ToT Trinket thread [PROT]

[britishbubba]

So I got a 522 Fabled Feather of Ji-Kun tonight since none of our melee wanted it for some reason, and I figured it was most likely better than a 496 darkmist vortex (the hit alone on feather netted me a HUGE amount of haste due to different forges). Was originally thinking of going for the other Ji-Kun trinket, but the strength proc on this trinket is... interesting. You get a large amount of AP from it, so more dps, more SS absorbs, but you also get something in the neighborhood of ~15% parry over the last few seconds, which leads to some pretty entertaining moments like I had tonight on consorts. Due to some unfortunate turn during a pull, we end up hitting enrage. Enter Feather trinket, boss hits enrage and one shots our bear druid, feather trinket is at last 6 seconds of duration.

BAM: parry 8 attacks in a row because 42% parry op.

Not actually great in the long run for effective damage reduction, but it's damn entertaining.

[Nairobi]

So far, I've managed to pick up:

Soul Barrier - Great stamina bank, shitty on-use
Ji Kun's Rising Winds - Shit proc is shit, taking up bank space currently in case they fix it
Spark of Zandalar (LFR) - seems to be a really low uptime, someone in guild said that LFR version has lower proc rate per blue?
Brutal Talisman - Decent Exp/Haste bank with a moderate STR proc

Still need:
Fortitude of Zandalari. Working on HC council now, maybe I can get lucky!

At any rate, question time:

2/2 LSFO (489) has only 55 less haste than the 502 Spark, as well as a proc of ~1/2 as much STR. However, the uptime seems much higher. Problem is, uptime seems to swing wildly on the spark. Better to run with LSFO or Spark as my haste bank?

[Tomhvk]

I currently have :

Fabled Feather of Ji-Kun Heroic
Ji-Kun's Rising Winds Heroic
Brutal Talisman of the Shado-Pan Assault Normal

At the moment I am using both heroic trinkets just for the stat allocation, I'm not quite sure why people are so against Rising Winds, okay the proc is rubbish, but I cant understand the 'hate' against expertise. Since reforging came out, it really doesn't matter if the stat allocation goes into expertise or haste.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but strength has no factor on vengence? So therefore the procs on the strength trinkets are going to be underwhelming aswell in heroic raids when most of the time (atleast me) you will be solo tanking.

[Nairobi]

While STR proc's on items from last tier are certainly a wash in heroic raid vengeance levels of THIS tier (like 3800 str on LSFO), it is still ~8000 AP with raid buffs and ~3700 parry rating, for free. Looking at current version of the same item, we can examine Spark of Zandalar.

535 Spark: 1657 Haste, proc of ~8k STR (which scales it's uptime with haste/atk spd). That gives ~17000 AP/vengeance, AND ~16000 parry, while serving as a massive stat bank.
535 Feather is awesome too: 1657 Hit (995 Hit/662 Haste after reforge) with an 18k STR proc (which is up A LOT) gives almost 40k extra AP/Veng and 38k Parry rating.

This is the setup that I use, and these procs can and will overlap, often. Timing sacred shield refreshes when feather is at 2-6 sec left and overlaps with Troll Transform gives me SS ticks that are ~30k higher than without. Also gives me ~45% parry.

The thing about these STR procs is that they do not add to vengeance directly; meaning they will not cap out if you (somehow by the grace of god) actually do get veng capped in tanking. They also will ALWAYS contribute to effective throughput of both damage AND healing, whether you have threat or not. And yes, while we don't want to gear for avoidance, picking up an extra 3-20% parry is not a bad thing, which is accomplished with these procs.

These trinkets are ANYTHING but underwhelming, ESPECIALLY in heroic raids where tank DPS matters even moreso than normals.

As for your current situation, I'd drop JKRW off at a bank or vendor for that SPA rep trinket yesterday. JKRW proc is extremely unreliable, proc's only off of melee (which is hardly ever the actual threat to tanks), will not proc if you go from 31% to dead, and even at the 535 version is worth about 1 hit of Seal of Insight. It's just bad. Nobody here is "against expertise" at all. It's one of our best survival, smoothing, and throughput stats. Everyone worth listening to here has at least 7.5%, most of us are at 12-15%. I understand that you're using it as a stat bank, but that's not ALL trinkets do. The loss of ~180 expertise going from 535 to 522 is more than worth picking up a trinket with an actual useful proc.

Think of it like this: even if you lost 320 expertise going from 535 JKRW to 522 SPA trinket, you can make that up with one red gem or 2 oranges/purples. Sure, its 320 haste/expertise/whatever that is lost, which sucks. But you're gaining an 8k STR proc. Try finding that in your gem budget.

[Deleted]

hi,

atm i have ( as tank ) the darkmoon trinket and the 476er elegon lfr trinket. Now i wanted to change the elegon trinket ( correct me if its better to change the darkmoon trinket ) for a new one for valor points but i cant decide which one

on one side the expertise trinket, so that you can reforge other items to haste

on the other side the tank trinket with mastery and use one ( i find this dodge use on effect relatively useful on trash / adds tanking )

Actually i'm pretty new on prot pala and cant really decide what to do and i hope someone can help me.

[Nairobi]

476 Vial is not better than anything. Def get rid of that first.

The expertise valor trinket (to haste) is a great option, as you have surmised. The DMC trinket is meh; it depends a bit on your playstyle, skill level, healers, and raid type, but for 10m normals, stamina is not a huge concern. If you had to opt to keep 2 of the 3 trinkets in discussion, keep DMC and SPA rep trinket. The SPA rep "tank" trinket is pretty piss-poor for us, outside of niche uses like Tortos bats.

You could also pick up the 489 Shado-pan trinket (on-use Mastery instead of dodge on DMC), macro it to Holy Avenger and do really well.

I'm sure someone will chime in that Ghost Iron Dragonling (450 crafted trinket) with Haste, Exp, Hit cogs will take you into TOT as well. It's likely that if you dont need the stamina, GID and SPA rep trinket will get you far with the high amount of accuracy and haste available on them.

Feel free to read through the later replies in here re: TOT options, such as Spark of Zandalar (or LSFO from MSV), JiKun feather, and Fortitude of the Zandalari as good options as well.

[Deleted]

Elegon trinket is pretty much the worst trinket you can have. So change it.

---------- Post added 2013-04-25 at 06:21 PM ----------

Nah nairobi, wont even bother about GID, to tiredof saying it

[Nairobi]

Elegon trinket is pretty much the worst trinket you can have. So change it.

---------- Post added 2013-04-25 at 06:21 PM ----------

Nah nairobi, wont even bother about GID, to tiredof saying it

Have you chosen a new hobby yet?

[Deleted]

Not yet. Maybe 320 expertise gems or something!