Should I Gear, Gem or Enchant for Defense?

Posted by admin on 05 11th, 2009

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Upon reaching level 80, there is one very clear objective for any tank and that is to acquire 540 Defense Skill to make us uncrittable. The challenge we are presented with as we make our way through heroics, naxx and beyond is how to maintain that 540 Defense because the reality is that some amazing pieces just don’t have a whole lot of defense. Which begs the question, should I gear, gem or enchant for Defense? For the sake of this post, I’m going to assume that you’re the type of person that likes to max out their health. This isn’t to say that this is the only way to gear , but it is the type of gearing methodology that’s actually going to struggle with tiptoeing the 540 line. Gemming: The Baseline 16 Defense Rating vs 24 Stamina We have the opportunity to make this trade in a lot of pieces of our gear, so the real question that we’ll be asking when we take a look at the gear and enchants to follow is, “ Is this piece of gear or enchant better than just gemming for Defense Rating? ” The Gear, Gem and Enchant Defense/Stamina Ratios Trinkets : 32 Defense Rating vs 111 Stamina [3.47] Bracers : 12 Defense Rating vs 40 Stamina [3.33] Boots : 8 Defense Rating vs 22 Stamina [2.75] Trinkets : 42 Defense Rating vs 111 Stamina [2.64] Trinkets : 65 Defense Rating vs 162 Stamina [2.49] Trinkets : 65 Defense Rating vs 155 Stamina [2.38] Trinkets : 84 Defense Rating vs 162 Stamina [1.93] Boots : 8 Defense Rating vs 15 Stamina [1.86] Trinkets : 84 Defense Rating vs 155 Stamina [1.85] Trinkets : 65 Defense Rating vs 111 Stamina [1.71] — Gems : 16 Defense Rating vs 24 Stamina [1.5] — Trinkets : 84 Defense Rating vs 111 Stamina [1.32] Chest : 22 Defense Rating vs 275 Health [1.05] Shield : 20 Defense Rating vs 18 Stamina [0.90] Cloak : 16 Defense Rating vs 225 Armor [0.69] Uh… what am I looking at!? The gear, gem and enchant comparisons are all sorted based on the numbers on the right which represent the Stamina (or equivalent Stamina in case of Health and Armor) divided by the Defense Rating. What you can take away from this is the higher a comparison is on the list, the more you want to stick with the Stamina choice. Conversely, the lower a comparison is on the list, the more you want to go for the Defense portion. To explain further, we know based on looking at the list that we’re always better off gemming for Defense than we are enchanting our Boots and Bracers. On the flip side, we’re always better off enchanting our Chest, Shield and Cloak for Defense instead of gemming for it. As you can see, I’ve added a number of trinket decisions to the list too. In every case, but one we’re better off using a Stamina trinket and gemming for Defense. (all the trinkets are higher than the gem comparison on the list) The one exception is when faced with the choice between Repelling Charge (84 Defense) and Essence of Gossamer (111 Stamina). In this case, we’re better of gemming for Stamina and gearing for Defense because the trinket comparison is lower on the list. What about Socket bonuses? Ah, yes, the fun part. (or not so fun part, if you’re afraid of a little math) When it comes to socket bonuses, we’re still only dealing with Defense and Stamina gems. So, let’s take a look at couple examples. 1. Conqueror’s Siegebreaker Breastplate For our first example, we’re naturally putting a Stamina gem in the blue slot. It’s the Yellow socket that we’re curious about. If we put a 16 Defense Gem in it, we’ll get 6 more, for a total of 22. We divide 24 Stamina by that and we’re left with [ 1.09 ] which means we’re better off going for the socket bonus here than using any Defense Trinket. 2. Spiked Deathdealers Again we’re looking at whether we should socket the yellow socket with a defense gem for the set bonuses or not. In this case, if we put a 16 Defense Gem in it, we’ll gain 9 Stamina which we’ll subtract from the 24 Stamina we otherwise would have gotten. 15 Stamina divided by 16 Defense leaves us with [ 0.94 ]. Which means you’re better off gemming the Deathdealers for Defense instead of Conqueror’s Siegebreaker Breastplate. …and that’s where I’ll leave you Because now, it’s your turn. If you want to min/max your toon for as much Stamina as possible, this shows you the best way to accomplish that. If you don’t want to, this guide will show you where you’re making the biggest sacrifices. Best of luck, happy tanking!

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