Pally tank, a little squishy?

[cptwafflez]

Hit 85 last night, been following the preraid guide on here and I have almost all of the pieces you can obtain from quests, but I still feel a little squishy. Advice? I haven't cracked down on any glyphs yet since I just hit 85. Haven't spent any of my justice points yet, so that may be a viable option soon. Here's my armory. http://us.battle.net/wow/en/characte...lolipwn/simple

[CatabriOnEarthen]

Run normals for a while. Pick up the Alpha Bracers in HoO. They have dropped pretty frequently for any group I'm in. Pop for a Notched Jawbone for your relic spot. It will hold up till you can pick up the Valor one.

You look about where I was when I hit 85, so, just start running. Rep: Dragonmaw = boots; Therazane = Shoulder Enchant; Earthen Ring = Head Enchant. BS = belt, chest. You are a JC, so hopefully the patterns for the boar and earthen guardian will drop for you soon. Well, they will once you level your JC. Also, you could make your shiny ring and neck if something doesn't drop in the mean time.

[Fetzie]

Make sure to get as much mastery as you can, blocking for 40% of a hit is awesome.

[cptwafflez]

Good advice, much appreciated guys Is there a guide to reforging? In essence, I guess I just want to know what stats to switch over to mastery. An example just incase that was a poor description would be like if I get a piece with parry on it, and I already have let's say 10% parry and 31% mastery, do I switch some of that parry over to mastery? I have a had time judging what to switch.

[CatabriOnEarthen]

don't forget that "DPS" pieces will work in a pinch, if it's an upgrade to what you already have, just Reforge the crit to mastery (or wherever you feel low). Mastery is pretty much a given.

[cptwafflez]

So, when gemming would you recommend stam stacking like in wotlk? Or mastery stacking? Or going for bonuses.

[CatabriOnEarthen]

Depends entirely on what content you are currently working on. But in general, mastery to block cap, make sure your other avoidance stats are where they should be, and stam for health when you are comfortable with the avoidance you have. Blocking 40% of a 70k hit, is good. Blocking none of it, and not having the health pool to take the hit is bad. Size of hit, my numbers, for emphasis.

[lordK]

I wonder about the avoidance vs mastery question. I have quite good avoidance- 14% dodge 13,5% parry and 41% block chance (lacking a stam. trinket ftm). Now if i reforge some of that avoidance into mastery I guess it would smooth out the damage I take but I would take more damage overall, am I right with this? Not sure what is better, I'm thinking about reforging like 2% of avoidance into mastery, that should inbcrease block by 4% or something like that
Pala tank btw

[Fetzie]

You cannot get block cap right now. It isn't possible with the gear we have to choose from. So you need to make an educated guess as to how many hits you want to be taking unblocked, as there will be some. If you notice healers are going oom, you need more block, if they are not, you can take what you want.

[Chasey]

I read a theck post on another forum saying once you hit 10%ish dodge and 10%ish parry mastery becomes better until block cap. I wouldn't stack stam as socket bonuses are pretty good right now.
Mastery seems to be the way to go at this point.

BTW you will feel squisy for a bit. Running regs is a good idea until you can hit that 333 ilvl gear mark.

[cptwafflez]

Another thing, I have noticed today. I have 42.49 block chance under my defenses tab. When I put my cursor over it to display the indepth stats, it states that it absorbed 31% of incoming damage. I have a trinket by the name of Za'bok's Lucky tooth which increases mastery rating of 1095 for a set period of time, which makes it go up to 56.23% block chance, but doesn't absorb anymore damage. So, what exactly absorbs damage if that doesn't increase it when I proc the trinket? Essentially, what I am asking is how do I make that 31% go up more?

[Lumines]

Essentially, what I am asking is how do I make that 31% go up more?

Holy Shield.

When you block, you reduce the damage of that hit by 30% base. You're at 31% because you're using the "block value" meta gem, which is bugged to show a 5% increase when it's actually the 1% you're seeing. You get an additional 10% from keeping Holy Shield up full time, and you won't get higher than that 41% value.

[Fetzie]

You cannot get more than 31.5% base block value. you can buff it with Holy shield up to about 41% if you are a paladin, or critically block for 60-62% as a warrior, otherwise you block for that base amount.