Since the Burning Crusade hit, the World of Warcraft has been a little short on tanks. As a contributor to that problem by retiring my Warrior from the tanking life, I'd like to share some info for the new breed of bright-eyed Warrior rerollers who are taking up the reins from us jaded release day tanks.
Fortunately, Blizzard has made it pretty easy to get a decent set of tanking gear to start Karazhan and Heroics in Burning Crusade.
Gearing up your tank is an ongoing process. When you start researching tanking gear, you realize that there are a LOT of tanking stats to keep track of, and you'll realize that you can't set your target numbers too high on all of them without hitting up heroics and raids. Progression is the name of the game. What this guide will do is show you how to hit some pretty simple target numbers that will let you succeed in the early encounters in Karazhan (and the first few bosses drop some nice tanking upgrades) and in Heroics.
Just to simplify things, I'm going to toss out some target numbers. You will be making these numbers up with gear, and where needed, with talents. Just getting there to start out is the important part.
Defense: 490. This level of defense gives you crit immunity to most raid bosses. Some bosses will have a higher chance to crit, but that's the exception rather than the rule. More defense isn't necessarily bad, as you gain some mitigation talents other than resistance to crits, but in general it's better to steer towards other stats once you've reached 490 Def.
Armor: 12,000. This is pretty much a no-brainer. Higher armor means more survivability against melee attacks. There is NO diminishing returns on armor. Even though you don't gain as much mitigation per cent with higher levels of armor, each chunk of armor increases your survival time in melee by a static amount. So, the more the merrier here.
Health: 12,000. You'll want at least this much health to start tanking encounters where plate can be hit for upwards of 4,000 to 5,000 damage, and aside from resistance, health is the only stat keeping a tank alive against incoming magic damage.
Dodge and Parry: Ideally, you'll want these numbers to be around 40% or so combined. You'll likely be seeing 30% or so when you're starting out. Dodge is much cheaper on the item budget than Parry. While a dodged attack and a parried attack are both essentially misses (0 incoming damage), a parried attack also gives you a counter-attack, increasing the speed of your next attack. While this makes Parry kind of cool, it makes it a sucker bet for things like gems.
Speaking of Gems: Stack Solid Star of Elune. You shouldn't need any other gem to hit your target numbers.
The above was a very brief, although hopefully accurate enough for our purpose, discussion on tanking stats. You'll notice I ignored stuff like Block Rating (chance to block) and Block Value (amount to block, and increases Shield Slam damage). That's because in evaluating our starter gear set, they don't really matter. Higher end gear will add in all of the cool tanking stats you need as you progress. If you'd like a great in depth guide to tanking raids, Ciderhelm's guide on the WoW Forums is very good reading.
OK, on to the gear list. The emphasis here is on gear that you can get without too much reliance on chance. Most of this will be crafted, rep reward, or quested gear, with the occasional dungeon drop thrown in. Not every possibility is listed per slot, usually two to three max.
HEAD
Felsteel Helm (Crafted)*
Myrmidon's Headdress (Quest Reward)
NECK
Mark of the Ravenguard (Quest Reward) *
Strength of the Untamed (Cenarion Expedition Revered)
BACK
Devilshark Cape (Steamvault Drop)
Cloak of Eternity (Crafted)*
SHOULDERS
Shoulderguards of the Bold (Shadow Labyrinth Drop)*
Warchief's Mantle (Quest Reward)
CHEST
Jade-Skull Breastplate (Mechanar Drop)
Breastplate of the Warbringer (Quest Reward)*
Vindicator's Hauberk (Aldor Revered)
WAIST
Sha'tari Vindicator's Waistguard (Quest Reward)
There's no excuse not to get this belt, as it's a quest reward and the only blue tanking belt in the game pre-raid or pre-heroic. If you want a filler belt while trying to get a group together to quest for this, then grab a green "Of the Champion" belt off the AH* or use one of the following quest belts:
Fearless Girdle (Quest in Zangarmarsh, has two sockets so you can add 18 STA with green gems)
Girdle of the Lost Vindicator (Aldor Quest in Netherstorm)
WRIST
Sha'tari Wrought Armguards (Quest Reward)*
Bracers of the Green Fortress (Crafted Epic)
LEGS
Felsteel Leggings (Crafted)*
Timewarden's Leggings (Keepers of Time Revered)
HANDS
Felsteel Gloves (Crafted)*
Thatia's Self-Correcting Gauntlets (World Drop, BoE, can get on Auction House)
FEET
Sha'tari Wrought Greaves (Quest Reward)
Flesh Beast's Metal Greaves (Quest Reward)
RINGS
Protector's Mark of the Redemption (Quest Reward)*
Andormu's Tear (No STA but a ton of tank stats, good if you have enough health elsewhere)
Elementium Band of the Sentry (Arcatraz Drop)
Wind Trader's Band (Quest Reward. Green, but very good stats, fast quest)*
Iron Band of the Unbreakable (Old Hillsbrad Drop)
TRINKETS
Adamantine Figurine (Shadow Labyrinth Drop)*
Dabiri's Enigma (Quest Reward)
Figurine of the Colossus (Shattered Halls Drop)
(I'm still using my Zandalarian Hero Badge with my Adamantine Figurine. )
WEAPONS
Grom'tor's Charge (Quest Reward)*
Honor's Call (Honor Hold Exalted)
SHIELDS
Netherwing Protector's Shield (Quest Reward)
Aegis of the Sunbird (Botanica Drop)
Platinum Shield of the Valorius (Shadow Labyrinth Drop)*
RANGED
AH Green "of the Monkey" level 70 -- Seriously, your best option for this slot.
Zerid's Vintage Musket (Quest Reward)*
Scout's Throwing Knives (Quest Reward)
*The items marked with an asterisk are my current gear, including the green belt off the AH. Since I haven't gotten my warrior's flying mount yet, I can't get a couple of the quest rewards, like the Sha'tari Vindicator's Waistguard or Netherwing Protector's Shield. Still, that gear only took me about three days to gather after hitting 70 and hit all of the above target numbers with a few points put into Anticipation and full Toughness. So, even if I spec partially into Protection, to offtank a raid or to tank an instance, I'm already at the target numbers, and it didn't take too much work at all.
Good luck gearing your tank!
