AA change/adornment spec for tanking guard

Herme · 06-26-2008, 07:38 PM

Ok, before the hate flies, I'm only a legendary geared guardian, not fabled out and raid geared like a lot of people in these forums are.

Right now I'm specc'ed str 448, sta 44882, int 45882. I don't remember what my previous spec was, but i assumed that when I made this change I was going for a more defensive spec with the + parry and riposte from sta and int lines over what I had before. Right now I sit on 803 str, 430ish agi, 600+ sta with 53% melee crit, +335 CA dmg mod, 50.1% mit 40% avoidance in offensive stance. Also I have 10,900 hps self buffed.

Now, one of my usual healers just last night said I've been harder to heal lately so I was thinking about changing my specs. Going with agi 4458, sta 4488, int 4488 and dropping my str line altogether. As well as going for a more avoidance build on my adornments with +parry, and +agi instead of sta/str like I currently have. My only issue will be hate gain at this point.

Currently in an average group I drop 2.5-2.8k DPS and the only real aggro problems I have are in group encounters.

Another spec I was thinking about would be to drop sta and go str, agi, int, and go for a tower spec. Would the tower shield make up for the loss in % riposte from the sta line?

Anap KaSplat · 06-26-2008, 08:21 PM

If you drop str, you'll lose a shit ton of crits, which will in turn make your aggro suck.
If you drop sta, you'll lose a shit ton of double attack, which will in turn make your aggro suck.

Stay str/sta/int and just equip a tower when you need the extra block, or when you need to use tos.

Of course, this is just my opinion. Look around the Guardian forums, there's countless number of threads about AA setups... and you're using one of the most popular.

Herme · 06-26-2008, 09:32 PM

Right. I knew I would lose a lot of DPS, but currently I can run through zones without even having to moderate my DPS classes. Will 32% Moderation make up for 27% loss in crits? I'm trying to find a good medium between being a DPS whore and being healed more easily. I'll never raid tank...well at least not for another year and a half so I'm not looking to hold aggro over 10 DPS classes all at once.

Meh, I'll wait the 3 days until my 10pp respecc resets and then try out a few specs and store the ones I like best on my AA mirror.

And I've read most of the AA spec threads on these forums and in the official forums, but they all tend to be geared towards raiders, not casual players.

Judist · 06-27-2008, 01:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Herme

I'll never raid tank...well at least not for another year and a half so I'm not looking to hold aggro over 10 DPS classes all at once.

Only have to stay above 1 class in a raid, the next guy on the hate list.

Anyways, dont trade loads of dps for a minimal gain in avoidance, especially as an instance tank. When mobs die in 15-20 seconds it tends to make things easier on the healers.

Mohare · 06-27-2008, 12:17 PM

If you are having issues with taking too much damage, you could always just go defensive...

As far as adornments, make sure you get the +% parry chance for your wrists, they help a ton.

Lucianclaw · 06-27-2008, 12:38 PM

After reading the boards more and more, I realized that running in offensive as an instance tank was more of an ego thing with me. I started running defensive ALL the time, the healers loved me, it turned out aggro was not an issue (use moderate, really not a huge reason not to use it), use reinforcement as much as it is up (no point not using it or saving it unless your next mob is a named), run with buckler and use macro to use ToS, use block more liberally.

I also changed out a lot of gear and added a lot more AGI (including my adornments), +defense, +parry to improve avoidance. Avoidance is key.

My DPS did take a hit, but I found a nice balance between what I really needed for DPS and what taxed the healers and group the least.

Have fun with it.

Lucianclaw
Mauler Tanke of CLAW
Najena

Vormav · 06-27-2008, 01:10 PM

Go full offense, if you stay defense healers will slack and you'll do less dps, and it'll take more time to do instances, thats all =p

Anap KaSplat · 06-27-2008, 04:05 PM

Unless it's obvious that you can't handle stuff in offensive, tell your healers to stop complaining and... omg.. heal. God forbid a healer has to actually heal you instead of focusing on their DPS.

Now, if you obviously can't handle stuff in offensive and your healers aren't slacking, then yeah, show your healers some love and switch to defensive.

Herme · 06-27-2008, 06:35 PM

I've run every instance in offensive with the gear I have, except for RE2 where I switched to defensive for the epic. The only thing that gets me is sometimes the PU healer slacks or isn't as good as one of my normal healers and they let me die. It's not really a matter of I can't run it in offensive, it's more a matter of wanting to stay alive for the whole run with a PU healer. But thanks for the suggestions. I'll keep them in mind when I respec and change my gear around.

Demron · 06-28-2008, 08:18 AM

So what do you run now AA wise Herme? Which did you find worked best for Runnyeye 2?