Stam +20 Agi then +30 Stam for the belt buckle on that particular belt, but I can just mark that up to personal taste for the red slot.

For the boots I would go with Straight Agi. Unless threat is a big issue, but at the moment if your just tanking heroics I imagine it isn't, while hit is a big thing for threat, it's not so much for random trash / heroic bosses. More so for Hodir and the "OMFGWARLOCK!!" factor.

@Felhoof: Cower? Shadowmeld? (Stomp on that moo cow!) They 'aint perfect but they are there.

I agree with both of ya, I mean at the end of the day, if the DPS pulls then it's their own fault and they should of either stop casting, gotten a salv or done their own threat reduction. Having said that, I used Orgion of Nightmare for a good chunk of time in ToC raids.... my threat sucked. If a tank can't hold threat, then they cease to be a tank. Having high threat is just as much our responsibility as it is the deeps to have low threat.

[felhoof]

Shadowmeld...bah. NE druids are so OP compared to Taurens.

Cower is horrible. Just horrible. Also, not a threat dump.

[Liquidska]

You are your passive +5% HP can suck it. (Which incidently I am curious how that works with bear form.)

Although shadowmeld is pretty cool.... only takes a little bit of luck and forethought to never get a repair bill.

[felhoof]

Well, it used to be 5% more health.

Now it's 5% more health 'based on wearing green items'. The end result is that it's essentially 500 more health, which is 2 stam gems.
Compare that to 2% miss without DR? It's not a contest.

Our cat forms are way more win though.

[geros]

I miss 2% miss and the chance to survive the encounter on a wipe so much. Also I miss pink cat.