Prot gear check

[Daez]

although the helm's the best you;'ll get pre-25 mans

No. Thane's Tainted Greathelm is the best helm available pre-25.

[Daez]

Your more than capable to MT naxx. I did it in far less gear than you have. You are going overkill on def as the previous poster said. Try not to gem for defense. By the looks of your gear, you can hit 540 with enchants and gear alone. Replace the gem in your ring and the greens with defense. Good luck, MT it up.

Actually, stacking defense is the best way to enhance avoidance according to EJ. Defense rating will add more than dodge rating and is not subject to diminishing returns on all aspects other than chance to be missed.

From EJ:

"Hence, adding 1% total avoidance (blocked attacks included) requires approximately 31 defense rating."

"39.35 dodge rating = +1% chance to dodge."

Yes block is included in total avoidance, but blocks should happen for a paladin.

[Daez]

If you're close to 102.4% including raid buffs (which are a pain to factor in due to DR ) then def is a good choice, and even if not it's a solid choice for yellow pre-102.4% tbh.

Actually they are pretty easy to factor in because if you didn't stack agility or dodge rating you are more likely to be under the diminishing returns than if you did. That is another reason why stacking defense rating is a much better idea than stacking dodge rating.

[sainthubbins]

Actually, stacking defense is the best way to enhance mitigation according to EJ. Defense rating will add more than dodge rating and is not subject to diminishing returns on all aspects other than chance to be missed.

From EJ:

"Hence, adding 1% total avoidance (blocked attacks included) requires approximately 31 defense rating."

"39.35 dodge rating = +1% chance to dodge."

Yes block is included in total avoidance, but blocks should happen for a paladin.

Even if you only count added dodge and parry from defense, I believe it takes 41 rating to achieve one percent avoidance. Also take into account that defense rating increases your chance to be missed, which neither dodge nor parry does. Gemming for defense comes out better than gemming for dodge, and much better than parry.

[Daez]

Gemming defense rating for avoidance = fail tank. If he needs the defense later on then he can regem for it but NEVER gem defense solely to increase your avoidance. You're better off with straight dodge or parry gems. Defense should NOT be used as an avoidance stat as it only marginally increases your avoidance.

You could not be more wrong. You need to go read what is written on EJ. Parry should NEVER EVER EVER EVER be gemmed for unless you absolutely have to to keep the socket bonus. The returns on parry rating for avoidance are crap. Defense rating is better than dodge rating for total avoidance by about 8 points and that means that yes you should gem for defense rating as a tank. Defense is the premiere avoidance stat according EJ and greatly increases your total avoidance.

Ideally you want to be as close to 689 defense as possible while maximizing your hp and avoidance stats so as it is now...that def gem in his ring is almost useless as far as avoidance goes. Might as well toss the 24 stam gem in there, he'll get the socket bonus anyways.

Wrong again. You need to leave theorycrafting for the people at are much more capable of doing it than you are and go read the elitist jerks forums.

[Draco cracona]

Ok, so I forgot some of the naxx10 helms, sorry - TS is the best you'll get pre-raid :P

Def is practically the same as dodge in terms of percent of pure per rating pre-DR, and you will probsbly be heavy on dodge DR.

And Daez - DR factors in at ANY gear level, and even without gearing for pure avoidance you can get 20% unbuffed dodge easily, that's into quite heavy DR buffed, due to the 4.3% pre-DR dodge you get from agi from raid buffs, and the fact that DR goes by your percentage added from rat, agi (for dodge) and def skill all together. At ~25% unbuffed dodge you're down to ~2-3% dodge from those buffs, according to the formulas on EJ. The problems come when you try and get as low as possible whilst being unhittable buffed.

[cappytoi]

I also agree about gemming parry or dodge is a well made mistake. If you need a red gem, +16 str, +8str +8dr, +8str +12stam will be more useful since parry gems avoidance can be neglectible. but don't let people to go wrong way, having like 600 defense (imaginary) doesn't mean that you are imba. try to balance your stats and keep your avoidance with holy shield around 102.4%, when you are over 102.4% you can swap your gems to trade for stamina, even parry/dodge if you want to get a better mitigation than block. and don't forget that having huge miss have side effects to get you OOM (assuming you are using BoSanc to keep your mana and related to this your threat stable).