LFR as ret or prot?

I'm too dam lazy to search properly so I'll just drop the question.

If I'm more interested in tanking-gear than actually tanking in it, why should I queue for LFR as prot?

I'm aware that shields (because there is no dps-shield), and possibly, trinkets designed for tanks would be better tanking gear than their dps-counterparts. I'm not even convinced about the shields as I could arguably pvp-grind for the crit/resil strength shield.

Purely for gear:
MGV 1: Ret
MGV 2: Ret (spec prot for boss 1)
HoF 1: Ret (prot for boss 3, offer to kite)
HoF 2: Ret (prot for boss 2 if you want the weapon)
ToES : Prot(not much here for tanking gear if you queue as ret, it's all got crit on)

Go ret - the prot gear is just very badly itemised by comparison. I would switch spec during the bonus roll, to have a chance to get the shield and especially the one hand sha-touched weapon. Aside from these, the best stuff in LFR are tier tokens and for them, your spec does not matter.

If you grind VPs, most LFR drops are inferior to the failsafe stuff and so you'll use it for OS anyway.

As Worldie once advised, dpsing in LFR is very relaxing. However, lately, I've started to tank it. This is largely because there's virtually no gear left in it for me. But also, there are signs of a growing tank shortage, so the queues are getting better. And I'm getting frustrated at tanks who never ShotR or pick up the Nullification Barrier etc.

First, remember that gear is dropped depending on your current spec, not on which role you entered LFR as. If you queue as Tank, you're basically forced to stay Prot the entire run, while if you queue as DPS, you can respec at will. Sure, you'll do meager DPS, but who cares. And it's not entirely unheard of that tanks die during fights, so you'll be there to taunt the boss if that happens and save a raid wipe.


MSV first half. You want to be in Prot spec for the first and second boss, as Crit is near useless. For the third boss, the DPS items are nice, but once you have those, go Prot for the boots.

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MSV 1:   Waist:   Mastery/Dodge/2S   Tank
MSV 1:   Neck:   Expertise/Dodge      Tank
MSV 1:   Feet:   Mastery/Crit/1s      DPS

MSV 2:   Wrist:   Dodge/Parry      Tank
MSV 2:   Head:   Haste/Crit/2s      DPS
MSV 2:   Back:   Expertise/Crit      DPS

MSV 3:   Feet:   Mastery/Dodge/1s   Tank
MSV 3:   Wrist:   Haste/Expertise      DPS
MSV 3:   Neck:   Hit/Haste      DPS

MSV second half. The first boss drops the only raiding shield in game, so go Prot until you have it. There are plenty of reasons to stay Prot on the second boss, but you probably want to go Retri on the third boss.

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MSV 4:   Shldr:   Hit/Parry/1s      Tank
MSV 4:   Shield:   Dodge/Parry      Tank
MSV 4:   Chest:   Haste/Mastery/2s   DPS

MSV 5:   1H:   Hit/Expertise      Tank
MSV 5:   Ring:   Expertise/Dodge      Tank
MSV 5:   Trink:   Mastery (Dodge)      Tank
MSV 5:   Hands:   Hit/Haste/1s      DPS
MSV 5:   2H:   Expertise/Crit      DPS

MSV 6:   Chest:   Expertise/Parry/2s   Tank
MSV 6:   Legs:   Hit/Haste/2s      DPS
MSV 6:   Trink:   Haste (Strength)   DPS

HoF first half. The DPS back from the first boss is nice, but the waist is crap. There are two pretty decent Tank items, so you might want to go Prot. You probably want to go Retri on the second boss, but there's zero reason to go Retri on the third boss, due to Crit.

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HoF 1:   Legs:   Hit/Parry/2s      Tank
HoF 1:   Ring:   Expertise/Parry      Tank
HoF 1:   Waist:   Expertise/Crit/2s   DPS
HoF 1:   Back:   Hit/Haste      DPS

HoF 2:   Shldr:   Hit/Parry/1s      Tank
HoF 2:   Hands:   Dodge/Parry/1s      Tank
HoF 2:   Waist:   Haste/Mastery/2s   DPS
HoF 2:   Ring:   Expertise/Haste      DPS

HoF 3:   Head:   Dodge/Parry/2s      Tank
HoF 3:   Ring:   Mastery/Dodge      Tank
HoF 3:   Chest:   Hit/Crit/2s      DPS
HoF 3:   Neck:   Mastery/Crit      DPS

HoF second half. Tier pieces can drop no matter your spec, so they don't matter. The DPS boots from the first boss are nice, so go Retri until they drop. Go Prot for the other two bosses, as they drop no interesting DPS gear.

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HoF 4:   Hands:   Tier         Tank/DPS
HoF 4:   Back:   Mastery/Dodge      Tank
HoF 4:   Feet:   Hit/Haste      DPS

HoF 5:   Legs:   Tier         Tank/DPS
HoF 5:   1H:   Hit/Mastery/1s      Tank
HoF 5:   Shldr:   Crit/Mastery/1s      DPS

HoF 6:   Chest:   Tier         Tank/DPS
HoF 6:   Legs:   Dodge/Parry/2s      Tank

ToES: Every single DPS item has Crit on it, so you might just as well queue up as Tank+DPS, and stay Prot the entire instance. The Hit/Mastery and Hit/Expertise items from the first boss, as well as the Strength trinket from the 3rd boss can drop regardless of spec.

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ToES 1:   Wrist:   Hit/Mastery      Tank/DPS
ToES 1:   Neck:   Hit/Expertise      Tank/DPS
ToES 1:   Feet:   Hit/Parry/1s      Tank
ToES 1:   Neck:   Dodge/Parry      Tank

ToES 2:   Hands:   Expertise/Parry/1s   Tank
ToES 2:   Waist:   Expertise/Dodge/1s   Tank
ToES 2:   Back:   Dodge/Parry      Tank
ToES 2:   Trink:   Mastery (Dodge)      Tank
ToES 2:   Waist:   Hit/Crit/1s      DPS
ToES 2:   Ring:   Hit/Crit      DPS

ToES 3:   Trink:   Strength (Haste)   Tank/DPS
ToES 3:   Shldr:   Tier         Tank/DPS
ToES 3:   Chest:   Mastery/Dodge/2s   Tank
ToES 3:   Waist:   Expertise/Dodge/1s   Tank
ToES 3:   Waist:   Hit/Crit/1s      DPS

ToES 4:   Head:   Tier         Tank/DPS
ToES 4:   1H:   Hit/Mastery/Sha      Tank
ToES 4:   2H:   Mastery/Crit/Sha   DPS

Note that the above advise assumes that you aren't in the slightest interested in upgrading your Retribution set. If you are, then check the list boss by boss. If a boss no longer provides any tanking upgrades, you should of course go DPS.

At least on my server, the queue times for tanks are roughly 1/4 compared to DPS, nearly as short as for healers. So in numbers, I would wait ~20 minutes longer to DPS.

In addition, some tanks are just bad. I recall one run as DPS where we wiped 5 times on the final MGV boss since the tanks just failed at the dance. The end of the story was me respeccing to prot and one-shotting the encounter as the healers could focus on the other tank now.

Bottom line: For me its queue as tank for a quick LFR run, items are meanwhile a non-issue anyway

Extermi wrote:
Bottom line: For me its queue as tank for a quick LFR run, items are meanwhile a non-issue anyway

While that may be true, it wasn't what I originally asked. LFR as prot or ret with drops given absolute priority was the conditions for my question.

Not meaning to be snarky, just trying to keep the thread on topic.