WotLK Bis pala tank 3.3.5a

[Lynea]

@Lynea
I don't want to start the same cancer that was pala tank thread, but do note that my char was w/o devo aura and any other buff, so my EHP will be higher than what you simmed last night. Anyhow you will have more sp, thus more absorbs, you will more than likely have slightly bigger avoidance numbers, but you will also likely have less EHP total, compared to me because of the way you need to gem hit into your char. My setup was made specifically for humans with one purpose. Easy hit and current expertise cap with all armor items. Now that I'm belf I had to get more hybrid exp gems. The only thing I would swap from my setup would be PTS to organ because of the way it will suite my lower avoidance value compared to other 4pT10 tanks, if only I actually had it.

You're fine. My post wasn't directed at you. It was more intended to slap Selaya for telling the guy that there's a definitive BIS when we all know there isn't. Everyone has their own approach to things, encounters and raid comps vary, etc.

Item-wise, I don't have a whole lot. I've been collecting trinkets. I have a frost resistance set. I have the expertise boots and the hit legs. That's all I have that you don't see on my armory. I ended up having to gem some hit and expertise to get to where I was prior to faction changing away from Alliance. I was rather pleased with the result, so I didn't bother to change it much more than I already did. I have options though, and they do the job.

P.S. I actually do recommend you start a fight with a DPS weapon (such as bvb), and then switch to Last Word, instead of running solely on mithrios.
P.S.2 Did you have any buffs when you logged out from your char? I ask because I'd like to sim your EHP compared to mine and buffs influence this quite a lot.
P.S.3 As far as soul reapers go you should evade them. Lk casts SR right after a defile in p2/3 so you just move some 5 yards away from him and it will not hit you.

1 - I need the expertise Mithrios offers, I haven't messed with Last Word since it was fixed (years ago), and my threat hasn't been an issue all the times I have tanked. If I need to switch to a DPS weapon, I have a Havoc's for pvping which I keep around.
2 - I logged in to check. The only active buffs I had was Devotion Aura and Seal of Wisdom. I didn't even have Righteous Fury up for some reason.
3 - Dafuq. I heard nothing of this on retail and it looks more like an exploit than anything. Either way, Soul Reaper should not be a threat if the tanks and healers handle it properly.

Let's not argue about who has a bigger penis/who's armory is better. Hnonestly, we couldn't care less about 1 set of displayed/equipped armor. Collect all of the pieces, swap between them, this is the only correct answer.

That's not what this was about. This sort of comment only provokes people. Just don't.

[Selaya]

I didn`t claim that there is a singular BiS list. I just linked what I believe would be the best and most, well comprehensive and general-purpose list available, because the OP asked for one.

[Labistaja]

This is my vision of the BiS list, switching weapon between Mithirios and Last Word, for the second ring, i'd take Onyxia one but i'm too lazy to work for it + shoulder enchant requires exchanging but yet again, i'm lazy and I don't really have survival issues, ever.

In my eyes, not taking the 4. set bonus is *****ic, no harsh feelings, it's just my opinion on it. Having another defensive cooldown every minute ( although yes, it isn't as effective as the 12% damage reduction which other classes tanks have, it still can seal the deal, specially if you're favoured by the sweet sweet RNGesus) is just marvellous.
Also, not going to explain everything on what and why as I have better things to do rather than arguing with someone in the forums, but yeah armory link:
http://armory.warmane.com/character/...thwing/summary
38k armor is more than sufficient for me, been able to solotank LoD with only one argent proc at p1 (without using Divine Protection) and tons of bane solotanks without argent proccing, ever.

[Beanlord]

1 - I need the expertise Mithrios offers, I haven't messed with Last Word since it was fixed (years ago), and my threat hasn't been an issue all the times I have tanked. If I need to switch to a DPS weapon, I have a Havoc's for pvping which I keep around.
2 - I logged in to check. The only active buffs I had was Devotion Aura and Seal of Wisdom. I didn't even have Righteous Fury up for some reason.
3 - Dafuq. I heard nothing of this on retail and it looks more like an exploit than anything. Either way, Soul Reaper should not be a threat if the tanks and healers handle it properly.

2- Then the difference between our sets of gear is ~100-150 points of armor in your favor with some extra avoidance and more HP in my favor (sp will be ~the same throughout the fight as I swap weapons).
3- Maybe people from retail never tried it or even think of it, dunno, I never actually played retail. But if we are to trust "official" sources:
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=69409/soul-reaper
http://wotlk.openwow.com/spell=69409
http://wowwiki.wikia.com/wiki/Lich_K...tadel_tactics)
In wowwiki it says melee range, dunno if that's precisely 5 yards. It certainly does work here and I've used it ever since I found out about it, whether it's an exploit or not I can't say. And SR isn't that big of a threat but you might as well save yourself the extra Shadow damage + 50% instant melee strike.

[Lynea]

@2 The avoidance was in my favor, actually. Doesn't matter, though. The discrepancies are minimal at best.

@3 No, it's not a matter of not trying it, because that is not how these mechanics work on retail. Here, mechanics work on timers, and when that timer is up, the mechanic goes off. There is no checking if it is capable of performing the function. There are no checks for anything. That is why there are so many exploits that shouldn't exist. Also, to say it isn't an exploit because you think it could've worked that way on retail is just making an excuse. It is an exploit. An exploit isn't defined as whether or not it is "blizz-like". It is clearly obvious that it is a cheesing of a mechanic, and just as obvious that it shouldn't work that way. Encouraging this sort of behavior is a major part of why I'm disgusted with my own realm's raiding community. Using exploits such as this in order to make boss encounters easier than they should be, then boasting about it as if it were a good thing. I stopped playing here frequently to get away from it, and now it makes its way onto the forum as well. Keep this **** to yourself for ****'s sake. Ugh, I CANNOT WAIT for the Lordaeron core.

[magaginho]

I didn`t claim that there is a singular BiS list. I just linked what I believe would be the best and most, well comprehensive and general-purpose list available, because the OP asked for one.

So you bash me for stating the exact same thing that you just did but now that you do it there's no problem?
Plus your gear uses Bloodvenom Blade. Please... Stop it. I only visit this forum to get a little bit more of cancer but I start to believe you like to push the cancer attention to yourself. Like my sensei used to say: You can't fix broken people.

You're hilarious. I start to believe you need medical help...

1 - I need the expertise Mithrios offers, I haven't messed with Last Word since it was fixed (years ago), and my threat hasn't been an issue all the times I have tanked. If I need to switch to a DPS weapon, I have a Havoc's for pvping which I keep around.
2 - I logged in to check. The only active buffs I had was Devotion Aura and Seal of Wisdom. I didn't even have Righteous Fury up for some reason.
3 - Dafuq. I heard nothing of this on retail and it looks more like an exploit than anything. Either way, Soul Reaper should not be a threat if the tanks and healers handle it properly.

Not only that Lynea. The Mithrios mitigation stats are just too worth to drop. All the weapons they suggest as a trade-off make me confused and amazed on how Protection Paladins need more threat generation in this content. They keep hitting the same button over and over and over but yet I'm still waiting for their theorycraft that, let's be honest, probably will NEVER happen. We will just sit here doing what we did so far; Bash our heads against them and they seem to believe they look glorious while doing it.

@2 The avoidance was in my favor, actually. Doesn't matter, though. The discrepancies are minimal at best.

@3 No, it's not a matter of not trying it, because that is not how these mechanics work on retail. Here, mechanics work on timers, and when that timer is up, the mechanic goes off. There is no checking if it is capable of performing the function. There are no checks for anything. That is why there are so many exploits that shouldn't exist. Also, to say it isn't an exploit because you think it could've worked that way on retail is just making an excuse. It is an exploit. An exploit isn't defined as whether or not it is "blizz-like". It is clearly obvious that it is a cheesing of a mechanic, and just as obvious that it shouldn't work that way. Encouraging this sort of behavior is a major part of why I'm disgusted with my own realm's raiding community. Using exploits such as this in order to make boss encounters easier than they should be, then boasting about it as if it were a good thing. I stopped playing here frequently to get away from it, and now it makes its way onto the forum as well. Keep this **** to yourself for ****'s sake. Ugh, I CANNOT WAIT for the Lordaeron core.

And yes, it is an exploit. For that to happen you need people to actually use spells to slow down the boss so you can actually position yourself in range. The defile timer will not enter in conflict with the Soul Reaper timer. Never. You should have a few seconds of difference between each other so the boss can still get to you. Did LK yesterday in this server and that's literally what happened - In an average of five seconds after casting Defile he casted Soul Reaper. Now, with this said, I'm assuming that for you to get out of his range for so damn long five seconds, some Paladin is either using the slowing judgement (bannable by the way) or you're using other kind of exploit that I don't even want to be aware off.

[Beanlord]

@3 No, it's not a matter of not trying it, because that is not how these mechanics work on retail. Here, mechanics work on timers, and when that timer is up, the mechanic goes off. There is no checking if it is capable of performing the function. There are no checks for anything. That is why there are so many exploits that shouldn't exist. Also, to say it isn't an exploit because you think it could've worked that way on retail is just making an excuse. It is an exploit. An exploit isn't defined as whether or not it is "blizz-like". It is clearly obvious that it is a cheesing of a mechanic, and just as obvious that it shouldn't work that way. Encouraging this sort of behavior is a major part of why I'm disgusted with my own realm's raiding community. Using exploits such as this in order to make boss encounters easier than they should be, then boasting about it as if it were a good thing. I stopped playing here frequently to get away from it, and now it makes its way onto the forum as well. Keep this **** to yourself for ****'s sake. Ugh, I CANNOT WAIT for the Lordaeron core.

As I said I haven't played retail, the only thing I'm accustomed to is the way warmane's scripts work so I didn't really know mechanics aren't supposed to be time based. I guess it is an exploit and no I'm not excusing myself (before you mention it). There was no need for such a harsh reaction . I also eagerly await Lordaeron core and everything it will bring to the raiding scene.

Not only that Lynea. The Mithrios mitigation stats are just too worth to drop. All the weapons they suggest as a trade-off make me confused and amazed on how Protection Paladins need more threat generation in this content. They keep hitting the same button over and over and over but yet I'm still waiting for their theorycraft that, let's be honest, probably will NEVER happen. We will just sit here doing what we did so far; Bash our heads against them and they seem to believe they look glorious while doing it.

As I said above (in one of my posts which you can read) my build is centered around being human and easily reaching hit and current expertise caps. The weapon of choice there is BVB. I made enough theorycrafting on your guide comparing mithrios versus havoc (even though I don't actually use havoc anymore) because that was the discussion going on in the guide:

Spoiler: Show

113 stamina = 113 + 113 x 0,1 +113 x 0,1 = 135,6 stamina
64 str = 64+ 9,6 +6,4 = 80 str total and 48 sp
blue socket +6 stamina = 36 stamina = 43,2 stamina
Defense rating 56 = 11 defense
parry rating 48 = 1,23% parry ( It’s that value since parry DRs at base value of 5 on warmane)
expertise rating 42 = 5 expertise
weapon speed 1,6
weapon dmg – 296 - 551


total ( mithrios with tank talents, gems and kings accounted for)
178,8 stamina = 1788 hp
80 str converted into 48 sp and 160 AP
11 defense ( if you have 541 def skill it will give an extra 0,3% dodge, 0,71 % parry and 0,44 % block chance and 49 block value)
5 expertise


It is also noteworthy to add that the extra damage SS will absorb via the extra SP from mithrios over the course of a 15 minute battle if it were to proc exactly on cooldown will be 5400 points of damage (60 secs * 15 (minutes) = 900 seconds divided by 6 = 150 procs and finally multiplied by 36 because SS scales 75% of your spell power). I think this is the only thing I neglected in the original comparison.

Edit: Avoidance figures could be slightly off depending on how high your current avoidance and defense is.

And swaping mithrios for BVB isn't a bad trade off depeding on your gear as with any other piece of gear, but since you already know that I don't see what's bad in the use of BVB. Maybe you could enlighten me?

[Selaya]

Note that I didn`t make any statements about the weapon in this thread.

Also

So you bash me for stating the exact same thing that you just did but now that you do it there's no problem?
Plus your gear uses Bloodvenom Blade. Please... Stop it. I only visit this forum to get a little bit more of cancer but I start to believe you like to push the cancer attention to yourself. Like my sensei used to say: You can't fix broken people.

The solution isn`t singular != everything is viable

[Sixtyninee]

First thread I've actually read in a few days and here is my observation on the Warmane community's view on tanks: Most of you guys are too busy trying to stack secondary stats for threat while sacrificing hit/expertise. Did you all miss the DPS 101 class or something? Also, why do you need all that threat? I still haven't seen a single valid reason as to why it would be needed. And yes, I am referring to almost every Paladin tank thread made.

[magaginho]

Note that I didn`t make any statements about the weapon in this thread.

AlsoThe solution isn`t singular != everything is viable

No. You just linked an armory link where one of the weapons you defend is there. Logics!

Answering to your also, you don't even make sense. First you state that not everything is viable and that you should go X way. Now you say that you can actually go Y, X or W way. That sounds autistic.

[Selaya]

I said and say that you can go to X, Y and/or Z. However, you cannot go to A, B, C, Xy, Xz or Xa because while the former will be at the peak of any given specific purpose, any of the latter will be surpassed in what they`re trying to accomplish by X, Y or Z respectively.

[Raenel]

I think we've gotten off topic. Basically everyone's posts have a hint of truth somewhere in their post and due to the complex nature of tanking, the real answer is more complex and a combination all viewpoints (although I'll admit a couple posts in here are mostly misinformation). So sparing no punches, this is how I'd personally approach a "BiS list" for Prot paladin, but in a manner that takes in account multiple scenarios and factors.

Before we start, let's start with an overview, there are multiple way's to approach a BiS list and some are more effective than others. In order of most preferable to least, this is how you would want to do things (assuming infinite resources and access to gear)
1) Owning all viable BiS item candidates, properly evaluating their strengths and weaknesses and changing your equipment on an encounter by encounter basis.
2) Having 2 sets in your equipment manager, one for Stam set and one for Armor set; This is a good middle of the road approach. You can always slightly tweak trinkets/rings/librams as needed from these preset setups.
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. Because let's be honest, raiding content is generally easy enough with a BiS tank a middle of the road approach is usually "good enough" for all content in the game. Note that this approach is also why there is no such thing as a single, steadfast BiS list for tanks.
4) Having ONLY an Armor set, OR having ONLY a Stam/Avoid set. Leaving you very well optimized for some fights, and poorly optimized for other fights. As a tank your job is to cover for your biggest weaknesses since this is how raid wipes occur; Specailising into the wrong set on the wrong fight goes as close as possible to seeing a raid tank die.

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 it:

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. In general, I prefer 2piece T10 sets as the 4p T10 bonus is very lackluster, dodge rating is not ideal for raids nor when used as a defensive cooldown.

Step 2: Decide on whether you want to go for more Armor Set focus or Stam Set focus, the goal is to a balance of both but you will need to lean more towards one or the other eventually.

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. Ironically the more organised raids you attend, the more hit rating and expertise you will need to consistantly hold aggro. Being a user of the 6-9 rotation will also decrease hit/expertise cap needs as the 6-9 rotation is better optimised for threat output.

Remember that you get 6 expertise from talents, 10 expertise from Seal of Vengeance. You need another 5-6 from your gear to quasi-comfortably 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 if you can, or pick pieces to create a balanced loadout if going for a single Jack of all Trades setup.

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- For 2p t10 users, try to collect this helmet as well and gem it with a Effulgent Skyflare meta gem. 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.
Sindragosa's Flawless Fang Stam + 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. In certain circumstances, if you're in that 3-hit EhP sweetspot range for coin it will proc extremely consistantly and thus throws it well into the lead as one of the best possible trinkets in that scenario.

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

Main Librams
Libram of Valiance - Valiance is the go-to libram in most raid content. If you're on Seal of Vengeance; You're most likely going to camp this libram.
Libram of the Sacred Shield - If you're in Seal of command you can't proc Libram of Valiance, so use this instead. Note; Both a damage mitigation and threat libram, even for damage reduction offers more consistant mitigation than dodge librams.

Dodge Librams; (October-2023 edit: Libram stacking has now been fixedhttps://www.warmane.com/bugtracker/report/118242 The use of these dodge librams has now been degraded significantly that we can't have multiple of them active at once with libram swap techniques) These are not worth running as your main libram, but can be swapped to under extenuating circumstances in niche scenarios. Do note that dodge rating is not considered useful in a raid scenario (situationally decent for dungeons).
Libram of Defiance - No rampup.
Libram of the Eternal Tower - Takes time to rampup

Situationally useful librams;
Wrathful Gladiator's Libram of Justice - Huge Flash of Light utility libram that's overlooked by too many players; A huge help healing in frostmourne chamber, airphase sindy and general offtank shenanigans.
Libram of Resurgence - A bump to consecration threat/damage, very niche but worth being aware of.
Libram of Reciprocation - Worth being aware of for some "dungeon champion" builds.


Weapons - This has been the touchiest topic of the thread thus far, so in no particular order, here's the top contenders; I will explore the pro's and con's and my viewpoints on them shortly.

In no particular order;
Havoc's Call, Blade of Lordaeron Kings
Mithrios, Bronzebeard's Legacy
Bloodvenom Blade
Last Word

My approach: I don't touch Havoc's ever. If I want expertise; I'd use Mithrios and if I want Hit rating; I'd use Bloodvenom Blade. Last Word is a weapon I will swap to whenever threat is stable and I expect the proc to be useful.


Frost Resist-An optional additional set some tanks like to carry for fights such as Sindragosa and Toravon (espcially applicable for solotank scenarios). 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.

In addition to that, Magic resistance works by giving you a chance to trigger damage resistance in tiers. Too often tanks will say "But no matter how much resistance I get to all I can see is either -25% or -50%" Well yes, that's how resistance works, but the chance you trigger each of the higher-damage resist brackets increases with the amount of resistance owned. Hence, every point of Magic Resistance is effective and valuable up until an unobtainable cap.

Therefore, in short, there is no cap and all Magic Resistance is valuable.

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 Frost Resist aura/totem.

Lesser Flask of Resistance 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.

Equip a Sindrago's Flawless Fang trinket and manage your cooldowns wisely, calling for raid externals as needed and you will be able to survive an extremely high amount of punishment.



So basically in summary, everyone in this thread was somewhat correct in certain scenarios, except for those handful who were just straight up incorrect about everything.

[dike]

Spoiler: Show

I think we've gotten off topic. Let me present the mother-load post to end this discussion once and for all.

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.
Sindragosa's Flawless Fang Stam + 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 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.

Frost Resist-An optional additional set some tanks like to carry for fights such as Sindragosa and Toravon. Also application 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
Magic Resistance Potion Prepotting before a pull and then using one mid combat gets you 6 minutes(aka, should be the entire fight) of another +50 resistance effect.

With the use of consumables you can have 640 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 710 passive frost resistance.

Add in a Sindragosa's Flawless 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.

im just w8ing when they finnaly fix sindra parry-haste to see how 99% of tanks fails

[Selaya]

Rip 1.6 weapons then

[dike]

Rip 1.6 weapons then

dunno, i've seen how some russian guilds on retail did it. tanks (if paladin or wars) mixed ice resist gear, with exp gear to be hard capped (56, if i remember correctly). so in the end they ending havig 445 frost resist from gear and enchants (without consumables and aura) and 56 expertise. cant say if it was some sick "pro" move or noobish ones, but they've never had any struggle on sindra hc encounter (since thye didnt have any dk tank and were forced to pick prot pala and warr instead). i'll just w8 how it will turnes out on molten, when they finnaly fix and apply parry-haste to dragon-type bosses (sindra, hallion, malygos, saphiron, sartharion)