Tank like a girl

The past couple days, the idea of a gear set article wandered through my head. It was originally sparked by an exchange I had online when I, the tanking bully that I am, talked a fellow prot warrior into taking the Boots of Elusion, which she didn’t want as she has Battlescar Boots. For me, the Boots of Elusion are the best possible avoidance boots you could get at that gear-level, so I wasn’t quite sure why she’d not be eager to snatch them up, until it occurred to me that they only make sense if you have different gear sets.

As protection warrior, it makes great sense to build several gear sets. You will want your solo DPS gear for sure, this is usually the same kind of gear you would use as dual-wielding fury type. As for tanking gear sets, what kinds of sets you need, all depend on what stuff you’re tanking. Me, I only do 10-mans and heroics these days, so I have two sets of tanking gear: threat gear and avoidance gear. The two sets are not hugely different, but it’s a bunch of choice pieces that I keep swapping out. Even though it’s just a couple of pieces, they make a world of difference tanking-wise and it’s noticeable to both DPS and healers when I switch gear sets.

Let’s look at a couple of current pieces of gear that are different in the sets I personally use:

Head: Warbringer Greathelm vs Eternium Greathelm

The first piece has shield block value along with defense, so this is my threat piece. Shield Block Value directly affects Shield Slam, so it’s a lovely threat value. The Eternium Greathelm on the other side I have gemmed for stamina. It has the stamina edge by one measly point of stamina, but it also has a lot more defense, ergo avoidance. This is why I use it in all physical boss fights, above my threat piece.

Main Hand: King’s Defender vs The Sun Eater. Basic differences between the two: KD has armor, higher DPS, +hit. TSE has dodge. KD creates superior threat, TSE is all about avoidance. I am currently waiting for Executioner to drop to enchant KD with it, and TSE will continue to have Mongoose.

Belt: Girdle of the Fearless vs Iron-Tusk Girdle. The former has more defense, more armor, more expertise, more hit and more stamina. The latter has dodge. Threat piece vs avoidance piece.

Trinket examples: Shard of Contempt + Darkmoon Card: Vengeance vs Moroes’ Lucky Pocket Watch + Commendation of Kael’thas. The first two pieces are awesome for threat. I hate H MgT, but that DPS trinket is da bomb. It procs on pulling, e.g. Definitely worth it. My avoidance trinkets on the other hand offer dodge, a life-saving proc and a stamina boost.

The pattern should be obvious by now. Stay carefully above your defense cap in your threat set, but go for stats that allow you a higher TPS output. Stats you will be looking for are block value, parry, hit and expertise. For bosses, look for gear with high dodge, stamina, armor. Now, I mentioned three ways to gear. Threat, avoidance, effective health. I obviously have chosen to create a strange avoidance-survival mix set, but it works for me.

I wear my threat set just about always these days. Heroics, Karazhan up to Prince and Nightbane. I can consistently keep my TPS above 1k in heroics, which makes me happy, and it makes DPS happy. Not having to hold back is a nice thing. In heroic UB I recently did a really sloppy pull in that damn hallway leading to the third boss, and we had three fen rays and three wasps on us. I lost aggro on one of the wasps once, and other than that, just comfortably tanked away. If I didn’t have threat gear, things might look differently.

A downside is of course the need for huge bags. I never have a lot of bagspace, because I lug around my DPS gear and the second tank set. Trust me, guys, it’s worth it. You might also wonder how easy it is to acquire different tanking sets. A mix already drops in Karazhan, and all the badge gear that was added with 2.4 is very heavy on threat stats. Same with tanking gear that comes from ZA. If I ever see any, oh cruel world!

Of course, the same day I actually cook up my own thoughts on different gear sets, the master himself posted about the fundamentals of gearing, a more professional and qualified version of my diatribe. Don’t miss out on it!