Xeno's Warrior Tanking Guide

[Rbstr]

There's no reason a Paly couldn't do a strength-spec like warriors do.
There's just more drive for warriors because the added strength goes farther when tanking and we seem to be of the MOARDEEEPS mentality fairly often.

The i90 crafted are superior to mixing/matching i110 strength/vit accs. When/if i130 hits, I don't think the i90 will still be the better blend, but I haven't done the math.
As an added thing: If you're thinking about running with strength accessories (that is, not i90 melded), change your bonus points first. You get to trade 1:1 vit/strength that doesn't happen with the accs.

[SeraviEdalborez]

So, that brings me to my actual question. What is your opinion on the notion of a Paladin speccing for STR via. the use of crafted accessories as you've shown here for WAR? I think that I would be able to attain a very nice balance between mitigation and power by using Topaz instead of Ruby.

Use Ruby over Topaz. Even 80 parry isn't making a noticeable difference for mitigation (rather, its contribution doesn't matter significantly because damage is just fluff outside of big spike damage moves like Death Sentence or Ravensbeak). I suppose it doesn't really matter which you pick, but Topaz shouldn't be the default choice here just because we're tanks and it's a "tank stat".

My PLD and WAR are both 30STR. First T9 kill my PLD was 30 VIT and wearing VIT accs. Second kill I went 30 STR, still wearing VIT accs. 5th through 10th I made the time to craft/meld Ruby set, which I use with 30 STR. i110 in all other slots except i90 belt/legs (T8/7 hate me). I only have 396 parry. Can't say I really feel the difference.

[Nix80]

Use Ruby over Topaz. Even 80 parry isn't making a noticeable difference for mitigation (rather, its contribution doesn't matter significantly because damage is just fluff outside of big spike damage moves like Death Sentence or Ravensbeak). I suppose it doesn't really matter which you pick, but Topaz shouldn't be the default choice here just because we're tanks and it's a "tank stat".

My PLD and WAR are both 30STR. First T9 kill my PLD was 30 VIT and wearing VIT accs. Second kill I went 30 STR, still wearing VIT accs. 5th through 10th I made the time to craft/meld Ruby set, which I use with 30 STR. i110 in all other slots except i90 belt/legs (T8/7 hate me). I only have 396 parry. Can't say I really feel the difference.

I agree that Parry is barely noticable but what bothers me about the Ruby set for PLD is the 80 skill speed that comes with it. I hate SkillSpeed for PLD :\

[SeraviEdalborez]

Barely matters. If you're running empty, spam Stoneskin on yourself for a few GCDs. Save TP usage for FoF or adds if you're desperately low. You shouldn't have TP issues in many fights even with the extra skill speed.

[Xenosys]

Yea I will be using I90 crafted until better ones comes out. Ill get my Vit and Str from left side pieces. I am also specced all 30 str, so if need be I can go 30 vit for progression. My first T9 clear I had on all I70 gryphonskin crafted lol. My PLD co-tank also uses I90 ruby with identical melds, he is still specced Vit though

[Donjo]

Use Ruby over Topaz. Even 80 parry isn't making a noticeable difference for mitigation (rather, its contribution doesn't matter significantly because damage is just fluff outside of big spike damage moves like Death Sentence or Ravensbeak). I suppose it doesn't really matter which you pick, but Topaz shouldn't be the default choice here just because we're tanks and it's a "tank stat".

My PLD and WAR are both 30STR. First T9 kill my PLD was 30 VIT and wearing VIT accs. Second kill I went 30 STR, still wearing VIT accs. 5th through 10th I made the time to craft/meld Ruby set, which I use with 30 STR. i110 in all other slots except i90 belt/legs (T8/7 hate me). I only have 396 parry. Can't say I really feel the difference.

I honestly feel that 80 Skill Speed provides less of a benefit to my damage than 80 Parry would provide to my mitigation. According to the theorycrafting I've seen(Xenosys is the only person I've seen disagreeing with it) suggests that Parry is about 0.075% rate per point, so 80 points is about 6%. Having a High Allagan Shield provides about a 30-31% block rate, I believe, and having Parry at 600 or more provides about a 30% Parry rate. Combining these together, noting that they're mutually exclusive and that every hit is thought to be required to fail both a block and parry check independently in order to not be mitigated at all through that manner, means that my PLD, at just over 600 Parry with food, currently has an approximately 40-41% chance per physical hit to proc either of these things. RNG may be RNG, but I think that number is high enough to actually mean something, and I maximize the presence of both my shield and my parry by keeping them at approximately the same proc percentage. Soooo... if I use Topaz to keep my Parry at 600 and then increase my STR by 65-95, I keep my current rates while making each proc mitigate 1-2% more damage. I also do more damage. Win win.

Now, Xeno is absolutely right when he claims that attempting to outright rely on Parry is something that shouldn't be done. Preparation for fights really should assume that nothing RNG based will ever proc. However, weighing the RNG further into our favor can never hurt. Every thundercloud, firestarter, bloodletter, etc. is one mistake another DPS can make in their rotation without blowing that DPS check. Every crit Adlo or block/parry is one mistake a tank or healer can make without dropping dead, especially if the attack that RNG love mitigated was the "predictable spike hit". In my opinion, all these stats, chances, and procs do is make mistakes possible without wiping the raid, and that's a good thing since humans are quite good at making mistakes

[SeraviEdalborez]

I'm of the opinion that average mitigation (and therefore, Parry's average contribution) doesn't matter. Cooldowns for the big hits, all other damage is essentially fluff.

[Xenosys]

Yea I am not 100% on the returns parry gives. When I did my tests on average i only gained about 1% per 100. Maybe I didnt test enough? Or perhaps incorrectly? Regardless of that, if you stack parry over SS you obviously will parry more. But accomplishing what exactly? Trying to make things easier on the healers is a good argument and one I often hear, but it is flawed because of the Tanking Meta. It would be different if tanks were getting destroyed hit after hit but that isnt the case in game.The bosses "tickle you" until the mechanic damage, then back to a pillow fight. Ill even take it a step further and say if they completely removed Parry from the game I would not see a game breaking difference or play any differently for that matter. So my mentality is.... It ultimately does not matter if you block or parry because you will already have prepared for if you didnt. So... I will not stack a stat that does not matter. Then again I play WAR, not PLD. War do not tank at all like PLD. Way, way.... too many people play WAR like they are PLD. The two tanks, while balanced extremely well, tank in two different styles. I think a lot of people are forgetting that about warriors. They are not a traditional tank and should not be played that way. Warriors are much more reactive and requiring a higher skill cap. Not saying PLD are bad, they are amazing with awesome CD. But lets all be honest with ourselves here, almost anyone can play a PLD and be decent. PLD is 1-2-3 easy mode. This is not the case for warriors. Or it could be, maybe Im just bad at PLD haha

[Donjo]

Yea I am not 100% on the returns parry gives. When I did my tests on average i only gained about 1% per 100. Maybe I didnt test enough? Or perhaps incorrectly? Regardless of that, if you stack parry over SS you obviously will parry more. But accomplishing what exactly? Trying to make things easier on the healers is a good argument and one I often hear, but it is flawed because of the Tanking Meta. It would be different if tanks were getting destroyed hit after hit but that isnt the case in game.The bosses "tickle you" until the mechanic damage, then back to a pillow fight. Ill even take it a step further and say if they completely removed Parry from the game I would not see a game breaking difference or play any differently for that matter. So my mentality is.... It ultimately does not matter if you block or parry because you will already have prepared for if you didnt. So... I will not stack a stat that does not matter. Then again I play WAR, not PLD. War do not tank at all like PLD. Way, way.... too many people play WAR like they are PLD. The two tanks, while balanced extremely well, tank in two different styles. I think a lot of people are forgetting that about warriors. They are not a traditional tank and should not be played that way. Warriors are much more reactive and requiring a higher skill cap. Not saying PLD are bad, they are amazing with awesome CD. But lets all be honest with ourselves here, almost anyone can play a PLD and be decent. PLD is 1-2-3 easy mode. This is not the case for warriors. Or it could be, maybe Im just bad at PLD haha

Nah, PLD is by far the easier Tank to be decent at. Decent being the operative word, as a bad tank is a bad tank no matter what their job is. Regarding Parry... well, it's a secondary stat. If there's one thing we all need to remember about stats in this game, it's that primary stats are everything and secondary stats barely matter. Sure, they all do their thing and they're all useful in some fashion, but can you really stand back and say that you couldn't do all of the content in the game if all of your secondary stats are at their base values and no higher? I don't think that's the case. Perhaps this is a good thing; it would probably be bad if Party Finder groups start saying "have max Det gear or get kicked!", wouldn't it? But, it can also be seen as a bad thing, considering that the only things that differentiate gear are so ineffectual compared to the primary stats all pieces share.

[KaosPrimeZero]

Hey thx guys! much appreciated! Due to a lot of requests I got a monk guide in the works as well that will hopefully be done in a few days. I have updated my Twitch channel http://www.twitch.tv/xenosysvex to reflect my stream and raiding schedule!

Is there an eta on the MNK vid? Would love to see it