Juggling Uncushable - Any way to make my brain hurt less?

There is an enormous amount of information about specific upgrades around here but I am looking to for general tips of how to judge what to change when i upgrade gear in order to maintain uncrushablility.

This particular incident was spurred by getting my bracers of the green fortress and wondering what to enchant them with. However I happened to have the same issue the other day when i picked up my head enchant and Timewarden's leggings. I am faced with moving gems and enchants and gear to maintain or exceed 102.4%.

My question: Is there a good order to judge what to swap, or what to do?

For example: the 12 defense enchant for wrists vs 12 stamina - and comparing it to a gem slot which is 8 def gem vs 12 stamina. In theory changing a gem slot to stamina and keeping avoidance on the bracers is better (thank you to Cordelia on these boards for pointing that out on these boards)

So is it possible to create an order of slots to convert from avoidance to stamina:
ie Gem slots first, enchant feet second, enchant wrist second, enchant shield last? (pulled that order out of thin air)

Anyway - excuse the ramble - venting about the micromanagement that seems to go along with paladin tanking gear and looking for any Rules of Thumb I may have missed.

I'd need to see your armory to be truly helpful but let me use myself as an example.

First, get the Tankpoints Mod and keep the calculator open while you swap gear around. By doing this I found a set last night that made me uncrushable, unbuffed, no Libram, no Kara or Heroic gear.

That means that when I get my Libram I have 5.33% worth of uncrushability I can convert to Stamina. That prompted me to switch out the +8 Dodge Gem on my Felsteel Gloves for +12 Stamina. But THAT required me to drop the 22 Spellpower on my Helm for the KoT Defense/Dodge enchant. If I add my Timewarden's and Darkmoon card: Madness to the uncrushable set I will be massovely increasing my Stamina but will then need the Libram to be uncrushable.

Yes, dizzying.

Armory link?
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Armory: http://www.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Feathermoon&n=Dinedan

I was looking for advice that might be applicable now or 5 pieces of gear from now so I was avoiding my armory link.


However here it is in my uncrushable set (well depending on when one reads this vs when i logged out):
http://www.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Cenarius&n=Tribune

Which is currently overly uncrushable and under health as opposed to my just barely uncrushable depending on buffs but better health etc.

Fortunately when I raid tank I tend to make our excellent Druid healer life's interesting as we are rotating in alts. (I usually heal raids on my Priest)

I plan to write a guide up about how I do this someday. Someone else somewhere mentions they do something similar.

In a quick nutshell, I compare ratios for each of my slots and enchant slots: DR/HP ratio, uncrushability/HP ratio, and sometimes DR/uncrushability ratio. These ratios are calculated between two gear options for the same slot, or between two enchant options for the same slot.

(1) I start with stacking the pieces/enchants with highest DR/HP, unless their DR/uncrushability is extremely low. (2) I then stack high uncrushability/HP items. (3) Everything else gets stacked for HP.

Toggling back and forth from steps (1)-(3), I get the minimum DR/uncrushability to stay 490/102.4 post raid-buff, maximimizing hp, thereby.

An example of step (1). Suppose you have 1 trinket slot filled(DMC:V), and have the following options for slot (2): FotC(4%uncrush), Dabiri's(30DR), Argussian (36stam). The DR/HP ratio (30/36) is better than gem slots, so you would go with Dabiri's over Argussian. However, DR/Uncrushability points to FotC for almost all situations. Dabiri's is 30DR/2%uncrush, So you would give up 30DR for an extra 2% uncrush in FotC, a ratio of (30/2). In _most_ cases, I would be going with FotC, unless I had a very very big lack in DR and had trouble getting to 490 without it. This is also obvious if you look at the FotC/argussian uncrush/HP ratio: (4%/36stam) is a much higher ratio than you'll get from almost every other slot/enchant out there.

An example of step (1)-(3) toggling. Two ring slots open, options: (2 46 stam rings), Wind-Trader's (34 stam, 12 DR, 1.06% uncrush), Protector's Mark (22stam, 25 DR, 1.69% uncrush), Andormu's (10 DR, 3.95% uncrush). I need 10 DR to reach 490, and 2.7% uncrushable. My first instinct is to reach for Andormu's +46 stam. Why? B/c Andormu's is the second best major piece of uncrush/stam ratio(3.95%/46) out there, after FotC (4.06%/45). But If I do that, I surpass uncrushability by 1.3% extra. So, I ended up settling on the Protector's Mark/Wind-Trader's combo. It gives me uncrushability, and 56 stam, an extra 10 stam from the previous combo, eventhough Protector's has a worse uncrush/stam ratio(1.69%/24stam) than andormu's has. Wind-Trader's has 1.06%/12stam, and is actually higher than Andormu's by a smidgen(helped even more by kings).

Note, that sometimes, you have to give up the best uncrushability/HP item simply because it puts you too far over 102.4 (I swapped out FotC for poultryizer once, b/c it would allow me to swap in Andormu's and a higher hp ring, resulting in a net gain of 10 stam or so, eventhough FotC has higher uncrush/hp ratios than andormu's - both are excellent, btw).

Note that you can get ~3.5% uncrushability from raid buffs: MotW(+15agi), Agi Elixir(+35), Scroll of Agi(+20) = 77 agi (post-kings) > 3% uncrushability. Kings itself usually adds about .5% uncrush for me. I find the stam food to be better than agi food, and flask of fortification($$) rules, even if you have to give up the agi elixir.
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Personally I would dance the line of uncrushable to maximize Stamina.

This might help:

2.4 Defense Rating = 1 defense = +.04% base miss
18.9 Dodge = +1% Dodge Chance
31.5 Parry = +1% Parry Chance
7.9 Block Rating = +1% Block Chance
25 Agility = +1% Dodge Chance

So fomr that you can see that the "cheapest" stat for uncrushable (ie least amount for most gain) is Block, then Dodge. Defense in excess of 490 is largely wasted so in your case I would replace Defense Gems/Enchants with Stamina. Then look at Tankpoints or do the math and see what you can drop for stamina while still maintaining 490 defense and uncrushable.

That help?
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Armory: http://www.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Feathermoon&n=Dinedan

A question for Cord on the excellent thoughts ...

Do you think you might better served getting Uncrush unbuffed and then using buffs for Stamina and Spell Damage?
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Armory: http://www.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Feathermoon&n=Dinedan

The issue is what buffs can you do this for?

I always use stam food over agi food. That's an easy trade-off .8% uncrushability vs. 20 stam. Even gems give you a better uncrushability vs. stam ratio.

But what else can you trade off? MotW is always there. Scroll of Agi can't be traded out.

The only fungible thing is Elixir of Major Agility. I tend to pair it with the guardian elixir of major fortitude(250 hp). There's no other stam Battle Elixir, so the only thing you could replace it with is Flask of Fortitude. If I had tons of cash, I'd do that. You're trading 35 agi + 250 hp for 10 DR + 500 hp. Or, .86%uncrushability for 250 hp. Even after accounting for kings/WE/SD, it's comparable to gems, where we favor stam. Not to mention the extra 10 DR, often allows you to squeeze out a few more stam elsewhere. You'd only need ~485 defense or so with gear. Yes, if you can afford it, by all means go for Flask of Fortitude. But damn, that flask is expensive(~35g on my server).

One thing to note for those of you're lucky enough to raid with a shaman. Grace of Air is enormous amounts of uncrushability(avoidance). But it's also much less reliable than typical buffs. Talk to your shammy, and figure out if it's something you can rely on to help you reach uncrushable, at least on certain fights. If it is, wow, that's a lot of extra stam you can add into your kit.
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To ask the noob question here....

Are are any basic must-have's in the gear/enchant/trinkets that are so good compared to anything else in their slot that they are must-have's?..

I have to admit as that as I'm just starting to prepare to gear up, getting uncrushable is utterly confusing when it comes to juggling items/enchants

hmm...
Enchants, definitely.
And they're obvious.

Nethercleft Leg Armor. the head glyph, the shoulder enchant.

back: +dodge enchant if you can get it, otherwise +agi enchant

Boar's Speed or +12stam for boots.

chest: +150 hp enchant, I think is very close to the gem trade-off, after calculating in the new WE, so definitely go with +150hp.

Shield Block for the shield is much better than +18stam, unless you've reached the point where you're stacking all your rings and trinkets with stam.

Bracers are up in the air. I go with +12D as you enter Kara, then once you get a decent amount of epic gear, you may need to switch to +12stam

Gloves are also up in the air: threat vs. 15 agi.

Must-have as far as gear goes really starts depending on what you have.
Sometimes you just get a piece of gear that's much better than all the riff-raff you've been juggling. eg. I toggled between Dauntless and felsteel for gloves before I got t4, which gives me the threat bonus I enjoy. Although, technically t4 avoidance/mitigation/stam isn't better than felsteel. But I've pretty much stopped using the other gloves, so I guess the t4 set bonus made the t4 gloves the clear winner.

Pre-raid, though, it's hard to say. DMC:V if you can get it. Jade-Skull has more hp and uncrushability than Vindicator's, so unless you really really need DR, J-S wins. BotGF win even over VoC. Sha'tari Vindicator's. Tankatronic if you can make them, or BoP/red havoc.

I can tell you what I relied on heavily during my transition into kara: Strength of Untamed and Ravenguard are the two necks I toggled. Andormu's and FotC both win for uncrushability, and so often found their way into my sets.

Hope that helps.
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I think that's the old value for Parry, it's like 23 rating per % now.
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Roll a warrior, eh? What a good idea...

Cord - why is Block better than 18 Stam on Shield? 18 Stam works no matter what occurs during a fight (as opposed to only working on blocks) - and also regardless of WHERE the damage is coming from (direct magic, aoe, explosion, dot) ...

Math it out for me!


PS. Thanks all for the clarification on the ratings I posted. I cut and pasted them from a previous post somewhere. When did Parry change?
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Armory: http://www.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Feathermoon&n=Dinedan

Double Post - Delete
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The reason I view block rating as better than stam is simple. By giving yourself +18 Block rating, and therefore over 2.25% uncrushability, you free up itemization elsewhere to give you more than 18 stam by swapping rings, trinkets, neck, etc.

This holds true to at least midway through kara.

Mitigation wise, I doubt 18 block rating prevents more damage than 18 stamina. Well, it would really depend on what you're tanking. Vs. 28 supplicants it would. Vs. Gruul, it wouldn't. But you must reach 102.4, as Guillex said.
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