Crits hurt. Your first gearing priority as a tank should be to become uncrittable. The formula: (83*5)+(5/0.04) = 540 Defense Skill. Remember that 540 is the crit cap as in, the cap for mitigating critical strikes. 540 is not a hard defense cap. Defense will still continue to increase your dodge, parry, and block by 0.04%.

The explanation: The chance to land a critical strike is modified by the difference between the attacker's Weapon Skill and the defender's Defense Skill. All mobs have a Weapon Skill of Level*5. So a level 83 boss will have a weapon skill of 83 * 5 = 415 Defense Skill.

All mobs also have a base 5% chance to land a critical strike. Recall that every point in Defense Skill increases your critical strike mitigation by 0.04%. So in order to negate the 5% crit chance you will need 5 / 0.04 = 125 Defense Skill.

By the power of math, 415 + 125 = 540. You need 540 Defense Skill in order to be uncrittable at level 80.

Beyond the basic paladin tree changes and gear announcements, I honestly haven't looked much into the 2.3 nuances because I have been busy (and "busy with my on-and-off love affair with Steam :P). Patch 2.3, which has a confirmed release date for November 13th, is introducing Weapon Expertise, a combat mechanic which will be replacing Weapon Skill.

Expertise Rating has the same conversion rate as Weapon Skill: 3.9 Expertise Rating to 1 point of Expertise Skill at level 70. Many of the other affected mechanics also remain the same unless I am mistaken (probably am).

• Each point in Expertise Skill also reduces your target's chance to dodge and parry your attacks by 0.25%
• Expertise isn't limited to one particular weapon (unlike Weapon Skill).
• Every level a mob has over you, its dodge and parry will increase by 0.2%

The expertise cap
In other words: how much Weapon Expertise you need in order to become immune against a boss mob's parry and dodge. From a tank perspective, having all of your melee attacks land means more threat generation. Recall that at an equal level, a mob has a base 5% dodge and parry. So a level 73 mob would have a 5.6% dodge and parry (3*0.2 + 5). At 22.4 Expertise Skill and 88.36 Expertise Rating, your attacks can never be dodged or parried.

What about the attack hit table?
To my knowledge, the uncrushability calculations remain the same, but I am not 100% sure since I haven't looked into the new changes in depth. I need to update the guide since Weapon Skill was nixed.

It's been a while since I've posted any sort of entry. I cycle between periods of feeling like, and not feeling like posting articles here just in case no one noticed. Oh, Maulgar down to my guild on our second attempt ever. A smooth kill at that. Excellent job!

So basically, I am considering exploring different tankadin builds. Specifically, to drop Reckoning and possibly pick up Weapon Expertise, the black sheep of the protection tree. I have two problems with Reckoning:

1. In order for reckoning to proc I have to get hit. Because my gear is significantly better than it was when I had first spec'd prot, I am not getting hit a whole lot (dodge, parry, miss). So it is a pretty piddly threat bonus at best. It's mostly for farming purposes to be honest...
2. My primary concern: Mobs Parry too. The more attacks, the more parries. Parry speeds up the boss' swing timer, doing more damage to me.

So the formulas
The defensive formulas for a boss mob are more complicated than the defensive formulas for a player. There are two formulas:

• If the difference between mob Defense skill and player Weapon skill > 10: 7% + (Defense Skill - Weapon Skill - 10)*.4%
• If the difference between mob Defense skill and player Weapon skill <= 10: 5% + (Defense Skill - Weapon Skill)*.1%

Without a racial weapon modifier, a player's maxed out Weapon Skill at level 70 is 350. Recall that these miss rate percentages are calculated against a level 73 mob (73*5 = 365 Defense Skill). At 355, the difference between the player's Weapon Skill and the level 73 boss' Defense Skill is 10, so the other formula kicks into effect. Recall that humans have a 5 point Weapon Skill bonus for maces and swords, so they are at 355.

The first 4 points decrease your miss rate by 0.4% per point.
350 Weapon Skill: 9.0% (level 70 player, no racial weapon bonus)
351 Weapon Skill: 8.6%
352 Weapon Skill: 8.2%
353 Weapon Skill: 7.8%
354 Weapon Skill: 7.4%

The 5th point is a huge jump: 1.6%! After that it tappers off significantly to 0.1% per point.
355 Weapon Skill: 6.0% (with 5 point racial weapon bonus)
356 Weapon Skill: 5.9%
357 Weapon Skill: 5.8%
358 Weapon Skill: 5.7%
359 Weapon Skill: 5.6%
360 Weapon Skill: 5.5%
361 Weapon Skill: 5.4%
362 Weapon Skill: 5.3%
363 Weapon Skill: 5.2%
364 Weapon Skill: 5.1%
365 Weapon Skill: 5.0% (with 5 point racial weapon bonus and 5/5 Weapon Expertise)

• 355 seems to be the magic number for weapon skill in regards to talent value
• From what I understand, Weapon Skill affects miss and dodge, but not parry or block.
• If this is true, it's not worth spending points in a Weapon Skill talent past 355.
• Recall that humans have a +5 bonus to maces and swords. So for non-humans: 3/5 Weapon Expertise is ideal. Anything beyond is a waste.

I feel a bit silly: I have had access to [item]Gavel of Unearthed Secrets[/item] for quite some time but have ignored it. It's the Lower City exalted spell damage mace. Recall that Seal of Vengeance favors weapon speeds that approach 3.0; since SoV procs 20 times a minute, a 3.0 speed weapon would guarantee a proc each hit. 2.7 is damn close.

Though a 2.7 speed weapon procs JoW/JoL less, it will proc SoV nearly every single time. SoV is very very streaky with my 1.8 speed sword, which has a fail rate of about 30%. In fact, the DoT drops off of the mob quite frequently...it's a problem. A 2.7 speed sword has a fail rate of about 10%. It's worth some testing.

Also, since the AQ enchants are going to be accessible next content patch, I am wondering whether it would be better to put 2% threat on my gloves over 20 spell damage. Need to work the math out when I have time. Mmm threat.

Edit: I didn't notice all that huge of an increase in my TPS, considering I chanted it with +40 spell damage (never bothered doing that on my other weapons, the pattern dropped for me last week...I am cheap and hate outsourcing chants). BUT it was Friday and I was tired. I should test SoV more.

Oh, and I have a new tanking weapon which will be mentioned in the next "Weekly Update." I am feeling posty lately, might even make an entry over the weekend for once.

"Easily" obtainable epic craftable gear. Easy as in you can get the pattern and craft it. There's a nice belt pattern that drops from TK and Serpentshrine. I didn't list it because it requires BoP drops from those instances to craft. The boots listed are BoP upon craft.

The Nether Vortexes are BoP drops from Serpentshrine and The Eye. The Primal Nethers are BoP drops from end bosses in level 70 instances (low drop rate in normal, 100% drop rate in heroics). Nethers are also available for purchase with 10 heroic badges.

From a paladin perspective mind you, so some of the items have spell damage and int.

[item]Bracers of the Green Fortress[/item]
Best tanking bracers imo (barring any drops from the high level 25-mans). I'm too poor to afford these at the moment, the Attumen bracers will have to do T_T.

• From: 365 BoE Blacksmithing Pattern, world drop.
• Mats: Hardened Adamantite Bar (6), Primal Life (20), Primal Nether

[item]Boots of the Protector[/item]
One of if not the best tankadin boots out there. Remember that tier 4 and tier 5 do not include boots.

• From: 375 BoE Blacksmithing Pattern, Random Serpentshrine and Eye drop.
• Mats: Primal Nether (2), Hardened Adamantite Bar (4), Primal Water (12)
• Notes: The pattern itself is BoE, but the item is BoP.

[item]Red Havoc Boots[/item]
These are great too, though I haven't seen this pattern on my server yet. It really depends on how you have your gear distributed I guess.

• From: 375 Blacksmithing Pattern, Random Serpentshrine and Eye drop.
• Mats: Primal Nether (2), Hardened Adamantite Bar (4), Primal Fire (12)

[item]Helm of the Stalwart Defender[/item]
1.3k+ armor on a helm o_O. kek I craft these on Proudmoore, just hit me up :D $$$.

• From: 365 BoE Blacksmithing Pattern, world drop.
• Mats: Hardened Adamantite Bar (8), Primal Earth (22), Primal Mana(12), Primal Nether

[item]Oathkeeper's Helm[/item]
Not all that great of a raid tanking helm imo. Intellect and mana/5 isn't all that great, not much stamina, and not much avoidance/mitigation, etc.

• From: 365 BoE Blacksmithing Pattern, world drop.
• Mats: Hardened Adamantite Bar (8), Primal Might (3), Primal Life (18), Primal Nether