I guess I’m facing ‘bite the bullet’ time. I’ve OT with our guild through Kara a few times now and we’re glancing nervously in the direction of ZA!

A hunter was my first char, has also run Kara multiple times, but he’s been on a back burner for quite a while as guild needs have driven me to play my druid more – and its actually awesome fun :o)

I’m crap with numbers. For a kick off I guess I’m over the cap with 421 defence and 106 resliance and I’ve yet to get enchants sorted out.

y question is this: how do I wean myself off heavy clefthoof gear without destroying my stats?

I haven’t a clue what to drop first – chest, legs, boots - and what to get first. A pointer in a right sort of direction would be hugely helpful.

This is my armory link
http://eu.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Bronzebeard&n=Cadmus

You are WAY over the crit cap. You can afford to drop a lot of defense/resilience in favour of more stamina, armor, and agility.

Honestly right now the biggest need for improvement is neither your chest, legs, or boots - it's your weapon. Consider asking your guild to help you grind to Cenarion Expedition Exalted - the easiest way would be a few Steam Vaults (non-heroic) runs. This will allow you to use Earthwarden (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=29171), a much better tanking weapon (although not as good for dps - keep your S1 Mace as well).

Gladiator gear is the most obvious source of replacements for the 3 slots you mentioned. It's either that or try to muster enough people for an attempt on Magtheridon - he has been nerfed a lot and is now very easy to learn and kill. He drops your T4 chest, which would make an excellent replacement for Clefthoof stuff. There are probably other items you could replace stuff with, eg the badge items, but I cannot think of any off hand.

Also, just between the two of us, I STILL use the Clefthoof Boots for tanking.. ;)

Edit - Added the following explanation to dispel any uncertainty about the crit cap.

How to tell if you are at the crit cap

1. Bosses have a base 5.6% chance to crit you.
2. You can reduce that chance by 3% by speccing 3/3 Survival of the Fittest
3. Therefore, you require an ADDITIONAL 2.6% to reach the crit cap.

- Click the Defenses tab in your character sheet
- Mouse-over the Defense Skill tooltip - it will show your crit reduction
- Mouse-over the Resilience tooltip - it will show your crit reduction
- Add the two numbers together - if it's more than 2.6%, you are over the cap!


-Annikk

Awesomely quick response(!) Annik and many thanks.

Been trying to work towards the Warden and about halfway through revered so will defo push on pronto

Wasent there a formula or something you could type ingame to get it to show the %? Just for us lazy ppl ;)

There was, I don't remember it offhand though and besides I heard rumours that it no longer works :O

Honestly though, the above method is SO simple I don't see why you would need a macro for it anyway.. :>


-Annikk

There was, I don't remember it offhand though and besides I heard rumours that it no longer works

/script DEFAULT_CHAT_FRAME:AddMessage(2.6-(GetCombatRatingBonus(CR_DEFENSE_SKILL)*.04+GetCom batRatingBonus(CR_CRIT_TAKEN_MELEE)),1,0.5,0)
If the number is 0 or negative, you are uncritable. If the number is above 0, you require more defense or resilience vs level 73 bosses.

This works, but it assumes you are lvl 70, have a base defense of 350 and have max SotF.

The "rumors" started because it often takes several weeks to reach 350 base defense. I, for one, was only at 341 (?), when I hit lvl 70 and it was 4-5 weeks later before I reached 350. And I had very little +def (except what the Clefthoof set provided) so the script gave a false positive result.

Today with free PvP gear everywhere (http://www.wowhead.com/?itemset=744), you can be uncritable the second you ding 70. Combined with the clefthoof set you'll be well beyond uncritable.

So, there is no reason to ever waste a gem or an enchant for +def. As +def and +res abound everywhere. Go back 8+ months, and it was a bit more difficult to achieve.

I came off the heavy clefthoof set as 3 pieces ages ago.

however i'm a LW and i ditched the clefthoof boots and made myself a set of Boots of Natural Grace.

i dont feel i lost anything by removing 1 of the heavy clefthoof sets.

i cant see your armoury link via the firewall so cant comment on your other gear but for me as a non raider i found the merciless gladiator pvp helm wonderful for tanking. same with the gladiator shoulders.

and i even used the Gladiator chest and sold the clefthoof one until i had saved up enough badge for the 100 badge chest, Embrace of Everlasting Prowess. (becuase i have no hope of getting the T4 one).

Not sure if you've bought/got any badge items but items I would say you should aim for would be :

Bands of the Swift Paw - excellent bracers.
Ring of Stalwart Protection - best in the game i believe til MH/BT level ?
Idol of Terror
Sikk's Cloak of Placation - depending upon what cloak u have now ?

I have both a Resolute Cape and a Thoriumweave Cloak so although Sikk's is very nice i've prioritised others with my badges for now.

I'll take a look later at your armoury link and edit this post as appropriate.

Hiya Cadmus!

I'm fairly new to tanking, but one of my first epic pieces was Belt of Natural Power it's a craftable (I make up words..) item that's BoE, so if you have a buddy with the recipe :-)

The mats are kinda crazy though;
2 Nether votex, 10 Primal Life, 10 Primal Air

But it's a belts that should last your a VERY long time, so I though it was worth the investment...

Sabines..


(Ha! no item link, my bad!)
Here's the belt http://www.wowhead.com/?item=30042

yeah how on earth did i forget that Sab !

i got one sometime ago to. /doh !

if you cant manage to get it crafted then you need to run Heroic Ramps for the equally very nice Tree Mender's Belt. http://www.wowhead.com/?item=29264

ok i see you've got the idol of terror and the bands of swift paw i mentioned earlier :)

I think the Ring of the Stalwart Protector http://www.wowhead.com/?item=34888 is something you could aim for with badges.

Also perhaps one of the high armour cloaks?
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=33593 Sikk's Cloak of Placation - badges.
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=24258 Resolute Cape -crafted.
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=28256 Thoriumweave Cloak - first boss in Mech (i think non heroic to this can drop?)

you could look for a new neck to -

Shattered Sun Pendant of Resolve is nice if/when you get Exalted with them ? http://www.wowhead.com/?item=34680
Brooch of Deftness http://www.wowhead.com/?item=33296 - badges.

Lol ...I've just this minute picked that belt up at the AH ...awesome it certainly is :)

..and thanks very much for the tips Kheldar. I'm busy squirrelling away BoJs at the mo ..got 53 in the bank and running stuff to get more ... I've just so enjoyed the tanking I've been doing thus far. Excellent fun

i think i've so far spent about 320 badges. all gained from heroics !

you're very close to being able to get that Ring then Cad as its 60 badges iirc.

or pickup Sikk's Cloak now :)

Gratz on the belt. I found it cheaper to farm/buy the mats as people are asking 2k for a belt in the AH!

Hi guys

Just an update following all the brill info.

I've managed to get Sikks cloak, the Earthwarden and Ring of Stalwart Protection which have all sent my armour through the roof.

The upshot is that last night I tanked on our guilds first visit to Zul Aman and we downed Naralokk :)

uch celebrations and one happy drood tank :)

Yay druid!! :D Grats!


-Annikk

Gratz Cad :)

i think Sikk's is next on my list to replace the Resolute Cape.

finally got my Handwraps of the Aggressor last week so all the big badge items i now have :)