To Clarify I am aware the artifact is important for any role that a player is taking part in. My question stems from a problem that I will be facing as a raid leader when the first legion raiding tier hits. Our main tank will be unavailable for roughly a month of raiding due to his job.
Also to add we are a semi-hardcore raiding guild looking to get into mythic as soon as possible. Which makes the decisions a little harder because of how much of a set back artifact power is if you're missing that much time (from what I have gathered so far).
How important is it for tanks to have an artifact powered up? Could someone get away with just the base weapon for 4 weeks? Also I've heard conflicting reports about how long it takes to get an artifact fully powered. Is it that much of a catch up if you decide to throw any artifact power into another artifact?
I ask this because I see a few options and I am trying to pick the best one. I also want to know how much catching up our tank will need to do when they come back. Assuming they will be unable to play at all during that month.
A few options I'm looking at right now are:
Tanking on my DH but keeping the artifact power going towards Havoc.
Fully taking the role of main tank (thereby putting all power into Vengeance) and having him dps until we are able to swap at some point.
Recruiting a new tank.
The plans for my DH were to Havoc in raids and push Mythic dungeons as Vengeance. But I was hoping to have a bit more time before making the move towards Vengeance.
Any help is appreciated :] and sometimes I get carried away so if any of what I said is confusing feel free to post a question about it.