Wednesday, November 14, 2007

It's list time!

It's been a while since I put together an item upgrade list. Of course that's because almost every upgrade I could get was dependent on a raid level boss dropping them, so it was less a case of working towards them so much as just praying they drop what I want. But with 2.3, suddenly there's a ton of shiny shiny BoJ items. I'm going to list the items, and list them in the order I plan to get them.

1) Chestguard of the Stoic Guardian: Plate Chest, 1607 Armor, 60 STA, 22 Defense Rating, 38 Dodge Rating, 35 Spell Damage, Red/Yellow/Blue Sockets, 6 STA Socket bonus
Cost: 75 Badges
Personal thoughts: The basic fact that it's a Paladin tanking piece is not the driving reason this is first, though that's a definite perk. Due to Nightbane being probably the last boss we'll fight in Karazhan, the Breastplate of the Righteous will most likely be the final rare-quality piece I replace. Instead of hoping for the Panzar'thar Breastplate, I'll be proactive and replace the Breastplate of the Righteous first.

2) Slikk's Cloak of Placation: Back, 346 Armor, 37 STA, 16 Defense Rating, 25 Dodge Rating
Cost: 35 Badges
Personal thoughts: Again, buying this to replace a blue. The only real drop from Karazhan that was a tanking cloak was the Gilded Thorium Cloak, which would cause me to lose too much dodge compared to the Devilshark Cape.

3) Girdle of the Protector: Plate Waist, 904 Armor, 40 STA, 11 Defense Rating, 11 Dodge Rating, 18 Spell Hit Rating, 23 Spell Damage Yellow/Blue Sockets, 4 STA Socket Bonus
Cost: 60 Badges
Personal thoughts: While I already have an epic belt from Kara, the
Crimson Girdle of the Indomitable, with it's wasted points on STR, it's definitely a Warrior belt. While I could aim for the Iron-Tusk Girdle, the thing that pushes the Girdle of the Protector from "Nice" to "Awesome" is the spell hit. Such a rare stat on tanking gear so I'll give up points elsewhere to get it.

4) Unwavering Legguards: Plate Legs, 1406 Armor, 73 STA, 22 Defense Rating, 30 Shield Block Rating, 59 Shield Block Value, Red/Yellow/Blue Socket, 6 STA Socket Bonus
Cost: 75 Badges
Personal thoughts: Upgrading to the Girdle above and the Sabatons below will cost me a fair bit of avoidance, possibly putting me into the realm of being crushable (I have some blue gems I can swap out for green or purples if needed but I'd prefer not to take that route). By getting this fourth instead of fifth, I'll be able to ease the pressure I think I'm going to feel from losing a fair bit of avoidance. In addition, the 30 Shield Block Rating along with the amazing Shield Block Value makes these an awesome upgrade from the Wrynn Dynasty Greaves.

5) Sabatons of the Righteous Defender: Plate Feet, 1105 Armor, 45 STA, 18 Defense Rating, 18 Spell Hit Rating, 30 Shield Block Value, 23 Spell Damage,
Red/Blue Sockets, 4 STA Socket Bonus
Cost: 60 Badges of Justice
Personal thoughts: Much like the Girdle of the Protector, the Spell Hit Rating on this makes it a humongous upgrade from anything else available. Unfortunately, since I currently have the Boots of Elusion, upgrading will cause a net loss of a little over 2% avoidance (pre-gems), which is why it comes after Unwavering Legguards, despite being cheaper and having spell damage and hit.

6) Bracers of the Ancient Phalanx:
Plate Wrist, 703 Armor, 45 STA, 23 Defense Rating, 22 Expertise Rating
Cost: 35 Badges
Personal thoughts: The Expertise on this makes me giggle with glee, but since it will be an upgrade from the Bracers of the Green Fortress, I will lose about 10 Dodge Rating (gain a little Defense Rating), so I'll need to be careful of my slots when I upgrade to these.

7)
Bonefist Gauntlets: Plate Hands, 1005 Armor, 51 STA, 30 Parry Rating, 21 Hit Rating, Red/Blue Sockets, 4 STA Socket Bonus
Cost: 60 Badges
Personal thoughts: Amazing Armor, Stamina, Sockets, Parry Rating, along with Hit Rating for more threat and less resists on Righteous Defense. Unfortunately, compared to the my current gauntlets, the Iron Gauntlets of the Maiden or the Justicar Handguards loss of all Defense Rating, Shield Block Value, and other stats may not make this a worthwhile upgrade. Will need to do some actual number crunching once I get my hands on them.

8)
Brooch of Deftness: Neck, 48 STA, 22 Hit Rating, 21 Expertise Rating
Cost: 35 Badges
Personal thoughts: Wheee! More expertise! Unfortunately, this will (possibly) replace the Barbed Choker of Discipline and has absolutely no defensive stats. Until I can reach uncrushable without the Choker, this one is my lowest priority. :(

All told I need 435 Badges to get everything. @_@ Looks like I need to get cracking!

8 comments:

Honors Code said...

This is almost the exact order I'm getting my stuff in as well with one change. I'm getting the Legs before the Belt because I'm still wearing Timewarden's. Now maybe Curator will give up Wyrnn's soon, in which case, I'd go with Cloak 2nd liek you.

What do you think of the Jungle Stompers? I'd lose about 2% avoidance by equiping them instead of my Boots of Elusion.

Kaziel said...

Jungle Stompers are some really great boots, and if you find you lose enough crush avoidance to drop you below 102.4% then these are one of the best upgrades from the Boots of Elusion. They have way more STA, a blue socket (+12 STA gem woo!), some Block Value and around 4% Shield Block Rating giving you room to pick up other stats elsewhere while maintaining uncrushability (Hello2u Brooch of Deftness).

Unfortunately, my stance is that spell hit on actual tanking gear is a super rare commodity, and a single early resist by a spell can cause me to lose aggro on a boss to a healer, which could very well mean a wipe. Once I can reach and stay uncrushable, and have a decent amount of spell damage, +hit and +spell hit takes priority to almost every other stat, save Stamina, Armor, and Block Value.

Side note: Honestly, I'm very much considering (once I get it) to upgrade from the Chestguard of the Stoic Guardian to the Chestguard of the Warlord, for more +hit and some additional leeway in the crush avoidance department (will probably allow me to go for the Brooch of Deftness and the Bonefist Gauntlets).

Though I do have to agree on prioritizing replacing your Timewarden's Leggings. Good though they may be, they are pretty old, and the Unwavering Legguards are pretty awesome.

Ardent Defender said...

Hey Kaziel was wondering what your thoughts were on the PoJ talent since you have it in your spec now. I'm curious about it myself for the 3% spell hit reduction chance but more so for the movement speed increase which i tend to like. Wondering what your thoughts are since you been using it? Any thoughts?

Honors Code said...

You should post this list to Maintankadin

DW said...

You won't lose crush avoidance going for Jungle Stompers over Boots of Elusion.

The Jungle Stompers give you a total of 4.88% crush avoidance and 1.00% pure avoidance. The Boots of Elusion are 3.54% CA and 3.16% PA.

I went for the chest piece first, and the cloak second. I have Jungle Stompers, but I'm not wearing them yet (still debating whether it's worth it).

Ardent Defender said...

Since i'm kinda doing a lot of Heroic runs there days i'm using your Heroic gear list as a reference as well as Zen Tanking Evolution list. Since i used your pre-Kara gear list before as reference it should not be too far off in following this gear upgrade list with the badge gear.

I already have the Chestguard of the Stoic Guardian. So ill be working on something next to replace. My guild finally goes to Kara this weekend so whatever gear i may pic up going forward will figure into what i replace and when with Badges. The only Green gear piece i have is the "Ascendant's Boots" from Netherwing Quest reward. Unless just pure dumb luck in Kara not getting any boot drop i'll replace that last green piece. But hopefully Boots of Elusion will drop at least and that way i'll replace things in order somewhat. I could use some more spell hits though. However when i get to 35 or 60 new Badges i'll decide then in a week or two.

Warner said...

This list is great, but with the upcoming patch, do you think this list is going to change a lot? Luckily, I started saving my badges once I found out about the new patch so I didn't start buying the gear from this list.

Kaziel said...

Dimelos, pretty soon I'm going to throw together a brand new list considering the new gear and comparing it to the slots which are already filled.