Blood Tank - Forum resources
 

Lately I've been using Elitist Jerks (EJ) and Icy-Veins to figure out rotations, stat weighting, spec, glyphs, etc. I understand that there is no longer a one spec fits all. Are there better resources out there other than these two that go into more detail about Blood Tanking? I've given Ask Mr. Robot (AMR) a try, but the stat weights don't match up with what other forums suggest. I'd like to get the input of the community's tanks on where they do their research for tanking.

Currently, I'm giving AMR a try to see how it weighs with EJ. Here is what AMR shows: Rutan Crushridge

Let me preface this by stating that I understand mastery is very important to Blood Tanks. Also that Parry must be quite a bit higher than Dodge due to the defense changes since the expansion was released. Yet, many websites seems to contradict eachother on how much Mastery is "Too Much" mastery. Hence why I'm trying the AMR a try to see if a conversion of some stats into stamina (aka gems/enchants) is better than the 150%+ mastery.

Right now I'm using Ask Mr Robot for my Blood tank (all my toons really), and using the Hit/Exp gearing strategy with the Relative gear ranking. If I get what I need for Hit/Exp and Dodge/Parry then I balance the rest out with Mastery and Stam regardless of what the site advises. Currently I can out heal/DPS the other blood tanks in my guild and they have much much better gear than I have along with much higher mastery ratings. I totally attribute this to Hit and Expertise.

In conjunction with Ask Mr Robot I use Noxxic for rotation advice, and Elitist Jerks macro advice on balancing out dodge and parry.


I was using the Mastery gearing strat on Ask Mr Robot, but I'm getting much better results with the Hit/Exp strat. Your own personal mileage may vary.

I use AMR too, but I have been using the main Mastery strat. I figure if Death Strike works, even if you miss, then the only real reason to up your hit is for Scent of Blood. Which isn't a bad reason... but it didn't compel me enough to use it.

Right now AMR has a lot of emphasis on stamina though, which I'm still not 100% sure I agree on. There is heated debate about it on their forums... it is nice to see 700k+ when buffed though lol. ;)

Could I get a link to your armories? I'd like to see where I stand compared to the two of you stat stacking wise. I've not had an issue tanking yet, but might as well tweak, practice and perfect right?

Keep in mind that your gear is way better than mine. I'm still in a butt-load of blacksmithing gear.

Petrah, Nesingwary (US). Compare here: http://www.wow-heroes.com/compare/

Verdict
 

Sure... if you wouldn't mind, go ahead and link yours too. I'd like to see what you end up doing. :)

http://us.battle.net/wow/en/characte...Verdict/simple

I've been messing with my gems/reforges/enchants lately so it might not be what I end up using full-time. Just a heads up!

Sexy transmog ;)

Here you go...
Rutan - Crushridge

Hi, I'm having the same debate daily lol. In Cata I found Mr. Robot to be dead on every time, can't really think of an exception. After MoP hit things are different IMO. AMR still says that the "community's" preferred build is Mastery still, and completely drops hit/exp and "avoidance" in favor of Stam/Mast. I'm not going to list there "Avoidance" build as it doesn't seem as viable (YMMV)...

Currently there weights for the Mastery build are:
Stamina 1.74
Mastery 1.3
Strength 1.2
Dodge 1
Parry 1
Armor 0.4 Soft Cap Weight Hard Cap
Expertise 0.2 0.075 0.2 0.15
Physical Hit 0.2 0.075

And the Hit/Exp weights are:

Stamina 1.88
Mastery 1.3
Strength 1.2
Dodge 1
Parry 1
Armor 0.4 Soft Cap Weight Hard Cap
Expertise 0.2 0.075 0.2 0.15
Physical Hit 1.4 0.075


So, the bottom line for me. I've tried both, and I've tinkered with the weight's some. Using their Mastery Build I was over 150% mastery lol, lost a fair chunk of health, and had next to nothing for hit/exp. In Heroic 5 mans I could feel the difference, I can only describe it as "Squishy". This is with 100% uptime on Blood Shield and diseases. Then in LFR it was compounded far more IMO. Then in our weekly MV run, it just wasn't cutting it for me. Healers were going oom left and right, just not cool.

Long story short as I can. I played with the weight's some, tried to come to a compromise with the Stam and Mast, while adding back at least some hit/exp. I don't have the numbers for exactly where I ended up, I'm not EJ after all lol, but I tinkered. It fealt more or less the same frankly.

Going to the Hit/Exp Soft Cap however is a far far different ball game to me. I hit much harder, I get some glancing blows but pretty much never miss. My threat is SOOO much easier to maintain when dual tanking and swaping, before I had real problems getting agro back off the other tank, now it's instant snap agro on demand. My DPS, especially on AOE pulls normally tops the raids charts due to vengence, and I can only assume with an educated guess that is also why my Blood Shields seem to carry more weight. My stam is well over 700k buffed, and I can take the hit's (esp from Magic Bosses) where as before I'd get smacked down.

As I said I'm not EJ, I don't know nearly as much as a lot of folks. But from just my personal experience so far the Hit/Exp cap's are more important than people are giving credit for. It's night and day playing one build to the other, at least for me.

I'm curious what others have to say for input to this. I welcome any idea's on the weight's to balance things even better if someone has a suggestion. Attached below is my toon, I do swap out the glyphs and talents from time to time as I see fit. The gears ok, there is always better lol...

Azgalor - Tylerdurdens

Take care,
Tyler