A while ago I posted a list of gear / gems / enchants necessary to reach "passive unhittable." (you can find that list on my tanking gear guide). Having a set that allows you to block every attack is not really useful for any serious encounters, but it's a heck of a lot of fun for soloing old content and for taking down... well, anything that does purely physical damage (Gruul, anyone?).
Since that gear list was compiled pre-3.1, I figured I'd update it here. With all the potential changes to the block mechanic that are being tossed around, who knows what the future holds for the "passive unhittable set." But for now, if you haven't vendored all this gear you just might find a new way to relax and work on soloing MC bosses for your Thunderfury, if nothing else (Garr is cake with anything remotely close to an unhittable set).
The Old Set:
Head - Platehelm of the Great Wyrm (Naxx25, Sapphiron)
Neck - Nexus War Champion Beads (Heroic Kel'Thuzad/Malygos quest reward)
Shoulders - Burdened Shoulderplates (Naxx25, Gothik)
Back - Shadow of the Ghoul (Naxx25, trash mobs)
Chest - Valorous Dreadnaught Breastplate (Naxx25, Four Horsemen)
Wrist - Bindings of the Hapless Prey (Naxx25, Maexxna)
Hands - Gauntlets of the Disobedient (Naxx25, Noth)
Waist - Fleshless Girdle (Naxx25, Patchwerk)
Legs - Greaves of Turbulence (Naxx25, Loatheb)
Feet - Inexorable Sabatons (Naxx25, Anub'Rekhan)
Trinkets - Lavanthor's Talisman and Repelling Charge
Rings - Titanium Earthguard Ring and Sand-Worn Band
Shield - Wall of Terror (Naxx25, Kel'Thuzad)
The New Set:
Head - Conqueror's Siegebreaker Greathelm (or the Valorous version)
Neck - Necklace of Unerring Mettle
Back - Cloak of the Iron Council
Chest - Unbreakable Chestguard
Hands - Handguards of the Enclave
Legs - Wyrmguard Legplates
Rings - Signet of the Earthshaker
Trinkets - The General's Heart
Weapon - Titanguard
Shield - The Boreal Guard and Bulwark of Algalon
Ranged Weapon - Veranus' Bane
Note: the shoulder, wrist, legs, and feet slots haven't really seen any unhittable set upgrades yet, so the old list still applies for those slots.
Unhittable Set Gems / Enchants:
The Gems and Enchants for the Unhittable Set 2.0 are the same as the old set. The one and only gem for the unhittable set is Thick Autumn's Glow -- use it in every available gem slot. Enchants are also the same as before:
Helm - Arcanum of the Defender
Shoulders - Greater Inscription of the Pinnacle
Back - Titanweave
Chest - Greater Defense
Wrist - Major Defense
Hands - Major Agility
Legs - Frosthide Leg Armor
Feet - Superior Agility
Weapon - Exceptional Agility
Shield - Defense
If I missed anything let me know!
...Read more
Monday, July 20, 2009
Friday, July 17, 2009
Valorous Valuables
Some of you are probably pack rats like me, and keep your bank stuffed full with discarded tanking gear that just might somehow fit into a "niche" set sometime. Others are probably the sentimental type, and can't stand to part with the gear that was won by sweat, blood and tears (I mean DKP). Regardless, take the word "delete" out of your vocabulary. At least when it comes to your Tier 7.5 tanking gear.
Why, you ask?
Well, lets look for a minute at set bonuses. As we all know... the two piece bonus for the Valorous/Heroes Dreadnaught warrior tanking set was awesome (10% shield slam damage buff). The two piece Siegebreaker tanking set bonus is slightly less awesome (10% devastate damage buff).
I just recently obtained the 4 piece Siegebreaker set bonus (20% magic reduction with shield block up), which is awesome for Mimiron phase 1, Sarth hard mode breaths, etc. It's great, when survival is paramount. But if threat is what we're going for...
I click my outfitter set named "2pc/2pc"
This set incorporates two pieces of Valorous Dreadnaught tanking gear into my usual Ulduar-gear setup. Because I have yet to obtain my T8.5 shoulders, in this set I use:
Valorous Dreadnaught Pauldrons
Valorous Dreadnaught Handguards
Not only does the two piece set bonus kick butt threat-wise, but the 34 expertise rating on the gloves fits well in a threat-oriented setup.
Moral of the story? Don't delete your Tier 7.5 gear! And if you have, go pug a 25man Sarth and get those gloves back and put them to good use!
...Read more
Why, you ask?
Well, lets look for a minute at set bonuses. As we all know... the two piece bonus for the Valorous/Heroes Dreadnaught warrior tanking set was awesome (10% shield slam damage buff). The two piece Siegebreaker tanking set bonus is slightly less awesome (10% devastate damage buff).
I just recently obtained the 4 piece Siegebreaker set bonus (20% magic reduction with shield block up), which is awesome for Mimiron phase 1, Sarth hard mode breaths, etc. It's great, when survival is paramount. But if threat is what we're going for...
I click my outfitter set named "2pc/2pc"
This set incorporates two pieces of Valorous Dreadnaught tanking gear into my usual Ulduar-gear setup. Because I have yet to obtain my T8.5 shoulders, in this set I use:
Valorous Dreadnaught Pauldrons
Valorous Dreadnaught Handguards
Not only does the two piece set bonus kick butt threat-wise, but the 34 expertise rating on the gloves fits well in a threat-oriented setup.
Moral of the story? Don't delete your Tier 7.5 gear! And if you have, go pug a 25man Sarth and get those gloves back and put them to good use!
...Read more
Threat Minimums
Trying to maximize your effective health while maintaining high threat output can be tricky. One key to accomplishing this is knowing just exactly what the so called "threat minimums" are.
Expertise:
22 skill (5.5%) (for trash mobs and heroics)
26 skill (6.5%) (for raid bosses)
Hit
177 rating (5.4%) (for trash mobs and heroics)
263 rating (8%) (for raid bosses)
Note: I personally am not at the hit "minimum" in my EH gear, but I do have 26 expertise. While I wouldn't go out of your way too much to achieve the hit "minimum" I would highly recommend working in enough expertise rating to reach the minimums for that stat. The point about hit rating is don't avoid it. Go with the Badge tank belt over the Razorscale one, for example.
Here are a few tips to achieving the threat minimums in your EH gear:
...Read more
Expertise:
22 skill (5.5%) (for trash mobs and heroics)
26 skill (6.5%) (for raid bosses)
Hit
177 rating (5.4%) (for trash mobs and heroics)
263 rating (8%) (for raid bosses)
Note: I personally am not at the hit "minimum" in my EH gear, but I do have 26 expertise. While I wouldn't go out of your way too much to achieve the hit "minimum" I would highly recommend working in enough expertise rating to reach the minimums for that stat. The point about hit rating is don't avoid it. Go with the Badge tank belt over the Razorscale one, for example.
Here are a few tips to achieving the threat minimums in your EH gear:
- Get in a Draenei party! the 1% hit generated by Heroic Presence brings the Hit minimum down to 144 hit rating for trash and 230 hit rating for bosses.
- Eat some Rhinolicious Wormsteak. This 40 expertise rating food buff translates into 4 expertise skill, bringing the expertise skill needed from gear down to 18 for trash mobs and 22 for bosses.
- For items with blue or red sockets and +stamina socket bonuses, consider using Guardian's Twilight Opal instead of the usual Solid Sky Sapphire (A great example is the Armor Plated Combat Shotgun) Each Guardian's Twilight Opal is worth just about 1 expertise skill.
...Read more
Monday, June 15, 2009
"Best in Slot" Gear Article #1 - Helm
Gearing up doesn't always mean looking for the highest item-level items possible. If you know what stats you benefit from the most, you can sometimes find relatively easily obtainable items that are as good or better than items of a higher item-level, or are simply awesome, easily obtainable upgrades from pre-3.1 gear.
For example...
Ironbark Faceguard: Drops from Freya in the ten-man version of Ulduar. Lets compare this to the pre-Ulduar helms:
Versus the Helm of Vital Protection
+ 9 Stamina
+ 19 Armor
+ 3 Defense
+ 54 Dodge
+ 26 Expertise
- 2 Strength
- 56 Parry
The only significant loss is parry rating, which is replaced by a near-equal amount of dodge rating. Every other category is a significant gain.
Versus the Valorous Dreadnaught Greathelm (T7.5)
+ 8 Sta
+ 19 Armor
+ 4 Defense
+ 54 Dodge
+ 62 Expertise
- 14 Strength
- 77 Block Value
- 35 Hit
Once again, the small loss of Strength and Block Value is more than compensated for by the huge gains in Dodge and Expertise. Hit rating is plentiful on Ulduar gear, but Expertise is at a premium.
Clearly the Ironbark Faceguard is an upgrade over ANY pre-Ulduar tanking helm. But what about 25man Ulduar helms? Lets do some more comparisons:
Versus the Conqueror's Siegebreaker Greathelm
+ 3 Defense
+ 3 Dodge
+ 62 Expertise
- 12 Sta
- 31 Str
- 22 Armor
- 51 Block Rating
The significant difference here is not defense, dodge, stamina, or armor... it is Expertise versus Block Rating. The Freya 10man helm has an advantage of 62 Expertise rating = 7 expertise skill (soft cap is 26 Expertise skill versus bosses)while the T8.5 has 51 more block rating.
Versus the Helm of the Faceless
+ 18 Defense (+10 if you put a 24 stam gem in the Helm of the Faceless, due to the socket bonus)
+ 11 Dodge
+ 62 Expertise
- 12 Sta
- 47 Str
- 22 Armor
- 59 Parry
This comparison at first glance is not as clear-cut as the others... the Helm of the Faceless has a significant EH advantage, and has a huge amount of parry rating. But even taking all that into consideration, the 7 Expertise skill provided by the Ironbark Faceguard makes it the better helm in any situation where threat is an issue.
To conclude, my observation of Ulduar itemization is that Expertise is increasingly difficult to come by. The Ironbark Faceguard from 10man Freya should be easily obtainable by any tank whose guild has defeated Freya on 25man mode. There's no reason not to pick up this helm! It's an upgrade from anything obtainable in pre-Ulduar raids, and it is situationally better than the 25man Ulduar helms.
...Read more
For example...
Ironbark Faceguard: Drops from Freya in the ten-man version of Ulduar. Lets compare this to the pre-Ulduar helms:
Versus the Helm of Vital Protection
+ 9 Stamina
+ 19 Armor
+ 3 Defense
+ 54 Dodge
+ 26 Expertise
- 2 Strength
- 56 Parry
The only significant loss is parry rating, which is replaced by a near-equal amount of dodge rating. Every other category is a significant gain.
Versus the Valorous Dreadnaught Greathelm (T7.5)
+ 8 Sta
+ 19 Armor
+ 4 Defense
+ 54 Dodge
+ 62 Expertise
- 14 Strength
- 77 Block Value
- 35 Hit
Once again, the small loss of Strength and Block Value is more than compensated for by the huge gains in Dodge and Expertise. Hit rating is plentiful on Ulduar gear, but Expertise is at a premium.
Clearly the Ironbark Faceguard is an upgrade over ANY pre-Ulduar tanking helm. But what about 25man Ulduar helms? Lets do some more comparisons:
Versus the Conqueror's Siegebreaker Greathelm
+ 3 Defense
+ 3 Dodge
+ 62 Expertise
- 12 Sta
- 31 Str
- 22 Armor
- 51 Block Rating
The significant difference here is not defense, dodge, stamina, or armor... it is Expertise versus Block Rating. The Freya 10man helm has an advantage of 62 Expertise rating = 7 expertise skill (soft cap is 26 Expertise skill versus bosses)while the T8.5 has 51 more block rating.
Versus the Helm of the Faceless
+ 18 Defense (+10 if you put a 24 stam gem in the Helm of the Faceless, due to the socket bonus)
+ 11 Dodge
+ 62 Expertise
- 12 Sta
- 47 Str
- 22 Armor
- 59 Parry
This comparison at first glance is not as clear-cut as the others... the Helm of the Faceless has a significant EH advantage, and has a huge amount of parry rating. But even taking all that into consideration, the 7 Expertise skill provided by the Ironbark Faceguard makes it the better helm in any situation where threat is an issue.
To conclude, my observation of Ulduar itemization is that Expertise is increasingly difficult to come by. The Ironbark Faceguard from 10man Freya should be easily obtainable by any tank whose guild has defeated Freya on 25man mode. There's no reason not to pick up this helm! It's an upgrade from anything obtainable in pre-Ulduar raids, and it is situationally better than the 25man Ulduar helms.
...Read more
Saturday, June 13, 2009
The "Best in Slot" Tank
Like anything else in life, there are average tanks, there are good tanks, and there are great tanks. A wise man (Miguel Cervantez) once said:
What sets the great tanks apart from the rest? And how do you go about becoming a great tank?
Often we tanks toss around the phrase "best in slot" when referring to a particular piece of gear. but have you ever thought about applying that phrase to yourself as becoming the best tank possible?
I don't pretend to be a great tank, but I am fortunate enough to know a few great tanks. They aren't always the most outgoing or the most well-known, but like all great tanks they have one thing in common: they walk into every encounter they face with the knowledge that they are as prepared for their role as they can possibly be.
Becoming a "best in slot" tank has nothing to do with which tanking class you playor how many hard modes your guild has downed, or how big your e-peen is... it has everything to do with YOU maximizing your effectiveness as a tank by preparing yourself ahead of time.
Great tanks realize this. And great tanks tend to congregate to share information and bounce ideas off each other in order to enhance their proficiency at their role. One place they congregate is at tankspot.com. If you are a tank and you haven't visited tankspot yet, that is the first step toward becoming a "best in slot" tank.
...Read more
"To be prepared is half the victory."That statement sums up my tanking philosophy.
What sets the great tanks apart from the rest? And how do you go about becoming a great tank?
Often we tanks toss around the phrase "best in slot" when referring to a particular piece of gear. but have you ever thought about applying that phrase to yourself as becoming the best tank possible?
I don't pretend to be a great tank, but I am fortunate enough to know a few great tanks. They aren't always the most outgoing or the most well-known, but like all great tanks they have one thing in common: they walk into every encounter they face with the knowledge that they are as prepared for their role as they can possibly be.
Becoming a "best in slot" tank has nothing to do with which tanking class you playor how many hard modes your guild has downed, or how big your e-peen is... it has everything to do with YOU maximizing your effectiveness as a tank by preparing yourself ahead of time.
Great tanks realize this. And great tanks tend to congregate to share information and bounce ideas off each other in order to enhance their proficiency at their role. One place they congregate is at tankspot.com. If you are a tank and you haven't visited tankspot yet, that is the first step toward becoming a "best in slot" tank.
...Read more
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