Don't know where to go from here. (A Gear Discussion)

[Lieuluke]

Hello, I started playing WoW at the beginning of May earlier this year. I quickly geared up for tank on my warrior. I have gotten the most out of the upgrades from conquest emblems, and really only Triumph to focus on now. However, those emblems only cover certain slots, and now i have no idea where I need to go to upgrade my gear, raid-wise. If you could take a look and offer any advice, it would be much appreciated.

The World of Warcraft Armory

and if I am for some odd reason in Arms spec, my wow-heroes info is US - Nazjatar - Phonypony


I'm currently farming ToC for the Black Heart to replace that blue trinket. But, while it is blue, i still love it because it is part of my panic button whenever I get below 5k health, and the healer is by some means unable to get a heal off on me quick.

[Wars]

Remove the strength gem from all of your gear. Unless you are using this as only a threat set. This will hinder your ability to be accepted as a high end tank by anyone who looks at your gear and has a clue about tanking.

You should more than likely not use avoidance gems as they're effectiveness is mathematically lower than straight stamina gems, except in situations where you need to meet your meta requirement, and have stamina bonuses of +9 stam or higher.

After you're done gemming, get yourself into some ToC guild runs or pugs. The 10man or 25man you should be able to handle normal mode as an OT(or the Jar MT).

This is where you'll be able to pick up a whole slew of 232/245 gear.

You shouldn't need to be gemming for so much defense/avoidance, you're missing quite a lot(A LOT) of effective health from the 30stam gems you should have in most of those slots.

If you're going to use any avoidance gems, go with dodge/stam. The parry/stam gem is going to give you less of a return than the former.

[Ulosthegame]

Stop socketing strength. Stop socketing defence. Replace all of your gems except the 10 parry/15 stam one with +30 stamina. Enchant your shoulders 30 stam/15 resil.

Your gear upgrades will come from Ulduar 10/25 and ToC10.
You could get boots from Naxx25, but not too many people run that anymore.

[Reev]

Also, if you're thinking about things you can get from the Triumph Vendor, the tanking Ring is amazing, and should be the first stop for any tank in the Triumph range.

[Wars]

Also, if you're thinking about things you can get from the Triumph Vendor, the tanking Ring is amazing, and should be the first stop for any tank in the Triumph range.

This is quoted for emphasis and that I did not touch on this. That ring gives everything you want, and should be your first purchase as far as overall effectiveness goes for upgrades.

[Lieuluke]

Thanks for the quick response guys. What should i replace my str gems and defense rating gems with? Unless I'm just really stupid, there aren't any +30 Stam red gems.

[Wars]

Most of the socket bonuses don't matter. Just put a blue gem in there and forget the 6 defense or 8 dodge rating or whatever. Unless the bonus is stam related, or your need the non-blue gem color to meet a socket bonus, don't worry about it at your level of gear.

You can put any color gem in any slot(of normal blue/red/yellow) gem slots. The colors matching is solely for the benefit of the socket bonus.

[Lieuluke]

Omg...I can't believe I didn't know that..

If i got rid of those def rating gems, i'd be at 541 def rating. Isn't that bad? or does it really matter?

[Harmacy]

Omg...I can't believe I didn't know that..

If i got rid of those def rating gems, i'd be at 541 def rating. Isn't that bad? or does it really matter?

541 is right over the minimum, which is where you want to be.

Another thing to consider is replacing your boot enchant with Tuskarr's Vitality - you only lose 7 stamina, but you gain a whole lot of mobility.

[Wars]

Omg...I can't believe I didn't know that..

If i got rid of those def rating gems, i'd be at 541 def rating. Isn't that bad? or does it really matter?

Well that's the reason I thought it was good to point that out. Believe me, you don't know things like that until you find it out by accident, or are told it. So no sweat!

[Lieuluke]

Lol, thanks.

and what about the defense rating drop?

[Wars]

As long as you are at or above 540 defense skill you will be fine. Make sure when you hover over it you are at 5.60% less chance to be crit or above.

[Reev]

541 is right over the minimum, which is where you want to be.

Another thing to consider is replacing your boot enchant with Tuskarr's Vitality - you only lose 7 stamina, but you gain a whole lot of mobility.

I'd say for a warrior, the movement speed upgrade isn't as valuable, since we have unparalleled mobility with Warbringer.

[Lieuluke]

Alright, I'll read up on 10m toc and start running it. Thanks for all the help guys!

[Wars]

I'd say for a warrior, the movement speed upgrade isn't as valuable, since we have unparalleled mobility with Warbringer.

I'm also with this. Between intervene, in-combat charge(which every tanking warrior should have), and if needed intercept, I'm always the first tank across the room.