Patch 3.3 Badge Tanking Gear

MMO Champion has listed the gear that we will be able to buy with the new badges, Emblems of Frost.

The tanking stuff looks really nice, and all plate pieces have bonus armor on them. I assume the extra armor is there to compensate for the reduced avoidance that we are facing in Icecrown due to the Icecrown version of Sunwell Radiance.

This is what we can look forward to:

Cataclysmic Chestguard - expertise and block value on the same piece of gear isn't very usual, but considering Blizzard showers tanking gear with hit rating again in 3.3, maybe that expertise will be needed. The armor, stamina, and strength on this chest piece makes my mouth water.

Gauntlets of the Kraken - straight-forward tanking gloves.

Verdigris Chain Belt - straight-forward tanking belt.

Sentinel's Winter Cloak - very nice cloak with bonus armor in addition to the usual tanking stats.

Corroded Skeleton Key - trinket with loads of stamina and a damage absorption use effect. But isn't absorbing 3200 damage quite low?

We don't know the prices of these items yet, but I will most likely pick up the cloak and the trinket first, since I have gear of item level 245 and 258 in the other slots.

There is a libram as well, but I won't waste badges on that one, since it's such a minor upgrade from the current badge libram.

Epic gems are coming!

In the next major content patch, we will get access to epic gems. That means a lot of regemming of gear, and a major upswing in jewelcrafters' income (for some time atleast).

We will be able to get raw epic gems from the following:

• Prospecting Titanium Ore
• Alchemy transmutations
• Purchased with Honor
• Purchased with Emblems of Heroism

I still have a stash of Emblems of Heroism, but I can imagine that people will start grinding some heroics again to get more emblems to trade in for gems.

I better start doing the JC dailies again on my shaman, so that I can buy all the new designs I need... Oh, the day does not have enough hours for all this grinding...

Professions for a tank

Professions boost your tanking stats in different ways. There is no mandatory profession for a tank these days, but some are better suited than others.

I am listing the useful ones below, describing what each of them will contribute:

Jewelcrafting
* Up to three prismatic gems, which will give you 41 stamina each. Will also help to satisfy meta gem requirements. Three 41 stamina gems would be 51 stamina more than using three "normal" stamina gems.
* One of the best tanking trinkets out there: Monarch Crab. Stamina and on-use avoidance coupled with two sockets.

Blacksmithing
* Two extra sockets. This could give you 48 stamina, 32 dodge, 32 defense, or whatever combination.

Mining
* 50 stamina.

Enchanting
* Enchanting rings with 24 stamina each.

Leatherworking
* Fur lining on wrists worth 90 stamina. That is 50 more stamina than the normal stamina wrist enchant.

Alchemy
* A very nice stamina and avoidance trinket (Indestructible Alchemist Stone).

Inscription
* Better shoulder enchant (Master's Inscription of the Pinnacle). It's 32 dodge more than the Sons of Hodir one.

Engineering
* Glove enchants (800 armor).

As you can see, Blizzard seem to have balanced the professions so that they give about 50 stamina each. Some of the professions are more versatile than others.
The best combination is probably blacksmithing and jewelcrafting.

Personally I'm running with mining and blacksmithing, but that's just because that is what I have had since I started playing. A tank that could create his own armor, and also farm the mats for it just sounded "right". :)

Tankadin Shield Enchants

There are three available shield enchants, each catering a different flavor.

• Defense - Increses defense rating by 20. Good avoidance enchant.

• Titanium Plating - made by blacksmiths, this increases the block value by 40, and also reduces disarm effects. Good threat and mitigation enchant.

• Major Stamina - old school TBC enchant, this increases stamina by 18. This enchant has not yet seen an upgrade in WotLK. Good enchant for efficient health.

Tanks love avoidance. Tanks love health. Tanks love threat. So how do you choose?

The answer is to enchant your shield so that you strengthen its strengths, not to cover it's weaknesses. Then you keep a couple of shields in your bags, and switch to whatever the current encounter requires.

As an example, in Naxx I ran with the Titanium Plating on my Wall of Terror as a threat/block shield on trash, and with Defense on my Hero's Surrender as an avoidance shield.

In Ulduar, I replaced the enchant on Wall of Terror to Defense and use that shield as a default shield. The reason is that I want the stamina on it as well as the block rating. If I put on Hero's Surrender, I am no longer block capped. I am currently juggling the new Ulduar gear around to stay block capped, and so far, I need this shield.

Last week, Northern Barrier dropped. I passed on it since it's a side grade to Wall of Terror. But if I ever get it, I will probably put the Titanium Plating on it to make a serious threat shield.

Tankadin Weapon Enchants

What enchant to put on your favorite weapon is always a dilemma. If you are a lucky looter, you might have multiple tanking weapons with different enchants in your bag, one for each type of encounter.

Currently I'm running with Potency on my Last Laugh. It's an old school TBC enchant that starts to feel a bit too old school. There was no upgrade to this enchant in WotLK, since they changed the potency enchants to give Attack Power instead of Strength.

I've been looking at the other options available, but cannot find anything that stands out as being exactly what I want.

Threat

• With good enough gear, Accuracy is the best threat enchant, granting you both hit and crit. I like this one, since I'm currently a bit low on hit, and crit is always fun. But it's damn expensive, so I'll save it for my first Ulduar weapon instead.

• Aforementioned Potency is the second best threat enchant around, granting strength which gives you both Attack Power and Block Value, two of the tankadin's primary threat stats. It also grants a minor mitigation due to the Block Value. So threat + mitigation = yummy. It's really sad that it didn't get an upgrade in WotLK.

• A third (and cheaper) option is the Titanium Weapon Chain. It grants hit (useful) and shorter disarm duration (not so useful for a paladin).

Avoidance

• Blade Ward is a new enchant in 3.1. It procs an increased parry rating (avoidance) followed by extra damage when parrying (threat). Sounds good? Maybe. The proc rate and internal cooldown aren't public, and tests are still ongoing. Personally, I dislike enchants that proc instead of having a static value. This enchant can proc at useless times (like when hitting XT-002's heart or Kologarn's arm) and thus wasting the internal cooldown. And what if it doesn't proc when you REALLY need it? I'm waiting for the test results to see if this is worth it.

• Exceptional Agility is another avoidance option. It grants agility (d'oh) which gives you dodge (avoidance), armor (mitigation), and crit (threat). What's there not to like? Well, I just like strength better than agility...
  

• Mongoose. Yet another old school enchant. Grants loads of agility and some attack speed "occasionally". Increased attack speed doesn't matter much for a tankadin, and I have already stated my dislike for proccing enchants. What good is 120 agility if you don't get it when you need or want it? Leave this enchant to the rogues.
  

Other

• Blood Draining is a new enchant in 3.1. The enchant stacks Blood Reserve up to five times when striking an enemy or inflicting damage with bleed attacks. When you reach 35% of your health, it heals you for some amount depending on the number of stacks. This is a weird enchant. You only have use for it when you are close to death, which means when your healers are slacking. It kicks in at 35%, which is a really bad time for a tankadin, since that's when our Ardent Defender kicks in. If you are really unlucky, this enchant can put you just above the 35% marker and thus make you take full hits when Ardent Defender should have lowered the incoming damage instead. The enchant also works on bleed effects, which paladins do not have. It's obviously not meant for tankadins, but for druids and warriors.

Conclusion
I only see three viable options: Potency, Accuracy, and Exceptional Agility. At this point, I'm sticking with Potency a while longer.

Prepared for Ulduar!

The patch will be upon us this week or next, and I was cleaning out my closet in preparation. The following tanking gear will be what I bring to the coming raids:

Head
Primary: Helm of Vital Protection
Secondary: Tempered Titansteel Helm (for stamina set)

Neck
Primary: Nexus War Champion Beads
Secondary: Heritage (avoidance or threat set)

Shoulders
Valorous Redemption Shoulderguards

Cloak
Primary: Cloak of the Shadowed Sun
Secondary: Platinum Mesh Cloak (avoidance or threat set)

Chest
Primary: Dragonstorm Breastplate
Secondary: Valorous Redemption Breastplate (for Power Ranger look)

Wrists
Bindings of the Hapless Prey
(Still missing the Bracers of the Unholy Knight)

Hands
Valorous Redemption Handguards

Waist
Ablative Chitin Girdle

Legs
Primary: Valorous Redemption Legguards
Secondary: Dragon Brood Legguards (threat set)
(Still missing Legplates of Sovereignty)

Feet
Primary: Kyzoc's Ground Stompers
Secondary: Inexorable Sabatons (threat or block set)

Rings
Primary: Sand-Worn Band and Signet of the Impregnable Fortress
Secondary: Keystone Great-Ring (EH set)

Trinkets
Primary: Repelling Charge and Essence of Gossamer
Secondary: Defender's Code (EH set), Valor Medal of the First War (avoidance set), Rune of Repulsion (avoidance set)

Shield
Primary: Wall of Terror (stamina will be buffed on this, making it the primary shield)
Secondary: Hero's Surrender (avoidance set)

Weapon
Last Laugh