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Yes, it really is that good

December 22, 2008 By 21 Comments

I feel like every other thread on Tankspot is about deep wounds. And every other post in those threads it someone saying, ‘I don’t like putting dots on mobs’ or, ‘my crit is too low for it to work’, or ‘I don’t want to give up all my survivability’ or ‘I tried it and it wasn’t that good’. It is driving me crazy. Yes, you are putting dots on mobs but nobody uses CC anymore so it really doesn’t have a negative effect, it will however increase aoe threat. Yes, your crit looks low at a glance, but check your talents and consider raid buffs – you have plenty of crit. Yes, you lose 3% shield block but you probably won’t notice it because you aren’t reliant on blocks to save your bacon and because there are really only 3 bosses that kill tanks – enraged maexxna, patchwerk, and Sartharion while Shadron and Vesperon acolytes active.

The last point is really the only semi-valid argument because a lot of tanking is subjective and maybe your playstyle doesn’t fit with a high tps/dps spec. To that I would say: adjust your playstyle because deep wounds is quickly becoming THE cookie cutter tank spec for the expansion. If you look at the tanks in top end raiding guilds, they all use deep wounds and if you read through Tankspot, all the ‘opinion makers’ use deep wounds. Those guys aren’t using a deep wounds spec because it is the flavor of the month, they are using it because deep wounds is a very powerful tool and the spec is an amazing overall performer.

So give it a try. If you don’t like it, keep trying it until you do like it. If you just plain can’t stand it, then you can go back to whatever spec you like with full knowledge that for whatever reason, deep wounds doesn’t work for you. But know that all the math says that deep wounds gives you a ton of tps and dps for the very small sacrifice of 3% block.

http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=LAM00fZhbZMItrx0zidIzsGo

Filed Under: Tanking Tagged With: ,

Level 80 Tanking Consumables

December 19, 2008 By 4 Comments

Kadomi over at Tank Like a Girl has posted a nice write up on Level 80 Tanking Consumables.

I used to always use Flask of Fortification, but I am finding that Flasks just aren’t giving the punch I want these days. My new combo of choice is:

Kadomi also does a good job at including good Stat Foods as well so be sure to check it out!<

Filed Under: Raiding, Tanking Tagged With: ,

Glory of the Hero

December 18, 2008 By 7 Comments

I like getting achievements; they make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. And I sure wouldn’t mind a flashy new proto-drake mount. A few weeks ago I started racking up achievements for Glory of the Hero and although I haven’t gotten many new ones lately, I did put together a list of all the achievements needed. I am about halfway through it and one of these days I’ll try to get a solid group together and knock out a whole bunch more. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Tanking Tagged With:

Ebenthorin’s Revenge!

December 17, 2008 By 2 Comments

Drinking DwarfWatching cool downs has always struck me as a bane of playing Warcraft. Why am I staring at a 64×64 pixel icon watching for the cool down indicator to pop, instead of the visually interesting aspects of the game, the visual cues to phase changes, or panic button timings?

So one of the things I have done to get around this annoyance is to use two primary macros:

#ShowToolTip Devastate
/use [trinket #1 name]
/use [trinket #2 name]
/Castrandom Devastate, Revenge

#ShowToolTip Shield Slam
/use [trinket #1 name]
/use [trinket #2 name]
/Castrandom Shield Slam, Revenge

There are 2 options you have to ‘on use’ trinkets. For things that give you additional armor, absorption, or health regen, I use them every cooldown. It might not be the most efficient use of them, but I’ll get a lot more use out of them than if I try to use them at more efficient times (and it’s one less cooldown to watch). The life saving trinkets that give you a significant dodge or max health boost, I typically handle on my own.

If you want to just run them all in those two macros you can replace the Trinket Name with 13 and 14. “/use 13″ will attempt to use what ever your first trinket is and “/use 14″ will attempt the second.

Alternatively, you can type “/use trinketname” to specify individual trinkets. And you can try to use any trinket by name, even ones that aren’t equiped. The nice part of doing it this way is that you don’t have to change your macros when you swap gear.

HINT: In the Macro Editor, if you put your cursor after the “/use “, then open your character sheet, bag, or skill book, you can shift-click on items and skills and the name will be automatically entered into the Macro Editor right where your cursor is.

Now the important thing to realize about this is that it changes the play style from trying to time your keystrokes perfectly into more of a button mashing style. And depending on your play style and key layout, it may or may not work well for you.

The more you spam these two macros, the more likely you are to get a revenge off every cool down, which means more shield slams and more free heroic strikes. Not to mention you don’t have to stare at your action bar waiting for cool downs to pop.

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Filed Under: Tanking, UI & Macros, Warriors Tagged With:
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