Armor or all the other stats?

[caimera]

Hi!

Today I've got the Gargoyle Spit Bracers (ilevel 251). Right now, I use the good old Saronite Swordbreakers.

So, I have the chance to lose quite a bit of def/dodge/hit but gain some str/stamina and a lot of armor.
Is it worth to lose all those stats for +7k armor? What would you do?

[Eisen]

wowhead's compare tool doesn't like my work laptop so I have to eyeball this.

But, you gain:
653 armor
6 stam
14 str

You lose:
8 DR: (about 0.6 actual defense)
5 dodge rating (0.13% dodge before diminishing returns)
38 hit rating (1.16%)

translation: I cannot see any possible reason to not use the gargoyles. Your worst fear here is MAYBE going under 540 def. If you were just squeaking by 540 right now you might. But for most tanks at this level it's unlikely. The dodge loss after DR is so tiny it's barely even there. And the hit rating...well HR is always nice, but I'll take 600+ armor over a little hit any day. Esp since Bladed Barrier/Armed to the Teeth are going to give you more AP, and so is the increased strength. That should make up for any possible loss of threat.

[drae]

armor is win. WIN!

[swelt]

I picked these up as well, but I have the TOGC bracers so it's not quite as clear cut upgrade.

http://www.wowhead.com/?compare=47111;50802;47571

[Kojiyama]

The Gargoyle Spit Bracers are almost certainly better than anything available in TotC, other than the sad loss of Hit/Expertise.

That said, the ones from ICC-25 are also very good even though they don't have Bonus Armor on them. Due to the slightly lower Stamina value, the EH between the two is not terribly different--but the Gargoyle Spit still do have an bit of an advantage. The Bracers of Dark Reckoning have a fair bit more avoidance, however, so the tradeoff may be worth it in this case.

Personally, I'd be torn between them but both are solid upgrades over previous tiers so you can't really go wrong either way. Personally, in this case, I would probably lean towards the Gargoyle Spit Bracers as I'm trying to pump up as much Armor as resonably obtainable on good pieces and the avoidance/survival advantage is fairly minimal. (Really it's about 10% EH advantage vs. 10% survival time advantage... so, either way, the items are pretty close to eachother.)

However, to answer your initial question: they are better than the Saronite Swordbreakers in every way survival-wise, due to the damage reduction from Armor being of greater impact than the avoidance loss plus the additional EH. Upgrade with a clear mind.

[caimera]

Thanks a lot.