Prot Gearing Question

[Beno]

Hey Lads,

Just looking for some insight into an issue that i can't seem to find a definitive answer for.

Background -

Tanked most of Wrath, Little bit of cata, haven't really played mop till recently - i.e 5.4

I have read the guides both on here and EJ and am aware of the changes made to they way some prot abilities work.

The question is - i'm looking to gear up a prot set - (before we start i don't plan to go slapping Garrosh in the face in either ret or prot) I'm wondering with the timeless gear should i hop in prot spec before opening any of it. As you can see by the armory most of my Ret gear is Timeless but i have obviously gained more pieces that i havent popped yet. The guides suggest that anything without crit on it is fine so would a mix of prot spec and ret spec gear be a good to go farm some heriocs - ie hop in to prot spec and crack 4 or 5 pieces of gear to have a nice mix - or just use DPS gear correctly reforged from crit?

Cheers in Advance

Rez

[Fyurie]

To be honest, you pretty much want to rock as much haste where you can, perhaps a hint of mastery. Haste is king though. I'd pop it all as Ret if I were to do the same.

[MerinPally]

The guide doesn't suggest any prot gear of any kind. Unfortunately we don't have the Riposte ability that DK's and Warriors got, so for us there's no benefit to getting dodge/parry when Haste will reduce our damage taken similarly and will increase our dps, which Dodge/Parry will not. Timeless gear, whilst being ilvl high, is unfortunately very lacking in terms of stats. Some of the combinations you can get are very odd and others seem to have half the number of stats as another item. Definitely go Ret loot spec for it though.

The only times you'll want to be prot is to get a Weapon/Shield and then for the trinket off Malkorok in LFR. I would strongly suggest NO to the idea of the Iron Juggernaut trinket as Cetraben suggested. All it does is give you a load of dodge and the healing effect is tiny. You're better off getting Spark of Zandalar off Horridon or the Fabled Feather of Ji'kun. They're on my armory which is in my sig. Failing that, I'd probably even suggest Lei Shens Final Orders from MSV over the Juggernaut trinket. It's like 800 haste and a nice strength proc over a few k hps and some dodge.

[-Psypher-]

If this is just going to be an offspec/soloing old raids kind of thing, then grabbing and using ret gear is fine. For legit progression tanking, you'll want to acquire 4-pc prot tier with offset Garrosh legs. Haste haste haste haste haste after that. Dodge/parry, while not worthless, is not worth seeking out (which is why ret loot spec is mostly advised for LFR/Flex).

[Vultana]

Hello all,

I am trying to gear up my Prot Pally for our casual raid team and was wondering if the DPS trinket off the valor vendor ( Brutal Talisman of the Shadow-pan ) would be a good enough trinket up grade to spend the 1150 valor right now or if I should use the valor to upgrade other items? Here is my profile: http://us.battle.net/wow/en/characte...ahste/advanced

Thank you for your advice.

[MerinPally]

Hello all,

I am trying to gear up my Prot Pally for our casual raid team and was wondering if the DPS trinket off the valor vendor ( Brutal Talisman of the Shadow-pan ) would be a good enough trinket up grade to spend the 1150 valor right now or if I should use the valor to upgrade other items? Here is my profile: http://us.battle.net/wow/en/characte...ahste/advanced

Thank you for your advice.

It's a good item yes. Some people used it instead of Fabled Feather of Ji'Kun back in ToT and now it's cheaper it's even better. I'd run ToT and SoO LFR see if you get a better item first but it's a big upgrade over the Brewfest trinket. Probably superior to the upgrade you'd get from upgrading gear as you'd get a lot more stats out of it.

[Vultana]

ok, thank you for such a quick response Merin!

[Deleted]

If this is just going to be an offspec/soloing old raids kind of thing, then grabbing and using ret gear is fine. For legit progression tanking, you'll want to acquire 4-pc prot tier with offset Garrosh legs. Haste haste haste haste haste after that. Dodge/parry, while not worthless, is not worth seeking out (which is why ret loot spec is mostly advised for LFR/Flex).

In an ideal world, and assuming you want to gear for mastery past the 50% softcap, most of this is correct.

In practice, conq tokens are scarce, and there are DPS with set bonuses far more critical to the success of the raid than yours. Throw any conq tokens you see drop in raids in the general direction of Warlocks, Spriests, etc., and go for the very nicely itemized offpieces that nobody else wants instead. It will require you to manage your EF better than just "lawl I has 3+ stacks no cost lawl"-faceroll EF, and it is a net loss in terms of HoPo/minute, but your DPS will pewpew the bosses much harder for it.

Oh, and about dodge and parry? They're worthless. They're literally the worst stats, assuming damage smoothness is what you're interested in (and it should be), you can possibly get on gear - even crit sims better with regards to that metric now that we use EF. Unless you specifically need a one-hander, a shield, or a trinket that is neither Spark of Zandalar nor Thok's Tail Tip, you should never, ever, ever set your foot outside ret loot spec.