Loading ...Specing to be the Best Off-Tank Money can Buy.
Perhaps it’s somewhat fitting that I start this blog dedicated to aiding tanks with an off-tank spec dedicated to aiding whoever happens to be the Main Tank.
Now the above spec is by no means perfect nor will it suit every player and I’m definitely not trying to imply that every off-tank needs to use maces. What you should be taking away from the above spec is it gives the off-tank the ability to DPS and Off-Tank effectively, but most importantly it offers the Debuffs - Improved Demoralizing Shout, Improved Thunderclap, Blood Frenzy and Mortal Strike. That’s a lot of weapons at the off-tanks disposal.
What if I want to change this spec? What do I have to keep?
- 5/5 Deflection
- 3/3 Improved Thunderclap
- 3/3 Deep Wounds
- 2/2 Blood Frenzy
- 1/1 Mortal Strike
- 5/5 Improved Demoralizing Shout
- 1/1 Last Stand
- 1/1 Shield Specialization
- 3/3 Defiance
Not a lot of wiggle room, I know, but believe me your Main Tank will thank you.
June 21st, 2007 at 1:08 am
As we discussed tonight, I think this is not a bad build. However, we never really discussed the following:
Anticipation vs. Imp Bloodrage/Tactical Mastery
The increased defense rating is nice any way you look at it, as you can easily acquire tanking gear with 470+ Defense Rating. But would you fill out a full 5/5, because to do any less seems like a waste of points. I feel that stance dancing is part of the job, but rage generation should not be in an issue so why salvage remenant. Since you do not have cheap skillz or shield slam, what is the purpose of improved bloodrage?
So to start off the prot tree, would you agree that anticipation is the best way to go?
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June 21st, 2007 at 11:07 am
I think the big difference between Anticipation vs. Imp Bloodrage/Tactical Mastery is that the Anticipation route lends itself to a focus more on tanking whereas the Imp Bloodrage/Tactical Mastery route leans more towards DPS and even more so PvP.
Since the focus of this build in particular is for raiding, I think that Anticipation is the correct route, but if raiding isn’t as big of focus then certainly a claim can be made the opposite way.
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June 9th, 2008 at 12:49 pm
I think that this speck could be modified to allow a little more tankabilty and focus on “sword n boardin” vs swapping to a 2h.
33/10/18
This pushes points from 2h weapon speck into heroic strike and the charm/stun resist as well as an extra point to the Toughness for more armor bonus.
Another solid OT speck I use is a dual weilding speck. This requires a specific set of gear that focuses on high def, parry and hit ratings. as an example: Bonefist Gauntlets (granted this item doesn’t have the def too but it is one of the ones I use in my set)
0/20/41
The point of this position is that when you are raiding in SSC, TK, etc and you are the 3rd or 4th tank in line, you don’t actually tank a whole lot. For the betterment of the raid so it’s best if you can throw out as much DPS as possible when not having to hold a mob’s focus on you. The additional benefit of the improved Battle Shout with the extra damage from both the 10% increase in dmg to 1h weapons from One-Handed Weapon Specialization and Dual Wield Specialization (at 5/5, +25% dmg with Off-Hand Weapon) you can turn that low tanking sword/board dps of 200 into a solid 450, increased further by full raid buffs. I’ve also found that all the defense talents in vitality, armor, etc make for one hell of a soloing speck. Wearing my fury gear and doing the Shattered Sun Dailies I only need to stop every 5 mobs to eat up instead of every 2 or 3 (depending on the mob).
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