Comments

Comment by Sakkura

Actually, this shield is the ultimate in threat generation. More hit and expertise than any other epic WotLK shield so far, and tied for the highest base block value (221), based on itemlevel. And then a solid chunk of strength for the sake of completeness.

Comment by prolink007

the added expertise still helps reduce incoming damage

How is expertise going to help reduce incoming damage? Was this a mistype or am i ignorant about something?

Comment by 26597

How is expertise going to help reduce incoming damage? Was this a mistype or am i ignorant about something?

Expertise reduces the chance to have your attacked dodged, blocked or parried. If one of your attacks against a boss is parried then it’s next hit is faster. So if they are constantly parrying your attacks then they are hitting you more often. So expertise reduces your chance to be parried and thus stops your opponent from receiving sped up hits and thus reducing the damage you take.

Comment by 326327

As a Protadin,im not particularly excited about this shield. Expertise is worth a lot less to us than,say,Warriors. The hit rating on it seems quite helpful in that respect, but the strength on it is rather low. My theorycrafting is a bit rusty,but I would think that the extra defense on this shield would be a nominal upgrade from the avoidance on https://www.wowhead.com/wotlk/item=40266. I think I will hold on to my Hero's Surrender and hope that I see something a bit more pally-friendly.

Comment by 98941

Furthermore, stacking defense to remain uncrittable means that if you still want more threat you can throw in a dps item if you really outgear an encounter (best example of this is using an expertise/hit trinket, but it can be extended to other slots).

Comment by 219932

Overall a pretty lackluster shield for a protection paladin, looking at the alternatives. Even comparing this to an easily obtainable shield such as Wall of Terror I can see no reason to switch to this. Hit and Expertise are awful threat stats for a paladin, and the loss of strength coming from the wall of terror to this shield (63 vs 42) may even eclipse the threat gains you would get from this shield.

Just my views as a Protection Paladin, perhaps a nice upgrade for a Warrior tank, however I would never spend DKP on this.

Comment by 149382

Parry haste is, most definitely, still a concern for anyone serious about tanking 25-man content. Just because they turned off parry-hasting for Brutallus doesn't mean it's a wide-spread practice, and with bosses in Ulduar hitting for close to, if not more than, 20k health... it should always be something every tank takes into consideration when formulating a gear set.

Comment by 144140

It's boe so head down to the auction house with your cheque-book.

Comment by Pimpstar

Pretty sure the auto parry attack component was removed in later in TBC, so resolve the issue of melee auto-gibbing their MT on boss fights where a boss would turn around to cast ie...Archiemonde and Teron. It still functions like normal from a players perspective.

Comment by 169801

Tss, just don't tell my gm that it's a BoE Loot!

Seriously, as for Warrior Tank, it may be a part for TPS/avoidance set (I mean combination of dodge/parry gear with wielding that shield). My common tanking spec is based on block rating & sbv, but this time I'm going to try a set I described above.

Comment by 365808

Any idea what this shield sells for? I haven't seen one on the AH on my server. I realize it will be server-dependent, but curious what folks have paid for it. Thanks!

Comment by 268531

Parry on this shield is replaced by 20 more defense than its other Ulduar counterparts. And since 41 defense=1% avoidance (and .34% block to boot) where 70-80 parry rating = 1% avoidance, the item budget on this seems much better. Also note that the extra defense may be useful when itemizing for Frost Resist gear.

Comment by 117253

Warrior tanks should be drooling. As all of the threat generation is based off of melee swings and other related actions, getting that much closer to expertise cap and hit cap is ideal. TPS should shoot though the roof with this bad boy.

Paladins should want this too. Hit rating is always nice, you miss with spells, you don't build threat. What if you toss an avengers shield and you miss...then what? This is probably the ultimate for any shield-bearing tank.

...also note how the shield looks like someone after getting their wisdom teeth removed.

Comment by Aerilon

Saw this a couple of days ago on the AH of Dawnbringer for 9500G, 11K buyout. A little too rich for my blood so I decided to wait. It didn't sell and the seller relisted it for the same amount. Fortunately a second one was put up for 2500G, 3500 buyout. I snapped this one up right away.

Comment by 260614

You won't see too many on the AH yet as not many guilds have 25-Man Hodir on farm yet.

Just a note- any reasonable raiding guild has the Keepers on farm status, at the very, very least. My guild has this shield distributed to our two shield-wearing tanks, followed immediately by alts, and now goes to the Guild Bank since it seems to drop for us every. single. week.

Unless your population is severely skewed (10:1 ally:horde ratio for example), these should be on the AH with increasing frequency.

Comment by 36907

In regards to https://www.wowhead.com/wotlk/item=40400 Does the large defense boost on this help make up the loss in dodge and block rating? I, being a pallytank, think it would be stupid to give up avoidance for threat being as threat isnt much of an issue nowadays. I know defense rating raises avoidance stats a bit, but is it substantial?

Comment by Bareno

Not sure if this is an bug or not, but in PTR build 0.2.0.10116 this shield got an graphic change, it is not monkey shield anymore... ITS COFFIN SHIELD!

Picture.

Comment by 233098

I don't believe that there is a "parry cap" on expertise. Blizzard uses boss parry percentage to tune the fights based on desired difficulty, incoming non-physical damage, etc so it is variable. That having been said 26 is where exp starts to have substantial less impact since dodges have been removed from the combat table at that point.

Comment by 93832

Only have seen this shield on the AH two times since it was released. Once alliance, once horde. Both sold for well over 9,000g.It's just the best someone could hope to get without doing raids and seems to be extremely rare both in drop rate for every guild on our server and on the AH.

Comment by 326245

paid this shield 5k gold yesterday.

saw this shield at buy-out price 4k in AH last month and I didn't buy it.

the reason why the price goes back up because of increasing tanks for Heroic runs for Emblem of Triumph, i guess.

PS: I'm in low-pop server "Auchindoun"

Comment by kabookiejoe

currently on the horde AH

burning blade

5.8k

Comment by Dotdotgooose

This remains the best pre raid shield in 3.3, making it the best shield you can pick up out of raids before cataclysm.

The 2nd best is Splintered Door of the Citadel from Marwyn in Halls of Reflection normal for those without any auction house luck or deep pockets.

Comment by 366438

There is more to tanking than migiation, You have to do enough damage to hold aggro.

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Northern Barrier

	Phase 2

Item Level 232
Binds when equipped

Off Hand	Shield

8095 Armor
223 Block
+44 Strength
+99 Stamina
Durability 120 / 120

Requires Level 80
Equip: Increases defense rating by 67.
Equip: Improves hit rating by 30.
Equip: Increases your expertise rating by 30.

Sell Price: 13 89 3

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