Tanking 101: Stats Part 1: Defense
Bastosa on Thursday, December 18, 2008 - 45 Comments Tags: avoidance, cap, defense, defense cap, stats, tanking 
I got into a bit of an argument with Death knight tank in a PUG raid the other day that make me realize that tanking stats are often misunderstood. This particular tank was convinced that Stamina was the end all be all of tanking stats and that nothing else mattered. This is of course far from the truth, but it got me thinking.
With the introduction of a new tanking class, and the supposed tank shortage in general there are lots and lots of people playing a tank for the first time.
If that’s the case then there lots of people who need to understand tanking stats so that they can gear themselves to be the best tank they can be. With that said I have decided to do a series of blogs discussing the major tanking stats and saying what they mean. Hopefully this will give tanks and non-tanks alike an understanding of what tanks are looking for, and what to look for in a tank!
Today I would like to talk about the stat that everyone is talking about. Defense!
Defense
What is it? Defense is the one that you probably hear the most about. The reason for this is likely because it is the first major cap that up and coming tanks need to hit at level 80. Defense’s role is twofold. First it determines the level at which a mob can critically strike you. Secondly, it adds additional value to your avoidance stats (I'll get more into that next time).
How Much Do You Need? The reason that 540 is the defense cap is because when you reach 540 defense you can no longer be critically hit by a level 83 mob, and by level 83 mob I mean a raid boss. For every level you take off the mob, you can take 5 points off the max required defense rating to remain uncritable. If you are only running heroics then you really only need 535 defense because the highest level mob you will see there is level 82. If you want to be uncritable against a level 80 mob the you really only need 525 defense.
That being said if you want to raid, you need to push crits off the table. So your number one gearing priority needs to be reaching 540 defense.
You probably noticed during the leveling process that the higher your level, the less defense rating you are actually getting from your items. This is because defense scales with level, and you will need a tremendous amount to make sure you are at the cap at 80 if you are still leveling. Think ahead! Crafted gear is a great place to find defense for reaching that cap.
What is The Real World Raid Application? So we’ve pushed crits off the table, but why is that important? When you take a crit you are taking 200% damage. This is very high spikey damage that is unpredictable and hard to heal through. If a crit gets through and you are not topped of (or even sometimes if you are) you will likely die. Raid bosses can often hit for upwards of 10k on plate, it doesn’t take a mathematician to figure out doubling that damage is very bad. If you die the raid wipes and you are an unpopular person... please resist the urge to blame the healers.
So there is a taste of my first Tanking 101 column. This first one is pretty basic, but please let me know what you think. Next time around I will be covering Avoidance, so stay tuned!
Reader Comments (45)
cool first
REaly awesome m8 :D
Great, is the defence cap the same for druids, pala's warr's and dk's?
This is VERY well put Bastosa, great job.
I second Fergandor.
I've read somewhere that Druid tanking is more about Dodge than Defense. I mainly focus on DPS, but getting a group is increasingly difficult, so I'm giving tanking a very serious approach.
With all the different types of tank, this "general" guides tend to differ from what you find on posts or whole websites about tanking.
It would be very nice if you could include Class diferences in this posts to benefit more people.
Any way Great Work on this!!!!
Great first article! Can't wait for the follow ups. :)
Excellent! My brother plays a tank, but he doesn't get the same amount of game time that I do. So, he usually asks what he should be aiming for. Thanks for the numbers. I will be sure to keep this in mind.
Bast you rock so hard! I just got my prot warrior to level 80, but I'm still new to end-game stuff and I really needed someone to lay it all out for me like this.
"please resist the urge to blame the healers."
I will definitely be quoting you on this one.
This is pretty awesome considering I just rolled a paladin to see what the tanking scene is like (also, this gives me the chance to try out a none-squishy healer if the mood strikes me, as well).
Your blogs, plus other guides and such on the interwebs, will certainly make the building process easier since I have always played dps toons before.
Great work, Bast. :)
Druid tanks need less defense rating that warriors/paladins/death knights. And you can tank really well with defense rating under the cap. Druid tanks have massive armor and huge dmg reduction (some even reach -75% dmg), crits are nasty but if you have enough stamina you can get out of that alive. The biggest hit i have ever had to hold was around 10k (crit) in SSC at Hydros. For other classes i say that defense rating cap is VERY important, but for druids ( in my opinion) it's not the end of the world without it.
One of the things I was confused about when i was trying to gear up for tanking BC raids was the distinction between defense rating and defense. I was told you needed 490 defense to be capped, and at the time I thought this an impossible feat because I thought I needed 490 defense RATING.
I don't know if anyone else was ever confused about this, but for new tanks that may be confused like I was, the 540 defense you need to be uncrittable by a raid boss is the defense stat you see on your character sheet. To accomplish this at level 80 you need approximately 690 defense RATING from gear, enchants and gems.
Sorry for the long post, you did great on covering the basics of defense :)
"please resist the urge to blame the healers."
On behalf of healers everywhere... Thank you.
Druid tanking is slightly different. Any smart Druid will have the talent Survival of the fittest, which reduces your chance to be crit by 6%. This removes your chance to be crit by raid bosses.
Specifically, the reason 540 is the defense skill number to hit is because that is the point you receive -5.6% chance to be crit. This is a +3 level mob's crit chance. So if you have a talent that reduces chance to be crit, it in turn reduces the required amount of defense needed.
Those having trouble becoming "crit immune" can also rely on resilience to reduce chance to be crit. To be crit immune, the reduction in chance to be crit from defense and resilience together must be greater than 5.6%.
this is a very helpful and awesome column
when they implement the dual-spec in the future, i plan to take my fury war. and get him a prot. spec, i originally planned on having a fury warrior, since i like doing DPS but im a terrible rogue, but then i realized that it is ALOT easier to get a group for something as a warrior if you can tank, i honestly had no idea what that meant i had to do, i just figured that it should be a prot spec war, but i didnt know the additional things i would have to know for it, so i never switched over to it, this is going to help me and my war alot
=)
very nice, will be looking forward to more articles
Awsome Bastosa! It's nice seeing tanking explained step by step. Before I hit lvl 65 waaay back in the BC era everyone had been tight lipped around me, and maybe I was a little hard headed. As soon as I was getting near lvl 70 people began explaining necessary terms, talents and gear. At 70 I began my real first attempts at tanking and raiding. Since then I've only grown. I'm now lvl 80, gearing up for Naxx. and I can't seem to hide from people when they need something tanked.
My suggestion to any would be tank. "Preparation + Opportunity = Luck". This is a formula anyone should live by. I find myself asking the same question over and over again. "How can I better improve myself today." from there I go forward. Onward my tanking brothers and we will conquer!
-El Santofuego
Just the information i needed since im making my main a tank @ 80 ;P thx alot, and GL with the next column
@ Carth - indeed I was confused by this defense/defense rating thing, thanks for clearing it up.
I count myself among those first to ever tank. I have a level 72 DK , specced blood. Tanked Utgarde today, it went pretty good, only 1 death in the group, at Ingvar.
Just wanted to point a few things out
I am know that you kinda covered this, but i want to make sure all new tanks realize this
540 is NOT defense cap, it is Defense Min or Crit Immune
Please let me explain, cap, means that anything over that number will not do anything to advance your character. The more defense you have over 540 you will have more avoidance. Think of 540 as a starting block, that is why i have always called it Def. Min. All tanks need this min to allow save passage for a raid.
If you are having trouble reaching that number you can always add Resilience, that adds a chance to avoid Crits as well. If your total Crit avoidance is 5.6% you are good to go. Only problem with Resilience is that it does NOT add avoidance.
Great that you are doing this ''101'' on tanking, i always wondered what stats a tank should have, especially since i usually just do dps or heal, who knows, maybe tanking is the thing for me.
More, please.
Yes defense is the stat DKs, Palas and Warriors have to push before they start heroics and raids, and the most important tanking stat at first since you can’t tank without it. Druids have a huge advantage there now, no worries about defense. Add to that their armor and stamina buffs, and they’re extremely versatile. Just have to switch cloak, rings and trinkets around, and they can maximize stamina for casters and elementals, mitigation and/or avoidance for melee, and get more of either than either a pally or a warrior could (I’m not too familiar with DKs). Not sure if there is something that balances this out that I haven’t noticed, but I as a warrior notice that the way I can adapt to different bosses is extremely limited compared to a druid, and I don’t see any big damage reduction advantage warriors have over druids anymore—none at all, in fact, for druids that know how to gear.
Stamina is of course important. It’s the only thing that helps against magic, it helps control burst damage, and it helps survivability without healing (more important on some bosses than others) but other than that, I really see it as something that loses importance once it’s at a comfortable level for the content you’re raiding. More important becomes the task of reducing the amount of damage you take, and healing you need—aside from the actual tanking, I see this as the main job a tank needs to do well. Of course, it can be fine for an OT to just stack stamina for most raids, but not an MT.
Looking forward ot more articles on the subject.
please post more (is going forst when his Dk hits 80)
Thanks for doing These blogs, as a person new to the game I decided to roll a warrior as my first toon, and upon hitting lvl 60 I respeced Prot to try and do some tanking and I have no Idea what I am doing