The 1.8 tanking guide by Nazalit is still relevant as no balance changes were made in 1.9. This guide is mainly for a more detailed exploration of the two top mitigation tanking specs.
Please note that these are level 50 tanking builds designed for tanking raids; while they can also be effective before level 50 and in other level 50 content, other specs can be more effective as maximum mitigation is not always the most important factor. Much of the mitigation comes from 28-38 points in Reaver and either 25 points in Void Knight or 16 points in Warlord, so it will not all be available while leveling.
First, let us look at the Reaver component which is exactly the same for both specs.
38 Reaver
http://rift.zam.com/en/stc.html?t=1c_A_..EuqkhuzI0k.-7
Reaver brings several tools that give it a huge mitigation advantage over the other souls.
Imbued Armor - Flat 3% reduction to all damage
Crest Mastery - 3% further reduction to spell damage
Power from the Masses - At 10 stacks, reduces all incoming damage by 7%. This power triggers on damaging abilities based on how many teammates you are. You need 5 points to guarantee it will trigger each time, but you can almost guarantee uptime with 3 points invested.
As long as you have at least one party member, the number of party members only determines how fast you build the stacks, in a raid it will be built up to 10 instantly. After that it is just a matter of keeping the stacks from dropping off. In a 10 second period you will have about 6 GCDs to refresh the buff, we'll go with 5 to allow for the initial application and maybe some non-damaging attack. Here is some ballpark math on the chances:
- 1 point - 20% chance to refresh - 32.8% chance of dropping without refreshing
- 2 points - 40% chance to refresh - 7.8% chance of dropping without refreshing
- 3 points - 60% chance to refresh - 1.0% chance of dropping without refreshing
- 4 points - 80% chance to refresh - 0.03% chance of dropping without refreshing
Binding of Death - This is the real meat of Reaver's mitigation and the reason 38 points is necessary. Reduces damage done to you by 9% from targets for 15 seconds after a Reaver DoT has been applied. For this to be effective you must keep a DoT up on the target at all times, keeping Soul Sickness at the top of your attack macros is an easy solution for this as it has a cooldown of 15 seconds.
Infestation - When upgraded with Crippling Infestation, this power will reduce the enemy's damage output (to all of your group) by 15% for 8 seconds. With a 1 minute cooldown it is a power you need to use wisely. In 20-man raids this will overwrite the Archon's Power Drain (10%) because it is a stronger debuff.
Power in the Blood - Of situational use, but if you ever go below 30% health then you will gain a further 20% reduction to all incoming damage, with the amount of health raid-level tanks have this can be quite helpful.
When these are properly maintained you will have a consistent 19% general damage reduction at all times (and 22% to spell damage) alongside your resistances, armor, and block/avoidance (the last being moot against spells and various raid bosses). This is what no other tank tree can compete with currently.
You also get a couple other useful utilities from Reaver:
Enraged Essence - 5% raid damage buff. Overwritten by the Beastmaster buff, but useful in all other situations.
Crest of the Abyss - Free extra armor.
Plague Bringer/Soul Sickness/Blood Fever/Necrotic Wounds - Plague Bringer essentially makes the other three DoTs into free AoEs, which are good for establishing initial threat, but as DoTs they do not build threat as fast as regular attacks. Generally useful for pulling and maintaining Binding of Death.
Tempered Will - An extra break free. Easily can put this point elsewhere but I prefer to have it available as it and Break Free can break out of effects that cannot be cleansed.
Incite - AoE taunt that does not share a cooldown with other AoE taunts. Even without any other tanking tree, in Reaver alone you can use Incite and Concussion in succession and each will force-taunt 10 targets to you. The AoE taunts in other trees will share a cooldown with Concussion.
Grim Lure - Single-target taunt, off global cooldown. Does nothing else.
Weakening Essence - AoE snare, useful for keeping enemies near you while you build initial threat on them.
Cyclone Strike - AoE attack that generates significant threat on up to 10 enemies. This along with similar abilities from other tank trees should be used as soon as you are in range of enemies to build threat quickly.
Creeping Death - AoE that is placed on the ground which does damage and snares. Similar in usefulness to Weakening Essence, with threat generation from damage, and also heals you if you point into Soul Feast.
38 Reaver/28 Void Knight
http://rift.zam.com/en/stc.html?t=1c....EuqkhuzI0k.-7
Advantages at a glance:- More utility including a purge and a cleanse that works on curses, and two ST taunts that do not share a cooldown
- Passive damage reduction from Void at all times
- Quick and powerful threat generation ability through Surge, combined with Pact Conversion as well as the various other methods of gaining pacts
Buffs to use: Enraged Essence (with no Beastmaster buff), Binding of Death, Crest of the Abyss, Void
ST Macro (use only when you need to avoid pulling additional mobs, otherwise use AoE macro for higher ST threat):
Code:
#show Aggressive Block
suppressmacrofailures
cast Soul Sickness
cast Aggressive Block
cast Pacifying Strike
cast Necrotic Wounds
AoE Macro:
Code:
#show Tempest
suppressmacrofailures
cast Tempest
cast Cyclone Strike
cast Ragestorm
cast Plague Bringer
cast Soul Sickness
cast Aggressive Block
cast Blood Fever
cast Necrotic Wounds
Pulling/Binding of Death maintenance:
Code:
#show Soul Sickness
suppressmacrofailures
cast Plague Bringer
cast Soul Sickness
cast Blood Fever
cast Necrotic Wounds
Cleanse:
Code:
#show Spellbreaker
suppressmacrofailures
cast @mouseoverui Spellbreaker
AoE Taunt:
Code:
#show Incite
suppressmacrofailures
cast Incite
cast Concussion
Breakfree:
Code:
#show Break Free
suppressmacrofailures
cast Tempered Will
cast Break Free
Powers separate on bar:- Pact Conversion
- Dire Blow
- Spark
- Void Summon
- Spell Sunder
- Furious Rage
- Infestation
- Weakening Essence
- Disrupt
- Discharge
- Creeping Death
Rotation:
At range: Pulling or ST macro
Repeat: AoE or ST macro to 3 AP, Pact Conversion
Now for a look at the specifics of mitigation in Void Knight:
Void - Generates a pact whenever hit by a spell, and more importantly, reduces all damage taken by 8% when upgraded by Devourer.
Ravenous Defense - When you have 10 pacts, reduces physical damage by 3%.
Warrior tank soul "Gift" abilities contribute an additional 15% physical and 20% spell damage reduction, resulting in a total of 45% physical/50% spell damage reduction when the Reaver abilities as well as pacts are maintained.
Ravenous Strength - While not contributing to general mitigation, with 10 pacts, this ability gives you 25% extra strength. This in turn gives you a not insignificant amount of block and parry, as well as attack power, more damage = more threat.
Void Knight has many useful powers as well:
Pact Conversion - Your default finisher. Converts your current attack points into pacts, off global cooldown. Since generating pacts generates threat, and maintaining pacts maintains your Ravenous buffs, it is important to use this whenever you have attack points. Using it with 1 or 3 attack points does not matter too much as it has no cooldown, but using it after every attack point will power starve you without Living Energy/Anthem of Fervor. (possibly even with LE) If you have either the Blighted or HK Void Knight crystal, using Pact Conversion at least every 3 GCDs will ensure 100% uptime of the 3% parry bonus.
Spell Sunder - Purges 3 buffs from the enemy, 30 meter range. One of the most useful Void Knight powers and I believe the only Warrior purge available.
Spellbreaker - Cleanses one Curse from the target, can be used on yourself or others. Allows you to easily do plant-tank duties on Greenscale due to only resetting the stacks of the debuff. Also useful for various cleansing mechanics but many are not classified as curses.
Void Summon - Teleports a target to you and force-taunts them. Since this spec does not have Sergeant's Order from Warlord, this power is very helpful for repositioning trash and adds. It is on the global cooldown, but it does not share a cooldown with other single-target taunts.
Spark - Single-target taunt like any other but with one difference, it generates an attack point.
Furious Rage - Interrupt, 8 second cooldown, identical to Warrior DPS interrupts
Tempest - AoE attack that generates significant threat on up to 10 enemies, similar to Cyclone Strike, and should be macro'd with it.
Ragestorm - AoE attack but it only hits up to 5 enemies and doesn't generate quite as much threat as the 10-enemy variants. Can also be macro'd with them but use the others first for threat generation.
Discharge - Attack that uses up 2 pacts do high ST damage at range. Can use it for a little extra DPS or for higher-threat pulling but make sure to use Pact Conversion after to set your pacts back to 10.
Disrupt - Increases the enemy's cast time by 25% for 10 seconds. Similar to Archon's Lingering Dust and Dominator's Accelerated Decay, raid bosses are likely immune to this, but it can be useful on raid trash/adds that need to be interrupted.
38 Reaver/20 Warlord/8 Paladin
Max Block: http://rift.zam.com/en/stc.html?t=1c...khuzI0k.x0R.-7 - Good for most fights where many attacks are blockable
Max Armor: http://rift.zam.com/en/stc.html?t=1c...khuzI0k.V0R.-7 - Good for fights with a large amount of unblockable physical damage
Max DR: http://rift.zam.com/en/stc.html?t=1c...khuzI0k.V0R.-7 - Good for fights with a large amount of unblockable physical and magic damage
Max Block/Resist: http://rift.zam.com/en/stc.html?t=1c...khuzI0k.x0R.-7 - Good for fights with a combination of blockable physical damage and heavy magic damage
Advantages at a glance:- Higher general damage reduction with the Warlord crystal, and points can be distributed into Armor, Block, Dodge, or Resistance as needed
- Sergeant's Order has a shorter cooldown than Void Summon and interrupts enemies when they are pulled
- Touch of Life; full self-heal on a 5 minute cooldown, by itself justifies 8 points in Paladin
Buffs to use: Enraged Essence (with no Beastmaster buff), Binding of Death, Crest of the Abyss, Cutting Distraction, Battlefield Awareness, Aspect of the Fallen Hero (with no Archon buff), Aegis of Vitality (with no Bard buff), Shield of the Hero
ST Macro (use only when you need to avoid pulling additional mobs, otherwise use AoE macro for higher ST threat):
Code:
#show Aggressive Block
suppressmacrofailures
cast Soul Sickness
cast Aggressive Block
cast Empowering Strike
cast Necrotic Wounds
cast Retaliation
AoE Macro:
Code:
#show Promise of Steel
suppressmacrofailures
cast Promise of Steel
cast Cyclone Strike
cast Plague Bringer
cast Soul Sickness
cast Aggressive Block
cast Blood Fever
cast Necrotic Wounds
cast Retaliation
Pulling/Binding of Death maintenance:
Code:
#show Soul Sickness
suppressmacrofailures
cast Plague Bringer
cast Soul Sickness
cast Blood Fever
cast Necrotic Wounds
Finisher:
Code:
#show Call to Entrench
suppressmacrofailures
cast Call to Entrench
cast Call to Battle
cast Dire Blow
AoE Taunt:
Code:
#show Incite
suppressmacrofailures
cast Incite
cast Concussion
Breakfree:
Code:
#show Break Free
suppressmacrofailures
cast Tempered Will
cast Break Free
Powers separate on bar:- Grim Lure
- Sergeant's Order
- Face Slam
- Pin Target
- Intercept
- Spotter's Order
- Infestation
- Touch of Life
- Weakening Essence
- Creeping Death
Rotation:
At range: Pulling or ST macro
To maintain the Warlord crystal bonus and the dodge from Battlefield Awareness, Call to Entrench and Call to Battle must not be used more than 8 GCDs (12 seconds) apart, Call to Entrench must be reapplied within 18 seconds of use, and each call should be used at 3 AP to ensure full uptime of both Entrenchment Caller and the raid buffs (so the Bard does not need to immediately reapply them). This gives two basic options for a rotation.
(Builder = AoE or ST macro)
Option 1:
Builder to 3 AP - Finisher (Call to Entrench)
Builder to 3 AP - Finisher (Call to Battle)
Builder to 1-3 AP - Finisher (Dire Blow) or Spotter's Order
This leaves 2 GCDs of leeway (for non-builders such as Creeping Death or attack downtime) after using Call to Battle if the third finisher is used with only one AP.
Option 2:
Builder to 3 AP plus additional ability - Finisher (Call to Entrench)
Builder to 3 AP plus additional ability - Finisher (Call to Battle)
This leaves 2 GCDs of leeway between each Call to Entrench in addition to the extra ability used before each call.
Now here is a look into the mitigation from Warlord:
Call to Entrench - The reason for this spec. At its core it gives you and the rest of your raid a buff to reduce all damage by 5%. (This does not stack with a similar Bard motif so this part is moot in raids.) It also gives you (the caller) a further 3% damage reduction that is increased to 6% with Dramatic Presence, this part is not affected by the Bard buff. When used with 3 attack points this can be easily maintained through its 15 second cooldown.
Warlord Crystal - Not a power per se, but a part of this spec's mitigation nonetheless. With the 4 piece bonus, this crystal applies a 3% damage reduction for 12 seconds whenever a call is used. Oddly, this doesn't match up with either the cooldowns of the calls (15 seconds) or the 3-point duration of the calls (18 seconds). So to keep this bonus up permanently you must alternate Call to Entrench with Call to Battle. So in this way, Call to Battle is actually used more for its mitigation benefit than its raid buff.
Warrior tank soul "Gift" abilities contribute an additional 15% physical and 20% spell damage reduction, so you get a total of 40% physical and 48% spell damage mitigation when maintaining Reaver abilities and calls. Maintaining the crystal bonus gets you to 43% physical and 51% spell. This is alongside the additional armor (and possibly resist) bonus from Warlord that the Void Knight build does not have access to. Call to Entrench is an additional 5% damage reduction but it is overwritten by Motif of Tenacity if a Bard is present.
Armor - The armor bonus from Warlord and Paladin (if pointed into) can be considered additional physical mitigation as Armor is directly translated into physical damage reduction. The exact amount varies depending on your current armor level.
5% Armor Bonus
8114 Armor (Dungeon gear) - 1.20%, equivalent to 1.49% skill DR
12868 Armor (T2 Raid gear) - 1.08%, equivalent to 1.77% skill DR, or 1.67% with WL crystal
15116 Armor (T3 Raid Relic gear) - 1.02%, equivalent to 1.76% skill DR (assumed WL crystal), or 1.52% with Purifier crystal
10% Armor Bonus
8114 Armor (Dungeon gear) - 2.34%, equivalent to 2.89% skill DR
12868 Armor (T2 Raid gear) - 2.09%, equivalent to 3.43% skill DR, or 3.24% with WL crystal
15116 Armor (T3 Raid Relic gear) - 1.97%, equivalent to 3.40% skill DR (assumed WL crystal), or 2.94% with Purifier crystal
For the sake of simplification, the armor bonus can be considered equivalent to 1.5-1.75% physical DR for each 5% armor at any gear level, in raids with proper buff management. The armor damage reduction is applied separately so this simplification is only for the sake of comparison.
Now on to the rest of the powers, first from Warlord...
Battlefield Awareness - A key part of this build's threat management, causes calls to generate threat on nearby enemies similarly to gaining pacts in the Void Knight build (but far less frequently). Also will give you a dodge bonus for 12 seconds matching the Warlord crystal bonuses. Thus you want to use the calls as much as possible even not taking the mitigation into account.
Call to Battle - Buffs the raid's Attack and Spell Power. Does not stack with a Bard Motif so its benefits are primarily secondary gains through maintaining the buffs from Battlefield Awareness and the Warlord crystal, as well as threat generation. Because of this, you can use this call with any number of attack points as long as Call to Entrench will be back up within 12 seconds of its use (the duration of the bonuses).
Cutting Distraction - Unique debuff, reduces armor by 5% on nearby enemies.
Aspect of the Fallen Hero - Raid endurance buff, overwritten by Archon endurance buff
Promise of Steel - The 10-enemy AoE threat builder from Warlord, similar again to Cyclone Strike.
Intercept - A unique ability, transfers any threat the target incurs to you for 6 seconds. Invaluable to use on Saboteurs and Champions during a large AoE pull. Also useful to place on the Bard if using motifs while pulling.
Spotter's Order - Causes the enemy to take additional damage, overwrites (and is overwritten by) Archon's Illuminate and Bard's Coda of Jeopardy, so it is generally not needed in raids unless there are several targets to maintain the debuff on.
Pin Target - Roots the target.
And finally, from Paladin:
Aegis of Vitality - Endurance buff, same as generic endurance buffs from many other classes including the Bard one.
Shield of the Hero - Free bonus to Block and Hit.
Touch of Life - Essentially the reason for putting points in Paladin, fully heals you (unless you have healing debuffs) on a 5 minute cooldown. Fantastic "oh crap" button but don't use it unless you need it because 5 minutes is a long time.
Aggressive Block - Also available in the Void Knight build in 0pt Paladin, increases your Block by 10% and easily maintainable by keeping it in damage macros.
Face Slam - Interrupts, same as other Warrior interrupts except it requires a shield.
Retaliation - Reactive ability usable after blocking an attack, does damage off global cooldown. Does a decent amount of "free" damage so it is good to use when available for building threat.
TL;DR:
38 Reaver/28 Void Knight/0 Paladin gives 45% physical and 50% spell damage reduction at all times plus a large amount of block/parry via Strength (plus 3% parry from the VK crystal), faster threat generation, and a purge.
38 Reaver/20 Warlord/8 Paladin gives 41-43% physical (depending on points in Armor) and 48% spell damage reduction, or with the 4-piece crystal bonus, 44-46%/51% respectively. With no Bard present, Call to Entrench's raid buff gives an additional 5% damage reduction. This build also gets bonuses to block, bonuses to dodge from calls, and possibly armor, resists, or dodge from talents, depending where you put the points. And Touch of Life.
For maximum damage reduction, without the Warlord HK 4-piece crystal bonus, use 38/28. With the Warlord crystal, use 38/20/8.
Thanks for reading, and please let me know if any of my mathing is wrong. I may update this guide with more specific information regarding the benefits to damage reduction for pointing into Armor and Resist at different gear levels.
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1.8/1.9 Reaver Tanking
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Originally Posted by wayne62682 
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