After last nights attempts I did two things. First I went out and bought all (four) of the Solid Star of Elunes on the AH to the tune of 280 gold. This brings my unbuffed HP to the 12k range. My profile.

The second thing I did was watch as many Prince kill movies as I could find. What I discovered is that my position for our very first attempt (the far corner against the parapet) was used in a LOT of the videos since it allowed the tank to move the Prince to the right or the left as needed.

I need to hit up and finish the Cipher of Damnation last quest and get Grom'tor's Charge for an additional 12 stamina. I'm not sure what else I can add outside of flasking - though I do have 3 black lotus if we want to go that route.

Any other suggestions folks can make?

Some ideas:

- Look for a higher mitigation ring to replace the +42 stamina ring (I'm pretty sure there are some high-stamina rings that are vastly better for mitigation)
- Get the bold shoulders (Heh, I know you've been trying)
- Get +15 agility enchant to gloves rather than +15 strength
- Get a better enchant for your cloak than the +120 armor enchantment (it seems like there should be something better out there)
- Get a leg enchant (leatherworkers can make some great armor patches for legs, now)

Those are the quick ideas I had on how to improve your tanking gear. It seems like you can keep a similar level of stamina but vastly improve your damage mitigation with the above ideas. When you get a better tank weapon, you might think about throwing on an enchantment for it, as well. An agility enchantment would be a big boost to your mitigation.

Dragoon mentioned it but there has to be an LW that is honored with CE that can make you a Clefthide Leg Armor or if there is a CE revered LW than can whip up Nethercleft Leg Armor if you want to spend a primal nether for 5 more stam and 2 more agi.

But 30 stam and 10 agi is going to help.


An Elemental Band of the Sentry out of Arc would probably be better for mit than the +42 stam ring as Dragoon mentioned.

The Wind Trader's Band looks to be another option if you haven't done that quest series.


I don't know if you want +12 agi or +120 armor on the cloak. .38% dodge and crit vs 120 armor. Though there is the 12 dodge rating enchant as well, I don't recall how much dodge that is for a warrior, I think .63%. Again not sure which is going to get the most overall mitigation. (I think it's 18.9 dodge rating for 1% dodge at 70)

I'm not sure how big a deal aggro is, but the Sha'tari Vindicator Waistguard looks like a better belt option that I figure you have already since I'm assuming you got your Arc key. 21 str is more AP for more aggro/damage, but your belt has less stam and only 1 more def. I don't know if a Girdle of the Immovable is out of your reach or not. Since it's a heroic drop. Not an easy quick fix (like the bold shoulders that have been mean to you).

For trinkets Adamantine Figurine might do you better than the Ony trinket. Dabiri's Enigma might as well. You only get .38% parry from the 12 parry rating at L70. 10 more def rating is 4.22 more def which is .16% dodge, .16% parry, and .16% block. Which is .32% raw avoidance. The 12 more def rating is 5 more def which is the .20% on the block/dodge/parry so it is more flat out avoidance. How to rate the 7 health per 5 would need fight length of fight and time you spend topped off. Not sure on those either but you said you wanted to squeeze every little bit out.


On the dodge and parry front, since I'm pretty sure it's 18.9 dodge rating for 1% dodge and 31.5 parry rating for 1% parry you could replace the parry rating gem in your boots with a dodge rating gem. That would up your total dodge+parry by .17%


I'm still not fully up to speed on warrior gear since I'm not really playing a high level one anymore, but getting the armor kit for the legs would be the single biggest and simplest change. The other stuff was just minor little things to try and help squeeze. It might also be worth changing the gems in your legs and not worrying about the socket bonus.

<-- Friendly 355/375 Leatherworker.

Hykim <-- Honored 357/375 LW.

Let me rephrase. I'm a friendly Leatherworker. The guy behind the character. But honored with the appropriate factions.

Primal earth >.< - Still looking for a miner willing to trade primal earths for life as well as someone who has the primal life to earth transmute. Otherwise I'll need to put out more gold and purchase one off the AH. It will be awhile longer for the epic flyer.

Otherwise I'm trying to work on the quest series that leads to the belt you mentioned - the rest of the stuff is drops and my luck with drops has been crappy to say the least. WTB non-pally loot...

I have a bunch of primal earth. I'll get you some tonight.

Definitely get the Clefthide armor for your pants. Consider a +8 stam patch for your gloves, as well.

For Prince Phase 2, you basically need one of:

1) Blessing of Kings.
2) Flask of the Titans
3) Chain-chugging Stoneshields/Ironshields.

Two of three is highly recommended.

Stam first, mitigation a close second. You want enough dodge/parry to stop his Sunder Armor from stacking up too high, but there isn't any amount of avoidance that will prevent you from being double-crushed at some point in the fight, and you need a comfortable buffer to survive that, which is to say enough armour and HP such that two crushings and a non-crushing don't kill you: 16.5k+ hp is probably the "safe" zone.

Also: WTF Tal is Prot?!

One of the trinkets (Dabri's) and one of the rings (Wind trader) are quest chains as well, though again not sure how huge of an upgrade they really are.

But yeah I understand the drop luck. Just pointing out some stuff to think about.

And yeah as Skan said +8 stam for the gloves (again from an LW) could be better than 15 str or 15 agi on them.

Did you consider the felsteel set (helm, gloves, leggings)? It has a lot of armor, and enough stamina/defense rating to make them worth considering, but you would lose some strength for sure.

That's exactly what I said...

See I asked in /g and in /gem about a stamina buff for gloves and folks said there wasn't one! I'll get one asap.



No go on the Blessing of Kings - we don't have an available paladin. I'll start farming the herbs for flasks. Will also have to start checking on getting more stonescale oil soon as I burned through 8 of my 10 stoneshields last night.



Hmmm I have a bit more to go to get close to 16.5 buffed.



lol yep I went over to the darkside for the good of the team. I'm liking it so far but am a little frustrated that I now have three characters that hit so lightly.

Tal, I consider Dabiri's Enigma to be superior to the Onyxia trinket. A lot more Defense, and an awesome on use ability, 14% additional block chance is nothing to sniff at. The quest to do it is quick and easy. I'm with GG on this one, and think you should go for the Sha'tari Vindicator's Waistguard as your belt. The Clefthide Leg Armor is just plain incredible. Grom'tor's Charge is an awesome tanking weapon, even if the questline is painful. Although, if you're to the Prince, you could hope for the King's Defender from the chess event. I use the Felsteel Helm instead of Myrmidon's Headdress.

We've had very little luck with decent plate drops in Karazhan so far. I mean, Aran even let us kill him twice last lock, what a nice fella, but he doesn't help out in the plate tanking department.

I keep wondering if we should try Ilhoof instead of Prince first, since Ilhoof is more execution-based while with Prince, if you don't pack the gear, you don't win.

-Bolty

Yeah, so far Karazhan is turning into a healer, offensive caster, pally paradise. There are other classes too, Blizz.

Reroll Tauren? I have almost as much HP as you do, but almost 80 Stamina less

Right now I've got a few different sets of gear I where. In all my sets I get a minimum of 490 def first. Getting crit on any raid boss is a very bad idea. Then I shoot for 12000 HP unbuffed. Then is changes depending on the fight. On very hard hitting, bosses where crushing blows are killer I make sure I have 25% block to push crushing blows off with shield block up. On fights where i'm not as concerend on crushing blows (or the boss hits so fast that I can't keep shield block up) I stack as much dodge/parry as I can.

Right now you have 502 def, and a bunch of gems with +def. I'd at least replace all of them with +9 stam gems. IMO I can't see spending hundreds of gold on +12 stam gems if the item isn't epic.

The ring GG recomended from Arca is very nice to replace your +42 stam ring (I'd love to get it also). But one ring that is very easy to get is Andormu's Tear. Now your first reaction will probably be the same as mine: "WTF! no stam! terible tank ring!" But once you get past that you'll see:

Equip: Increases defense rating by 10.
Equip: Increases your dodge rating by 26.
Equip: Increases your shield block rating by 15.

That's 1.38% dodge and 1.90% block. Great tanks stats. And 4 defense doesn't hurt. And you probably have the ring already, I think it's from the BM quest. If you do things like change out some gems for for more stam you'll probably only lose 20ish stam.

For enchants the best ones right now are agil for your weapon, cloak (12 dodge rating might technically be a hair better, but it's so close it's not worth the extra cost) and gloves. I still haven't figured out how much dodge you get for agility at 70, but 42 agil from those enchants is between 1% and 2% dodge. Plus crit and armor. Then enchant everything else with stam.

Actually, Tal has several nice plate pieces from Karazhan. However, we just haven't seen good drops from the chess event, primarily.

That will surely help my Alliance friends with the Prince.

WTB taurens for Alliance!

WTB fear waaaarrrrrghhhhgetoffme...

Not my fault you all chose the wrong faction

Commence cross-faction bickering!

Alliance r nub cuz of fear ward! All Blood Elf players r teh gay!

"Fear will not play a major role in the expansion." Oh, except in almost every instance, including raid encounters (hello, Big Bad Wolf).

-Bolty

Adding two more to the set: Eternium Greathelm and Crimson Girdle of the Indomitable. Belt socketed with two +9 stamina gems and helm getting 3 Solid Stars and the enchant from KoT.

I am so broke

Edit: I also got the stam enchant to my gloves. Thanks guys!

And you have 4 more Solid Star of Elune in the mail.

Honestly, I'm surprised the top of the Orgrimmar bank isn't covered with naked, dancing blood elves like the bridges in Ironforge.

Fear Ward would be nice, but proper timing of Berserker Rage and Spell Reflection usually takes care of fear concerns. I suppose that the Big Bad Wolf's fear can't be reflected or negated via Spell Reflection, though.

I've always preferred to pick up the socket bonuses, particularly when they're things like DodgeR, ParryR, BlockR, or Block Value.

For me, I'd always use Enduring Talasite (+6 Stamina and +4 Defense Rating) in yellow sockets, Solid Star of Elune (+12 Stamina) in blue sockets, and Sovereign Nightseye (+6 Stamina and +4 Strength) in red sockets. Switch those to Jagged Talasite (+6 Stamina and +4 Crit Rating) for yellow and blue sockets and Inscribed Noble Topaz (+4 Strength and +4 Crit Rating) if you want to socket them offensively.

And I wouldn't sweat the cost of the gems; spend an hour or two farming Manaforge Ara and Socrethar's Seat in Netherstorm, and you can make money very fast, even as Protection. Several Adamantite and Rich Adamantite nodes spawn in the area, the mobs all drop either Aldor or Scryer reputation items (not to mention upper-60s greens and blues), around 10-20 silver in raw cash, netherweave, and I've seen various herbs in the areas, including Dreaming Glory, Netherbloom, and Mana Thistle. I just made my spectropic goggles tonight, so I'll have to see if there are any mote clouds to be farmed in the area as well

EDIT: If you're thumping the 490 defense softcap already, and want to get the socket bonuses, I think Jagged Talasite would be a nice way to go. You still get a respectable amount of Stamina, and the additional crit rating will increase your Rage and aggro generation as well

You rock sir. Thanks!

It can't which is odd because there are other mobs in the instance that are susceptible to spell reflect like the skeletal ushers who you can reflect their icy tomb if you're fast after being frost shocked.

You are my hero now! OMG I can't believe I never thought of that...

/blush
/shame

take care
Tarabulus

AoE versus Single Target.

I r dum.

I'd love to say I came up with it but it was mentioned on the R & D forums at wow.com and I had a similar response.

I've noticed that many AoE effects are more like multiple single-target effects.

Ambassador Hellmaw's AE Fear effect and Coilfang Sirens' AE Fear effect come to mind. You can reflect both, though Hellmaw can't be feared. There are some other AE effects that I've successfully reflected. I seem to remember Shadowbolt Volley being among them (cast by the Rift Keepers in Black Morass, among other places.)

Not always a good thing. I remember a wipe caused by a fear reflect. Funny to look back on, but it was already a frustrating start to Steamvault...


I can confirm that Shadowbolt Volley is reflectable. I do try to play with it to see what can and can't be reflected, but I don't always have the rage to spare. I'd have a lot more if I could hold aggro with GCD abilities only, but my DPS doesn't afford me that luxury.

This thread makes me sad.

Not because of anything about Prince Malchezaar, just because of the list of warriors I know who have Righteous Spaulders on accident and doesn't have Bold despite multiple Shadow Lab runs specifically hoping for Bold.

Who else is on this list?
- Me
- Durambar
- Tal

Seriously, based on what I've seen, I'm more optomistic about getting fanblade pauldrons, and I'm not even Revered with Lower City yet.

Cheer up! I got them on my first run!



take care
Tarabulus

P.S.: And boy do they look like crap...

That's supposed to cheer me up?

Real warriors don't need Shoulderguards of the Bold.

Real warriors tank with two bananas!

Well, it was supposed to cheer Concillian up

I am a very friendly person and poster, grant me this tiny evulness I beg.




I wish every warrior the best of luck in getting the plate they want, so they don't have to run around wearing OMFGLOL paladin stuff. There should be a law against that, or, better yet, remove paladins from the game. Or make them less...well, I'm not going to say it.

take care
Tarabulus

EDIT: I linked my profile in my sig, you can see my gear is far from optimal too

My post wasn't serious, but I have to say, I love our only guilded level 70 paladin, he brings a wealth of new abilities that help me do my job and let others do theirs, while filling many himself. I'm also enjoying leveling my blood knight and looking forward to Outland 5 manning with him.

I'm still tanking in axe shoulders, myself

I dunno, I found it fairly hilarious at the time.

Seriously though, cheers to all you warriors taking one (hell, hundreds) for the good of your guilds. I wish I had it in me to be there with you, but for the moment I'll simply cheer you on, as I don't.

Cheers,
~Frag

I got mine on the second Murmur kill, and they've dropped every time since.

I, however, think they look quite nice

What do you mean by "no paladins" for blessing of kings?

He means the folks who had been playing paladins aren't really playing them anymore with the group he raids with. Well, he's got -his- pally, but he can't really use his pally to bless his warrior.

We're running with a pretty set crew in a alliance of guilds. There are a handful of level 70 paladins who have been snatched up by other raiding crews with none left over for our mismatched crew of 2 feral druids, 2 warlocks, 2 priests, a rogue, a mage, a warrior and a rotating last spot that has been filled by hunter, rogue, mage and shaman.

Never got those either.