Tanking heroics, help please

[dambros]

Hi there,

Got 80 yesterday, picked up a bunch of gear and tried tanking. Well I can say tanking the low level instances was pretty easy, like UK and DTK.

I would like to know if it is possible with my gear to tank better things like UP, HOL and those more difficult dungeons once they have better drops.

This is my armory: http://www.wowarmory.com/character-s...g&n=Bubblebath

I have a replace for the Keystone ring that put me over 540def if needed also, but it takes away some stam :/

What piece of gear should I focus on replacing soon? I'm focusing on get some trinkets, maybe the gossamer one and the emblem of heroism libram.

Any tips are really appreciated, thanks!

[Somerandomhobo]

Go and spam run normal TOC (new 5 man). It will get you new feet/hands/waist/legs and (imo) best tanking trinket pre 25 ulda (i like the proc).

EDIT: Run normal HOL. the extra defense will allow you to replace gear with high def (which most craftable stuff has) with other gear, lower in defense but higher in stam/avoid/armor

[dambros]

Is it possible to tank TOC normal with my gear?

[domzae]

Is it possible to tank TOC normal with my gear?

Yes, though you'll need a fairly geared healer (disc priest is great to have heal undergeared tanks due to the extra 'health buffer' they provide), if I were you I'd look for a pretty decent sized guild to do runs with, as alot of people will see your hit points and vomit something chronic when the melee dps have 2k more hp than you. :P

[dambros]

Yeah, HP is terrible. Yesterday I got a pretty well geared healer that accepted healing my 20k hp poll and he did everything without wiping once, but most of them can't afford healing a bad geared tank.

I always played a DPS so I never imagined HP would screw me this bad lol.

[Naesala]

If you want to tank heroic dungeons you'll need to enchant your gear with both stamina and 1 enchant or gem that takes your def rating to 540 (capp) otherwise you won't be able to come in many heroics (due to people always got their opinions about tanks with low health) when you get to 25k+ unbuffed then everything will go much smoother.

You can find cheap enchants that increases your health very much for a low price (at the AH)

[Somerandomhobo]

Find a pocket healer. Bring him everywhere.

Also, if you cant heal a tank with 20k hp and def capped (your not there, but still valid) you suck massive cawk.

[Lightstrike]

To be honest, the difficulty of heroics isn't in the same order as the difficulty of the normal dungeons.. utgarde pinnacle for example is extremely easy.

None of the heroics are particularly difficult, people usually leave oculus because its frustrating, and DTK isn't too popular either.. other than those two i cant think of one instance that is particularly challenging on heroic mode.

You should aim for 535 defense for heroics, and then pick up a few choice pieces.

Tattered castle drape, waistguard of the risen knight, figurine - monarch crab and tempered titansteel helmet all punch well above their weight and 3 of the 4 are BoE so you can buy them.. they shouldnt be that expensive either. You'll find getting those few pieces will drastically improve your character.

[dambros]

Well, I'm def capped for heroics anyway. The cap has always been 535 for dungeons and 540 for raids.

I plan on finish leveling my mining, it will grant me +30 stamina and I really need that damn essence of gossamer, it 111stam.

Which enchant should I get to increase my HP that isnt very expensive?

Probably gonna get Jormungar Leg Armor, Greater Fortitude on boots and Superior Agility on cloak.

Thanks for all the tips so far guys.

[nwo]

Don't expect to get carried through heroics as a tank with 20k hp. Other people invested their time and gold into their toon, you should do the same. Enchant your gear. Since you just hit 80, I know you don't really have the rep to get anything from the WOTLK factions, but there are still a few other options out there.

1. Enchant your helm with +18 stam with a heavy borean armor kit and other pieces of armor you might be upgrading fairly soon such as your boots and gloves, might be better and cheaper to just get 22 stam to boots though.
2. Enchant your shoulders with the 10k honor PVP shoulder enchant (30 stam and 15 resil) which would also make you uncrittable with your current stats.
3. Buy badge bracers, should be pretty damn cheap in trade, they go for around 600-700G in trade on my server and 1k+ on AH, put 40 stam on em.
4. Other gear should be enchanted as well, get the budget 45 stam enchant for your legs.

With the suggestions I have posted, you should be close to 24k hp with sanctuary up which is not too bad for starting heroics. I have seen a few new tanks on my server that have around 23-24k hp unbuffed and they aren't too hard to heal, so make sure you group with an overgeared healer otherwise you're gonna get bitched at.

[kodynn2001]

If I were you, I'd probably run HoL for the Seal of the Pantheon. That should help out your Defense so you can focus more on Stam gear. It's always good to be at like 545 or higher defense so you can replace gear with lower defense and higher stam without going under the defense cap.

But if you're looking to boost your stamina by alot, get armor kits. there is the leg armor kit that gives +45 stam and one that gives +55, and then there are the Heavy Borean Armor Kits that give +18 stam to boots, pants, gloves, chest, shoulders and headgear. A Heavy Borean Armor kit should be good until you get Revered with the Argent Crusade and then you can buy the head enchant from them for +34 stam, and +20 defense.

And you can get a pretty good chest piece from regular Utgarde Pinnacle from the quest giver in there to collect the trash items (emerald jaguar, silver cup, etc.).

For shoulders you can pick up the BoE blue shoulders, Crusader's Pauldrons or something like that, off the auction house. They aren't terrible expensive.

You can get the Seal of the Pantheon and the Eternally Folded Blade from regular Halls of Lightening, so you should be good there.

[dambros]

Thanks again.

Probably gonna get this out today:

Legs: Jormungar Leg Armor - 45 stam
Boots: Enchant Boots - Greater Fortitude - 22 stam
Cloak: Enchant Cloak - Superior Agility - 16 agi
Chest: Heavy Borean Armor Kit - 18 stam
Head: Heavy Borean Armor Kit - 18 stam
Hand: Heavy Borean Armor Kit - 18 stam

Gonna try not get stolen on the pantheon and maybe get the gossamer, this will bump my HP a lot.

The enchants + maxing mining should give me around 150 stam.

[Eurytos]

I really need that damn essence of gossamer, it 111stam.

Forget about this trinket.

There is one in the new 5man(ToCh) that is better and it drops from regular mode. Freakin regular mode, you can reset it and run it til you get it. It has more stam(+126) and a better proc(+7k armor, i think) . Its called The Dark Heart.

Though, i guess if your trying to get you HP up, you could use both of them.

[nwo]

Forget about this trinket.

There is one in the new 5man(ToCh) that is better and it drops from regular mode. Freakin regular mode, you can reset it and run it til you get it. It has more stam(+126) and a better proc(+7k armor, i think) . Its called The Dark Heart.

Though, i guess if your trying to get you HP up, you could use both of them.

Yep, the base stats on it and the proc are both better than the trinket from AN and 5 man non-heroic ToC is 10 times easier (hard to believe, I know). It is also a lot easier to obtain since it is non heroic and you can keep running it till you get it since the instance only takes 10 minutes to do.

[Eurytos]

It is also a lot easier to obtain since it is non heroic and you can keep running it till you get it since the instance only takes 10 minutes to do.

Actually it takes a bit longer to do than 10 minutes, because the introduction at the beginning take about 20min itself. It was cool the first time, after that its just annoying.
Nonetheless, the fights are quick.

[Kethlan]

do your argent crusade dailies and get the head enchant from them, it has both stam and defense on it.

do your hodir dailies, get their shoulder chants (get the resil one in the meantime)

Get the crusader's square pauldrons either buy them or run reg Culling of Strath til they drop...i have gotten a set each time i have gone the last three times.

if you want to trade out the keystone, DO NOT DISCARD IT, once you are def capped elsewise, you will want it back.

For EASY defense, take a trip back to the netherstorm and pick up http://www.wowhead.com/?item=30300

Keep up with the wyrmrest rep until you can get the breastplate. http://www.wowhead.com/?item=44198

Do the tourney dailies until you can get the axe. http://www.wowhead.com/?item=45204

Get an armor kit for your legs, the blue one should be fine til you get something better, http://www.wowhead.com/?item=38371

chants chants chants

[Deaths]

been timing it off my pallys blessings... reg took 21 ish, heroic took 23 ish..

[Kethlan]

been timing it off my pallys blessings... reg took 21 ish, heroic took 23 ish..

the time a run takes depends greatly on the abilities of the members, lol.

with a entry level geared tank, the DPS will have to be amazing...or they will have to back off to let him keep threat. And the healer will have to work extra hard. Although with the stuff that drops in there, each run will be faster than the last, lol.

[dambros]

Hmm thanks for the replies.

Gonna try and see the results on regular TOC today, even though I believe Im going to have my as* raped.

Also the pantheon trinket would be awsome to enable me to change some gear without being below cap.

[Kethlan]

no problem, the seal was an excellent addition to my gear as well...just managed to get it finally last week