Prot T10 4P Set. Which is the odd man out?

[Kirderf]

I've been also playing around with my alt prot warrior lately, and was wondering which pieces should I get when I only mainly do ICC10 normal.
Is it best to go with t10 shoulders/head and get crafted legs and the other 264 EoF pieces? Or should I get the t10 4 piece anyway? Can't really get sanctified pieces.

Didn't want to make a new thread for this.

If you know for sure that you wont be getting any Sanctified parts soon then yes. Go with off-pieces. They will most likely get the job done a tiny bit better then 251-4p. BUT, you could always grab gloves+chest aswell once you have spent the emblems on the other parts and use 4p where it shines the most (sindragosa/lk).

[Alianthos]

I wrote this looong thread comparing items and whatnot then my computer decided to mess with me and gave me a blue screen. Anyway, to cut it short, since there arent any superior off pieces in ICC25 Heroic there is no point in not going 4p-bonus on all bosses. The only off pieces which are giving you EH-upgrades are legs and shoulders. The upgrades are minor and the stats you are trading away wont do you any harm. My point is, if you have access to all 277 loot the best choice would be to go for 4p-bonus with either legs or shoulders as a setbreaker (if you are only using 277 loot that is). When talking 264-loot there will be a different story. 4p-bonus will most likely only be superior on fights such as Sindragosa/Lk where they have abilities that you can time the 4p-bonus with (Soul Reaper/breath and whatnot). As for myself, seeing as the Zone buff is at 25% now I will be using alot of 264 gear since you will have plenty of hp anyway and can instead boost your armor to the maximum to reduce your damage taken. I will be going for 4p-bonus with pillars as set breaker, emblem-belt/cloak and bracers from saurfang 10m HC while rest being 277 for EH-set. Otherwise I will be using 4 pieces with shoulders as set breaker and all the other 277 loot available. There is NO way in hell I'm giving up 4p-bonus for a bit more extra stamina.

Cut it short my ass...

This, 10 times.
No, wait. This, 10 000 times.

Seriously, i cant understand Warriors tanks passing on the 4P. Jesus, is it about e-peen purpose ? You want shiney 277 purpelz everywhere but you cant have 4 277 token ? The 4P is PURE WIN. 264 4P > 264 2P with two 277 offsets as filler. Our 4P is scaling with the ICC buff, nowadays it's a CD almost as strong as 3 or 4 trinkets altogether (low CD, nice synergy with Last Stand and stuff).

My 2c.

[iru]

If you know for sure that you wont be getting any Sanctified parts soon then yes. Go with off-pieces. They will most likely get the job done a tiny bit better then 251-4p. BUT, you could always grab gloves+chest aswell once you have spent the emblems on the other parts and use 4p where it shines the most (sindragosa/lk).

Thought so, thanks

[Deleted]

Our 4P is scaling with the ICC buff, nowadays it's a CD almost as strong as 3 or 4 trinkets altogether (low CD, nice synergy with Last Stand and stuff).

True, but you shouldn't use "such stuff" in conjuction with the 4p bonus. Perhaps a battlemaster trinket, but Last Stand is good enough on it's own, so you're better of using the 4p when LS has fallen off already.

Hm, question: If you activate the 4p bonus when Last Stand has a 1 second duration left... then Last Stand falls off before the 4p absorbs anything... Will the absorbation effect still be at +30% or not?

[Alianthos]

True, but you shouldn't use "such stuff" in conjuction with the 4p bonus. Perhaps a battlemaster trinket, but Last Stand is good enough on it's own, so you're better of using the 4p when LS has fallen off already.

Hm, question: If you activate the 4p bonus when Last Stand has a 1 second duration left... then Last Stand falls off before the 4p absorbs anything... Will the absorbation effect still be at +30% or not?

I'll go with a yes, because the contrary seems unlikely. The 4P bonus is basically a buff applied on you, granting you an absorb-bubble, with the amount absorbed calculated according to your health pool when you press the button. The buff lasts 10 sec and I dont think it would be replaced by another (weaker) buff if Last Stand vanishes without refreshing it's duration.

And you're right, LS + 4p bonus is pretty much overkill but it's nice if you can time it when you know something big is about to hit and is unlikely to happen again. For instance, for Festergut (or is it rotface ? cant remember :s) tanking when he has 3 buffs on him, i go like : LS + 4p bonus first (overkill CD), and when LS vanishes, SW. Then bam, it's Pugent Blight already ! ??? and profit.

[Kirderf]

This, 10 times.
No, wait. This, 10 000 times.

Seriously, i cant understand Warriors tanks passing on the 4P. Jesus, is it about e-peen purpose ? You want shiney 277 purpelz everywhere but you cant have 4 277 token ? The 4P is PURE WIN. 264 4P > 264 2P with two 277 offsets as filler. Our 4P is scaling with the ICC buff, nowadays it's a CD almost as strong as 3 or 4 trinkets altogether (low CD, nice synergy with Last Stand and stuff).

My 2c.

Yepp. Those who have an IQ higher then 40 should be able to find good uses everywhere with the 4p-bonus and not just on the obvious breaths/soul reaper abilities and such. A decent geared tank (full 264 for example) will absorb around 10k unbuffed (assuming you are reaching 50k hp which most do, I'm at 49.7 myself unbuffed). 10k damage-neglecting every minute which you can work wonders with if you have the required brain-score. Using it while a healer have to move to give them some breathing room and whatnot. I never go without 4p-bonus. Not even while raiding normal crap-content even though other pieces would give me higher EH (since I dont have access to all the 277 loot since its my alt). The 4p-bonus gives me an extra cooldown to work with and thats what separates a decent tank from a good one. Being able to make good uses of your CD's and not just bashing them all at once.

---------- Post added 2010-06-29 at 11:44 AM ----------

Ok to the point. For T9 (From my understanding) Helmet was the odd man out for the Prot set.

Even though it doesnt matter now, the head was not the set breaker. If you were an expertise-whore then yes... Head would be the set breaker when talking 245-gear only. However, for effective health/avoidence and whatnot the Emblem-shoulders comes out as the winner. Specially when doing Anub Heroic where you had to stack as much Bv/avoidence as possible. Full 258 however is another story but doesnt really matter since the first time you reach Anub25 you dont have any access to 258-tokens. Only the offpieces and in my eyes the reduced CD on shield block was worth using 245 loot instead because of those crazy adds that he spawns.

Had to get it out of me

[Myrlae]

Boneguard Commander's Pauldrons hc version should be the set breaker if you can get them otherwise Pillars of Might.

[zerf]

Boneguard Commander's Pauldrons hc + T10hc pants vs T10hc shoulders + Pillars of Might:
+ 32 stamina
+ 106 Defense
+ 53 Dodge
+ 93 Expertise
- 8 parry
- 23 Str
- 1088 Armor
- 77 Parry

(extra sockets used for +30 stamina)

In terms of EH it's 1088 Armor vs 32 stamina. 10 armor is worth ~1 stamina for physical fights, so it's ~108 stamina vs 32.
Downside of using Pillars of Might - you'll probably have pretty low expertise.