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)
This is perfect timing, Bastosa! Just two days ago I decided to take a bit of a detour off the trail of spellcasters and try a Human Warrior. She's only level 9 so far, and I am finding it very difficult to... well... stay alive. I was hoping to one day make her a great tank, and these blogs will definitely help because I don't know the first thing about warriors, melee or tanking!
Cheers!
- Alb.
I heartily agree with the other posts above. Thank you for covering some of the basics for tanking. I decided to roll a death knight and I'm hoping to eventually have my own tank (I've only done DPS and heals as far back as I can remember).
As mentioned by Draiken and others, I think that you will need to go in-depth for your next post on tanking. I know, it's supposed to be more of a "in general" sort of thing, but I'm already confused about the defense thing. The way I view it, "defense" is more of a category than a specific term. You have defense, but are you talking regular defense, defense rating, resistances...?
But anyway, definitely a good start on the topic of what a basic tank needs. :)
“please resist the urge to blame the healers.”
as a healer myself, when running with poorly geared tanks, its not the tanks that blame us its a dps'rs who dont understand "tanking" and "healing"
if they tank loses aggro, they blame the tank, even if it could be there own fault such as the many bosses who have aggro wipes...
if the tank dies, they automatically blame the healers, saying your mana is full, theres no reason for the tank to have died...
I just think everyone should play a tank or healer in end game to see the non "pewpewpew" is about, most dps'rs only look at there procs / buffs / and recount durring heroics and raids, its annoying
Thank you for this Bastosta! Although I don't plan on working on my dk for a while, when I DO I plan on making him a tank and this series you are coming out with will help greatly. :]
For all who didnt know druids do not need def rating if they have the talent which reduces mob hit % i think it is.
Thanks Bast this was really helpfull for me because I rolled a death knight and plan to go tanking with him.
Keep up the good work mate
Great Job ast, im looking forward to seeing your blogg im a palla tank myself and its been good to get back to raiding again with my guild we have cleared 7 bosses in naxx and done sarth were ranked 21st on my server, Tanking is my passion and i love doing it i dont think i will ever do anything ealse i will maybe 1 day role a shammy healer but thats a very big maybe lol keep the blogg comeing m8 :D
Davisu
Bronzebeard (EU)
Had an argument with a Warrior, we bought out 4 things, and tried to figure out what order would be appropriate.
My idea was - Defense, Dodge, Armor, Stamina, due to the fact that 1st, u cant be crit, then, the mob can hardly hit you, then if u get hit, it wouldn't be that much and then u need stamina, to live through.
His idea was - Stamina, Defense, Armor, Dodge, bc he thought the more Stamina you have, the longer you stay up. That may be problematic, if your healers burn through their mana in a fight bc u get hit for loads every single time.
Ty for the tip! im new to tanking so any kind of info is really helpful
Thank you for the post! AND this is not only meant for tanks, dps and healers MUST also upgrade their gear with every possible benefits like: Enchanting, leatherworking etc.
Oh yes! If you are leatherworker (Possibly Druid Tank), you're more than blessed especially with this Fur Lining - Stamina!
It's really stuff that anyone could find out if they want to (except perhaps the warrior tank that kept talking about 550 defense to be the cap).
T'is rather a shame some people don't do any research before jumping into something, compared to a DPS or a healer, a tank needs a bit more attention paid to stats and gear, in my opinion. I didn't start tanking HC's untill I had 535 defense, and I think it was the right choice.
Druids have it easy, using Survival of the Fittest, they don't need any defense at all, lucky bastards. :) That's kind of countered by the fact it's a little harder to gear a druid properly - they can only really benefit from dodge
And yes, defense gives them a slight benefit, but not as much as paladins and warriors gain from it. DK's can't Block so defense(above 540, DK's are NOT druids! ;)) is only so-so useful.
Oh well good read, was getting kind of boring reading the non-technical blogs all the time.
Great post!
Here are a couple more references that might be helpful for a tank..
www.tankspot.com -- Probably the best site out there for tanks of any kind. Great forums, naxx guides, great community
http://maintankadin.failsafedesign.com/ -- Great pally tank forum. In my opinion not as good as tankspot as it is important to learn from tanks of other classes.
http://thebigbearbutt.com/2008/12/16/an-open-letter-to-a-death-knoob/ -- Fantastic blog post about DK tanks, the dearth of good ones and why.
http://4haelz.blogspot.com/2008/12/whiskey-tango-foxtrot-operation-dead.html -- Less sarcastic DK tanking guide.
Hope this helps any new tanks out there.
Thanks for this blogg, I have warrior and DK and my plans for them is they both should be tankers as our guild needs more tankers and our servers aswell in general.
But Iam new on this stuff so this blogg is much appricated so I can learn to tank and hopefully be a good one day.
Appricate the links from the rest of you guys here aswell so I know where to start atleast.
No worries Bast. As a dps I would never blame a healer for a wipe. Its always the tank :D
Sounds like u might need to lay off Manny. Lol oh and Bast you are boss. That is all.
540 defense is the cap for all classes. Just be sure that what you're putting on doesn't also say "to shield" if you're DK or Druid. XD Friend did that, ran an instance as a tank. Not a happy camper when I pointed that out to him on inspection. So if your class doesn't use a shield, be sure to get gear that doesn't say "add defense to shield" in it.
Wonder if Dodge (not the truck) or Parry is next. Might be a nice idea to do them together. Though I'm still new to learning some of this myself, but as a healer, I took it upon myself to learn the dynamics of tanking to some degree. So if I have to PUG heal I can adequately blame the tank or myself. XP
What item has 'defense to shield' on it? Items add block value to shield but not defense. (not that I've ever seen, read about, or a search of wowhead turned up).
Bears have the talent to make them crit immune. DKs are the hardest tanks to reach this level because they don't have a shield to stack stats on. They also don't benefit from any pally/war gear that has shield block rating.
Also, should be noted that 535 is the crit immune goal for heroics, which can help you pick up that 1 piece of gear to get you over the 540 mark if you are limbo.
After 540 most tanks will find the rating going up to the high 500's or low 600's and will be able to gem and enchant differently as they fill out their T7 sets. The extra points add to your avoidance (block, dodge, parry).
For pally tanks the next stat after 540 to aim for is getting block capped. Which is the level at which you block every attack that hits you - the rest are either misses, parried, or dodged. This mitigates large chunks of damage. Approximately 1000 per hit if you keep holy shield up all the time. Over a boss fight or through a damage spike this can have a large impact survivability and/or healer mana pools.
Great intro to the topic, I would also recommend several of the sites listed above - great tools for tanks there.
New DK tanks seem to be the most clueless.
I was trying to level my disc priest by doing instances but after reaching 74 I switched to shadow.
Upon joining a group I would inspect the "tanks" gear only to see them stacking crit and stam with maybe one or two pieces with defense usually coupled with a dps build. I would push through in fear of looking like a prima donna if I mentioned their lack of acceptable tanking gear.
It amazes me that I have to tell tanks that they aren't geared or speced properly or that I have to tell that ret pally that they can heal themselves (art of war) etc.
On top of all of that the "screw cc" mentality is way more prevalent with the advent of easy mode aoe tanking making the healers job that much more stressful.
I'll eventually go back to healing once I get the bad taste out of my mouth.
Great Advice. I always find myself in a bind trying to decide between gear. Do I go for Armor or Stamina? Strength or attack power? I wish I knew how much of one stat equaled another.
Tanks lyle(lol) now i should look for more defense once i hit 880 (i'm fury for leveling and i'm gonna switch to prot)
I love tanking, except its not good for leveling :(
Which sucks cause Tanking> DPSing
Tanking>healing