[BG] Got my full ruin gear - what tallies to stack? And, tanks are meant to be boring?

[Alandrian]

I have my new shiny ruin set and am pondering what talismans to slot in each piece. I'm almost 200 talisman making and salvaging so I can make any tallies of at least +21.

Armour tallies are out of the question at the moment- I don't have a high level scavenging alt to farm for armour shards nor do I have 9500 gold to buy one armour tally (I know they're not that much, but the only one I see on the AH atm is listed at 9500g by some nub, lul). I will save armour tallies for when I get my conqueror set.

I was at first thinking to slot each piece purely with toughness. But then, I'm getting a little bored with my BG doing almost no damage - all my purpose seems to be is soak up damage and let others have the fun of actually killing the enemy. I know this is kinda the point of a tank, but meh, it doesn't really feel very satisfying to be doing close to zero damage. I'm used to playing DPS classes, this is actually the first tank that I've leveled to almost R40. I used to play a WL on retail (shock!!) and I'm used to wtfpwning people in 3 seconds. Back on retail, believe it or not WLs were even more overpowered than now, and there was this ability (I think leonine frenzy?) that let me, as a R31 WL fresh into T4, solo some R40 players. So yeah.

So, I was thinking, perhaps I could slot only half of my gear with toughness tallies, and the other half with strength?

Here are my stats at the moment for some context:

R37/RR49

Strength: 203
Weapon Skill: 242
Initiative: 221
Toughness: 602
Wounds: 737

Renown points are all stacked into block/dodge/disrupt.

Tactics are: Rugged, Terrifying Foe, Anger Drives Me

Mastery points into Loathing until ADM, then malice.

[tazdingo]

But then, I'm getting a little bored with my BG doing almost no damage - all my purpose seems to be is soak up damage and let others have the fun of actually killing the enemy. I know this is kinda the point of a tank, but meh, it doesn't really feel very satisfying to be doing close to zero damage.

you should be plenty busy as a BG. with the new DP buffs, you essentially have 2 guards - and you need to be keeping the shield and buffs up on the right ally at the right times. it's what makes BG so challenging yet so fun to play

on top of swapping both guards, buffing, debuffing, shattering, challenging, snaring and interrupting, damage is of zero concern for a regular BG. if you want to do any damage as a tank you really have to go full into it. full str, full offensive tactics (anti-detaunt is amazing). you simply cannot afford goodies like anger drives me and terrifying foe, even rugged is a stretch. you can't afford to take avoidance from renown points, you need crit and speed proc if you want to be a killer. can't have it both ways. go full malice

[Dallas2288]

Welcome to the BG class.

I prefer a nice mix toughness, wounds, and initiative talis. Try getting your initiative up to 300.

Just use cheapies in your ruin set because you'll probably only use ruin set for a few days.

[anarchypark]

all str if you want dps.
or 80 green armor talis for tanking.
BG have toughness buff.

The fun of tank is to shrug off incomming damage and laugh at them.
Be misery to whoever wanna pass through you and laugh at their failure.

if killing is your fun, pick dps?

sometimes it feels like i'm killing when they down in front of me by my guardee dps.

[Lileldys]

Aim for 600 Str + 600 Toughness. Definitely take force of fury since it stacks with potions, and passes onto dark protector now. Shouldnt really need armour talis then.

[Alandrian]

But then, I'm getting a little bored with my BG doing almost no damage - all my purpose seems to be is soak up damage and let others have the fun of actually killing the enemy. I know this is kinda the point of a tank, but meh, it doesn't really feel very satisfying to be doing close to zero damage.

you should be plenty busy as a BG. with the new DP buffs, you essentially have 2 guards - and you need to be keeping the shield and buffs up on the right ally at the right times. it's what makes BG so challenging yet so fun to play

on top of swapping both guards, buffing, debuffing, shattering, challenging, snaring and interrupting, damage is of zero concern for a regular BG. if you want to do any damage as a tank you really have to go full into it. full str, full offensive tactics (anti-detaunt is amazing). you simply cannot afford goodies like anger drives me and terrifying foe, even rugged is a stretch. you can't afford to take avoidance from renown points, you need crit and speed proc if you want to be a killer. can't have it both ways. go full malice

Hmm, thanks. I was hoping to find some sort of middle ground - still retaining all/most of my defensive 'goodies' as you put it, but at the same time being able to dish out a modest amount of damage. Obviously I'm not expecting to be on the level of a DPS class, but when I'm trading blows with someone while I'm buffing myself/debuffing, I'd like to see their health bar actually visibly go down. I've read people on these forums saying that that's the trick for a tank - working out how to spec so that you get a good balance between defense and offense.

What I'm thinking is the following: increase my strength through either slotting all strength talis on my ruin set, OR stack toughness on the ruin and when I hit R40, put the extra renown points I'll get into strength. I also bought the dominator belt with + 38 melee power which I believe translates into 190 strength in terms of damage? That will already be a nice increase in damage just from a belt.

[Alandrian]

Just use cheapies in your ruin set because you'll probably only use ruin set for a few days.

At the slow rate I'm getting conqueror's medallions I expect to still be using ruin a month from now.

EDIT: Forgot about gold bags from keeps, lol. Still, it will be more than a few days I expect.

[peterthepan3]

Become friends with a good DPS and heals, get them to pass on medallions, and you can acquire your set - with the occasional Gold bag - within 3/4 weeks (if you're playing regularly).

If you're simply surfing with the zerg in an open WB, you can expect this time to be 3/4X longer. The choice is yours.

In regards to talis: just put cheap armor or wounds into your ruin, toughness is easy to come by on BG. If you're bored of deftard, play Malice DPS BG: aim for Beastlord, Mercenary, and Dominator, and get the Subjugator speed weapon/epic weapon speed weapon. Also get the taunt proc weapon until you get 5 piece Dominator. Talis = max strength, with 2 initiative talis.

600-ish str/40%+ parry/4.2k+ armor/30% D+D/0% chance to be crit/270-300 ini/550 - 600 toughness = stats you want to be aiming for. You don't really need to invest into melee crit as a BG because you get 15% base, + 10% from CD = 25% as it is.