Prot paladin - HALP!

[Raffh]

Hallo!!

I've been gearing my first paladin with some gear guides and BiS lists and i started some raids for first time a few months ago, trying to max my gear score and get the stats required for raiding icc 10. I've done some successful weeklys and raids but all icc and ToC where a total fail..

So at this point, i've been having some troubles finding what pieces to choose cause everytime i do an upgrade on my gear i lose on another stat, like dropin lots of hit rating or avoidance getting near 540 def again for little EH.. so things are becomming more and more complex..

I recently got the gold to afford Pillars of Might cuase i've read it was one of the best choices and i also got the crafted 264 boots but i still feel i'm missing something or taking bad choices.. got the Ony trinket early dropping Ick's Rotting Thumb and again i dropped the 27% dodge rating i had before..

Now i have the emblems for either the 264 cloak or the +228 stam trinket but not sure about what to choose to fix this.. but i think it will be more of the same.. cloak drops hit again and trinket drops armor or def/parry..

I got a big mess in here so any advice about what gear should i get, enchant/gemming or spec will be much appreciated!

amory: http://www.wowarmory.com/character-s...alo&cn=Raffahl

[Harmacy]

Ony trinket is horrible. That's not to say you should get the Frost trinket already - replace it with Black Heart, nice chunk of stam and a useful armor proc. All you lose is parry (meh) and GearScore (double meh).

I wouldn't sweat too much over hit rating either. It isn't a huge threat boost, and there are very few fights early on where taunt misses are a big deal. It's useful for sure, but I wouldn't particularly aim for it. If you want to stay capped or raise you hit, try buff food. 40 hit rating and you lose 80 attack power from the fish feast, it's a very good tradeoff.

You seem to overvalue avoidance. Go after armor and stamina, collectively known as Effective Health or EH for short. Dodge and parry are useful, but not crucial. Kinda like hit.

So buy the cloak, it's superb. Also, you should take the point from Conviction and max out Pursuit of Justice, the mobility is fantastic.

Otherwise, you're doing well, just a few things to fix especially that trinket slot.

What was fail about your ICC runs? Was it you dying or losing aggro, or just in general the raid failed (too many people didn't know what they were doing, etc etc.).

[Martie]

Hallo!!

I've been gearing my first paladin with some gear guides and BiS lists and i started some raids for first time a few months ago, trying to max my gear score and get the stats required for raiding icc 10. I've done some successful weeklys and raids but all icc and ToC where a total fail..

Okay, several mistakes there.
First one - throw out the BiS lists. Those are for people who have a ton of gear to choose from, and when you start gearing, you want every upgrade you can get. If you must prioritize, use these rules.
(Rules apply to items of ilevel 245 and higher, trinkets are an exception.)

• Items with bonus armor on them are BiS. When you can choose between two items with bonus armor on them, the higher ilevel is the better.
• As long as you don't drop under the defense you need for uncrittable, higher item levels are better 95% of the time.
• For trinkets, you want trinkets with armor or stamina - the more the better.
• Hit is for taunts and threat - for taunts you should use the glyph and have 9% hit from other sources. This is around 160 rating.
• Expertise is for threat.

So at this point, i've been having some troubles finding what pieces to choose cause everytime i do an upgrade on my gear i lose on another stat, like dropin lots of hit rating or avoidance getting near 540 def again for little EH.. so things are becomming more and more complex..

Ignore avoidance completely. Balancing all your stats is the tricky bit for tanks, and the main reason why I told you to throw away the BiS list, since those lists usually only work if you have all the gear on the list. Don't be afraid to use some stam/hit or stam/defense gems when you see your stats dropping too much, and having several weapons with different enchants helps a lot when you want to tweak your stats a bit. (I recently swapped my weapon back to a slightly lower ilevel one because I needed the hit it gave me.) Enchants are another way to tweak your gear. Take cloaks, for example. Most people will tell you that the armor enchant is the best, but when the defense enchant makes you uncrittable, the defense enchant is better. Same goes for weapon enchants - using hit there isn't a bad plan at all.

I recently got the gold to afford Pillars of Might cuase i've read it was one of the best choices and i also got the crafted 264 boots but i still feel i'm missing something or taking bad choices.. got the Ony trinket early dropping Ick's Rotting Thumb and again i dropped the 27% dodge rating i had before..

The pillars of might are a must-have. Equip them, tweak your other gear so you have enough defense and don't look back. If you have trouble with the defense, consider getting the nontier 264 badge chest (if you have the badges) it will solve your defense issues for the time being, and untill you get the 277 tier chestpiece, it's one of the best choices you have available to you anyway.

Now i have the emblems for either the 264 cloak or the +228 stam trinket but not sure about what to choose to fix this.. but i think it will be more of the same.. cloak drops hit again and trinket drops armor or def/parry..

I'd keep saving up for the chestpiece. You'll want both the trinket and the cloak eventually, but the chestpiece is probably going to help you more. If you must choose between the two, get the trinket. The stamina on it is amazing (and since there are so many morons out there, people will judge you on your stamina,) and the on-use effect is very handy.

I got a big mess in here so any advice about what gear should i get, enchant/gemming or spec will be much appreciated!

I wouldn't call your gear a mess. I would say you are doing a very good job of gearing up your toon, and I personally wouldn't have a problem with you tanking my ICC runs. If you want to improve, remember that every gem you use should give stamina, and none of them should give dodge. (Well, one may be acceptable, but you should only have one red gem in your gear.)

[Raffh]

First of all thanks to Hamarcy and Martie for the quick answers.

It's good to hear im in the right path and get some of my doubts solved, specially about the trinket choices and the importance of gearing for stam/armor instead of going crazy with the avoidance caps..

The point to overvalue avoidance was about some icc requirements i've been reading lately, about having a mix of 50% dodge/parry and 13% block.. that already made me swap 3 or 4 pure stam gems for dodge/stam def/stam gems trying to get the closer while not dropping too much Hp (read about a minimum of 36-38k unbuffed).

So my first idea was to get the trinket, because i already have some gear with a good armor bonus, and as Martie said.. lots of people jugdge you looking at your stamina!

Anyway having 54 frost emblems for the cloak made me doubt about getting it instead of the trinket (also it was +7000 tankpoint for the trinket and +10.000 for the cloak and more gs) but i think i def go for the stam.

If you have trouble with the defense, consider getting the nontier 264 badge chest (if you have the badges) it will solve your defense issues for the time being, and untill you get the 277 tier chestpiece, it's one of the best choices you have available to you anyway.

About he 264 non tier chest for more defense still remains as a choice for further upgrades for me, beeing said i've been gemming for defense and dodge to maintain the cap since i equipped the pillars, so i think i can hold with the actual chest piece and even swap some dodge/stam for pure stam gems.

If u feel ill be good to go with the trinket for icc, then i think i will go next for the cloak to replace the 219 and then go for the 232 for hands replacing the lower ilvl items on my gear as a priority. Maybe getting the 251 helm and hands first for the 20% increased damage bonus and then go for the chest would my choice, since im not hardcore raiding to get all the gear available..

About Harmacy queston about fails on icc runs i'm not really sure since im not experienced in raids and is difficult to know if people is doin right or worng, maybe losing a tank or heal where the main points of wiping but not sure, i use to get concentrated on my rotation and try to stay alive.. but obiously sometimes this is not been enough!