So You Wanna Raid...

[TheDragoon]

Gear... armor isn't important if you're not tanking.  If you are, it is.  One mistake you desperately need to avoid, however, is to build a single set of gear that leans heavily on one specific attribute.  Some tanks were completely blown apart by putting together +def builds only to see Blizzard nerf +def, for example.  In addition, gear which is heavily loaded toward one attribute is, by necessity, deficient in all others.  The best bet is to have your main gear be balanced.  In your pocket, a set of FR gear is vital as well.

I'm not sure I agree with a lot of this paragraph. The warrior is the single most equipment-dependant class out there. There are a lot of situations where any warrior in the group might need to jump in and save the day, so it's important that they all work on their gear to prepare them for these big raids. Even if you're reasonably sure that you won't be tanking, there are still things that are a good idea to get to help out the raid.

Concerning defense, I don't think that tanks were "completely blown apart" by the nerf. Certainly, they whined loud and long about it since they had put so much time into acquiring so much +defense gear and it got nerfed. However, those warriors have simply adjusted to what happened. Some of them looked for other sources of +defense gear to get back up to the ~425 defense threshold where they don't suffer critical hits. Others stocked up on other forms of damage mitigation such as +dodge or even more stamina on their gear. Despite the whining and the hype, +defense gear is STILL very good for a warrior, particularly one tanking in the big raid instances.

Now for my 2 cents:

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Gearing up a Warrior for End-Game Raiding

In end-game raids, the warrior's job is to soak up attacks by mitigating damage and controlling the mobs so that they do not rampage through the other less-defensive classes. To this end, it is essential that warriors work on gearing themselves up so they can handle the threats.

When trying to figure out what kind of gear you're looking for, it is important that you remember that there are three primary goals to shoot for in any encounter:

- Mitigate as much damage as possible
- Provide your healers with as high a life total as you can
- Reduce the number of critical hits that you suffer

Of these, the first is the most obvious: The less damage you take, the better off the raid is. Since many mobs in the end-game use area of effect attacks, this applies to the main tank as well as any other warrior in the raid who wants to get up close and personal with the mobs. It is a mistake to assume that non-tanking warriors can get away without worrying about their damage mitigation. The more damage those warriors take, the more healing is diverted their way from other, more important targets, so they should be focused on their mitigation just as much as other warriors.

The second goal is also very important. Anyone that has ever tried to heal in a raiding situation for tanks with varying life totals will agree that it is easier and less stressful to heal the tanks who have more life. For many situations, the reason that main tanks die is that they take too much burst damage and the healers do not recognize the threat and act quick enough to save the tank. The more life you have, the more cushion that the healers have toward keeping you alive. Even off-tanks can benefit from having more life since it can allow them to fight up close to many mobs like Magmadar for longer without having to pull back and bandage themselves.

The third point is the one that can often make or break a warrior. As stated above in the second goal, burst damage taken from a mob is often the cause for fallen warriors. Usually this burst damage occurs in an unlucky streak of critical hits against the warrior. Therefore, it is imperative that warriors be ready with the right gear for the right situation to try and reduce the number of critical hits they suffer.

Defense against critical hits comes in a variety of flavors, depending upon the mob you are facing.

Against physical damage-based mobs, +defense gear is key. Not only does defense gear raise your chance to dodge/parry/block an attack (raising your overall damage mitigation), it also reduces the number of critical hits you take. In fact, it has been shown that as you approach a buffed defense of ~425 a warrior sees a greatly reduced number of critical hits, eventually reaching the point where he no longer suffers a single critical hit. Since the +defense nerf, it is very difficult to reach this threshold but if you can manage it, the outcome is very impressive. That said, even a little +defense gear is good, but the more the better.

Against magical attacks-based mobs, resistances are key. Many mobs such as the Firelords of the Molten Core or Baron Geddon use entirely fire-based attacks. Thus, warriors should strap on as much resistance against those elements as they can. Besides just reducing the number of critical hits that a warrior would see, resistance acts as damage mitigation, as well. If you can get enough resistance, something that might have previously torn you to shreds can almost be laughed off.

However, many mobs are not easily pidgeon-holed into one form of attack. Mobs like the Core Hounds of the Molten Core do both physical damage and fire damage. For cases like this, it is important to be prepared for both types of attacks, but it is also a good idea to prioritize the type of incoming damage. If one damage type provides a steady form of damage (like Onyxia's physical attacks on the main tank) it is good to try and reduce that as much as possible but if the other form of damage results in huge bursts of damage (like Onyxia's fire breath) the burst damage is generally what you need to protect yourself from the most. It is easy for healers to heal steady incoming damage but burst damage is more likely to get you killed. Thus, it's a good idea to focus mostly on protecting yourself from the burst damage and just try to mitigate the steady damage as best you can.

For much of the existing end-game instances, fire resistance is far-and-away more important that other resistances, so stack up as much of it as you can. However, some encounters (like Shazzrah using arcane damage or many targets in Zul Gurub using nature damage) will make use of other damage types, so it's a good idea to be prepared for those, as well.


"So all of this is well and good, but what if I'm the back-up to the back-up tank? What can I do then?"

If there really isn't much of a chance that you will EVER be pressed into tanking duties for a battle, then you can focus even more on what you're really doing - dishing out damage. For this, specialized gear that provides attack power and extra chance to get critical hits can be employed to ratchet up your offensive skills. This sort of gear is often what people look for when gearing up for PvP combat, so if you're not sure what to look for, a PvP guide might be a good place to start.

However, as stated above even a damage-based warrior in a raid should try and work on defense against the various AoE damages that you are likely to see so that you don't spend most of your time bandaging or drawing healing away from the tanks.