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Gems for Tanking
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Post by
113043
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
Post by
k0rr
It depend's all on what you need.
Socket defense gems if you are not at the defense cap (415 talented)
Socket Agility gems if you have a ton of HP but not enough dodge
Socket Stamina gems if you need more HP
a good druid must have a good balance between stamina and agility. Since you say you have the heavy clefthoof set, i'm going to assume you're just starting kara.
an ideal set of stats that you want to aim for is:
over 20k armor
over 13k health
over 27.50% dodge
all unbuffed
as you get farther into PvE progression, and you start acquiring t5 pieces (heavy clefthoof > t4 for tanking imo), you can socket defense gems into those pieces to replace your heavy clefthoof set, but the heavy clefthoof set should be more than enough to put you at the defense cap.
my current stats are as follows:
18k hp
26k armor
30% dodge
416 defense
my itemset:
weapon - wildfury greatstaff (ssc trash drop)
idol - idol of terror (badges)
head - stylin' purple hat (crafted)
neck - brooch of deftness (badges)
shoulders - t4 (high king)
back - slikk's cloak of placation (badges)
chest - heavy clefthoof (crafted)
wrists - band of the swift paw (badges)
hands - s3 (1125 arena points)
belt - vindicator's leather belt (18k honor + 40 AB marks)
legs - heavy clefthoof (crafted)
boots - heavy clefthoof (crafted)
ring - violet signet (given)
ring - shermanar's great-ring (shade of aran)
trinket - darkmoon card: vengeance (furies deck)
trinket - moroes' lucky pocket watch (moroes)
aside from the shoulders and weapon, the rest of my itemset should be very easy to acquire for you.
earthwarden is a great alternative until you can get wildfury greatstaff
so start those kara runs for a weekly 22 badges if you can full clear.
and run the daily heroic if you can.
Post by
39561
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
Post by
113043
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
Post by
39561
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
Post by
k0rr
yep. one of the first badge of justice rewards that i'd aim for is the idol of terror.
costs 20 badges, one full kara clear will guarantee you this idol
it alone gives you +4.55% dodge when it procs. and it seems to proc off almost every other bear mangle. i sense a nerf.
Post by
k0rr
Do not gem for resilience or defense; it's the least efficient of way of getting those stats.
yes, but if you notice, there are only 4 pieces of leather gear in the game with +defense, and heavy clefthoof set makes up 3.
once you move past kara and into ssc/the eye, t5 is superior to heavy clefthoof for tanking because of the extra armor, and +agility, and even +stam on certain pieces. and since you lose a lot of +defense replacing the heavy clefthoof set, you have no choice but to socket defense unless you have rings/necklace/trinkets with high +defense.
Shifting Nightseyes are a valid option, although I prefer the extra stamina. Without knowing what your stats are without the gems, though, it's hard to say.
yep. If you have excess stamina, you can replace certain pieces with shifting nightseyes.
though in all 3 of my heavy clefthoof pieces, i socketed straight +12 stam gems in all sockets. screw the socket bonus. +3 dodge rating is useless to a druid.
i have so much stam that a simple kings buff grants me over 100 stamina alone. paired with an imp fort, i gain over 2000 health from 2 buffs alone.
fully raid buffed: imp fort, imp motw, kings, blood pact, commanding shout, i have over 25000 health. and it works great in fights like gruul where you're a soaker, or karathress when you have to tank the shaman.
Post by
39561
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
Post by
k0rr
yes, but the stats on t5-level and higher pieces more than make up for the loss of stats when you socket +defense. and when socketing defense, you don't always have to socket +8 defense
i would recommend socketing +4 def/+6 stam gems in every slot that you can.
using rawr, a tank in tier 5 level gear (no pvp gear) can have 28k armor, 16k hp, and 40% dodge. all unbuffed, while still maintaining defense cap.
yes compared to my current stats, i lose 2k health, but i gain 10% dodge through all that agility on those t5 pieces along with 2k armor, and that is a difference maker in raids.
though it is still nice to carry a full set of pvp gear if you can for high +resil
bosses such as the bear boss in ZA (if you're tanking the bear form), high resilience reduces the dmg taken from his DoTs, so a full s3 set is preferred over your usual tanking gear.
Enchant Chest - Major Resilience
personally i prefer +6 stats, or even the +10 stam armor kit if you can't afford that.
all in all, druids don't need a lot of +defense (thank god), so hitting the defense cap should never be a problem.
Post by
39561
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
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