HoR Shield Worth an Aneurism?

[Tikaru]

So, I finally dusted off my old Warrior and started to tank with him:

http://www.wowarmory.com/character-s...light&cn=Covak

To anyone who's been successfully playing a Prot Warrior: you're good. Going from a Paladin tank to a Warrior tank was a rough transition. I never really understood how spoiled I was as a Paladin tank until I tried to tank more than 3 mobs on a Warrior with 3 DPS who feel the need to AoE 2 seconds after the mobs come to me. On my Paladin, it was cake. I just pushed 2-3 buttons, and it didn't matter if the DPS were on different targets or AoEing their little hearts out.

I feel that I've come a long way from watching mobs run away from my Warrior to gank the DPS. Now I have an "okay" rotation for multi-mob tanking, and it seems to do the trick most of the time. I'm still learning, but it's getting much better.

Even with having to think on my feet and pay attention now, it's still much more fun than my Paladin.

Anyways...

I'm starting to acquire upgrades for my Warrior. I don't really plan to raid with him anytime soon, so for the moment heroics are my main concern. Through the badge vendors, I found what upgrades I want and when to get them. The only problem I'm seeing is what to do about getting a shield upgrade.

I'm told that the shield from normal HoR is the best pre-raiding shield in the game (outside of the BoE shield from Ulduar), but that the drop rate sucks and the instance is a nightmare for Warrior tanks.

To be honest, I hated that place on my Pally tank. Sure, I could hold aggro without any problems, but it was still a little rough. I can't imagine how big of a pain it must be for a Warrior. If I ran with my guildies, I could see it being okay. They know what targets to attack and when it's okay to use AoE. However, PuGs are stupid. Very stupid.

Is the shield really worth it?

Is it really that great of an upgrade over http://www.wowhead.com/?item=40701 ?

[ProphetNoata]

even tho you dont want too raid yet go do toc 10. Easy 45 mins and if shield drops it time well spent

[Deleted]

If you don't mind me being blunt, man up, be a warrior and just run the bloody place 'till you've MADE the Shattered Door of the Citadel, pardon the poor expression.

Glad you recognize our efforts, though.

[Theception]

The instance is a pain, and remarkably on regular no less.

It's a marginally noticeable increase over any other 200 shield you might have. Just ignore the slot and gear yourself up elsewhere. Get into an ICC10 run as an OT (offtanking on the first 4 bosses in ICC is such a joke of a job) and pick up the 251 shield off of gunship.

A good shield is essential for any shield tank, but a 200 and 219 one will perform on the same tier of effectiveness as far as out tpsing the dps. This shield will not magically make tanking all the more easier, and it is most likely you wont notice any change at all, other than that of aesthetic appeal, which arguably is a somewhat important stat to some people... (I nearly cried with joy when the gunship shield dropped so I could replace my ugly ass skull of ruin on my pally).

[Tikaru]

If you don't mind me being blunt, man up, be a warrior and just run the bloody place 'till you've MADE the Shattered Door of the Citadel, pardon the poor expression.

Glad you recognize our efforts, though.

Here's the thing:

I'm sure I can handle it on my Warrior. I'm getting a lot better at multi-mob tanking. I'm sure I can keep aggro from the retarded DPS who feel that the damage meter is all that matters. I'm sure I could do it.

What I can't handle?

Having to work hard at keeping aggro and keep everyone from getting killed, and having all that go to waste when the Ret Pally who couldn't break 2k DPS wins the roll on the shield if/when it drops.

[Tikaru]

even tho you dont want too raid yet go do toc 10. Easy 45 mins and if shield drops it time well spent

Yeah, I've been trying to get some guildies to run that place on their alts. So far it hasn't worked out.

I'll keep trying though, since there's a few upgrades in there I wouldn't mind getting my hands on.

[Garil]

Been said, but I'll reiterate the shield from 10 man ToC. The drop rate is pretty good, and the raid is easily pugged if your guild doesn't run it. Not to mention, tanks hardly have to do anything in that raid. It's perfect for someone not used to their warrior.

[Swishee]

I agree with above posters, ToC 10 is a joke and the shield has a decent drop rate. Furthermore, there are a few ilvl 200 shields available.

http://www.wowhead.com/?item=43085 - from H CoS
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=42508 - BS
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=40701 - badges

HoR is a pain to tank as a warrior, yes. I myself have a prot pally and am now gearing a prot war, and HoR is a mini nightmare on my warrior. But, I'm learning how to manage my threat and such.

So the best thing to do is to pick up one of the 3 ilvl 200 shields and move into ToC 10 or even ICC 10 and get a shield. ToC 10 is ridiculosly easy and alll you ever need to do is pick up a single mob for the most part and build threat on it. ICC 10 is also pretty darn easy until Saurfang, and the shield from the gunship is very nice.

TL;DR : Get the shield from ToC 10/ ICC 10. Forget about the ICC 5 man shield

[Merzbow]

Wall of Terror off Kel'thuzad 25 is pretty easy to farm since they've changed the quarter mechanics in Naxxramas, you might also be lucky and pick up Last Laugh.
Once you reach a certain gear level the ToC shields will become your first choice

[Pope]

An upgrade is always worth the trouble. That's what WoW is about.
You should run this instance as often as you can, learn the mechanics, learn to react.
I use to hate the instance on my tank, too.
But you learn to adapt to the instance, and the more you do it, the better you get.

Just tell the dps to kill the priest - that's the first hard thing
throw a little aggro at every spawn - remember, you have a 6 sec CD on taunt

As a warrior, you have a lot of movement. Use intercept and charge as often as you can.
Use Mocking Blow. Use every spell that is helpful.

In a few weeks, you will run this place with joy :-)

[Demonpuke]

The guy says he doesnt raid with his warrior so quit giving him raid shields. I had to run HoR normal about 15 times to get my shield and yes, I hated it. But it does help you learn warrior mechanics since it isnt a face roll tank class like pallies or dks. I would suggest getting some friends to run the first 2 bosses and if it doesnt drop, reset the instance and go again. I had to pug it through dungeon tool and it wasnt that bad. the key is to use a shield slam gcd on each mob for quick high threat while dps uses focus fire. and always throw up vig on locks, dks, pallies.

[Crispin]

Do it! I did it 34 times to get it :S

The instance is annoying to tank with a slightly clueless group, a friendly rogue using TotT on you or a hunter doing MD helps.

worst thing I know, is when the healer waits with healing everyone up till the next group is "released" and therefore sets their eyes on him, you got 2 mobs coming and if you're out of rage, well then it's just a b*tch to make sure that he doesnt get his face smashed in, then the dps unleashes hell on thoose 2mobs while you're trying to get both of them hit you to get rage, more mobs come in and they are going on the healer too while some paladin feared the only mob hitting you...

Well it's just the nightmare scenario in HoR, it's usually a good experience and quite fun since you need to work for it.

DPS nicking the shield sucks tho, had one run where the ret paladin said "I need the shield" I then asked if he wanted to tank then and he replied "lol no my gears not good enough"...

I left mainly because I'm a lil tired of slackers needing on stuff they shouldnt, I don't roll on dps items, I'll join as dps if I want to.

But GL!

[Silenteyes]

Just run the place mate, It may take forever (i have a RL mate whos been running that place every night for hours for almost a week still no sight of it) but an upgrade is an upgrade to be fair. in the end it's worth it

[Griefel]

Nice to see there are other warriors out there that I can relate to, I too come from pala tanking and currently tanking on my warrior, and like you OP I've chosen to for the challenge. Keep up the good work.

As for the shield, I would say pugging TOC or ICC 10(if you don't have a capable guild) could prove far easier than going to HoR especially if you can't go with a guild run and you can get ninjaed.

About HoR it's not exactly hard if you lay out these simple rules to the DPS and healer before you start :
1) Don't overagro, DPS meter is not important - Dead DPS means we're having a hard time staying alive.
2) Always stay behind me, and in the corner, all in the same corner.
3) Healer don't spam your skills before the mobs reach me.

For the 2 boss event the best advice I can give is, save your rage, and if you have to use shouts, refresh them during the pull, when u got too much rage and the mobs are all in order and merrily beating on your shield.
As for the LK event if you have a plate melee, don't even bother with the small ghouls and worry about the casters and the abos only, keybind Shield Bash and Heroic Throw, aswell as Taunt, and always save them for the casters, and melee the abominations instead, I would also save Shockwaves for them.

[Vanquisho]

Starting to gear up as dps is a good option too, since then you can do raids and say you wanna roll for tank gear till your gear is ready for that instance, nowadays you need superior gear just to do toc :S

[Charo]

Really, do you guys even use Cleave? I've tanked HoR on this abomination twice:
http://www.wowarmory.com/character-s...ist&cn=Hjordis

And it wasn't as nearly as hard as you all make it seem, use more Cleave, use more Thunderclap, tab target, use the right glyphs for heroics (gasp! not raid bosses!), and you too can tank the impossible!

[lilbandit]

just put vigilence on the top threater (may not be top dps), and/or tell him to stop being an asshat.

oh, and as someone else said, man up and just run it. go in trade and get a pug and say it's reserved, then master loot on that boss to make sure you get it - no annoying pallies or warries ninjaing it.