How do you gear a tank?

[nrross]

A few weeks ago I got my bear to level 80. Started tanking some instances and heroics, went pretty good. Then...I went on a hc with full epic dpsers and it was a nightmare. It has dented my confidence in a big way. And so often when I try to tank heroics, I get interviewed when I mention my stats, clearly most people don't consider them good enough...but how do I get decent stats if I can't do heroics to get the gear? (this is just me bitching btw).

Here is my char - http://eu.wowarmory.com/character-sh...light&n=Nrross

With pink paw, I have 25.8k HP, 25.7k armour, 34% dodge, 25 exp rating and a really crappy hit rating of about 93. Obviously I need new trinkets, new boots and proper enchants (still working on that), but are these stats decent enough for hc's?

Provided I dont roll with amazingly awesome dpser's, generally I am fine, but obviously that is tricky when it comes to heroics.

[fjols]

As a good geared healer I wouldn't mind going with you, since it sounds like you're doing an effort to improve your gear and know what you're doing.
My main concern is your health though, but its nothing a good healer can't keep up. Atleast in the lower heroics.
You are also very close to getting ring enchants with your enchanting, so level that too

Edit: Also, maybe it would be an idea to do some OS and VoA for gear?

[arel00]

Ehm, there's a Bear guide you know.

Anyway. Your gear isn't a problem, you're fine for heroics, both on health and on avoidance/mitigation. 25k hp are plenty for heroics, so don't let people tell you you're not ready. If they want a 30k+ tank, it's them wanting unneeded stuff, simple as that.

The problem I see is your build. You have some talents that are completely useless (Natural Shapeshifter, Primal Tenacity) and you lack important talents for your threat, like Naturalist and Omen of Clarity.

I suggest you try THIS build. It's not a raid one, but it should do fine for you on Heroics.
Also, check out the guide, there are gear lists and suggestions on talents / enchants.

[EzriEU]

How do you gear a tank?

Avoid cloth

[Bigslick]

If you're running w/ DPS in strong epics, they're going to have to watch their threat, simple as that. You're on the right path though.

A few suggestions...

* Put +40 stam on your bracers. While blue, they're still one of the best tanking bracers you'll see for a long time.
* Put an eternal belt buckle in the belt and socket for agi. If you're wanting a big boost to your stam, craft the frost resist belt, add a buckle, and put in 3 +24 stam gems to get a full +200 stam from that one piece. You lose some mitigation/avoidance/threat gen, but gain a TON of health.
* The lvl 70 mangle idol is pretty weak... You can do the pvp dailies in grizzly hills and in about an hour get the lvl 74 idol there that will substantially boost your bear threat.
* Get new trinkets. The ones you have do very little for you.
* Fill your 3rd major glyph slot w/ Glyph of Growling
* Enchant your weapon, even if it's w/ the low-end AP enchant
* Follow Arel's build suggestion, but perhaps pull 2 points from Furor and put them into King of the Jungle (you generally will only benefit from Furor when you shift before initiating a pull, so at 60% if you don't catch the 10 rage just shift out and back again till you do - you won't miss the mana).