Tank Secondary Stat Priority

[Leadsop]

Hey guys, endgame Shadow Tank 31/0/10 here.

In raiding the other night, I picked up a shield that had the EXACT same stats on it as the shield I am currently using, except that instead of +37 Shield on it, it had +37 Accuracy. All other stats (End, WP, etc) were exactly the same.

The benefit/loss/decision between the two is approx 2% Accuracy OR 1% Shield (I am not quite capped on either).

I do know that Accuracy has a secondary function that once you are Hit capped at 100%, any further Accuracy you gain begins to count against your target's Defense... which is cool.

However, I'm also a Shadow, with lower Armor, so it could be that while I am uncapped the Shield rating is more valuable.

With the Accuracy shield, I go from approx 97% to 99% Accuracy.

With the Shield shield, I go from approx 36.5% to 37.5% Shield.

Any advice?

[shadowkras]

Hold on, 96% shield? What im missing here?

[Leadsop]

Yeah sorry, my bad... see correction above.

[link4117]

The way I view it, I'm a tank. I'm going to get as much survivability as I can. Leave the dps to the dps. Is dps important as a tank? Yeah it can be, but I don't think you should be gearing for it. Staying alive and making sure stuff hits you is a tank's job. Taking this stance, I don't see how getting past accuracy cap would be beneficial at all. Now getting accuracy capped so you never missed might be worth it, that's more of a personal decision. Do you feel you miss some important attacks or are you comfortable enough knowing you'll hit most of the time. 3% chance to miss isn't huge, and I hardly notice it when I'm not accuracy capped; so personally I believe the shield chance is much more beneficial.

[Leadsop]

The way I view it, I'm a tank. I'm going to get as much survivability as I can. Leave the dps to the dps. Is dps important as a tank? Yeah it can be, but I don't think you should be gearing for it. Staying alive and making sure stuff hits you is a tank's job. Taking this stance, I don't see how getting past accuracy cap would be beneficial at all. Now getting accuracy capped so you never missed might be worth it, that's more of a personal decision. Do you feel you miss some important attacks or are you comfortable enough knowing you'll hit most of the time. 3% chance to miss isn't huge, and I hardly notice it when I'm not accuracy capped; so personally I believe the shield chance is much more beneficial.

It's not so much for the DPS aspect of it, it's more for the Threat Generation. In WoW, tanks were always looked at as super-fail unless they were Hit capped.

Also, it IS A KNOWN STAT ALGORITHM in the game where once you have over 100% Accuracy, it continually reduces the enemy's deflection and resist chances, EVEN ONCE 100% is achieved.

[Lathais]

I understand Accuracy is important for threat gen, but definitely go for Def, Shield and Absorb first.

[obdigore]

Two Questons:
1) Are you having threat problems after the first 15 seconds of the fight?
2) Are you dying often due to healers not being able to keep you up, or because of raid mechanics/failure on the part of your other raiders.

I think if you answer those questions you can see which you want/need. I would always go with more survivability as a tank if you aren't having threat issues.

[Deleted]

What I noticed when going from full crafted tank set (lvl 49 but with augments) to full Columni is that my health spiked by about 4k. My defensive stats took a nosedive though. In the crafted set I was at 47% shield chance, 44% absorb and 18% defense. In Columni I'm at 41% shield, 38% absorb and 16.5% defense. It is a noticeable decrease and the better gear set hasn't made me that much more survivable. I end up taking more damage more often than in my crafted set. The only area where Columni is clearly superior is the threat stats, most pieces have a lot more aim/strength and accuracy than the crafted.

[Leadsop]

I noticed that as well.

I'm wondering if that's the devs trying to tell us that endgame gearing needs to be toward Max HP and Threat Gen in opposition to so many defensive stats or what.

It seems so many raid bosses right now are more or less tank-n-spank fights for us, which would go contrary to what I wrote above...