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I’m guilty of thinking it was as simple as prioritizing:

Shield Slam > Revenge > Devastate

…but, it’s not.

The Real Priority System

Shield Slam > Revenge > Concussion Blow > Shockwave > Devastate

…and when you throw in the mix that you many have to renew Battle/Commanding Shout, Demoralizing Shout and Thunder Clap as well which all take precidence over Devastate, it becomes very apparent how little Devastate is part of the threat system now. Which isn’t to say you shouldn’t get to 5 Sunders as quickly as possible, you definitely should, but it does mean that when it comes to bosses that Devastate just shouldn’t be a big part of your rotation.

Spec for Progression.

How do I do that?

• Don’t spec for trash.
• Don’t spec for 5-mans.
• Don’t spec for farming.
• Spec for Raids.

Why?

Trash, 5-mans, farming does not matter. You could do it with a 0/0/0 spec and do it pretty close to as effective as you would with your “leet” trash/5-man/farming spec. You spec to raid. You spec to aid in killing the next boss. If you’re done the game, you spec to aid in killing the hardest boss that you’ve got left that you’re just killing every week. (At the moment, this would be Sartharion+3 or Malygos)

My past post on specs stands as testiment to the danger of predictions. It marks a dramatic difference between the real world and the virtual world. In the real world, the rules are consistent and rarely change. In the virtual world, things change, a lot especially when expansions come out and thus, what once was law, simply, isn’t. The most prominent example the last while has been Ciderhelm’s Deep Wound’s spec which many of us had been testing for some time, but it didn’t truly make tracks around the tanking community until the official TankSpot announcement.

You may have stumbled across a pair of these after dropping Archavon the Stone Watcher in a 25 man or perhaps in your first 25-man Naxx you snagged 1 or 2… regardless you’ve quickly realized that these aren’t used for the same things as Emblem of Heroism.

What’s for Sale?

Listed from most to least expensive.

• Legplates of the Lost Protector - Turns Into (75)
• Mantle of the Lost Protector - Turns Into (60)
• Bracers of Dalaran’s Parapets (60)
• Kyzoc’s Ground Stompers (40)
• Platinum Mesh Cloak (25)
• Signet of the Impregnable Fortress (25)

I was reminded recently that I had wrote about How much Avoidance Defense gives over a year ago and that even today, people don’t quite understand just how good it is. Let’s rehash the facts:

• 4.92 Defense Rating = 1 Defense Skill
• 1 Defense Skill = 0.04% Miss + 0.04% Dodge + 0.04% Parry + 0.04% Block
• 1 Defense Skill does NOT = 0.16% Avoidance because Block % is not Avoidance.
• 1 Defense Skill = 0.12% Avoidance

Defense, Parry, Dodge

• 49.18 Parry Rating = 1% Avoidance
• 41.00 Defense Rating = 1% Avoidance