Got Threat? - A Warrior Guide to Threat Attributes
Posted by Dezdemone in Gear, Guides
What to stack
Expertise
Expertise is an unsurpassable threat per second boost available to tanks who currently have less than 23 expertise skill.
It scales with gear so you can start benefiting from expertise immediately regardless of whether you're slogging through Slave Pens or meandering through Mount Hyjal. Prior to 23 expertise it is almost twice as effective at improving threat as hit rating.
After 23 expertise it is still more beneficial than hit rating as it reduces the ability of the boss to parry which will ultimately reduce the damage you take.
Is there an expertise cap? Yes of course, but it’s really not something to worry about. Here’s why: your standard boss has a 5.75% dodge built into him and this can be overcome with 23 expertise, however they also have 10-15% chance to parry, making the hard cap extremely high.
Hit
Hit rating also directly impacts threat. It impacts how often your special attacks such as shield slam and devastate actually hit the target. It also has a positive effect on taunt & challenging shout. Our hit cap for running with a sword and board is 142.
Block Value
Block value is a threat stat, it does offer a damage reduction that is applied after armor so it can be significant, particularly to tanks who have not yet progressed into T5 content.
What does it do? Well, block value impacts the damage of your shield slam and as we all know more damage is more threat.
If your spec includes full points in shield mastery and 5/5 in one handed specialization then 1 block value equates to 1.43 additional damage.
Stamina
Stamina?!?! you say, yes Stamina is an important stat for threat gear. Why do I say this? A dead tank doesn't generate any threat, 'nough said.
So um… what should I go for first?
Generally speaking Expertise > Hit > Block Value. However, keep in mind it’s critical to keep up at least 490 defense (I know, I know... bad pun) and a reasonable amount of stamina and armor.
What not to stack
Everything has a cost. When you stack any attribute you sacrifice another attribute - that is the “cost” of stacking that attribute. Some attributes add enough benefits that they are worth stacking. Others like the ones below simply “cost” too much in terms of what you have to give up in order to get them.
Strength / Attack power
These stats aren’t particularly worth stacking, 14 AP will only add 1 dps to your weapon, strength is only slightly better since it will add to your attack power while at the same time increasing your block value. 20 strength is only equivalent to 1 block value. This costs too much for it’s benefit, dont avoid strength but don't stack it either.
Agility
Agility is certainly a desirable looking statistic. It offers us crit chance, armor, and avoidance. However, the amounts of agility required to make it truly noticeable are simply too costly. For example it takes 33 agility to equal 1% to crit! Unfortunately Blizzard has made the agility to dodge ratio for warriors the highest out of any class since it takes 30 agility to equal 1% dodge. Again, it’s just too costly to stack agility.
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