5 ways to Survive with Trinkets
Trinkets are very focused in nature and as a result, the Trinket slot is easily the best way to customize your character. Let’s take a look at some ways to approach your trinket slot from a survival standpoint.
1. Avoidance Purist
An Avoidance Purist utilizes 2 trinkets that focus on Avoidance.
Guardian’s Alchemist Stone + Shadowmoon Insignia
The example above features two trinkets that combine for a massive 6.26% Avoidance which is far more than you can get with any other combination. If raw Avoidance is what you crave then this is the setup for you.
2. Usage Junkie
A Usage Junkie looks for trinkets that offer good stats, but more to the point, very strong usages.
Moroes Lucky Pocket Watch + Figurine - Empyrean Tortoise
The example above will give you not only 4.14% Avoidance, but also access to 2 very effective Avoidance usages. Excellent for getting through ugly silence effects or unrelenting frenzy attacks.
3. Effective Health Purist
An Effective Health Purist notoriously uses 2 Stamina trinkets to boost his or her Effective Health as high as possible.
Commendation of Kael’thas + Darkmoon Card: Vengeance
The example above shows the highest possible Effective Health from a trinket setup. It’s nice to have access to this combination when particular situations call for gross amounts of Stamina.
4. Hybrid Hero
A Hybrid Hero looks to balance their trinkets between Avoidance/Stamina and between Auto-use/On-use effects.
Moroes Lucky Pocket Watch + Commendation of Kael’thas
The example above offers decent Avoidance (2.01%) coupled with High Stamina making for a nice pairing. Having access to the Watch’s insane usage with the safety net of the Commendation’s Auto-use makes this combination a favourite of tanks of all progression levels.
5. Passive-ist
A Passive-ist looks for a combination that offers the highest, most balanced raw stats featuring 1 Avoidance trinket and 1 Stamina trinket.
Shadowmoon Insignia + Commendation of Kael’thas
The example above offers High Avoidance (3.52%) coupled with High Stamina. SMI’s usage is actually pretty decent, but the bread and butter of this combination is to allow you to focus on other things while the strong passive survival stats and auto-usages these offer do the work for you.
Personality?
With flexibility comes complexity one could say and that’s the reality of trinkets even when we look at it only from a purely survival standpoint. Certainly of the above combinations each has it’s own situation where it truly shines, where it is the right setup for an encounter.
However, they are all fine choices and it’s more a reflection on the type of personality you are than a matter of a “right” answer. Each combination offers different variations of personal control, different amounts of trust in your teammates and different levels of reliance on chance.
So…
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June 19th, 2008 at 1:37 pm
What about the Sunguard Sextand and Icon of the Unwavering?
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June 19th, 2008 at 1:44 pm
I’m not an alchemist or a gemcrafter - I would like to see alternative for people who don’t have specific professions. Also for different gear access levels, like Kara+vendor+instance,
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admin reply on June 19, 2008 2:39 pm:
Scarab of Displacement couples well with the Pocket Watch if you want more usages and either it or the Pocket Watch combine with SMI to make a nice Avoidance Purist set too.
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Sleepingbag reply on June 23, 2008 9:39 am:
The exaulted Trinket from AV also has a fair chunk of dodge on it. When im OTing trash I use that and the pocket watch to stack avoidance to take a load off the healers. I also use the AV trinket when tanking adds in the Hydross fight because of the Frost Resist it also has.
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June 19th, 2008 at 1:46 pm
I guess I’m a hybrid hero. I like using the Pocketwatch and the Darkmoon card for the threat/avoidance/health combination. Although I would love to add both the Commendation and the Shard of Contempt to my available repetoire.
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June 19th, 2008 at 1:59 pm
Usage on SMI insignia is better than the avoidance on the pocketwatch, it saves my sorry ass more times than i can count
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Kavtor reply on June 19, 2008 3:37 pm:
16% dodge (on top of 50% dodge if you’re killing Gurtogg) is a significant reduction in incoming damage. An extra 1750 HP is a third to a quarter of one swing of most boss mobs.
Going from being hit once in every 2 swings, to once in every 3 will save you far more often than 1750 health, and give your healers more room to work in.
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Rochelle reply on June 19, 2008 5:07 pm:
AND, a small point most people forget, the pocket watch is only a 2 minute cooldown while SMI is 3.
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June 19th, 2008 at 3:16 pm
You forgot one voting option:
“None of my trinkets are purple, yet.”
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admin reply on June 19, 2008 3:43 pm:
Hehe, you can still pick what you’d be if you had the choice.
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kuju reply on June 20, 2008 8:43 am:
yeah, I went with passive-ist. I’m not in the habit of activating my trinkets and so I forget about them. Because of this, I try to stack as much passive help as I can. However, I’ve been getting better in situations where my healer is having trouble keeping up, about 50% of the time now I’ll remember to pop a trinket or both.
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June 19th, 2008 at 3:19 pm
*staples a sign with the number “4″ to his forehead*
I have 5 trinkets I swap between for different situations (I imagine most would) but when it comes to srsbiznss fights, Pocket Watch + Commendation all the way. The really sad thing is, out of all 5 trinkets those 2 took the least effort to get because I never actually went out of my way to get them, lol.
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June 19th, 2008 at 3:28 pm
What about a set of threat trinkets? I personally prefer Shard of Contempt + Autoblocker.
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Kavtor reply on June 19, 2008 3:43 pm:
Shard and Icon of Unyielding Courage for bosses. (haven’t had a chance at the poison vial unfortunately)
Autoblocker and Solarians Sapphire for trash mobs, since the hit & expertise caps on L72 mobs are so much easier to reach.
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Zadolix reply on June 20, 2008 4:05 am:
I use shard + autoblocker too for threat, otherwise I roll with commendation + shard to keep the parries and spike damage down so I guess I’d be a passive-ist?
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Emeline reply on June 24, 2008 8:00 pm:
I generally try to use at least one threat trinket (in my case autoblocker, i’d use shard if I had it) at all times, opting to swap my commendation and my pocket watch. Although on groups where the dps is bad (which unfortunately is happening more often) I’ll use the hybrid-hero.
June 19th, 2008 at 4:34 pm
Hrm, there need to be more poll options, since as you always advocate tanks have more than one set, and as such I have the EH setup as well as an avoidance setup and a silence/frenzy+safety net setup for my trinkets.
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June 19th, 2008 at 4:37 pm
Lately, I’ve been swapping trinkets in and out like crazy. Currently, I use Shard of Contempt and Darkmoon Card: Vengeance on heroic trash pulls (because CC is for sissies) and swap out the Darkmoon Card for the good ol’ Autoblocker on bosses where I feel big threat > avoidance.
On bosses where I feel I need to pull out more tricks, I use the Hybrid Hero method, in my case Commendation of Kael’thas + Moroes’ Lucky Pocketwatch. Before I got the Commendation, I actually used Dabiri’s Enigma, because I had nothing else. The Adamantite Figurine refused to drop until last week in heroic SL. GG.
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June 19th, 2008 at 11:58 pm
I tend to use Commendation plus Ancient Aqir Artifact much of the time. The artifact has 0.1% less dodge than the stopwatch, true, but the parry equates to a tiny bit more threat, and the on-use on the stopwatch always felt a little too much like Russian Roulette to me.
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Namthe reply on June 20, 2008 2:35 am:
Dodge? Avoidance. meh.
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June 20th, 2008 at 12:22 am
shard of contempt plus romulo’s poison vial for threat.
– gyre –
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June 20th, 2008 at 1:09 am
Hybrid Hero, and that’s the exact setup I have 95% of the time. Otherwise I go the EH route with Commendation and Poultryizer.
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June 20th, 2008 at 3:38 am
Hybrid Hero (Pocket Watch and Commendation)
I swap the Pocket Watch for a Shard of Contempt on farm fights and heroics. Now that I’m typing this I think I had better switch the Commendation for the Shard and stick with my Pocket Watch to decrease healing load. Any thoughts on that? Don’t have two threat trinkets so that’s not an issue (yet).
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June 20th, 2008 at 4:09 am
In most cases I’m a hybrid hero with the exact trinkets you posted, but there was the “hybrid hero with a threat trinket (shard) and commendation” option missing.
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June 20th, 2008 at 5:25 am
I always have shard of contempt and commendation on, unless I need some more avoidance I smack on moroes trinket for that imba use :>
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June 20th, 2008 at 5:34 am
I’m using Shard and darkmoon for trash most of the time (maybe i should try to get poison vial), and commendation + pocket watch (or autoblocker) for bosses (pocket watch for gurtogg and autoblocker for supremus for example)
I guess i’m an hybrid hero most of the time
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June 20th, 2008 at 5:37 am
Would you believe that in over one year of Karazhan runs (50+ total) I have NEVER once got a “Lucky” pocket watch to drop.
It’s rather disgusting, as I’m entering the half way point in BT with my guild, and yet consistantly see suggestions of these End Game fights to “use your pocket watch”.
True Story, thanks for your prayers…
/rant off
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Velcro reply on June 20, 2008 8:02 am:
I’m in a similar boat, over 30 kills on moroes and maiden and no pocketwatch or gloves…
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turcoloko reply on June 20, 2008 10:47 am:
keep your faith, I was in same situation until 2 weeks ago when finally dropped. I hardly could believe when I saw the roll bar of this piece.
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June 20th, 2008 at 8:58 am
I saw nothing for the “i’ll give you 100g if you can pull the mob off me” combination…which to the best of my understanding would be
If under the hit cap:
Romulo’s Poison Vial + Shard of Contempt
If over the hit cap (with out the RPV)
Shard of Contempt + Gnomeregan Auto Blocker
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June 20th, 2008 at 9:11 am
Where’s the http://www.wowhead.com/?item=14022 ???
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Kavtor reply on June 20, 2008 9:39 am:
Or [item]Tiny Voodoo Mask[/item]!
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Rochelle reply on June 20, 2008 1:25 pm:
Or you can go old school with http://www.wowhead.com/?item=21579
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June 20th, 2008 at 12:58 pm
I use the furies deck card and the kael trinket. works pretty good for me, 17144 health unbuffed lol
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June 20th, 2008 at 7:29 pm
Im not sure if i should admit to doing so but here goes on my first morose kill ever, VERY fresh as a tank didnt know off any off these sites i now frecuently visit and draw alot off knowledge from, i passed on the watch to a guildie (druid) not knowing anything about what frustration ws to be bestowed upon me for doing so…ive now killed moroes for up to 8 months and it dont drop, bet im biting my knuckles like mad for being silly….. but now i use [item]Gnomeregan Auto Blocker[/item][item]Commendation of Kael’thas[/item][item]Ancient Aqir Artifact[/item][item]Adamantine Figurine[/item][item]Violet Badge[/item], and wont ever pass on a trinket ever again no matter if im outgearing it, just to atleast to bank it and have if i find a use for it
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June 20th, 2008 at 9:22 pm
heh, currently using both the 51 stam darkmoon cards =P
haven’t had the time or inclination to farm the commendation…and i’m saving my badges for gear that I should have gotten a long time ago.
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June 23rd, 2008 at 10:27 am
i must’ve run Heroic MgT a handful of times. (2 handfuls as a matter of fact) and still no commendation of kaelthas. I’m using the pocket watch and the adamantite figurine atm.
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June 23rd, 2008 at 3:04 pm
What about us threat junkies? Auto Blocker and Shard of Contempt = win!
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June 23rd, 2008 at 3:08 pm
maybe I would use the commendation if it actually had a drop rate…Pally tank and a Warrior Tank and I have never seen it drop even on my mage…piece of crap
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June 24th, 2008 at 3:25 pm
I propose that you add:
6. Love That Terrace
Commendation of Kael’Thas and Shard of Contempt
High expertise cuts back on parry gibs, and high stamina with dodge proc on commendation for EH and avoidance.
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Ronnigan reply on June 26, 2008 8:22 am:
6b. Loathe That Terrace
Same two trinkets :-).
I use them for pretty much everything, unless there’s a fight where threat doesn’t much matter (e.g., Netherspite), when I’ll stack stamina.
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June 24th, 2008 at 6:37 pm
Terrace = win.
Threat? Check.
Smoother damage intake? Check.
EH? Check.
Auto-proccing avoidance when I need it? Check.
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June 27th, 2008 at 6:01 am
Thoughts on Styleen’s Impending Scarab?
1% Avoidance, 3.4% Block, 24 Block value for threat.
I currently still use that, along with Moroes or Commendation depending on the fight. I have a hard time replacing it because it balances threat and avoidance rather well imo.
Every time I see people comparing trinkets this one seems to be overlooked. Anything that Im missing here?
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Kavtor reply on June 28, 2008 4:52 pm:
Styleen’s is still pretty solid. I still carry it around, and use it from time to time.
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Rochelle reply on June 29, 2008 6:35 pm:
I just checked wowhead on Styleen’s and for the very first time I noticed that it was ‘Impeding’ not ‘Impending’. I am not a smart person…
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June 27th, 2008 at 7:38 pm
Although if Moroes dropped his bloody trinket for me I would be a hybrid, as it stands I’m using two stamina trinkets. The one from heroic Magister’s Terrace and the shameful +37 stamina one from heroic Underbog. Although it’s blue it’s great and has lasted me from Karazhan to T5.
It would be great advice to anyone beginning to tank to get this, heroic Underbog in my opinion atleast is one of the easiest heroics.
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July 1st, 2008 at 2:16 am
I guess I’d say I’m a “hybrid hero” or something. I change trinkets based on the encounter. For trash i generally use the autoblocker + darkmoon card, the same for farm bosses, where harder encounters I’ll swap for more survivablity (Shadowmoon Insigna + KT Commedation for instance).
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July 1st, 2008 at 2:19 am
Oh, with the above reply I’m almost at the hit-cap and I’m at the “soft-cap” for expertise (dodge way from the table) so my main aggro-boost is block-value (even more so with 4-set T6).
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July 22nd, 2008 at 1:15 pm
In general, you should not die to incoming steady damage, I choose the usage cause those are the situations that you will need, like stomp on brut, corruption on felmyst, kalegros transitioning tanks and healers, or if you get sheared by illidan…. etc…
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July 29th, 2008 at 1:24 pm
Not having luck with Moroe’s or MgT yet and that’s where my tanking level is atm since he’s not my main character, I use the Shard of Contempt coupled with the Auto-blocker for heavy threat on my trinkets.
I can manage one use effect, but two is a bit much with all the chugging of pots and skill rotations. I still tend to forget the autoblocker now and then.
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