1. Yet another Gear setup for non donor Paladin Tanks (PvE)

    Hello, Many times I have asked "what is the best gear for a prot pala?" well, answers differ from each person to another so it's really hard to find a BiS gear list.

    I decided to try and find a decent gear setup that would give me a good amount of armor (since I'm a armor whore) while reaching both the hit and expertise caps.

    There are some considerations about this particular list since I only looked for non heroic items:

    1. I don't pretend this to be an ultimate BiS list but hopefully it will be a good guide to look up for the nondonors that are starting to raid icc 25 and even RS 25 (or those are willing to expend some points on those precious lvl 272 items like myself)

    2. This is more like a guide on what items you should get from the t10 and the EoFs vendor and why

    3. I didn't take into account socket's bonuses, gems, enchants, talents or buff for the total values so things can drastically vary on a raiding scenario

    4. This only applies to Horde players since we don't have that nifty +1% hit chance that comes with every draenei

    The gear list:

    Head: Broken Ram Skull Helm --- Lady Deathwhisper 25N (Hit rating bonus, the sanctified T10 will give you more STR, a bit more STA and parry

    Chest: Sanctified Lightsworn Chestguard --- T10 vendor (the cataclysmic chestguard gives you a huge def rating bonus over this one + expertise, but I chose this for the sake of the 4p T10 bonus)

    Hands: Sanctified Lightsworn Handguards --- T10 vendor (the hit is always good)

    Shoulders: Sanctified Lightsworn Shoulderguards --- T10 vendor

    Legs: Sanctified Lightsworn Legguards --- T10 vendor

    Feet: Treads Of Impending Resurrection --- Halion 25N

    Wrists: Gargoyle Spit Bracers --- Deathbringer Saurfang 10N (for the armor bonus)

    Belt: Verdigris Chain Belt ---- EoFs Vendor (more armor)

    Cloak: Sentinel's winter Cloak --- EoFs vendor (Armor is love, armor is life)

    Necklace: Noose Of Malachite --- Valithira Dreamwalker 25N ( the Bile encrusted will give you an armor bonus and more strength, but the hit cap must be reached)

    Ring 1: Ashen Band Of Endless Courage --- ICC Rep farm (delicious armor proc, and hit rating ofc)

    Ring 2: Devium's Eternally Cold Ring --- Valithria Dreamwalker 25N (The only signifficant difference with the Juggernaut Band is that you get armor instead of parry rating)

    Trinket 1: Sindragosa's Flawless Fang --- Sindragosa 25N (a truly life saver with the boost in resistances)

    Trinket 2: Petrified Twiight Scale --- Halion 25N (a nice armor bonus, I put it here because I actually spend my points on it, but as the time passes I'm starting to think that the Unidentifiable Organ could be a better option even if it does not give as much armor as the scale)

    Weapon: Mithrios, Bronzebeard's Legacy --- Lich King 25N (expertise, another annoying yet necessary stat if you want to keep that aggro)

    Shield: Icecrown Glacial Wall --- Blood-Queen Lana'thel 25N

    Libram: Libram Of The Sacred Shield --- EoC vendor (keep that holy shield up)

    Ok, so what exactly will you get from this particular setup?:

    Armor: 31188 (65,215% physical damage reduction against lvl 83 mobs)
    STR: 1403
    STA: 2405
    Def Rating: 823 (for 567 Defense with a 400 base skill)
    Dodge Rating: 591 (13% from this value alone)
    Parry Rating: 367 (8,11% from this value alone)
    Hit Rating: 236, The cap is 263 or 8%, don't look at me like that, you want that extra 24 rating? well, I got just what you need: Worg Tartare, you don't want to farm worg meat? how about some hybrid gems with hit rating or enchanting you weapon with "Accuracy"?. Or you could go and grab some Heroic versions of the gear
    Expertise Rating: 120, The cap is 200 or 26 expertise, now THIS is frustrating, with this amount of rating you should get 15,6 expertise, now equip your Glyph of Seal of Vengeance and you'll get 25,6... so close, you could use a hybrid gem, or get an heroic version, or follow my bad example by ignoring that decimal number

    Unfortunately the "Misery" Debuff from the shadow priests only applies to spells, so don't count too much on it for your hit needs


    Well, I guess that's it, if you liked it, leave a comment, if you didn't, leave a comment anyway, thanks for the feedback and forgive my poor grammar, I'm still learning

  2. Hello, Many times I have asked "what is the best gear for a prot pala?" well, answers differ from each person to another so it's really hard to find a BiS gear list.
    Because there isn't a definitive bis list for tanks, regardless of being a donor or not. It varies from encounter to encounter, and by role; offtank or maintank. You working on figuring out what's good for you on your own is the first big step to becoming a good tank.

  3. Everyone will indeed arrive at their own conclusion - Best let people choose how they wanna arrive at said conclusions themself

    Spoiler: Show

    In order of most preferable to least, this is how you would want to do things:
    1) Have all the tank pieces in your bag and think on your feet, changing pieces on the fly for every encounter meaning you are 100% optimally set up for every fight.
    2) Having 2 sets in your equipment manager, one for Stam/avoid and one for Armor - Letting you cover most of the options for boss fights.
    3) Having only 1 set in your bag, a mishmash of Stam/Avoid/Armor as a Jack-of-All, master-of-none. Never completely bad, but never quite completly optimal either - But the best approach if you were donating for only 1 set of gear with a limited budget.
    4) Having ONLY an Armor set, OR having ONLY a Stam/Avoid set. Leaving you very well optimized for some fights, and very badly optimized for other fights. Ever tried tanking HC Halion in a full Armor set? "Ouch" is the word you're looking for.

    So aim for Option 1) or 2), However, if you had to go with Option 3) and make your own "Jack of all trades" Set this is how you would do:

    Step 1: Choose 4 piece t10 approach or 2 piece t10 approach
    If you decide to go 2 piece, you get the T10 gloves, and the T10 chest. If you go 4 piece, you have option a) 4 Piece T10 + Hit rating Helmet // OR // option b) 4 piece T10 + armor or hit rating legs.

    Step 2: Decide on whether you want to go for more Armor Set focus or Stam Set focus.

    Step 3: Choose whether you will wish to use Glyph of Vengeance for +10 Expertise or not, and then focus the rest of your non-tier pieces around your Hit/Expertise preferances with the following information in mind:
    In my opinion, aim for a MINIMUM of 4%ish hit and 5-6ish Expertise from your gear itemization alone (Aka, without talents, glyphs or gems). Opinions will vary greatly.
    Remember that you get 6 expertise from talents, 10 expertise from Seal of Vengeance. You need another 5-6 from your gear to quasi-comfortable sit at 21-22. You can gem for more afterwards if needed. If you itemize for well over the minimum expertise, then you can drop your glyph of vengeance for something else.

    Expertise softcap is 26, hard cap is 56. You can (and most people WILL) passively get +16 from talents and glyph.
    Hit rating cap is 8%. You get ZERO assistance from talents and glyphs.

    Personally I shoot for at least 26 expertise and 7% hit rating after glyphs, talents and gems. I personally take the Glyph of vengeance and I recommend doing so because it allows for more freedom with choosing armor/hit/avoidance gear.

    Here is your Shopping list: Aim to get all pieces on this gearlist

    Helmets:
    Broken Ram Skull Helm - Hit (Highly Recommended)
    Sanctified Lightsworn Faceguard - T10 (for 4piece users who want to use armor/hit rating legs, or for 2 piece users in their frost resist set- More details on frost resist later)

    Necks
    Bile-Encrusted Medallion - Armor (This is strongly recommended)
    Noose of Malachite - hit rating (You should try to get your hit rating needs elsewhere)

    Shoulds
    Boneguard Commander's Pauldrons - Avoidance
    Sanctified Lightsworn Shoulderguards - T10 (1 less socket)

    Capes
    Royal Crimson Cloak - Hit
    Sentinel's Winter Cloak - Armor


    Chest
    Sanctified Lightsworn Chestguard - T10 Armor. (Although I say everything is viable, I consider these chest to be one of the few pieces set in stone for an optimal BiS list.)
    Blightborne Warplate - Only alternative(NOT RECOMMENDED, take the T10 ones. Only take if no one wants it for offspec or mainspec)

    Bracers
    Bracers of Dark Reckoning - Stam/Avoid set
    Gargoyle Spit Bracers - Armor set

    Gloves
    Sanctified Lightsworn Handguards - T10 Armor, again one of the few pieces i consider set in stone.
    Taldaram's Plated Fists - Only alternative(NOT RECOMMENDED, take the T10 ones. Only take if no one wants it for offspec or mainspec)

    Belt
    Belt of Broken Bones - Stam/Avoid set
    Verdigris Chain Belt - Armor set

    Legs
    Pillars of Might - Armor
    Legguards of Lost Hope - Hit Rating
    Sanctified Lightsworn Legguards - T10 expertise (Taking these legs means possibly dropping your Glyph of Vengeance, at the loss of the armor/hit rating from other legs)

    Feet
    Grinning Skull Greatboots - Expertise
    Treads of Impending Resurrection - Avoidance


    Rings
    Signified Ring of Binding - Armor/resistances
    Devium's Eternally Cold Ring - Armor

    Juggernaut Band - Stam/Avoid Set
    Ashen Band of Endless Courage - Armor Proc + Hit, Kinda also a Stam set ring. (Armor proc is inferior to passive armor bonusses)


    Trinkets - These are your most covetted collection pieces- AIM TO GET ALL OF THEM. You will swap your trinkets more often than you change your shirts IRL.
    Sindies Flawless Fang Sindy's fang gives you awesome Stam + a Kickass defensive CD
    Petrified Twilight Scale Armor. (Only activates when a MELEE strike brings you low)
    Unidentifiable Organ - Armor / Stam Proc (Proc is unreliable)
    These 3 are top place on the must-have list. Sindy's fang is a top tier trinket usable in almost every fight, while providing the highest stamina in the game for trinkets. PTS and Organ I consider the top tier Armor trinkets in the game, Use PTS on a slow but hard hitting encounter, and use Organ when multi tanking or tanking a fast attacking boss.

    Juggernaut's Vitality - stamina (Has a different name for Horde/Alliance -Horde version linked. Alliance is known as Satrina's Impending Scarab)
    Corroded Skeleton Key - Stamina
    I consider these 2 about the same, JV/SIS has a better On-Use effect but the Key provides slightly better passive stamina.

    Purified Onyxia Blood Talisman
    Corpse Tongue Coin
    Some Collection Tid Bits

    Shields
    Icecrown Glacial Wall - Recommended, one of the few pieces set in stone.
    Neverending Winter - Only alternative

    Librams - Collect them all, because why not. You can swap them mid fight.
    Libram of Valiance - Str, used in most faceroll content.
    Libram of Defiance - Dodge, no rampup.
    Libram of the Eternal Tower - Dodge, takes time to rampup
    Libram of the Sacred Shield - Block Moar Damage.
    I carry these 4 in my bags at all times.

    Libram of Resurgence - AoE threat.
    Libram of Reciprocation - The faceroll content equiv for Valiance for when you use SoCommand
    Wrathful Gladiator's Libram of Justice - Umm, cuz dispelling DP and self healing? IDK, I had it for my ret pvp set so I macro it into my flash of light spell - I don't think it's come in handy so far but maybe one day...

    Weapon - I won't add any comments on these as the weapon debate for paladins is a touchy subject that needs no more input from myself
    Havoc's Call, Blade of Lordaeron Kings
    Mithrios, Bronzebeard's Legacy
    Bloodvenom Blade
    Last Word
    Remember you can swap weapons in combat too. Last word's proc uptime is pretty much 100% - but the value of it is up to you to decide.

    Frost Resist-An optional additional set some tanks like to carry for fights such as Sindragosa and Toravon. Also applicable for any encounter with alot of frost damage.

    Spoiler: Show
    There is a myth that resistance caps at 415 - This is a myth that comes from misinformation based on how resistances used to work in Burning Crusade - This is no longer the case in WotLK.
    That said, Resistances get more beneficial the more you have: I am not sure of exact numbers but an example is as follows:
    If 200 resistance halves your damage taken, getting a mere 100 more will be equally as valuable as all of the first 200 resistance combined, as 300 total resistance will once again halve your total spell damage taken compared to having 200. This makes sense if you put it numerically:
    If 200 resist gives -50%, and 300 resist gives -75%
    In this fashion each additional point of resistance becomes more valuable than the last - Somewhat comparable to Armor Penetration on DPS classes, except this is a tank's equivalent for reducing Spell Damage taken.
    With this in mind, please make sure that if you get a frost resistance set, you have get AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE, or NONE AT ALL - Do not go lazy half-halfs.
    I believe many people who equip just 1-2 pieces of frost resist here and there without understanding the true mechanics behind resistances found that their minor amount of additional resistance did not help them very much and went around and spouted nonsense about resistance gear being "worthless" due to their own ignorance - Trust me, they are wrong, resistance gear is NOT worthless, you just need to have enough of it or you shouldn't have bothered.


    Icebane Chestguard - chest
    Icebane Girdle - Belt
    Icebane Treads - Feet
    Titanium Frostguard Ring -Ring

    It is also recommended to equip your Signified Ring of Binding if you have it.
    As you must swap your Chest pieces to frost resist, 2 piece T10 users are recommended to equip their Sanctified Lightsworn Faceguard T10 Helmet. Use Arcanum of the Frosty Soul enchant and the Effulgent Skyflare Diamond Meta Gem to maintain your 2 piece T10 bonus as well as maximise frost spell damage defenses. With 4 pieces of frost gear, Signified ring and the T10 helmet with frost resist enchant, it is possible to have 540 Passive Frost resist gear with the aid of a +130 resist buff such as aura.

    Lesser Flask of Resistanc flasks you up another 50 resistance

    With the use of consumables you can have 590 Frost resist for an entire boss fight without any professions or resistance gems.

    Pattern: Fur Lining - Frost Resist - Leatherworkers can even use a spare Wrist piece they don't need for even higher resistance, putting them at a max potential of 660 >>PASSIVE<< frost resistance.

    Add in a Sindy's Fang trinket and you will be nigh impossible to kill through frost damage.


    I think I covered everything. In my haste to finish this post in time before Guild Raid time (30 mins ago), its possible I've forgotten a couple of pieces.

    It's interesting to see people's armory's to see what results they've arrived at - Most if not all of them went through this very same process to find their own personal BiS lists that they've arrived at - Most people end up with slightly different lists.

  4. Everyone will indeed arrive at their own conclusion - Best let people choose how they wanna arrive at said conclusions themself
    It's rather contradictory that you say that then link your own information and not the thread that contains those other conclusions. Here, allow me to assist you.
    http://forum.warmane.com/showthread....la-tank-3-3-5a

    Also, it should be noted that while many people will arrive at their own conclusions, that does not mean that they cannot be wrong.

  5. Also, it should be noted that while many people will arrive at their own conclusions, that does not mean that they cannot be wrong.
    No! They're all wrong! Wrong!

    But in all seriousness, you can obtain every piece of bis tank gear, for every fight and both roles, without donating. Just thought I'd mention that. This should be more of a guideline for people who aren't doing heroic yet.

  6. Maybe someday someone will get bored and come up with a BiS Gear workbook. This workbook would consist of exercises outlining different boss encounter scenarios and abilities. Students will be required to analyze the boss abilities to determine which tanking stats would be the most useful for the encounter. You are then offered a selection of tanking pieces or sets to choose from. Students must consider the difference in stats between each piece and / or gear set then determine which is best for the encounter. Answers with choice and stat explanations would be given only for odd numbered problems leaving the even ones open to friendly debate that isn't based off some magical list.

    Only then will people be able to realize that being a good tank isn't about the gear you wear, but how you chose to prioritize your stats given different boss abilities and encounter situations.

    #muricaneducation

  7. Spoiler: Show
    Hello, Many times I have asked "what is the best gear for a prot pala?" well, answers differ from each person to another so it's really hard to find a BiS gear list.

    I decided to try and find a decent gear setup that would give me a good amount of armor (since I'm a armor whore) while reaching both the hit and expertise caps.

    There are some considerations about this particular list since I only looked for non heroic items:

    1. I don't pretend this to be an ultimate BiS list but hopefully it will be a good guide to look up for the nondonors that are starting to raid icc 25 and even RS 25 (or those are willing to expend some points on those precious lvl 272 items like myself)

    2. This is more like a guide on what items you should get from the t10 and the EoFs vendor and why

    3. I didn't take into account socket's bonuses, gems, enchants, talents or buff for the total values so things can drastically vary on a raiding scenario

    4. This only applies to Horde players since we don't have that nifty +1% hit chance that comes with every draenei

    The gear list:

    Head: Broken Ram Skull Helm --- Lady Deathwhisper 25N (Hit rating bonus, the sanctified T10 will give you more STR, a bit more STA and parry

    Chest: Sanctified Lightsworn Chestguard --- T10 vendor (the cataclysmic chestguard gives you a huge def rating bonus over this one + expertise, but I chose this for the sake of the 4p T10 bonus)

    Hands: Sanctified Lightsworn Handguards --- T10 vendor (the hit is always good)

    Shoulders: Sanctified Lightsworn Shoulderguards --- T10 vendor

    Legs: Sanctified Lightsworn Legguards --- T10 vendor

    Feet: Treads Of Impending Resurrection --- Halion 25N

    Wrists: Gargoyle Spit Bracers --- Deathbringer Saurfang 10N (for the armor bonus)

    Belt: Verdigris Chain Belt ---- EoFs Vendor (more armor)

    Cloak: Sentinel's winter Cloak --- EoFs vendor (Armor is love, armor is life)

    Necklace: Noose Of Malachite --- Valithira Dreamwalker 25N ( the Bile encrusted will give you an armor bonus and more strength, but the hit cap must be reached)

    Ring 1: Ashen Band Of Endless Courage --- ICC Rep farm (delicious armor proc, and hit rating ofc)

    Ring 2: Devium's Eternally Cold Ring --- Valithria Dreamwalker 25N (The only signifficant difference with the Juggernaut Band is that you get armor instead of parry rating)

    Trinket 1: Sindragosa's Flawless Fang --- Sindragosa 25N (a truly life saver with the boost in resistances)

    Trinket 2: Petrified Twiight Scale --- Halion 25N (a nice armor bonus, I put it here because I actually spend my points on it, but as the time passes I'm starting to think that the Unidentifiable Organ could be a better option even if it does not give as much armor as the scale)

    Weapon: Mithrios, Bronzebeard's Legacy --- Lich King 25N (expertise, another annoying yet necessary stat if you want to keep that aggro)

    Shield: Icecrown Glacial Wall --- Blood-Queen Lana'thel 25N

    Libram: Libram Of The Sacred Shield --- EoC vendor (keep that holy shield up)

    Ok, so what exactly will you get from this particular setup?:

    Armor: 31188 (65,215% physical damage reduction against lvl 83 mobs)
    STR: 1403
    STA: 2405
    Def Rating: 823 (for 567 Defense with a 400 base skill)
    Dodge Rating: 591 (13% from this value alone)
    Parry Rating: 367 (8,11% from this value alone)
    Hit Rating: 236, The cap is 263 or 8%, don't look at me like that, you want that extra 24 rating? well, I got just what you need: Worg Tartare, you don't want to farm worg meat? how about some hybrid gems with hit rating or enchanting you weapon with "Accuracy"?. Or you could go and grab some Heroic versions of the gear
    Expertise Rating: 120, The cap is 200 or 26 expertise, now THIS is frustrating, with this amount of rating you should get 15,6 expertise, now equip your Glyph of Seal of Vengeance and you'll get 25,6... so close, you could use a hybrid gem, or get an heroic version, or follow my bad example by ignoring that decimal number

    Unfortunately the "Misery" Debuff from the shadow priests only applies to spells, so don't count too much on it for your hit needs


    Well, I guess that's it, if you liked it, leave a comment, if you didn't, leave a comment anyway, thanks for the feedback and forgive my poor grammar, I'm still learning
    What exactly is this guide about? There is no way you will end up with a gear setup like this. If you are just pugging: LK25 (most likely even Sindy25 and VDW25) and RS25 aren't really obtainable. Most ICC25 pugs end 9/12 or less and the one RS pug once in a while has gear and achievement requirements you won't meet if you need this list. And if you are in a guild: If your guild downs LK25 on a regular basis you are able to do atleast 9/12 25hc and even 11/12 10hc isn't this hard to get to.
    In my opinion that's just a considerable heroic list downgraded to normal versions.

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •