Rounding out my Bear

[Tyrrandion]

Allrighty. I've been posting allot in the past few days figuring some things for switching my MS from Cat to Bear, and I'm just rounding out that last few details, so please bear (haha, i made a funny) with me,here goes. Any advice is much appreciated: Long post incoming


A quick word on what I'm tanking: Main Tanking (switching out from my pally MTing) ICC 10. Our guild is just starting to get into some of the deeper bosses. We clear 6/12 every week, we're deciding to either finish off plague, get started on blood, or do dreamwalker (we got really close last week, 98% health, curse LoH being on CD ><) We're leaning toward plague/blood. Also 4-6/12 25 pugs.

Gearing:
http://www.wowarmory.com/character-s...&cn=Shanksteak

Debating between wrathful wrists and toc crafteds, Rawr giving the edge to wrathful
Nearing 60 frost, gonna hit up 10/25 voa tuesday, and if i get shot down again, ima just buy the t10 hands; leaving the current gloves for cat (that's why their gemmed dps)
Working on picking up Ifrikus
working on picking up corrupter atm.
Belt will be finished tommorow (2 30 stamina)
Working on replacing the horrible neck, but can't seem to find one

Trinket Choice: So far I'm running Black Heart/DMC:G Agi. Rawr is suggesting using glyph of indom, with both Black heart and DMC:G Agi as really close. Should glyph be used constantly, or only on melee heavy fights (Marrowgar, lootship, Saurfang, fester/rot, etc)? The question of the glyph of indom actually segues into my next question, but I'll get to that in a min. I suppose like almost all tanks, I'll be picking up corroded skele key at some point. I know its important to mix the right trinkets with the right fights, so in ICC, what trinkets go well with which fights? Speaking of the key...

Cooldowns:
My biggest weakness as a tank has always been CD's. On my pally the only CD i'd ever use was the raid bubble during bone storm on morrowgar. Do I use my cooldowns constantly (as they come off CD) Save them for panic situations, or a mix? On some fights its pretty defined how/when to use CD's ala festergut (use CD's on tank switch when he has inhaled bloat). On others, I'm really unsure, and would like to stop being that tank that never uses CD's, even when needed. Do any of these need to be macro'd to anything else? The CD's I should have at my disposal:
1. Barkskin
2. Survival Instincts
3. Frenzied Regen
4. Corroded Skele Key bubble (some point soon)
5. Enrage (4t10 bonus)

and speaking of the 410 bonus

Spec:
I know some tanks respec to a build with KotJ when they get get this, but I'm not sure if it's feasible with my current level of gear, also, which points do you drop for kotj?

and finally
offsets
I've actually looked around the forums for a buy order list for bears but couldnt find one in the last few pages. Once I have my 410, which badge items will benefit me the most?

Phew. Long post. Please feel free to just respond to one part, or multiple parts. I realize it was a bit too long for most, but didnt want to make 5 smaller posts. Thanks to those who've helped me in this post and previous posts, my bear spec seems to be coming right along :P Peace.

[Deleted]

Spec:
I know some tanks respec to a build with KotJ when they get get this, but I'm not sure if it's feasible with my current level of gear, also, which points do you drop for kotj

when you have 4p tier10, your enrage no longer makes you loose some armor. this is my specc atm.imp LotP, IW and 3/3 imp mangle. i tried specing into MSS once, but i felt that srewed my rotation up

about offset pieces: i'm using belt (wich is awesome, 3x 30 sta), cape (BiS untill HMs), idol (thats the last thing you wanna buy for your frost) and trinket.

for trinkets, im using the black heart and corroded skeleton key. the procc is awesome and the on-use effect on key is nice (especially on trash before plague wing).

about cooldowns: i use barkskin on almost every cooldown, like when i feel the healers are busy or im taking alot of dmg. i save survival instincts and the rage-to-health-thingy (name escapes me).

this is what i do, its my opinion, feel free to use it, but dont flame me, /cast flameward [target=robinhoodexe]

[Richmond]

Gear

You pretty much know what you need to do, wrathful bracers will do you good until you get the 264 ones from Saurfang 25.
Change your head enchant to 37 Stam + 20 Defence
Gloves (as you mentioned) should be tier ones. 4pc T10 is what you want to be aiming for, before anything else.
You need a new tanking ring, there is a 264 BoE that will be on the AH for about 4k if you have the money, it will see you well into hard modes and beyond.
The idol you have is the worst one they made, you want to be going down and Ilvl to the 226 version (pure agility provides alot more than pure dodge rating)
The glyph trinket really is a good trinket, but it has its place on certain fights, so as your DMC. I'd get it and switch it round for heavy melee fights (Think Saurfang, princes etc)
I'd personally go with the Sons of Hodir shoulder enchant for Dodge / Defence, but its personal preference
Neck? There is a really good one in ToGC 10 from Jarax that will be a massive upgrade (great ring from twins too if you can get that far)

In your situation, i would buy the following items from the EoF vendor, in order

Tier gloves - Belt - Trinket - Cloak - Idol.

Because, your cloak is ok for now, your gloves will complete for 4pc and the EoF belt is an awesome upgrade in stats. The idol is so/so and the trinket is awesome but not as useful to you as the gloves / belt.

Trinkets

DMC and Black heart is a pretty good starting combo tbh. You want to get your hands on

Corroded SK
ToC 25 Stamina Trinket
EoT armor one

And switch them round from fight to fight. 2 Stamina trinkets for heavy magic fights, 1 Armor + 1 Stam for heavy melee fights (or even 2 armor if you have enough HP for the encounter). DMC has its place on a select few fights, especially when threat in concerned.

Cooldowns

Now I consider a bears CD’s superior to warriors and Paladins and slightly inferior to blood DK’s. They are life savers and should certainly be on your toolbars. I personally wouldn’t chain them, you should know when your about to take more damage (fester inhales for instance) so you pop one then. You need to play around with your CD’s to see if/when you need to use them.

Barkskin – An amazing CD, its wise to use this when you above 50% HP, it’s the last button you want to press when your sat at 5k HP and about to die.
Survival instincts – Now this is a raid saver for sure, this is the button you want to be pressing when your at sub 10k HP and the next attack is going to kill you (should be glyphed to make it 45% HP)
Frenzied Regen – This is an amazing CD (again, should be glphed in ICC). Times I use it is when I know the healers are going to be struggling (think 3rd inhale on fester or when you’ve pulled 1 extra pack of mobs)
Corroded SK – The CD is garbage tbh, it’s the last one I use (mainly because it’s a waste of a GCD). Macro it to a health pot / health stone and hit it when you know your main healer is running or something (think Rotface mutagen when your Pala healer has to run around)
Enrage 4pc T10 – Same as Barkskin, you get the most out of it when you know your going to get hit hard (think LK soulreaper, 10% off a 50k attack makes it hit for 45k, big difference). Again, there’s not a lot of point pressing it when your about to die – 10% of a hit that’s likely to kill you anyway is pointless

Spec

Its personal preference, some people take KoTJ to help with there snap Aggro, some people like the reduced CD on mangle. But i personally prefer MSS, i’ve tried Imp Mangle and KoTJ plenty of times in the past, but I find that by the time i want to use my Enrage (4pc T10) as a defensive CD, I’ve already used it to enhance my threat. So I switched back to MSS and now I pull a steady 11k TPS on the boss whilst pulling a fairly respectable 4k DPS as well.

I’d advise taking MSS as you’ll want to have your Enrage available when you want to use it as a defensive CD, again, its personal preference.

Sorry for the wall of txt, had a lul at work and your lengthy OP deserved a lengthy reply. Take anything people say on here with a pinch of salt, none of us are specifically correct – we’re just here to help you

[getefix]

For cooldowns:

I have no problem chaining cooldowns. Once you get your 4pc T10 you'll have Enrage as another damage reduction ability. With Enrage and Barkskin each on a 1 minute cooldown, you can fill in the rest with trinkets, Lifeblood (if you're a herbalist), and armor pot (which you should use on every fight). You should know a fight well enough to know when damage is coming. You save Survival Instincts as your main emergency button and Frenzied Regeneration (if it's glyphed) to pop a few seconds into your Survival Instincts if you're not getting the healing you need. You may not have something going 100% of the fight, but you shouldn't be saving everything for a big hit 5 minutes into the fight.

As for your gear:

With the ICC buff, I really have to go with stamina in almost all slots. IMO you shouldn't be gemming for hit. You don't need to be hit capped, just somewhere close enough to do decent threat.

You need to get A LOT of frost badges. You need to get the cloak, belt, trinket, and Idol, plus your last piece of T10. Go for the gloves. They're cheaper than the chest and you'll want to get the chestpiece from Gunship (ikfurius's sack of wonder).

You don't need omen of clarity. I find that 1 point better spent in brutal impact. You never know when you'll need an interrupt and won't be able to get away to charge.

If you're serious about tanking, you should be gearing around the ICC buff. 30% damage increase, 30% health increase, and 30% healing done increase. This make stamina 30% more valuable than it is outside ICC (as a tank right now, you shouldn't care about anything outside ICC as it's all easy). There's no other stats that come near it, especially when it comes to LK (he hits hard). I'm in the process of re-enchanting pretty much everything to stamina.