Loading ...Tankatronic Goggles vs Battleworn Tuskguard
In this game, there exists numerous items at the same item level. For that reason, two items are often very similar. The term given to a comparison between two such items is a “coin toss”.
Battleworn Tuskguard and Tankatronic Goggles are often considered an example of a coin toss which is interesting because the Goggle’s item level is 127 while the Tuskguard’s item level is 133. This should tells us right now, that perhaps this idea is false.
Breaking them apart
We have a lot of socketing options between the two helms, but our best bet is to stick to full Stamina on the Tuskguard and go for the set bonus using an Enduring Seaspray Emerald on the Goggles while entertaining both meta options.
Comparison #1
Tuskguard with 15 Stamina Gems
+56 Armor
+1 Dodge Rating
+51 Block Value
+25 Stamina
Goggles with Eternal Earthstorm Diamond
+13 Hit Rating
+10% Block Value
+15 Defense Rating
Our first comparison leads to interesting results. The meta gem has all, but made up for the threat edge that the Tuskguard had while also causing the Goggles to have greater Avoidance than the Tuskguard as well. This created a large Effective Health gap between the two though.
Threat: Tie
Avoidance: Goggles
Effective Health: Tuskguard
Comparison #2
Tuskguard with 15 Stamina Gems
+56 Armor
+1 Dodge Rating
+51 Block Value
+7 Stamina
Goggles with Powerful Earthstorm Diamond
+13 Hit Rating
+3 Defense Rating
The 2nd comparison definitely has much more lopsided results. The Tuskguard and Goggles basically are identical avoidance wise at this point. There’s still a significant Effective Health edge for the Tuskguard not to mention a pretty sizable threat lead too. Overall, this comparison is very telling of what the more powerful meta gem is.
Threat: Tuskguard
Avoidance: Tie
Effective Health: Tuskguard
So, is it a Coin Toss?
Yup, but only if you use the Eternal Earthstorm Diamond as your meta gem. There’s really no reason at all to use the Goggles otherwise. Overall, Engineers can take solace in the fact that their helm is still very good and will last them an insanely long time before they choose to replace it. (Illidan) Those fortunate enough to pick up a Battleworn Tuskguard out of Zul’Aman will be happy to know though that at the end of the day, they probably have the ever so slightly better helm. (which isn’t terribly surprising given than it’s 6 item level points ahead)
So, what this all comes down to it is the often used adage of “use whatever you get first”. If you have one, don’t go out of your way to get the other. Pass on the 2nd one to your fellow tanks. If you do manage to pick them both up and you’re still perplexed well then… use the one that you think looks cooler. May the best coin win! 
July 21st, 2008 at 12:03 pm
I have both so I added the 18 stam/resi SSO enchant on the tuskguard to strengthen it’s EH value, great for magic fights like Kael.
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July 21st, 2008 at 12:15 pm
The Tankatronics do have a little more potential in regards to making a more threat specific helm. A Rigid Lionseye along with using the EED’s scaling block value can make for some excellent threat generation.
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July 21st, 2008 at 2:44 pm
Well… good analysis! What you say is true unless you can upgrade your goggles, which happened to be my case… I got the Hardened Khorium as soon as 2.4 went out…
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July 21st, 2008 at 5:21 pm
Well, I’m not an Engineer so hey… there’s only one option left for me ya… I guess this happens to others tanks as well when you don’t have Engineering as one of your professions… but overall good comparison on the helm… Been wearing the ZA helm for like 3 months now and nothing much to look for in further raid till I get to Illidan
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July 21st, 2008 at 8:23 pm
Vene for Azeroth District Attorney!
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July 21st, 2008 at 8:40 pm
i personally stack myself heavy towards the EHP and TPS side of tanking. Sadly i do not have the Tuskgaurd, no matter how many ZA’s i do…it just doesnt drop….i use t4 helm atm. In the even that I got the tuskgaurd i would go with the 15 stam in each socket without a doubt. I plan to get this in the future and do just this as i dont think threat is an issue for me….as of right now i am pushing a constant 1400 tps with bursts being obviously higher…do you guys think this is the right thing to do or no?
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July 21st, 2008 at 11:02 pm
I’m in a semi-unique position to own both. I’ve had the goggles forever, and got the Tuskgard just recently. Could you suggest a gem/enchant configuration that might make the Tuskgard better for a Tankadin? I consided tossing some spell damage on it, but it seems like a waste of a great tanking helm.
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ivanstone reply on July 22, 2008 6:34 am:
Throw caution to the wind and just slather it up with blue quality gems for spell damage and a spell damage head enchant. If you don’t like it you can always change it later. The advantage of the Tuskguard is that it already has high block value and doesn’t require the meta. For a pally multi-tanking you can give it decent spell damage whilst retaining the BV for soaking damage.
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July 22nd, 2008 at 6:58 am
I made my goggle in sept. 07 when I joined a guild starting Kara looking for a mt, which is still my actual guild. My gear was crap at this time and I wanted to show them I wanted the job, so I droped JC, powerleveled Eng (again) made the goggle. This was when they had 2 boss on farm in kara.
We downed our first boss in BT 1 week ago and I was still wearing them…
Those goggle are beast, but I wish I could replace them for something *new*.
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July 22nd, 2008 at 7:22 am
What about Tuskguard vs T5? We’re 5/6 SSC, and Vash is a few weeks away I think, but when it does come I’m trying to decide if it’s worth grabbing the helmet for my 2pc bonus, or if I should focus on getting the Tuskguard and picking up gloves for the 2pc T5 (I’m currently wearing T4 helm and the badge gloves).
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admin reply on July 22, 2008 7:38 am:
http://www.tankingtips.com/2008/03/27/battleworn-tuskguard-not-so-worn-anymore/
The best T5 pieces to acquire are the Shoulders and Chest with the Gloves being a close 3rd. You’ll be able to use the combination of the Shoulders and Chest for fights where you need additional threat for a long, long time. (Shoulders + Gloves holds up until Gorefiend)
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ebs2002 reply on July 22, 2008 7:52 am:
T5 chest is dwarfed by the 2.4 badge chest though, isn’t it? I have just about every badge piece available (2.3 legs instead of 2.4), so I was looking to upgrade my Karazhan level gear.
The main reason to have the 2pc of T5 is for additional threat, and the blog entry you linked says that the T5 helm is a threat helm…so T5 helm+shoulders for threat?
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ivanstone reply on July 22, 2008 8:32 am:
Destroyer Chestguard is very hard to beat. It has more stamina potential and can still match Stoicism’s avoidance without giving it up. Armour? Stoicism has 45 more (yawn). Threat? 25 Str, 26 Agi and 24 Hit beat 39 BV.
Destroyer is very threat orientated set in general. One reason is the advantage of stat diversification. Consider three hypothetical pieces of gear:
Chest A: 56 Dodge (2.96%)
Chest B: 37 Dodge (1.96%), 37 Agility (1.23%)
Chest C: 29 Dodge (1.53%), 29 Defense (1.49%), 29 Agility (0.97%)
All have the same item budget (check any randomly enchanted green). The most diverse item has the most avoidance. Carry this budgeting scheme to Destroyer which has 5 or 6 stats per piece along with sockets. At very least the Strength ends up being free.
On top of that it has excellent set bonuses. Shoulders and Chest stand up well largely because of the sockets. The legs and gloves would hold up a little more if they had more sockets but unfortunately they don’t.
admin reply on July 22, 2008 9:02 am:
The T5 Helm fits in this odd world where T4 is better threat and Tuskguard is better avoidance. Not to mention T6 is a better threat helm and is attainable reasonably soon. Overall, the T5 helm is a big deal for a lot of classes and I’d recommend passing on it to them considering you’ll likely do Vashj very few times.
As to chests, I prefer T5 and ZA’s to the 2.4 Badge one.
Oldharry reply on July 22, 2008 1:41 pm:
Awesome analysis. However, comparing an item acquired from Kael to an item that can be purchased with badges or crafted the day you hit 70 isn’t entirely fair. For most mortals, the “value” proposition is Tiered 4 and 5 helm (or Tankatronics for the engineers) and the 100 badge chest.
But I probably missed your point as I drooled over Kael and Hex lord gear….which is most likely, that item level can be deceiving, and do the math before you roll.
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July 22nd, 2008 at 9:40 am
I was confused by the “T5 is only 45 less armor than Stoicism”. Then I remembered that Agility gives armor. I gotta stop forgetting about that.
OK, so the difference would be:
Equal Sta (I’d gem for the socket bonus in T5, and won’t have epic gems)
Badge:
4.6avoid, 39sbv, 45armor
T5 (with kings):
4.01avoid, 24hit, 60ap, 0.87crit
Badge has higher survivability (.6% avoid, 45armor), and T5 has much higher threat (24hit 60ap .87crit vs 43sbv with the meta).
Thanks, that cleared a lot of things up (stupid agility-to-armor)
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admin reply on July 22, 2008 11:35 am:
Keep in mind that Stamina should be factored in as well when considering Survivability.
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ebs2002 reply on July 22, 2008 2:08 pm:
I am. For me, I don’t have access to epic gems (I’m an offtank, not a main tank, and I’m spending my badges on my fury set).
I’d be putting in 4def/6sta, 4dodge/6sta, and 12sta in my T5, and have 4dodge/6sta in my 2.4 badge.
T5 chest: 57sta + 6 + 6 + 12 + 6(bonus) = 87sta
2.4 badges: 78sta + 6 + 3 = 87sta.
Up until this point, at least, the 4dodge/6sta in my badge chest made sense; I have Bulwark of the Ancient Kings gemmed with 8str/8str/8str for PvP that I’ll slap on for extra threat if I need, so accentuating the high avoidance on the badge chest made sense.
If we kill Kael and I get the T5 chest, however, the world gets turned upside-down. Maybe I’d put in a 10dodge gem in the badge, and 12/15sta all the way through in T5, but I’m worried that my already-low avoidance would suffer.
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Veneretio reply on July 22, 2008 3:21 pm:
Ah yes this is where we differ, I would just be putting straight 15 or 12 Stamina gems in the T5 piece.
Rochelle reply on July 23, 2008 10:18 am:
Blizzard made it so avoidance is really ineffectual until Sunwell. Using nothing but stamina gems is as mindless as it is boring, but it gets the job done.
But here is a curveball - last night I regemmed my T5 chest with 3x 10 hit gems for an omgwtf threat piece.
July 22nd, 2008 at 7:50 pm
Quick question for those with the math skills and uber knowledge. When I made my goggles I tossed on the ZG Presence of Might chant. Which enchant would you reccomend for each helm?
On a side note, which chant would you toss on the Illidan hat?
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Rochelle reply on July 23, 2008 10:21 am:
The ZG enchant will get you do a lot for effective health which is the only thing you need until Sunwell. If you have the Illidan helm then you will probably be in Sunwell soon enough and avoidance will become important again so you would do well to use the Keepers of Time enchant.
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July 23rd, 2008 at 2:10 am
keepers of time enchant,unless u dont have the rep 4 it then go for ZG head enchant
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July 24th, 2008 at 8:10 am
but…. ZG enchant also has SBV which scales nicely with the SBV meta and 4 pieces of T6 for some extra threat…
- DW
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July 24th, 2008 at 12:28 pm
I use the gogles with the defense and 10% SBV meta; a +10 hit rating gem and ZG head chant to make an awesome treath piece.
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Veneretio reply on July 24, 2008 1:17 pm:
Ya, that’s definitely the way to go. I think I’ll be resorting to using the T5 Helm again (not an engineer) if the Teron gloves drop this week. That way I can maintain the 2 piece set bonus with the Shoulders for my threat set.
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July 28th, 2008 at 7:07 am
I have to admit, I personally use the Tuskguard as my avoidance helm (socketed with 10 dodge / 10 def / 5 def & 7 stam), and my Tankatronics when I need a HP boost (socketed with a powerful earthstorm + 5 def & 7 stam). I don’t use the SBV meta because I feel my SBV lags while I’m wearing my goggles; I use it more as part of my EH set for tanking progression bosses.
I’d like to have seen a little more discussion on the socket options. There are more gems out there than solid empyrean sapphires (though some of the tanks I’ve met take that to shocking extremes..).
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admin reply on July 28, 2008 10:45 am:
Stamina performs well in an Avoidance, Effective Health, Threat or Trash set. Socketing pieces you know you’ll use across multiple different sets for Stamina makes the most sense.
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July 28th, 2008 at 11:55 am
I don’t have either helm but hopefully the Tuskguard will drop for me in ZA soon. Nice to know that it will be as good or better as the goggles.
I got lost on the discussion about the chests. I have the badge chest. Not likely to get the T5 chest soon but I would gess I’d likely pass on it unless none of the other classes needed it. The ZA chest is a bigger possibility.
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August 1st, 2008 at 7:06 pm
I finally got something to replace my goggles
As is, I gained 7 stam, 50 somethin armor and about 70 SBV (with talents in the shield block thing)…was it a large upgrade? Na, not huge. Is it nice to see at least something new on your guy that has been wearing the goggles for 6 months straight? Heck yes.
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