Indestructible Potions

I thought I'd put together a post about one of my favourite, and I believe highly underused, consumables in the game. It is called the "Indestructible Potion" and is made from two Icethorn and an Imbued Vial. What it does is increase your armor by 3500 for 2 minutes. However, what isn't on the potion is that it can actually increase your armor by 4 minutes if used properly during a fight. Given that we really don't have any other potions to use, I try to pop at least one of these on every fight that's remotely hard. Remember that time you died to a 50 health overkill? This would have saved you.

How then do I use this twice during a fight? Can't you only use one potion per fight? Actually, there's a workaround that people used to use with resistance potions. The once-per-fight potion cooldown doesn't kick in unless you are in combat. What this means is that you can drink one of these things before a fight begins and then drink another one during the fight when the potion wears off. That gives you a grand total of four minutes of 3500 extra armor, though the first two minutes need to be at the beginning of the fight (and you have to remember!). However, 3500 armor is huge, representing over a 9% reduction in physical damage. It can and often will make the difference between life and death.

It's too bad, in a lot of ways, that we've gotten out of the habit of using potions. They cost about 4 or 5 gold each to make, meaning at most it's 8 or 10 gold per attempt. That's about the same cost as food, and it makes more of a difference in survivability than most food does. I think we've gotten out of the habit of using these kinds of performance-enhancing potions since the potion changes in 3.0. Before then, I'd easily chew through 25 Free Action Potions in Mount Hyjal and 20 Super Mana Potions in a ZA bear run. Casters chained mana pots throughout battles. It was expected. Now potions tend to be forgotten about when players think of the consumables they will bring.

However, surviving really is our job, and these potions are a bargain. If I've upgraded a piece of gear lately for 1000 gold, that's over 100 attempts of double potting. I guarantee that 3500 armor gives more survivability than any possible gear upgrade. Being a tank is expensive and raiding is expensive, but it's part of the job, and every time the raid wipes, it costs money in repairs, time, food buff and elixirs. Indestructible potions are far and away the best performance-enhancing potion available to tanks, and I am very happy that they are around.

By the way, as someone else noted on wowhead, these potions are, in fact, destructible.

Ardent Defender as an Effective Health Bonus

This is a modified version of an old post of mine from maintankadin, but it's one of my favourite bits of theorycrafting, so I thought it merited a post here. For those of you who aren't paladins, Ardent Defender (AD) is a talent that reduces all damage we take by 30% when our health is below 35%. Effective Health (EH) is our heath adjusted for armor bonuses, and was created as a way of considering worst case scenarios and how many hits we could take before we died a horrible, bloody death when we fail to avoid a single attack. This post was designed to see how much of an equivalent to EH we are given by Ardent Defender in various worst-case scenarios.

1-2) For any mob that can kill us in one or two hits, it is useless.

3) For any mob that can kill us in three hits, the third hit would be affected by AD. So, in order to kill us:

x+x+0.7x=100%

2.7x=100%

x=37%

That means that, in order to kill us in three hits, a mob would need to do 37% damage to us on each hit.

This translates into: 37%*3=111%

So, for a mob that can kill us in three hits, AD is like a 11% EH bonus.

4) For a mob that can kill us in four hits, the fourth hit would be affected by AD:

x+x+x+0.7x=100%

3.7x=100%

x=27%

27%*4=108%

5) For a mob that can kill us in five hits: x+x+x+x+0.7x=100%

4.7x=100%

x=21.3%

21.3*5=106.5%

Note that 21.3%*3 is very close to 65% (it's 63.9%), so if one of the first hits is a little larger, the last two hits will both be affected by AD:

x+x+x+0.7x+0.7x=100%

4.4x=100% x=22.7%

22.7%*5=113.5%

6) For a mob that can kill us in six hits, though, the last two hits will definitely be affected by AD: x+x+x+x+0.7x+0.7x=100%

5.4x=100%

x=18.5%

18.5%*6=111%

So, assuming we get hit by a mob for about the same amount (not exactly a fair assumption, but true in many situations), the bonus EH from AD is:

2 hits: 0%

3 hits: 11%

4 hits: 8%

5 hits: 6.5%/13.5%

6 hits: 11%

Strictly speaking, of course, this isn't an EH bonus in the same way that Block Value isn't EH. However, in a "worst case scenario", we can consider what would happen if we never avoided an attack, which is the purpose of calculating EH in the first place. Therefore, one can think of AD as being an EH bonus in the same way one can consider BV an EH bonus. In a worst case scenario, it adds to our survivability like effective health. Like BV, the amount of bonus scales with the number of hits we take before we die (though the bonus is a curve rather than a straight line).

Ardent Defender is one reason why we are such resilient tanks right now. For a long time, our lower hit points and then our lower damage reduction were justified by appaling to Ardent Defender. For mobs that couldn't kill us in two hits, this was true, but for those that could, it was useless. Now, however, we've been given the health and damage reduction but kept Ardent Defender. This had the effect of making us really hard to kill.

The Hidden Benefit of Armor

Last night, I got my Saronite Plated Leggings. I've long been a supporter of armor in order to increase survivability, and part of it has to do with a hidden benefit that doesn't show up in the EH calculations. For those of you unsure of the lingo, "EH" is effective health, which is the amount of health we have, adjusted for armor. It is used to model our time to live in a "worst case scenario" in which we do not avoid any hits. There is some debate about whether or not to include block value on a block-capped paladin in this number (for various reasons), though for the purposes of this post, I will not.

It would seem, then, that a 2% reduction in incoming damage and a 2% increase in armor are the same, are they not? For example, let's say I increase my armor in such a way that I move from 50% mitigation to 51% mitigation. I've reduced my incoming damage by 2%. My other option is to increase my health by 2%, say from 30k to 30.6k health. It would seem on the face of it that there really is no decision to be made here. In one case, I increase my EH by reducing all incoming damage by 2%, while in the other case, I increase my EH by increasing my health by 2%. My EH goes up at the same rate in either case.

However, armor provides a hidden benefit that isn't normally considered: it increases the value of all healing. Why is this? Let's say that I choose the armor over the health. Now, when I am healed, I am healed for the same amount of health. However, I am actually healed for 2% more effective health, because each of my points of actual health are worth more effective health. My effective health is my actual health multiplied by my armor benefit. When my armor benefit goes up, my actual health is worth more EH, and so every heal is actually worth more EH.

Therefore, in a physical damage fight, armor can be considered not only as a bonus to our EH, but also to a bonus to our healing. In fact, the effect of 2% more armor reduction is exactly the same as a 2% increase of actual health plus a 2% bonus to healing. This hidden benefit is why healers find us easier to heal as we gear up. If we were simply increasing our stamina as we geared up, it would take just as much mana to heal us, even if we died less quickly. However, because we increase our armor, the heals our healers put on us are actually worth more EH than if we were simply to increase our actual health.

Armor does have a few problems. It is over-budgeted, in the sense that we would need about 50k health before the EH gained catches up to stamina in item cost, and it is worthless against magic damage, which splashes all over the place in Ulduar. However, in a strictly physical fight in which one must choose between health and armor to increase EH, armor wins out every time.

My Shields: A Tribute, Part Two

Today I'll conclude my tribute to those shields that have protected me through the dangers of Azeroth and Outland.

Illidari Runeshield - Lots of paladins wanted the Bulwark of Azzinoth, but not me. Back in the old days, our threat was all about spell power, of all things, and this shield was probably the best spell damage shield in the game. The Antonidas shield had a little more armor and spell power, but substantially less stamina with some wasted points on crit. This shield looked like it was custom made for us protection paladins. Plus, it looked great. The night I got it, I spent a few hours soloing the quest for the Green Trophy Tabard of the Illidari, so that I could match. The look lasted for the rest of TBC for me, and made me look truly unique, setting me apart from the other paladins and tanks. It was also nice, since it gave me the opportunity to see the generosity of a guildmate. The Runeshield was a trash drop in Black Temple, and we were using a /roll system from the trash in Mount Hyjal for the sake of speed. Another paladin, one of our casual raiders, won the roll but passed it to me. I was really grateful, and I've always been impressed with his generosity.

Barricade of Eternity - While I did get a Titansteel Shield Wall in Wrath of the Lich King, I had it for about three minutes before I picked up my favourite looking shield of the expansion so far, the Barricade of Eternity. Some of the other officers and I went in to fiddle around with 10-man Malygos so that we could get ready for the larger 25-man version with the guild. After a couple hours of figuring it, we finally got the blue dragon down and this awesome shield dropped. Its stats are, well, terrible. Expertise is awful for us and parry is our worst avoidance stat. However, this shield looks just incredible and it was rare to boot. While Naxx was getting pugged by half the server, virtually no one was running 10-man Malygos and so I've only ever seen maybe five of these. When I got an upgrade in Naxx, I stopped using this shield, of course, but I still love the look and we were companions for a couple months.

Hero's Surrender - Once this shield dropped, the Barricade of Eternity found its way into the bank. This shield is still the best avoidance shield available, and thanks to a gearing error on Blizzard's part, was easily the best tanking shield in the game before 3.1. It has the perfect combination of stats for avoidance, dodge, defense and parry, and it drops off of the only boss that actually hits a darn in Naxxramas, Patchwerk (though I got mine off of Gluth). The only problem is that it is hideous. After using the massive Barricade of Eternity for months, dropping down to this little thing felt like I wasn't even using a shield. Plus, they got its shape kind of wrong. It's round, to the point where it looks almost like a bucket. It reminds me of one of those skull candy baskets that kids carry around on Hallowe'en. When I found out the stats on Wall of Terror were changing, I couldn't wait to get this thing off of my arm.

Wall of Terror - This is still my shield, and will be my shield for all of Ulduar most likely. It's kind of a mix of Barricade of Eternity and Hero's Surrender. It has the size and shape of the former and the skull of Hero's Surrender. At the end of the day, it has a nice, creepy look perfectly suited to Naxxramas. It looks like a shield of dark bone with a ghostly face looking through. It's also huge, which is appropriate for a shield, though it required me to get a haircut because of clipping issues. Somehow, when Wrath came out, they messed up the statistics. Instead of 94 stamina, like it was supposed to have, it had 63. They fixed it on test, but despite this shield being ilevel 226, the ilevel 213 Hero's Surrender was a better item. Finally, in 3.1, this shield got its appropriate amount of stamina and Wall of Terror became my full-time shield, with the exception of a couple of full avoidance fights. For paladins, having a couple dodge+block rating items is great for keeping at the block cap without sacrificing too many stats, and I'll be using this shield for a long time.

In the end, that I will be using the Wall of Terror so long is the point of this little editorial section. While, strictly speaking, the Boreal Guard from hard mode ten-made Hodir is the best in slot shield for us right now, given that I basically never run ten-mans, let alone hard modes means that I will never have one. Plus, it's a side-grade at best and it is actually slightly underbudgeted even counting the sockets. For 25-man raiding, on the other hand, they haven't put in a shield upgrade anywhere in Ulduar, even in the hard modes! The best 25-man raiding shield still drops from Kel'Thuzad and even if one day we kill Algalon, it will be with the Wall of Terror on my arm. This is really unfortunate, because the titan-themed graphics on Ulduar gear that I really like don't really match the horror-them of Naxxramas. It looks like Wall of Terror and I will be friends for a year or more. Guess it's time to give it a name!

My Shields: A Tribute, Part One

For a tank, no item we have stands out more than our shield. It's what protects us from the enemies around us and strikes those around us immediately with its design. It's both our most important piece of armor and our strongest fashion statement. So, like most paladins, I have had a number of good friends, and it is time I gave a tribute to all of those shields that have served me so well over the two years I have been a protection paladin. I will start with level 70, since I levelled so quickly I honestly don't remember those that came before. However, one levelling shield will get a special mention.

Petrified Lichen Guard - The minute I reached level 62, I went out to Zangarmarsh and did as many Sporeggar quests as I could for this beautiful little item. I then spend about 500g (a fortune at the time) on getting a Felsteel Shield Spike made for it by the only person I knew of who could make one at the time, my guildmistress. Although I outgrew it very quickly for maintanking, the "PLG" served me well right up until the day that Wrath came out when farming. Its reactive proc made it simply the best farming shield, well, ever.


Shield of the Wayward Footman - For those who know my old guide, this shield was always a cornerstone. I picked one up as soon as I could because it helped give a paladin something that was such a challenge to us, but came with such ease to warriors: uncrushability. Back in the good old days, when the game was hard, unless a paladin was able to reach 102.4% avoidance+block, we could be crushed, even by the first boss in Karazhan. Since getting there was nearly impossible without Kara gear, we were stuck, except for one saving grace: block rating. This shield had loads of it, and served me very well for my first couple of months in Karazhan and, if it didn't exist, I'm honestly not sure that I would ever have been able to tank the place.


Crest of the Sha'tar - I spent weeks farming heroic Mechanar for this horrid but awesome little shield. Of course, the Footman shield was better for reaching uncrushable, but let's face it, its armor stank. Through my weeks of farming Mechanar, I managed finally to get myself my first ever epic shield. It was terribly ugly and honestly, I hated the grind so much that I ended up actually kind of hating the shield as well. However, it was epic, and the difference was night and day. All of a sudden, I was tough. Of course, I could have bought the Shield of Coldarra, which was largely the same, but this was before badges dropped in Karazhan, so getting a rep shield let me spend my badges on other tank gear.

Aldori Legacy Defender - The Holy Grail of T4 tanking content, I won this shield over two other tanks on a roll in Gruul's lair. To give you a sense of how stupidly awesome this shield was, it had 500 more armor than the Shield of Impenetrable Darkness that dropped in Karazhan, the Bulwark of the Amani Empire didn't exist yet, and there were no tanking shields that dropped in t5 content. It was also a 10% drop from Gruul, an annoying cave that required putting together a 25-man raid for only two bosses. This was back when the designers had decided that shields should be a prestige item and this shield was definitely prestigious. It also looked frickin' awesome. This shield will never be forgotten.

Bulwark of the Amani Empire - When Zul'Aman finally came out, lots of people wanted the bears. "Lots of people" included everyone but the tanks, who didn't want the bears, but wanted the finally created, reasonably-accessible, t5-level Bulwark of the Amani Empire. As I already had the ALD, I wasn't as excited as most people, but it didn't stop me from wanting one of these babies, especially for my increasingly well-developed block set. Our guild's main warrior tanks used this shield all the way through t6 content, largely because Kaz'rogal hated them. In most fights, it was a slight upgrade over the ALD, though I still used the ALD whenever I was tanking anything that hit really hard, since it was a better avoidance shield. So, when it finally dropped, I happily grabbed it up. Plus, of course, for us blood elfs, the green feather set was impossible to beat. What's the green feather set? Glad you asked:











Stay tuned for part two, where my next four shields receive their due praise, and I provide a disappointed editorial on the unfortunate shield situation in Ulduar.

Strategy: Razorscale

This is the second in my series of strategy tips for protection paladins, following the one I did on XT-002 Deconstructor. In this one, I'll be discussing Razorscale, the armor-plated dragon early on in the Ulduar instance. On this fight, my role is to be one of the tanks handling the massive number of adds that spawn throughout the first phase, then to be the second tank on the grounding phase. As usual, I'll just discuss what I do in this fight. Your mileage will vary, depending on your role.

First, gear. My general gearing strategy for any fight is to gear for the toughest part of the fight. For example, on Deconstructor, I gear for dps, since the timer is the real enemy. For this fight, despite the fact that I will only be actually tanking the dragon for about fifteen seconds, that it the part I gear for. At the end of the day, I'm not too worried about threat in the first phase of the fight. I am, however, worried about getting one-shot by a breath during those fifteen seconds. I use an assortment of my normal tank gear, plus a few extra items I've picked up for stamina. I use both my Essence of Gossamer and my Monarch Crab, for example. Unbuffed, I'm running a little under 33k in this set.

We divide the ground up into three sections, and each tank takes a portal. My job is to take the "middle" portal when the dwarves come up. This is a little harder than it sounds, since the portals actually appear just about anywhere and at random times. Sometimes, two portals will appear one behind the other, and neither is really the "middle" one. At other times, one will crop up over on the "north" side of the room, be picked up by the "north" tank, and then another one will pop up even further north. The trick here is just vent and good communication between the tanks. I usually just say in vent, "I'll take the close one" or "I'll take the new one" whenever something awkward like this happens. Pickups are easy. If I get to the portal before the mobs spawn, I drop Consecration. Otherwise, I use Avenger's Shield.

For this part of the fight, I use Seal of Righteousness, not Corruption. Why? If something gets away, your dps might want to use some form of CC in order to protect themselves. However, if I've DoTted the mob, they can't do it. It's a little less dps and threat, but there's no reason not to do something a little more safely if it doesn't really hurt anyone. During the landing phase, also, enterprising mages will sometimes throw a sheep on a stray add so I can join in the dps fun. They can't do that if I've DoTted up the mob.

The kill order on the mobs is Sentinel, Watcher, Guardian, three synonymously named mobs with not nearly synonymous enough powers. The Sentinels need to die fast and they whirlwind. Since the whole raid will focus on them, I'll shield slam these guys right away for a nice threat lead. The Watchers and the Guardians are next. Watchers can be tricky to move, because they are casters, so I usually just fight the mobs where they spawn or right after the Avenger's Shield silence wears off. Guardians are wimps and aren't really dangerous to me.

The key to killing Razorscale, though, is getting him to 50% in two landing phases. As soon as he lands, my job is to dps, unless I'm still fighting a sentinel or a watcher. Dragging a sentinel into the melee is just an instagib for everyone in your path, so don't do it. Watchers cast chain lightning. If I only have sentinels on me (or nothing at all), I pop wings, Seal of Corruption and dps away. Sure, my dps is terrible in my dragon gear, but it's still over 2k and even 3k with wings, so that's nothing to sneeze at. Everything helps here, including me. If I get a chance to dps, I will. At the end of the burn phase, you get knocked back. Locate yourself in a spot so that you get knocked right back into your original taking position.

Okay, now he's down to 50%. What now? Because my threat is so high, I try not to do too much dps until it is my turn to tank. I'll throw up a JoL for healing and a hammer or two, but I won't shield slam. In principle, I could drop Righteous Fury for this part, but if something goes wrong, I want to be able to taunt immediately with it up, so I go into "plink" mode. Don't forget to put Seal of Corruption back up, though. The first tank, a druid, turns him clockwise, so I try to stay to his left, just out of range of the breath. When he calls for my turn, I immediately move to where he is standing (I don't just taunt) and taunt the dragon.

The trick with Razorscale is that he breathes and then leaves blue fire on the ground. Fire is bad. So, every time after he breathes, I move to the left so that I'm standing just out of the fire. It reminds me a little of the Illidan adds, actually. He also casts "Fuse Armor" on my, which reduces my armor and movement speed by 20%. As you can guess, this is bad. Once I get a third stack, I call out for the next tank and he taunts off of me. If I survive the transition (which I often don't), then I go back into plinking mode for the rest of the fight, doing as much damage as I can without pulling aggro. I don't take RF off as even a few seconds of extra tanking if something goes wrong can save the fight.

That's the whole thing. I hope you have found this useful and that it will help you in tanking this fun and interesting fight.