Ulduar

04 - XT-002 Deconstructor Strategy Guide

saedo — Sat, 04/04/2009 - 13:26

Health:

Normal: 5,250,000
Heroic: 25,000,000
10 Minute Enrage

Abilities:

Tympanic Tantrum: Deals 10% damage every 1 sec for 12 sec. Nearby enemies are also dazed for the duration. 2 sec cast / Channeled
Light Bomb: Charges the target with divine energy, causing them to sear nearby allies for 9 sec.
Gravity Bomb: Charges the target with dark energy, causing them to explode and pull in nearby allies after 9 sec. (Pulls enemies within 10 yards into a gravity well, dealing 19000 to 21000 damage. Instant)

Adds:

XM-024 Pummellers: melee fighter adds and use Arcing Smash, Uppercut, and Trample
The XS-013 Scrapbots: runs to XT-002 Deconstructor to repair it. If they manage to reach it XT-002 will consume them and regain health.
XE-321 Boombots: explode and deal damage to anyone within 20 yards, including NPCs.

Hard Mode:

To activate hard mode, destroy the exposed heart during a phase change and he restores to max health and gains the following abilities:

Heartbreak: The heart of the XT-002 Deconstructor has been severed, removing the combat limitations of the XT-002 Deconstructor. Damage increased by 30%. Health increased by 40%.
Void Zone: Summon a Void Zone that deals 7500 Shadow damage to enemies that stand within it. This is spawned by Gravity Bomb.
Life Spark: Light Bomb also spawns an add called Life Spark. This add will repeatedly cast Static Charge - Deals Nature damage to all enemies within 500 yards every 3 sec.

The Fight:

A mostly tank and spank with adds coming out type of fight. He does Tympanic Tantrum which is like a thunderclap or Void Reaver's pound. He makes people into bombs, so the ranged would be best be stacked together so the bomb guy can run out before killing the raid.

Every 25% (75%, 50%, 25% of total hp), he stops and adds come out. Scrapbots will heal him if they reach him, so kill those asap. Boombots blow up at 50% health damaging everything around them including other adds, so they can be used to help. Pummellers must be offtanked, and taken care of after all the Scrapbots are dealt with.

Repeat.

Ok more details. The boss is tanked in the back near the stairs. The raid should spread out. AoE healing is less effective, but AoE damage is also reduced.

During add phase, the Heart is exposed for 30 seconds. Every damage done to it will transfer to XT-002, and it is also vulnerable taking double damage. This is significant in helping with the enrage timer. The adds have a little lag time before they appear from the scrap piles from the 4 corners of the room. Just make sure not to kill the heart, stop at 10-20% or so.

After the heart phase, be sure to kill the remaining Scrapbots, utilizing the Bomb bots when you can. Also for the Pummelers, we just let splash damage finish them off. Though be careful they do cleave around melee, not lethal one-shot cleaves, but still hits hard.

For hard mode, during the add phase, destroy his heart. This will reset his health, well actually increasing it too, along with damage. You can do it in any of the add phase, but since it's the same hard mode loot in any of them too, it's best to do it early.

Added lethal abilties are Void Zones and a Life Spark add from the bombs for more aoe damage all around.

After destroying the heart, clean up the adds, there will be no more heart phases so no more bots coming, just straight dps. Work out a system for the Gravity Bomb and Light Bombs. We had Gravity Bombs go left, dropping off Void Zones there. Light Bombs go right, and towards the tank, so the Life Spark can be closer to him to be pulled off. Ranged will switch to dps it down. Rinse and Repeat.

Achievements:

Nerf Engineering: Defeat XT-002 Deconstructor without him recovering any health from XS-013 Scrapbots on Normal/Heroic Difficulty.

Simple task to do. Just need to make sure of it.

Nerf Scrapbots: Defeat 20 XS-013 Scrapbots within 12 seconds using XE-321 Boombots on Normal/Heroic Difficulty.

This may need a bit of a trick since these bots aren't tankable and only move towards the boss I believe. So I'd imagine we'd have to tank in the middle, furthest from all 4 piles. And simultaneously work on 4 boombots on each pile and get em to blow up the scrapbots within those 12 seconds.

Nerf Gravity Bombs: Defeat XT-002 Deconstructor without any raid member dying from a Gravity Bomb on Normal/Heroic Difficulty.

Raid check, another simple one.

Must Deconstruct Faster: Defeat XT-002 Deconstructor in 205 seconds on Normal/Heroic Difficulty.

Simple again in theory. Probably just more gear, less healers, etc, etc.

Heartbreaker: Defeat XT-002 Deconstructor after destroying his heart on Normal/Heroic Difficulty.

Hard Mode. Well the fight resets with more damage more health, but not the timer though. Most part the fight is the same, cept Gravity Bombs leave Void Zones to not stand in. Light Bombs leaves a Spark add that does more damage.

Trash Info:

The 2 packs on either side have been brought back. They were gone for a week due to a bug making them both linked. Anyways, you'll find 3 tech gnomes, and a bunch of bots. They bots themselves cleave and stuff, can hit hard, also one of them throws Sawblades up which are killable (14K hp) or they can rape the raid.

The tech gnomes are what to focus on first. They can cast a shield that will heal them while in it, and reduces damage done to them by 90%. So gotta interrupt those casts. Or if they get it off, drag them out of the shields, they're big and yellow, can't miss them.

After that, most of the threat is gone, and the rest can be burned down.

Sources:

4 comments

02 - Razorscale Strategy Guide

saedo — Sat, 04/04/2009 - 12:29

Health:

Normal: 3,900,000
Heroic: 12,000,000

Abilities:

Both Phases:

Devouring Flame: Spits a Lava Bomb at an enemy, inflicting 8788 to 10212 Fire damage and deals 8788 to 10212 fire damage every 1 second to anyone staying within 6 yards of the impact, lasts 25 seconds. 1.5 sec cast

Air Phase Only:

Fireball: Inflicts 12025 to 13975 Fire damage to an enemy.

Ground Phase Only:

Flame Buffet: Increases the Fire damage an enemy takes by 1500 for 1 min. Stacks up to 99 times.
Wing Buffet: Knocks back enemies in a radius around the caster. 1.5 sec cast
Flame Breath: Inflicts 17500 to 22500 Fire damage to enemies in a cone in front of the caster. 50 yd range, 2.5 sec cast

The Fight:

This is a fairly straightfoward fight. Razorscale starts in the air, merely bombarding us with fire we avoid. Don't stand in BLUE FIRE.

On the ground, there will be NPCs we have to defend from adds, as they will be repairing harpoon turrets. DPS should take care of the adds as priority. Adds will spawn from randomly appearing mole drills.

Sentinels are the vyrkuls and should be killed asap, whirlwinds are most lethal. Watchers are the slightly smaller dwarves that shoot out chain lightning, another significnt source of damage, and should be handled next. Guardians are the weaklings to be taken care of.

After a turret is repaired, we can click on em and fire at Razorscale, dragging her to the ground a bit. After 4 harpoons are hit (2 in normal), she is stunned on the ground for a minute. This is where dps goes all out on her. The raid should be ready before the last harpoon is fired, i.e. adds mostly cleared. After the stun wears off, she'll take off again, and we'd have to repeat this.

It should only take 2-3 ground phases before we force her to the ground. Heroism would be best used the 2nd time she's on the ground to avoid the 3rd phase. If she does take off, do not push her over in the air, she retains aggro, so if a tank is handling adds and not prepared to taunt, you may be fucked.

When we get her to 50% health, she'll stay on the ground, and it becomes a standard tank and spank fight. Stay away from the front, avoid the fires, collect loot. The Flame Buffet serves as a soft enrage so go all out.

Achievements:

A Quick Shave: Defeat Razorscale without allowing her to fly into the air more than once on Normal/Heroic Difficulty.

This is easy with the dps. Heroism on 2nd ground phase to better ensure it.

Iron Dwarf, Medium Rare: Defeat 25/50 Dark Rune Guardian Dwarves with Razorscale's Flame Breath on Normal/Heroic Difficulty.

This is a progressive achievement. Meaning we don't have to do it in one sitting. Can slowly accumulate it over 4 years if you want.

Anyways, the goal is to get the Guardians into the Ground Phase, and have Razorscale's Flame Breath finish them off.

Because of all the damage, you might not want to bring all that spawned into Ground Phase, just what you can. Basically means don't aoe those, drag em in front of her, ???, profit.

Anyways, repeat as many weeks as it takes til you get this.

Sources:

2 comments

03 - Ignis the Furnace Master Strategy Guide

saedo — Fri, 04/03/2009 - 16:07

Health:

Heroic: 24M
Normal: 6.9M

Abilities:

Flame Jets: Stomps the ground causing geysers of flame to errupt under all enemies. These geysers deal 8483 to 9517 Fire damage, knocking the targets into the air and interrupting any spells being cast for 8 sec. In addition, the targets take 2000 Fire damage per second for 8 sec. 2.7 sec cast
Scorch: Fires a jet of flame, burning all enemies in front of the caster within 30 yards, dealing 3770 to 4230 Fire damage every half-second for 3 sec. Additionally, the ground is scorched by this effect causing it to catch on fire, dealing 7540 to 8460 Fire damage every second to all enemies within 13 yards. Iron Constructs within this radius will begin to heat up, eventually becoming molten.
Slag Pot: Charges and grabs a random enemy target, tossing them into the caster's slag pot. The target is unable to attack the caster and takes 7500 Fire damage every second for 10 sec. If the target survives, they are imbued with the magical slag, increasing their haste by 150% for until cancelled.
Strength of the Creator: Increases Ignis' damage by 15% each time an Iron Construct spawns. Stacks up to 99 times.

Iron Contructs:

Heat: Blasts all nearby Iron Constructs with intense heat, increasing their movement speed by 5% and haste by 5%. This effect stacks up to 20 times. If this effect stacks to 20, the affected Iron Construct will become Molten
Molten: The Iron Construct becomes Molten, increasing haste by 100%. In addition, Flames errupt out from the caster every second, dealing 4713 to 5287 Fire damage to enemies within 7 yards. Drag the Construct in the water and it will become Brittle.
Brittle: The cold water causes molten Iron Constructs to rapidly solidify, rendering them unable to act. In addition, if they are dealt more than 5000 damage during this state, they will shatter, dealing 18850 to 21150 damage to all enemies in a 10 yard radius.
Shatter: Deals 18850 to 21150 Physical damage to all enemies within 10 yards. Damage from this effect ignores armor.

The Fight:

This is mostly a tank and spank fight, but can hit the tank hard, upwards of 30K. He will occasionally scorch the ground in front of him, so just move away.

Casters need to pay attention to Flame Jets timer, when it goes off it'll interrupt any spell casting for 8 seconds. They are spells that are resistable or whatever spell avoidance immunity you got. So use em to help mitigate damage.

Randomly charges and throws someone in the slag pot dealing 5000 damage per second, so heal him. Should he live, he'll get a haste buff. You can cast in it still, and use spells that make you immune, however if you do anything to remove the debuff, you will not get the buff afterwards (haste), and will not get the personal achievement.

There are constructs in the room he'll activate. Each one active increases his damage by 15%, off tank em.

The way to kill those is to drag em into the scorched ground til they become Molten (stack to 20), then drag them to the pools of water. They'll be rendered unable to act for 15 sec, so run away and ranged blow em up, a single 5K hit will kill it. Not collective damage, a single hit.

We settled on more of a 3 point drop off locations for the scorch. Left, Center, Right sides of the pool of water, both sides, and dropping it about 3 times between each pool on either side. This keeps the scorches relatively close so the OTs can drag Constructs into them before they wear off. The raid mostly stands in the middle, with only some healers and DPS to move in range for shattering Constructs.

The Trash:

There's a pair of fire giants, and a few pairs of golems, and pairs of elementals. Here's the quick and dirty versions...

Fire Giants: Tank em apart, they do a damaging fire aura to everyone in range. Even after death so stay away from their corpses.

Golems: Charged people and put a slowing attack speed debuff on tank. Nothing huge.

Elementals: These have a trick we remember. They spawn out 2 fire cyclones that knock you around and do I believe 7K damage per tick. Run away run away. Melee could run away, but I kind of found when they spawn, they aren't really that lethal, they knock you way back. So as long as the cyclones aren't chasing you down in particular to get hit again, just run back.

Achievements:

Shattered: Defeat Ignis the Furnace Master after shattering 2 Iron Constructs within 5 seconds on Normal/Heroic Difficulty.

This does not require you to kill Ignis within that timeframe either. It's only asking you to shatter 2 within 5 seconds. Then don't wipe. So easiest thing is to gather 2, drag em to fire, then blow em up. Then continue the rest of the fight normally.

Hot Pocket: Survive being thrown into Ignis the Furnace Master's Slag Pot on Normal/Heroic Difficulty

This would be a personal achievement. Part luck to be chosen, part healers to heal you through it. Do not use bubbles (or equivalent) to escape it if you want this achievement.

Stokin' the Furnace: Defeat Ignis the Furnace Master in 4 minutes on Normal/Heroic Difficulty

Just a straight dps it down in time thing. Quite easy once this fight is on farm, don't really even need special stacking if you got decent dps.

Sources:

13 comments

01 - Flame Leviathan Strategy Guide

saedo — Fri, 04/03/2009 - 13:15

Health:

Normal: 15,550,000
Heroic: 62,766,000

Abilities:

Flame Jets: Inflicts 3000 Fire damage each second to enemies around the caster. Lasts 10 seconds. 50 yd range (interruptable)
Battering Ram: Rams the target, dealing damage and knocking it forward. Deals 100% Weapon damage and causes the target to take 50% more damage for 20 seconds.
Gathering Speed: Rams the target, dealing damage and knocking it forward. Deals 100% Weapon damage and causes the target to take 50% more damage for 20 seconds.
Missile Barrage: All machines and players not in one will take 700 damage every 1-2 seconds.
Turrets: The Flame Leviathan has 4 turrets. Passengers in the demolisher can be launched at him where they can destroy the turrets and then hit the Overload Circuit: stuns Flame Leviathan and causes him to take 50% more damage for 10 seconds.

Vehicles:

The health points and attacks of your vehicle depends on the ilvl of your gear.
Shirt, tabard, offhand, and ranged/relic slots do not affect vehicle scaling.
Take the average ilvl of your gear (subtract 13 for each blue, 26 for each green) and dividing by 15 (total number of applicable slots), then subtracting 170 will give you the percent increase of the health points of your vehicle compared to base - it cannot be decreased though (naked is a 0% increase).

Salvaged Siege Engine:

"Tanks/Kiters" of the encounter
1 driver + 1 turret controller + 2 passengers
Ram: Rams any enemies in front of the demolisher, dealing 22501 to 27501 Damage and knocking them back. Also deals 2850 to 3150 siege damage to buildings. 40 Energy.
Electoshock: Shocks all targets within a 25 yard cone in front of the caster. It also interrupts spellcasting and prevents any spell in that school from being cast for 4 sec. 20 Energy, Instant cast, 10 sec cooldown
Steam Rush: Put the steam engine into overdrive for a short duration, rushing forward, dealing siege damage and knocking back enemies. 40 Energy, 70 yd range, Instant, 15 sec cooldown (Do not steam rush on ramps, you will fall through the world atm)

Passenger Abilities:

Anti-Air Rockets: Fires an explosive missile directly forward, detonating when it has travelled 100 yards, hitting any enemies within 10 yards. 0.25 sec cooldown
Fire Cannon: Fires a cannon blast. 20 Energy, 10-70 yd range, Instant
Shield Generator: Activates the shield generator on the Siege Engine, absorbing a limited amount of Physical, Fire, Frost and Arcane damage taken for 5 sec. 1 min cooldown

Salavaged Demolisher:

Slow ranged dps
1 driver + 2 passenger, passengers help grab ammo from the ground and can be launched onto the Flame Leviathan
Hurl Boulder: Hurls a massive boulder into the distance, dealing 27000 to 33000 damage to enemies within 8 yards of the explosion. 10-70 yd range
Hurl Pyrite Barrel: Hurls an orb of blue pyrite into the distance, dealing damage, but consumes ammo. 10-70 yd range
Ram: Rams any enemies in front of the demolisher, dealing 19000 to 21000 Damage and knocking them back. Also deals 2160 to 2640 siege damage to buildings. 4 sec cooldown
Launch Passenger: Launches the Demolisher's passenger into the air

Passenger Abilities:

Mortar: Fires a miniature explosive blast, dealing Fire damage to all enemies in the target area. 1 sec cooldown
Anti-Air Rocket: Fires an explosive missile directly forward, detonating when it has travelled 90 yards, hitting any enemies within 10 yards.
Grab Crate: Use your hook and chain to grab the targetted crate.
Increased Speed: Injects liquid pyrite into the engines, increasing movement speed by 100%. Lasts 20 sec.
Load into Catapult: Load yourself into the catapult arm, using yourself as ammunition. 30 sec cooldown

Salvaged Chopper:

Speedy support type vehicle, "debuffs" and heals passengers
1 driver + 1 passenger
Speed Boost: Fires the fuel injectors on the bike, increasing its speed by 100% for 5 sec.
Sonic Horn: Sends a wave of force in front of the motorcycle, causing 6300 to 7700 damage to all enemy targets within 35 yards in a frontal cone.
Tar: Drops a pool of tar for 45 sec that slows the movement speed of enemies within 10 yards. Tar can be ignited. Lasts for 45 sec. 15 sec cooldown
First Aid Kit: Heals your passenger fully over 4 sec. 1 min cooldown

Encounter:

Gauntlet:

The encounter is activated by talking to the npcs, though the mobs won't aggro til we move out. Trash is easy, should be able to aoe everything down with the vehicles. Iron Colossus' Ground Slam should be avoided or interrupted by the Seige Engines.

Towers should be destroyed along the way if Hard Mode is not the goal. No need to clear everything though, they should not add during the boss.

If Brann is the one to activate it, the towers are automatically off, so can go straight to ez mode.

We can repair at the end of the Gauntlet, do so if not going for that achievement, and stock up on all the pyrite (ammo) you can before the last packs of the boss.

Boss:

Every vehicle must stay out of melee range of Flame Leviathan.

Seige Engines: Flame Leviathan will immediately target somone close to him, the best option is the Seige Engine so make sure they're closest. The goal is to kite him around, coordinate a path for the raid to follow. The trick is that Flame Leviathan will get faster as the fight goes on, a system shutdown will reset his speed. Also use its Electroshock to interrupt flame wave

Demolishers: Besides being the ranged dps and tar igniter, this one can also launch passengers onto Flame Leviathan to take out its Turrets. This might not be needed at all in easy mode.

Coordinate a dps and a healer to be launched simultaneously to take them out. Also coordinate choppers to pick them up quickly and take them to safety (or demonlisher to be launched again).

Note: A healer is not necessary on 10 man. It appears Flame Leviathan only shoots you to death on the 25 man.

In 10 man, 2 turrets (4 in 25 man) must be destroyed before a System Shutdown occurs. This stuns Flame Leviathan and launches the people on him off of it, parachute style. This is when they need to be picked up, look to the sky.

Note: Turrets instantly respawn after the Shutdown is over, so passengers can be launched yet again. Only issue is that means Demolishers are without turret passengers to help dps or pick up pyrite.

Choppers: They will be used to shit tar all in front of Flame Leviathan. It'll slow him down and it can be ignited by Demolishers for more damage. They will also be used to pick up stranded people and take em to where they need to go.

Hard Mode:

To access hard mode, along the way before Flame Leviathan, we don't destroy the towers. Here's what each tower does:

Thorim's Hammer (purple, back left): Deals Stormstrike damage to all enemies nearby. Additional damage is taken if directly under the impact location. Flame Leviathan gains 25% more HP and does 25% more Physical damage.
Mimiron's Inferno (red, front left): Deals 150000 Fire damage to all nearby enemies and leaves a flaming blaze behind. Flame Leviathan gains 25% more HP and does 50% more Fire damage.
Hodir's Fury (blue, back right): Deals 150000 Frost damage to all nearby enemies, entombing them in ice. (only freeable via tar fire) Flame Leviathan gains 25% more HP and slows vehicle movement by 20%
Freya's Ward (green, front right): Deals 13500 to 16500 Natures damage to all nearby enemies and summons guardians of nature to surround the enemy. Flame Leviathan gains 25% more HP and decreases his fire damage taken by 10%.

In 10 mans, we made a slight adjustment to the above strat for hard(er) modes. We send 1 ranged dps up, to handle both turrets, non hunters. Also, one of the choppers is abandoned at the beginning to ride with the launcher Demolisher, that way both Demolishers will always have passengers, doing the Pyrite thing and dps.

Read /flame-leviathan#comment-38620 for details

Achievements:

Dwarfegeddon: Destroy 100/200 Steelforged Defenders in 10 seconds on the Ulduar gauntlet on Normal/Heroic Difficulty.

What we did was just make a b-line towards the repair pads. Avoid killing towers, take out the big buys mainly, which does splash down the small guys. But anyways, clearing the path of any major threat, then use the repairs. Then we went back towards the front pulling along all the small guys we can find, when we saw enough, on cue, blow em up. Easy shit.

Unbroken: Defeat Flame Leviathan on the first try without anyone repairing their vehicle on Normal/Heroic Difficulty.

Likely easiest on Easy Mode of course. Just don't repair don't wipe. Though, I could see this being "easy" on Hard Mode too, since we'd skip the towers, skipping chunks of trash, our vehicles should be less damaged. Though that means only after we have Hard Mode on farm to kill it the first try.

Three Car Garage: Defeat Flame Leviathan while in each of the following vehicles on Normal/Heroic Difficulty.

Personal achievement, just ride something different each week. It only counts if you're in the vehicle upon Flame Leviathan's death. Not dead, not on the turret, not anywhere else.

Take Out Those Turrets: Destroy a Flame Leviathan Defense Turret on Normal/Heroic Difficulty.

Personal achievement, the new Denyin the Scion. So guess after farm mode starts up we'd have to launch specific people. (after we learned to launch people ;p)

Shutout: Defeat Flame Leviathan without causing a System Shutdown on Normal/Heroic Difficulty.

Well we stumbled upon this in our zerg the boss fashion. lol Probably only possible on Easy Mode for now. Simply, don't launch anyone, zerg away.

Orbital Bombardment: Defeat Flame Leviathan with 1 Orbital Defense System active on Normal/Heroic Difficulty.

We chose Thorim's tower to leave up (purple). It's quite simple really, avoid the big blue beams coming from the sky. We liberally launched 2 dps on to the Turrets everytime to cause the System Shutdown as much as possible. This mode currently makes him drop 2 [Emblem of Conquest] instead of 1 emblem in either mode.

Orbital Devastation: Defeat Flame Leviathan with 2 Orbital Defense Systems active on Normal/Heroic Difficulty.

We chose to leave Mimiron's tower along with Thorim. Mimiron leaves a big red moving laser and leaves a pile of fire (like Ignis scorch) that you don't want to stand in. The trick is that the moving laser can cut you off while kiting and stuff around the room. But if you can stay away and a little luck, this isn't so bad. This mode drops a [Runed Orb] in addition to the above. In 25 man, an extra stack of 2 orbs are dropped.

Nuked From Orbit: Defeat Flame Leviathan with 3 Orbital Defense Systems active on Normal/Heroic Difficulty.

Hodir is a next possibility, he ice blocks people which can be melted by fire attacks (pyrite, flame jets, chopper tar fire, Mimiron's laser). The beams are pretty fast moving light blue beams that follow people. It's dangerous when it stops, then a few seconds later you get entombed in ice. Avoid that at all costs, you take heavy damage and require quick fire attention to release you, so it'd likely hurt your vehicle way badly. Make use of quick manuevering and Steam Rush to avoid those.

Orbit-uary: Defeat Flame Leviathan with 4 Orbital Defense Systems active on NormalHeroic Difficulty.

Freya is likely next hardest to deal with. Her beam will be at the 4 corners and spawn adds that the Demolishers should be able to take care of. It's an added complication to constantly shift dps from FL to adds, to stocking pyrite.

Videos:

25 Man EZ Mode

Sources:

18 comments

Ulduar Strategy Guide

saedo — Fri, 04/03/2009 - 11:46

With 3.1 and Ulduar rapidly approaching, I thought I'd put up pages for each boss for us. Abilities, maybe strats, maybe we'll just add to it ourselves as we chug along. This will be the framework for it.

Maps:

Ulduar

The Siege:

The Antechamber:

The Keepers:

The Spark of Imagination:

The Decent into Madness:

3 comments

Tankadin in Wrath - 3.1 - Tankadin Gear for Dual-Spec’ing into Tanking NEW in 3.1

Fjork — Fri, 03/20/2009 - 14:55

I'll add links later to wowhead.com so you can click each item to see it and decide if you like it. Late on a Friday and I wanted to post this before heading home.

Have a good weekend!

Tankadin Gear for Dual-Speccing into Tanking

With the coming of Dual-Specs, I expect to see a great deal of DKs, Warriors, Paladins, and Druids doing everything they can to grab up every single piece of tanking gear that drops “for my off-set”. I have seen this already. So what is the under-voiced raider to do?

Here’s a whole pile of stuff you can pickup without setting foot back into those Heroics/10man/25mans that all the DKs, Warriors, and Paladins have been taking all the gear from. Provided you have enough Emblems to spare and provided you’ve actually spent some time on your reputation with the various WotLK factions all of these are available to you.

· Weapon

o Teldrassil Protector / Axe of the Sen’jin Protector *NEW in 3.1*

§ This is a nice tanking weapon available through the Argent Tournament.

o Titansteel Bonecrusher

§ This has no defensive abilities, but allow for full TPS.

o Titansteel Guardian

§ If you are a Holy Paladin who’s been using this, you don’t really have to change weapons. You’ll have enough TPS. Just keep it for now.

o Grasscutter – 50 Emblems of Heroism

§ Good Agility, good dps. Buy this only if you seriously don’t have a tanking weapon, and you have A LOT of spare Emblems of Heroism. Seriously. I’m talking TONS of spare emblems.

· Shield

o Crygil’s Discarded Plate Panel – 35 Emblems of Heroism

§ Second purchase if spending a lot of emblems at once. It’s a good solid shield when enchanted and will carry you through all pre-Ulduar raids.

o Titansteel Shield Wall – Crafted (around 600g)

§ You have more money than you know what to do with? We’ll buy our way there. Crygil’s will serve you better, but the Titansteel will carry you into Ulduar just as quickly as Crygil’s.

· Libram

o Libram of Obstruction – 15 Emblems of Heroism

§ This should be the first thing you spend emblems on, if you are using emblems for your tanking gear. Not much choice here.

· Helm

o Tempered Titansteel Helm – Crafted (Around 1200g)

§ We’ll buy our way into tanking yet!

o Greathelm of the Unyielding Bull – World Drop (Around 150g)

§ If you don’t want the Titansteel, this is your only alternative. Not worth much, you’ll need to run some heroics to get it replaced.

· Neckpiece

o Chain Military Gorget – 25 Emblems of Heroism

§ Good solid purchase. #3 of your spare Heroism emblems when buying up your tanking gear.

o Titanium Earthguard Chain – Crafted (Around 800g)

§ Piece. Of. CRAP. Get the Burning Skull or save up some Emblems.

o Burning Skull Pendant – BoE Zone Drop (Around 80g)

§ Usually goes for around 80 gold. Will need to be quickly replaced.

· Shoulders

o Valorous Redemption Shoulderguards – 60 Emblems of Valor

§ I’d get these in front of the legs since there isn’t much in the way of shoulders, but that depends on how much money you are willing to front.

o Wapach’s Spaulders of Solidarity – World Drop (Around 2500g)

§ Alright! I can pickup these! They are cheap for my gold-farming.’

o Crusader’s Square Pauldrons – Zone Drop (Around 80g)

§ For those of us with some sanity on spending.

· Cloak

o Platinum Mesh Cloak – 25 Emblems of Valor

§ Good pickup, hard to replace. Carry you through Ulduar.

o Durable Nerub-Hide Cloak – Crafted (Around 300g)

§ This is a good cloak to spend some gold on, though you’ll need to make up the defense rating elsewhere. Good through all pre-Ulduar raids.

o Cloak of Peaceful Resolutions – Wyrmrest Accord Rep

§ Cheap and good. Carry you through all pre-Ulduar raids.

· Chestpiece

o Heroes’ Redemption Breastplate – 60 Emblems of Heroism

§ Good purchase, solo Breastplate. Carry through all pre-Uldaur raids.

o Breastplate of Solemn Council – Wymrest Accord Rep

§ Cheap and good. Carry you through a lot of the pre-Uldaur raids, but not all.

· Bracers

o Bracers of Dalaran’s Parapets – 60 Emblems of Valor or Around 1200 gold.

o Tempered Saronite Bracers – Crafted (Around 30g)

§ You can take them raiding. In Naxx10. Maybe. This would be last-ditch need.

· Gloves

o Refined Ore Gloves – Zone Drop (Around 40-100g)

§ These are a nice set of gloves that drop in H VH. If you’re building your dual-spec gear while trying to get Lavanthor’s Talisman, keep an eye out for these.

o Fireproven Gauntlets – Kirin Tor Exalted

§ Won’t find better outside of raiding. These are NICE.

o Heroes’ Redemption Handguards – 60 Emblems of Valor

§ Good gloves, even into Ulduar. You won’t misspend your Emblems of Heroism to pick these up.

· Waistguard

o Indestructible Plate Girdle – Cost unknown.

§ This is one of the two new crafted tanking items coming out of WotLK. Good Luck if you can get it.

o Waistguard of Living Iron – 40 Emblems of Heroism

§ Solid tanking belt. 2^nd best ilevel 200 belt, and good through all pre-Ulduar raids.

o Waistguard of the Risen Knight – Zone Drop (Around 150g)

§ Not a bad piece, but not good enough for Ulduar.

o Tempered Saronite Belt – Crafted (Around 30g)

§ Don’t get yourself laughed out of a raid, though you might be able to sneak into 10mans with it.

· Legplates

o Valorous Redemption Legguards – 75 Emblems of Valor

§ Not a bad purchase, but I would get the shoulders first because the Bolstered Legplates are an easy pickup.

o Special Issue Legplates – Argent Crusade Revered

§ Definitely worth the pickup. Not uncommon to see Tier 8 tanks still wearing these because they haven’t gotten the Bolstered Legplates (or anything else) to drop for them.

· Boots

o Kyzoc’s Ground Stompers – 40 Emblems of Valor

§ Nice boots, not gonna find many better.

o Tempered Titansteel Treads – Crafted (Around 1400g)

§ Alright! Let’s blow ALL of our money!

o Sabatons of Draconic Vigor – Wyrmrest Accord

§ Cheap, semi-decent. Won’t carry you very far.

1 comment

Tankadin in Wrath - 3.1 - Weapons and Armor

Fjork — Fri, 03/20/2009 - 14:47

Weapons and Armor

Due to the massive load-times for my T1 internet connection with all of these weapons and armor embedded I have decided to post them all as web-linked directly to wowhead.com instead.

As a shield-bearing tank with a +30% Block spell that last for 10 seconds on an 8 second cooldown, you should be gearing almost exclusively for Block Rating before Dodge or Parry. It’s actually possible after Armor Mitigation and Block Value to drop the average 15,000 hit down to a manageable 2,000 or 3,000 damage every single time. Your healers will thank you.

Look for a page soon dedicated solely to Block, and what uses a Tankadin can take out of it, and how to best maximize it’s effectiveness.

As a warning though, you cannot block Hatestrikes from Patchwerk and a few other attacks throughout WotLK. So if you are going to build your “Block Value” set (Block Value <- Strength <- Block Rating <- Dodge <- Parry <- Expertise) you will need to be building a second set at the same time for Patchwerk type fights or your healers will run out of mana very quickly if they can keep you alive.

While gearing, be aware there is such thing as a ‘Block Cap’. (See Elitist Jerks for more info until I can build an article.) Each of the following gear items is ranked based on available avoidance. There are diminishing returns on Parry Rating and Dodge Rating. There is also a Block Cap. If there are articles here, read each thoroughly to determine how that might affect your next upgrade which may not be an actual upgrade. You never know until you really look at the numbers.)

· The Weapon

o Things to Consider

§ As a Tankadin, the most Threat-Per-Second available to you will come from weapons which have very high dps and/or very high strength.

§ Every 2 points of strength will award a point of additional damage to each Shield of the Righteousness.

§ Hammer of the Righteousness formula is ( DPS * 4 ). So for TPS, [40345] is preferred over [39344].

§ Just because it isn’t a ‘tanking’ weapon doesn’t mean it can’t have a use for you, especially on trash mobs or low-hitting bosses. For example, the [Hailstorm] and [Torment of the Banished] both have a very nice amount of agility and attack power for crit rating and HotR dps. Your Shield of the Righteousness will suffer on block value, but for trash, multi-mob fights (Gothik), or weak bosses (Loatheb) both of these swords will help your contribution to the raid by keeping avoidance (dodge through agility) and doing more overall dps.

o Raid-Progression

§ Hammer of the Quiet Mourning

§ Infantry Assault Blade

§ Red Sword of Courage

§ Teldrassil Protector / Axe of the Sen’jin Protector *NEW in 3.1*

§ Slayer of the Lifeless

§ Broken Promise

§ Stoneguard *NEW in 3.1*

§ Legacy of Thunder *NEW in 3.1*

§ Shiver *NEW in 3.1*

§ Last Laugh

§ Titanguard *NEW in 3.1*

§ Sorthalis, Hammer of the Watchers *NEW in 3.1*

· The Shield

o Things to Consider

§ Your shield will be rarely upgraded through Wrath. There are only a few. Spend the time to get a good one, and enchant it well. I would recommend +20 Defense Rating. Once your progression starts building, Defense Rating will be harder and harder to maintain.

§ Don’t waste your money having a Titansteel Shield Wall crafted (like I did). The Royal Crest of Lordaeron is much better and Heroic Culling of Stratholme is a very easy instance. Not to mention with 35 emblems (after your neckpiece and libram) you can purchase Crygil’s Discarded Plate Panel as well. Purchasing the Titansteel is definitely misplaced money.

o Raid Progression

§ Titansteel Shield Wall

§ Royal Crest of Lordaeron

§ Crygil’s Discarded Plate Panel

§ The Skull of Ruin

§ Barricade of Eternity

§ Hero’s Surrender

§ Shieldwall of the Breaker *NEW in 3.1*

§ Northern Barrier *NEW in 3.1*

§ Wall of Terror

§ The Boreal Guard *NEW in 3.1*

· The Helm

o Things to Consider

§ Your helm won’t really be upgraded that often, and the [Tempered Titansteel Helm] is not a bad investment because you can have it ready before level 80, and the helm drops in Heroic Dungeons aren’t all that great. Then you enchant it with either the Keepers of Time or Argent Crusade rep reward and your helm is 10/25 man raid-ready.

§ The [Armored Titanium Goggles] are also very nice, and equip-able at level 72. You should take the time to craft these early if you are a serious Engineer.

§ You’ll definitely want to focus on picking up each upgrade as it comes along, because another might not come that soon. If you are raiding 10mans with anything weaker than the Ground Tremor Helm, you should probably ask your raid-leader to start with Four Horseman each week because there are only two upgrades in Naxx10, and one of them is your T7 helm which drops off Kel’Thuzad.

§ When enchanting, the +32 Stamina and Armor% will look tempting (and is not a bad idea when beginning), but as your gear builds you will want to go ahead and get the +22 Defense Rating and 5% Block Value gem instead. It will serve you much better and help with keeping uncrittable as your gear improves and your available defense rating falls.

o Raid Progression

§ The Crusader’s Resolution

§ Helm of the Ley-Guardian

§ Arcane-Shielded Helm

§ Ground Tremor Helm

§ Tempered Titansteel Helm

§ Armored Titanium Goggles

§ Heroes’ Redemption Faceguard (Up one with 2 pc set bonus)

§ Thane’s Tainted Greathelm

§ Platehelm of the Great Wyrm

§ Valorous Redemption Faceguard

§ Helm of Vital Protection

§ Ironbark Faceguard *NEW 3.1*

§ Valorous Aegis Faceguard *NEW 3.1*

§ Helm of the Faceless *NEW 3.1*

§ Conqueror’s Aegis Faceguard *NEW 3.1*

· The Shoulders

o Things to Consider

§ If you spend the money on the Wapach’s Spaulders of Solidarity, you’re an idiot. Patchwerk (10man) drops the Abomination Shoulderblades on a fairly regular basis.

§ The Crusader’s Square Pauldrons are BoE and pretty cheap in the AH usually (or just run H CoS until they drop). You can have them ready alongside your Tempered Titansteel Helm and Hammer of the Quiet Mourning before you even hit 80.

o Raid Progression

§ Tempered Saronite Shoulders

§ Iron Dwarf Smith Pauldrons

§ Pauldrons of the Colossus

§ Abomination Shoulderguards

§ Heroes’ Redemption Shoulderguards

§ Wapach’s Spaulders of Solidarity

§ Pauldrons of Unnatural Death

§ Valorous Redemption Shoulderguards

§ Burdened Shoulderplates

§ Valorous Aegis Shoulderguards *NEW in 3.1*

§ Shoulderplates of the Deconstructor *NEW in 3.1*

§ Conqueror’s Aegis Shoulderguards *NEW in 3.1*

· The Neckpiece

o Things to Consider

§ The Chained Military Gorget should be your second purchase with Emblems. It’s nice, it’s solid, you won’t be upgrading it very quickly, and it can always be switched in for a Patchwerk fight.

§ The Burning Skull Pendant is a nice BoE you can usually pickup relatively inexpensively.

§ Don’t waste your money on the Titanium Earthguard Chain. The Chained Military Gorget is better, and guaranteed with enough Heroics.

o Raid Progression

§ Burning Skull Pendant

§ Pendant of the Nathrezim

§ Blood-Infused Pendant

§ Titanium Earthguard Chain

§ Amulet of Autopsy

§ Chained Military Gorget

§ Medallion of the Disgraced

§ Heritage

§ Drakescale Collar

§ Boundless Ambition

§ Shard of the Crystal Forest *NEW in 3.1*

§ Nexus War Champion Beads

§ Necklace of Unerring Mettle *NEW in 3.1*

§ Bronze Pendant of the Vanir *NEW in 3.1*

· The Cloak

o Things to Consider

§ Make sure you do a pile of Wyrmrest quests while leveling. The Cloak of Peaceful Resolutions will be worn by you for a long time, and you’ll find that you keep throwing it on for this or that fight.

§ The Cloak of Armed Strife isn’t actually an upgrade to Cloak of Peaceful Resolutions for a Tankadin. The extra mitigation is nice, but doesn’t make up the difference.

§ If you want to (and have the cash to), get the Durable Nerub-Hide Cloak crafted before 80. It’s Avoidance will carry you a long way.

o Raid Progression

§ Cloak of Armed Strife

§ Cloak of Peaceful Resolutions

§ Durable Nerubhide Cape

§ Cloak of the Shadowed Sun

§ Gale-Proof Cloak

§ Shadow of the Ghoul

§ Titanskin Cloak *NEW in 3.1*

§ Cloak of the Makers *NEW in 3.1*

· The Chestpiece

o Things to Consider

§ Here is another reason for getting that Wyrmrest rep up while leveling. The Breastplate of the Solemn Council is a nice enough piece to even carry you into 25man raiding. Definitely worth the rep grind.

§ The Massive Skeletal Ribcage and Dragonstorm Breastplate’s are good pickups for the Patchwerk fight, but I would recommend passing them to DKs if they are there tanking as you can always pickup the T7 chestpiece with 80 emblems.

o Raid Progression

§ Breastplate of the Solemn Council

§ Zigguarate Imprinted Chestguard

§ Massive Skeletal Ribcage

§ Heroes’ Redemption Breastplate

§ Dragonstorm Breastplate

§ Breasteplate of Tormented Rage

§ Valorous Redemption Breastplate

§ Chestguard of the Exhausted

§ Valorous Aegis Breastplate *NEW in 3.1*

§ Conqueror’s Aegis Breastplate *NEW in 3.1*

§ Unbreakable Chestguard *NEW in 3.1*

· The Bracers

o Things to Consider

§ Not another [Bracers of the Green Fortress] here. We actually have options in WotLK. Just not that many. You’ll want to run Old Kingdom a few times to pickup the Bracers of the Herald before wasting the 300g for the +40 Stamina enchant.

§ If you complete the Hodir questline while questing (which you should since you REALLY need the shoulder-enchant only available through Hodir unless you are an inscriber), pickup the Bracers of Reverence. They can carry you into 25mans if you have to, but keep trying for the Bracers of the Herald.

§ If you have a great deal of money sitting around for the AH, or a friend who raids 25man consistently but can’t spend anymore emblems of valor, you should consider picking up the Bracer’s of Dalaran’s Parapets. They are the second-best pre-Ulduar bracers available and you can have them sitting about when you turn 80.

o Raid Progression

§ Tempered Saronite Bracers

§ Bracers of Reverence

§ Bindings of Dark Will

§ Bracers of the Herald

§ Minion Bracers

§ Bracers of the Unholy Knight

§ Bracers of Dalaran’s Parapets

§ Bindings of the Hapless Prey

§ Flamewatch Armguards *NEW in 3.1*

§ Mimiron’s Inferno Couplings *NEW in 3.1*

· The Gloves

o Things to Consider

§ The gloves are pretty easy. You’ll eventually pickup the T7 if you keep getting emblems, and it’s likely you’ll get the Gauntlets of the Water Revenant while running Heroic Violet Hold for Lananthor’s Talisman and Bolstered Legplates.

§ I would recommend purchasing the Daunting Handguards as soon as you hit level 78 and equipping them. The 71 Defense Rating will come in handy as you are trying to gear up if you haven’t managed to get the Seal of the Pantheon trinket for the +65 Defense Rating it offers.

§ If you don’t mind spending money, the Refined Ore Gloves can usually be found for around 80 gold on the AH and with 2.01% Avoidance through Block Rating they are a nice set to have waiting when you ding 80.

§ The ‘tank’ enchant for the Gloves is Armsman with 2% added threat and 10 Parry Rating, however that is minimal avoidance and there aren’t many even half-geared tankadin’s that have any trouble with threat. However, the Strength enchant will get you additional attack power and block value.

o Raid Progression

§ Daunting Handguards

§ Gauntlets of the Water Revenant

§ Refined Ore Gloves

§ Horn-Tipped Gauntlets

§ Fireproven Gauntlets

§ Heroes’ Redemption Handguards

§ Gauntlets of the Master

§ Valorous Redemption Handguards

§ Callous-Hearted Gauntlets

§ Gauntlets of the Disobedient

§ Valorous Aegis Handguards *NEW in 3.1*

§ Conqueror’s Aegis Handguards *NEW in 3.1*

§ Gauntlets of the Royal Watch *NEW in 3.1*

§ Handguards of Revitalization *NEW in 3.1*

§ Handguards of the Enclave *NEW in 3.1*

· The Waistguard

o Things to Consider

§ Love the Eternal Belt Buckle. You’ll probably want to be putting it on every single piece of gear you get as you level. It’s a free socket that doesn’t mess with socket bonuses, but counts towards your meta-gem requirement. However, be honest with yourself. It’ll be a [Solid Sky Sapphire] or a Solid Majestic Zircon *+30 Stamina. NEW in 3.1*.

§ The Waistguard of the Risen Knight is another one you can usually pickup in AH for around 80g, and it will carry you easily into 10man and beginning 25man. I would recommend going after the Ancient Aligned Girdle though as it has a solid drop rate and Heroic Drak’Tharon is easy-mode.

o Raid Progression

§ Tempered Saronite Belt

§ Waistguard of the Risen Knight

§ Skadi’s Iron Belt

§ Ancient Aligned Girdle

§ Waistguard of Living Iron

§ Waistguard of the Tutor

§ Fleshless Girdle

§ Ablative Chitin Girdle

§ Stormtempered Girdle *NEW in 3.1*

§ Shieldwarder Girdle *NEW in 3.1*

§ Indestructible Plate Girdle *NEW in 3.1 CRAFTED!*

§ Dragonslayer’s Brace *NEW in 3.1*

· The Legplates

o Things to Consider

§ Here’s the next step of where your Argent Crusade Rep comes in. The Special Issue Legplates are a very nice set useable even into 25man naxx. If you absolutely have to have the extra defense rating, you can pickup the Daunting Legplates. If you are that starved for uncrittability though, you probably aren’t ready to even try and tank heroics.

§ The legs are another example of why you are going to want to be running Heroic Violet Hold a lot. Besides the gloves and the trinket, your Raid-equal legplates are also in H VH.

§ If you are reading this while leveling, I would pickup the Tempered Saronite Legplates as soon as you ding 74. There’s not a better pair you can have approaching heroics, and nobody will notice if you are wearing them when you start your heroics.

o Raid Progression

§ Daunting Legplates

§ Special Issue Legplates

§ Ley-Guardian’s Legguards

§ Bolstered Legplates

§ Heroes’ Redemption Legguards

§ Dragon Brood Legguards

§ Legplates of Inescapable Death

§ Greaves of Turbulence

§ Valorous Redemption Legguards

§ Valorous Aegis Legguards *NEW in 3.1*

§ Legplates of Sovereignty

§ Gilded Steel Legplates *NEW in 3.1*

§ Saronite Plated Legguards *NEW in 3.1*

§ Wyrmguards Legplates *NEW in 3.1*

§ Conqueror’s Aegis Legguards *NEW in 3.1*

§ Legplates of the Endless Void *NEW in 3.1*

· The Boots

o Things to Consider

§ Don’t get the Tempered Titansteel Treads crafted. Seriously. Compared to pretty much half the other gear available they aren’t worth much. The Stamina on them is really nice, but with no avoidance? Is it worth it?

· “Hey ya’ll healers! Check out my huge HP pool!”

· *dies from six unavoided hits in a row*

· *blames healers*

§ If you have the Wyrmrest Rep, go ahead and get the Sabatons of Draconic Vigor. The Toxin-Tempered Sabatons are okay, but at early gear progession the Wyrmrest is going to be better off.

§ *NEW in 3.1* You can get the same boots through the Argent Tournament instead of Wyrmrest Rep.

§ *NEW in 3.1* The Spiked Deathdealers are comparable to the Greaves of the Stonewarden as the best boots in the game. If you can get them crafted? DO EET!

o Raid Progression

§ Sabatons of Draconic Vigor

§ Slaughterhouse Sabatons / Blood-Caked Stompers *NEW in 3.1*

§ Greaves of Ancient Evil

§ Tempered Titansteel Treads

§ Terrace Defence Boots

§ Plague-Impervious Boots

§ Sabatons of Endurance

§ Kyzoc’s Ground Stompers

§ Inexorable Sabatons

§ Charred Saronite Greaves *NEW in 3.1*

§ Spiked Deathdealers *NEW in 3.1 – CRAFTED!*

§ Greaves of the Stonewarder *NEW in 3.1*

Emblems

I’ve sorted each of the Emblems in ‘purchase’ order. Obviously if you have picked up a naxx25 neckpiece before getting the Chained Military Gorget, you’re not going to get it. This is just a recommended list based on the fact that the RNG hates paladins who think they can tank.

Basically, if it isn’t an upgrade, or you can get a larger upgrade by saving a few more emblems than do it. Spend wisely.

· Emblems of Heroism

o Libram of Obstruction – 15 Emblems

o Chained Military Gorget – 25 Emblems

o Crygil’s Discarded Plate Panel – 35 Emblems

o Waistguard of Living Iron – 40 Emblems

o Valor Medal of the First War – 40 Emblems

o Gloves of the Lost Conqueror – 60 Emblems

o Chestguard of the Lost Conqueror – 80 Emblems

· Emblems of Valor

o Signet of the Impregnable Fortress – 25 Emblems

o Platinum Mesh Cloak – 25 Emblems

o Kyzoc’s Groundstompers – 40 Emblems

o Bracer’s of Dalaran’s Parapets – 60 Emblems

o Mantle of the Lost Conqueror – 60 Emblems

o Legplates of the Lost Conqueror – 75 Emblems

· Emblems of Conquest *NEW in 3.1*

o Will update when information available. What little is here is most likely wrong, and a spoof.

o Neckpiece – 16 Emblems

o Tank Belt – 23 Emblems

o Tank Gloves – 23 Emblems

o Tank Legs – 32 Emblems

o T8 Helm – 48 Emblems

o Emblem of Valor – 1 Emblem

Tankadin in Wrath - 3.1

Fjork — Fri, 11/21/2008 - 09:32

I’ll be attempting to update each article to be PTR Tankadin Build 9704 equal. If the PTR has moved on from 9704, and there are further protection changes, they aren’t in here. I will update each as the new changes come out. I’ve removed a lot of information that was not only redundant, but confusing.

I also removed the ‘Gearing Out the Righteous Defender, and Glyphing Out the Righteous Defender book-pages for revision and rewriting. Each is outdated, but also takes like five minutes to load on my T1 connection at work. Look for the pages to be reposted soon!

*edit* Added a few pages. Please send me a PM or post a comment if you notice any discrepancies, errors in theorycrafting, spelling errors, or other douchebaggery anywhere in the article (besides the section that says “Author’s Name”)

Sources

· Elitist Jerks

· Maintankadin

· WoWhead

· MMO-Champion

· A lot of my own theorycrafting, testing, excel number-crunching, and spreadsheet mashing.

· Thanks to the following guildies (though they know it not):

o Ghli

o Grovinski

o Olorien

o Saedo

o Jayel

o Leighann / Rhoora

o Aidin / Grasen

Table of Contents

· Armaments – The spells and abilities of most interest to the upcoming Tankadin.

a. Ability Statistics – Cooldowns, Attack Power, and Spellpower Modifiers.

· Tanking

a. Basics

b. Primary Attributes

c. The Weapon – Maximizing Threat-Per-Second

· The Talent Tree

a. The Retribution Tree

b. The Protection Tree

c. The Holy Tree

· Cookie-Cutter Specs

a. The All-Tank

b. The True Paladin

c. Cookie-Cutter 1

d. Cookie-Cutter 2

· Weapons and Armor

a. Slot (Helm, Shoulder, etc)

· Things to Consider

· Raid Progression

b. Emblems of Heroism

c. Emblems of Valor

d. Emblems of Conquest *NEW in 3.1*

· Tankadin Gear for Dual-Spec’ing into Tanking *NEW in 3.1*

· Block Value and Block Rating *Under Construction*

· Trinkets and Rings *Under Construction*

· Glyphs and Enhancements *Under Construction*

Quick and Dirty FAQ

1. When should I be to start X Heroic / Instance?

a. There isn’t really a ‘specific’ gear level, iLevel, etc to aim for outside of being uncrittable. That is 540 Defense, or 688.59 Defense Rating. We’ll get into that later. From there maximize on Avoidance for every fight except Patchwerk. Block Rating ß Dodge Rating ß Parry Rating. You should do enough Heroics to have your [Libram of Obstruction], [40683], and [Chained Military Gorget] and hopefully have gotten some decent upgrades while you were at it.

2. Well fine, what Heroics should I start in then?

a. Start in Heroic Violet Hold, Heroic Utgarde Keep, and Heroic Drak’Tharon for your upgrades. Start running regular Halls of Lighting as soon as you can to pickup a [36993], which can always pair with [27891] if you are really desperate for Defense Rating. You will not get rid of your Seal very soon. Also, don’t stop running Heroic Violet Hold until you’ve picked up [37872]. It comes with a solid 4.50% Avoidance on equip for everything except Patchwerk.

3. Crushing Blows were removed, why are you talking about Avoidance?

a. Avoidance is not as critical to begin raiding as it was during Burning Crusade with the presence of Crushing Blows. However, Avoidance is still the most necessary stat for a Tankadin outside of Defense Rating and Stamina.

4. Why should I ‘macro it’?

a. With the plethora of defensive and offensive Paladin capabilities, it is much simpler to create a macro that (for example) will cleanse yourself if you don’t have a friendly target, or will taunt and cast exorcism at the same time.

5. What changes am I looking for in 3.1?

a. For one, your dps is going to go up by anywhere from 500 to 1,000 per second, and your survivability will get a little weight, but other than that very little. The changes are addressed more accurately in ‘The Talent Tree’ book page.

6. Why should I start in Heroic Violet Hold? I hate that instance. (Friend at work asked me to clarify.)

a. [43500] – This is a need, though the Argent Crusade Rep pants can substitute.

b. [37862] – If your Kirin Tor Rep isn’t Exalted and if you aren’t geared enough to take on Heroic Gundrak, here you go.

c. [37872] – 4.51% Avoidance right out-the-door. You need this.

d. [37873] – If you ever AOE-solo, you WANT this.

7. So why Utgarde Keep next then?

a. [37193] – Dual-spec

b. [37179] – It’ll carry you as far as it has to in raiding.

c. [37186] – Not much better available outside of crafting or raiding.

8. So I get those two now, why Drak’Tharon? Because I said so….. But seriously, these are the three easiest heroics for a Tankadin, and if you keep at all three of them you’ll be a raid-ready Tankadin within only a few days and some RNG luck.

a. [37784] – Best avoidance ring you’ll get outside of raiding.

b. [37723] – Duel spec

c. [37712] – Best Non-crafted boots outside of raiding.

d. [37735] – Best Tankadin Chestpiece outside of raiding and the T7 from turning in Emblems.

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What do you think about no flying for an entire expansion?

YES) It makes me feel more immersed in the game lore.

15%

YES) It encourages more PvP! (Please explain how in comments)

YES) I miss riding my ground mounts.

MAYBE) If you make all of my flying mounts able to be ground too.

MAYBE) if ground mounts are sped up to 200% speed (or higher)

26%

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NO) I have spent too much time getting various levels of flying to be wasting it.

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Total votes: 74

Ulduar

04 - XT-002 Deconstructor Strategy Guide

02 - Razorscale Strategy Guide

03 - Ignis the Furnace Master Strategy Guide

01 - Flame Leviathan Strategy Guide

Ulduar Strategy Guide

Tankadin in Wrath - 3.1 - Tankadin Gear for Dual-Spec’ing into Tanking NEW in 3.1

Tankadin in Wrath - 3.1 - Weapons and Armor

Tankadin in Wrath - 3.1

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