Need help with gearing up and which gems to use

[Desolous]

Heya readers and posters of TankSpot

First of all I want to just say how valuable a resource this site has proven so far. I started WoW in early january of this year, levelling up rather fast with the Recruit-A-Friend system. My friend who recruited me explained what all the classes do and I thought tanking sounded fun, and I am glad that I made the right choice by rolling a prot warrior .

I finally hit level 80 and I've been starting to gear up. I dpsed a few heroics just to learn the mechanics and since then I've been tanking, which has brought me up from 23k unbuffed hp when I dinged, to 32k unbuffed now.

I bought the Triumph Emblem shoulders first as they were my weakest piece, plus I had the enchant and gem ready for them then the helmet. I'd used Cider's 540 def guide and made sure I had wyrmrest rep very fast so that was never hard, and I've now replaced all of my quest and dungeon blues with iLvl 200+ drops or Triumph Emblem purchases.

However I'm starting to be less sure where I should be getting gear. I farmed PoS until I got Rimefang's Claw as I read on Veneratio's blog it was the best tanking weapon, and slapped a Mongoose enchant on it for good measure. But my weapon is about the only item I knew what to aim for, as the iLvl 245 things in dalaran seems to only be the helm and shoulders.

This is my current 'shopping list':

Head: Faceplate of the Honourbound
Shoulders: Shoulderplates of Enduring Order
Neck: Shard of the Crystal Forest
Cape: Sentinel's Winter Cloak
Chest: Breastplate of the White Knight
Wrist: Saronite Swordbreakers
Hands: Wrynn's Handguards of Conquest
Belt: Shieldwarder Girdle
Legs: Wrynn's Legguards of Conquest
Boots: ???? - Currently wearing Plated Greaves of Providence from ToC5
Ring 1: Ashen Verdict rep ring
Ring 2: Clutch of Fortifications
Trinket 1: Glyph of Indominability
Trinket 2: ???? - Currently using Offering of Sacrifice

Weapon: Rimefang's Claw
Shield: Splintered Door of the Citadel
Ranged: Blades of the Sable Cross

Basically what I'd like advice on is whether there is better gear that I can get without going into ICC or some of the other very challenging stuff like ToGC hardmode etc. I can pug VOA/Ulduar and stuff but that's it until I get a lil more experience and gear. My only raiding experience this far is tanking Naxx 10 and VOA 10.

I have all the right enchants (much love to Agg for his prot warrior guide, which sent me to the right places for the right reps) but my other big challenge is gems, especially when it comes to socket bonuses and the meta requirement.
The only tanking gem I really know is the +30 stam Solid Majestic Zircon, but for my meta I need at least one red gem. Are there red gems that also give some stamina? I've only found ones that give strength so far.
Could you tell me a few names of Gems I should always consider when pairing up colours of sockets, or should I go for the +30 stam gem 100% of the time once I've got my single red socket covered? I'm a Blacksmith/Miner, if that changes anything with the 2 extra sockets.

Thanks in advance for your help and this great site !

Here is my armoury so you can see my gear so far, and comment on my spec if you want:
http://www.wowarmory.com/character-s...ran&n=Desolous

[Iliekstam]

Hi there I noticed you needed help with that red socket so I thought about putting my two cents in. As far as that Red Socket is concerned, there are other colored gems besides Red that count as Red too. Orange counts as Yellow and Red, Purple counts as Blue or Red. Prismatic Gems are every color. There aren't any orange ones with Stamina though. The Nightmare Tear is a prismatic gem with +10 to all stats. For purple though there are quite a few plus stamina and another stat gems. they add about 15 stamina plus the other stat. Hope this helps ya.

[Aggathon]

Go check out my guide (link in sig). I have an "easy to get" gear section and links to like 5 or 6 other gearing guides that can help you out.

[Merkava1]

Purple Gems: either Regal Dreadstone http://www.wowhead.com/?item=40138 or Guardians Dreadstone http://www.wowhead.com/?item=40141

Basically gem sta in every slot, except one red (purple) to activate meta. I have taken the liberty of inserting the summary of red gem selection from Agg's guide.

Red hybrid gem breakdown:
10 Expertise/15 Stam - if you have below 26 expertise
10 Dodge/15 Stam - most avoidance
10 Agi/15 Stam - most EHP since agi gives armor and some avoidance too, but not as much as dodge rating, also gives a small amount of crit
10 parry/15 Stam - almost NEVER used, only used if the dodge DRs are high enough that parry becomes better than dodge. For more on this, I recommend looking at Diminishing Returns - Avoidance. This will tell you when parry becomes better.

From http://www.tankspot.com/showthread.p...-Tanking-Guide

The only exception to the sta in every slot rule is when there is a +9 or more socket bonus. For example your helm, +12 sta bonus. Put an Enduring Eye of Zul http://www.wowhead.com/?item=40167 in the yellow socket and pick up +10 def at the loss of only 3 sta. You might be able to replace the +16 def gem in your gloves with another +30 sta.

Your belt does not have an Eternal Belt Buckle http://www.wowhead.com/?item=41611. As a BS you can make your own, that's another slot for +30 sta.

Chest enchant should be http://www.wowhead.com/?item=39005
Boots: http://www.wowhead.com/?item=39006 or http://www.wowhead.com/?item=38966
Cloak: http://www.wowhead.com/?item=39001

Hope that helps a bit.

[Eisen]

Don't bother with Shieldwarder Girdle. I do not understand why people downrank trimuphs just for this thing. The Veridigis Chain Belt is best in slot for tanking, massive HP and armor gains over the girdle, more sockets, and only costs 60 frost. Just bear with your current belt until you get that one.

[Metasynaptic]

I disagree.

The shieldwarder girdle is great if you don't have piles of gold for crafted gear, and frost emblems don't exactly grow on trees.

My shieldwarder girdle served me a long time, and allowed me to put crafting materials expenses into my saronite swordbreakers.

And downgradable triumph emblems do grow on trees, by comparison to frosts. Many people run random heroics until their fingers bleed.

[Desolous]

Purple Gems: either Regal Dreadstone http://www.wowhead.com/?item=40138 or Guardians Dreadstone http://www.wowhead.com/?item=40141

Basically gem sta in every slot, except one red (purple) to activate meta. I have taken the liberty of inserting the summary of red gem selection from Agg's guide.

From http://www.tankspot.com/showthread.p...-Tanking-Guide

The only exception to the sta in every slot rule is when there is a +9 or more socket bonus. For example your helm, +12 sta bonus. Put an Enduring Eye of Zul http://www.wowhead.com/?item=40167 in the yellow socket and pick up +10 def at the loss of only 3 sta. You might be able to replace the +16 def gem in your gloves with another +30 sta.

Your belt does not have an Eternal Belt Buckle http://www.wowhead.com/?item=41611. As a BS you can make your own, that's another slot for +30 sta.

Chest enchant should be http://www.wowhead.com/?item=39005
Boots: http://www.wowhead.com/?item=39006 or http://www.wowhead.com/?item=38966
Cloak: http://www.wowhead.com/?item=39001

Hope that helps a bit.

Thanks so much, I saw in Agg's guide that there were hybrid gems like that but I just couldn't find the names and so didn't know which to buy.

As for the sub-standard gem in my gloves and the lack of enchants/belt buckle on a few items, as my only character gold is still very much an issue as I'm gearing up. I need about 6k just for the 245 crafted plate and bracers, and so I've been just enchanting and gemming items which I see myself using for quite a long time.

RE: Frost emblems, my first pick is going to be the cape and then the verdigris. I've got 34 frosts or something like that so far from doing 2x weekly raids, the random heroic each day, and pugging VOA. Once I can start doing ICC (I think my gear is close to where I could survive ICC 10? I have tanked the ICC trash on 10 and 25 mode but yeah... it's just trash, so I'm not sure how much harder the bosses are) I think the frosts will come in quite fast. The ymrijar pieces will be quite a long-term goal, but the cape and belt won't take that long.

Thanks again for all your help guys