Tanking "Uncrushable"

[blackcrank123]

The term uncrushable is thrown around a lot when talking about tanking. It means exactly what you'd think it means - being at the point where your opponent cannot land a crushing blow on you. A common misconception is that 490 defense puts you at that point - that's (mostly) wrong. So, then, the real question is: how do you get to that point? The answer to that question depends on how uncrushable you want to be. As a warrior or paladin, there are two states of being uncrushable you can shoot for. Mechanically, they both mean the same thing. Practically, one is a temporary state and the other is a permanent state. Let's talk about the mechanics of getting there to begin with.

Where to Start?
Our journey to uncrushable begins with the combat table. From here we know that a mob's chance to land a crushing blow on you is some percentage chance on the table. Using the order of precedence of the combat table, we can work to remove crushing blows from the table. Recall that the combat table order of precedence is:

Miss
Dodge
Parry
Block
Critical Hit
Crushing Blow
Hit

The order of precedence determines the order in which entries in the table are removed. We know from here, for example, that if we add 1% chance to hit, it removes 1% chance to miss from the table. Similarly, if we add 1% chance to miss, then that causes 1% hit to be removed. Basically, since there is a precedence, adding at the top causes removal at the bottom. In this way, adding 1% dodge, 1% parry, and 1% block will remove 3% hit. Once we run out of chance to hit, it moves up the table and starts to remove chance for crushing blow, and that's the key to becoming uncrushable. Consider this combat table:

10.0% Miss
20.0% Dodge
15.0% Parry
30.0% Block
15.0% Crushing Blow
10.0% Hit

If you, a level 70 warrior, were to click [Moroes' Lucky Pocket Watch]</SPAN> you'd give yourself 300 dodge rating, or 15.9% chance to dodge, for 10 seconds. The table has to add up to 100% and so by adding 15.9% chance to dodge, that 15.9% has to come off somewhere. Since the table is in a precedence order it starts by coming off the bottom, at hit. The first thing to go is the 10% hit, but that leaves 5.9% that must come off somewhere. Next up from the bottom in precedence is crushing blow, so we reduce the initial 15% by 5.9%, leaving a 9.1% chance to be crushed. That leaves the table looking like this:

10.0% Miss
35.9% Dodge
15.0% Parry
30.0% Block
09.1% Crushing Blow

5.9% closer to being uncrushable! For 10 seconds, at least.

How to Become Uncrushable
From here it's easy to see how we become uncrushable: Make the sum of (chance to be missed + chance to dodge + chance to parry + chance to block + chance to be critically hit) equal to 100%, and there is no room left on the table for crushing blows. Wait, what? Critical hits? Obviously, having any chance to be critically hit left on the table isn't very good and we want to remove that as well. It is true, though, that chance to be critically hit would go towards removing crushing blows - as insane as that would be to do in practice! In any case, as you've probably noticed, there was no chance for critical hit on the example table above. In all cases we assume 490 defense, which removes critical hit from the combat table of its own accord, but that's actually irrelevant to the question here.

Now we see that to become uncrushable, what we really want is (chance to be missed + chance to dodge + chance to parry + chance to block) = 100%. At this point, there is no room left for anything lower on the table - critical hit, crushing blow, and hit are all gone. Aha - that explains why we said above that 490 defense to remove critical hit from the combat table is irrelevant here. If you can get to uncrushable via (chance to be missed + chance to dodge + chance to parry + chance to block), you also remove chance to be critically hit at the same time without necessarily needing 490 defense to do it!

Before we go on, we'll make a change in terminology to be a lot less awkward. Instead of typing (chance to be missed + chance to dodge + chance to parry + chance to block) all the time, we'll just use (miss + dodge + parry + block).

Shield Block
This is the easiest way to do it. Invoking the Shield Block ability adds 75% to your chance to block for two charges or 5 seconds - you're already 3/4 of the way there! If your (miss + dodge + parry + block) before hitting Shield Block is at least 25%, you're uncrushable when you hit Shield Block (sort of - see below). For convenience, we'll call this Shield Block uncrushable. That is, you are uncrushable while you have charges of Shield Block remaining - it is a temporary state of being uncrushable.

Right here we see a popular myth put to bed. You do not need 25% block chance to be Shield Block uncrushable. You never did. What you need is (miss + dodge + parry + block) = 25%. Myth busted. Note that due to combat table precedence, all of your (miss + dodge + parry) is kept, and so some of the 75% from shield block may be discarded since in the uncrushable state, block is the lowest precedence remaining on the table.

Note that we do assume 1/1 Improved Shield Block talent for Shield Block uncrushable. If you don't have that, you're wrong. The typical boss that doesn't dual wield has a swing timer of around two seconds. One charge of Shield Block is not going to cut it since it will get consumed on the first hit and you will risk crushing blows while Shield Block is coolding down. Even two charges sometimes does not cut it if the boss also has a special attack that can be blocked that lands while Shield Block is active. In this case, a timely miss/dodge/parry (which won't remove a charge of Shield Block) to keep the crushing blows away while Shield Block finishes cooling down is happiness. Thunder Clap (use Improved Thunder Clap!) helps to slow down the attacks to increase the chance of Shield Block refreshing with minimum chance to sneak a crushing blow in there.

Holy Shield
This is the paladin equivalent to Shield Block uncrushable; temporary uncrushability. Paladin tanks need to achieve the same 100% goal that warriors do (sort of - see below), but they do not have the Shield Block ability. Instead, they have the Holy Shield talent, which grants 30% block chance for 8 charges or 10 seconds. Here is a good point to mention the Libram of Repentance, which grants 42 block rating (5.32% block chance) while Holy Shield is active. Effectively the Libram increases Holy Shield to a 35.32% block chance. It's a heroic badge reward, and you need it (at least until Mother Shahraz). We will assume the paladin tank has the Libram of Repentance as part of their gear.

It's a longer road for a paladin tank to gear up to the point of being Holy Shield uncrushable, since they need 64.68% (miss + dodge + parry + block) from gear when they activate Holy Shield (assuming the Libram of Repentance, as above). Note that we also assume 2/2 Improved Holy Shield talent for Holy Shield uncrushable, increasing the number of Holy Shield charges from 4 to 8 over the 10 second duration.

One other thing about Holy Shield has a duration of 10 seconds with a 10 second cooldown. Lag, mana, or other factors can cause a gap between Holy Shield ending and being recast, allowing crushing blows to slip in. Contrast to Improved Shield Block, which has a 6 second duration and a 5 second cooldown. This is generally not a major issue for the most part, though.

Passively Uncrushable
We use this term, passively uncrushable, to describe the state where you don't need to use Shield Block at all to remove crushing blows from the combat table. This one is harder. You need your (miss + dodge + parry + block) to total 100% without hitting Shield Block to gain its 75% chance to block or Holy Shield to get its 35.32% chance to block (again, sort of - see below).

If you have achieved passive uncrushability, it clearly doesn't matter if you take Improved Shield Block or not. Or if you've taken Holy Shield at all.

When Uncrushability Fails
Since the uncrushable state relies solely on (miss + dodge + parry + block), there are things that can negate that state:

Stuns - You can't dodge, block, or parry while stunned. That means your chance for each will go to zero for the duration of the stun and you will be subject to crushing blows. This is true whether you are Shield Block uncrushable, Holy Shield uncrushable, or passively uncrushable

Attacks from behind - Players can't block or parry attacks from behind. You'll be subject to crushing blows if attacked from behind.

Disarm - You can't parry while disarmed. If you are passively uncrushable, the loss of parry will most likely leave you subject to crushing blows. If you are Shield Block uncrushable, any leftover of the 75% block chance that was originally discarded (as noted above) will be used, and you might stay uncrushable. Or maybe not. Similarly for Holy Shield if there is any of the 35.32% block chance remainaing after calculating uncrushability.

Silence - Holy Shield is a spell, and so if a paladin is silenced, they can't cast it. That drops the block chance from Holy Shield off your combat tabke, and you'll be subject to crushing blows.

Immobilising spells - One example is Fathom-Lord Karathress, when he gains the Tidal Surge ability. The Tidal Surge will locked you in a block of ice for 3 seconds. You won't be able to dodge, block, or parry during this time, and so you'll be subject to crushing blows.

More on this here.

Two Digressions
Digression 1: And now for the (see below) from above. Consider a world boss that is level 73 with respect to a level 70 character, and so the boss' weapon skill will be 365 versus the character's 350 level maximum defense. We need to account for this difference. What this difference means is that for each point of difference between the boss' weapon skill and the character's level maximum defense, the boss reduces its chance to miss by 0.04%, and reduces the character's chances to dodge, parry, and block by 0.04%. For a 15 point difference, (15 x 0.04%) = 0.6% - the boss increases its chance to hit by 0.6%, and reduces the character's chance to dodge, block, and parry each by 0.6%. For all four, we get (4 x 0.6) = 2.4%.

Digression 2: What is this level maximum defense that was used above? From here, we know that when determining whether a mob can perform crushing blows on you, it only considers defense skill up to (5 x level), or 350 for a level 70 character. We call this your level maximum defense. Defense from gear only counts towards the level maximum if your innate defense skill is under (5 x level) {e.g. you just leveled and have not raised your innate defense skill by the 5 new points allowed}. In this case, only enough of your defense skill from gear is counted to bring you to your level maximum defense if you have enough defense skill from gear to reach it.

To finish talking about digression 1: We see that to actually remove crushing blow, critical hit, and hit from the table against a World Boss - we need to accounting for that extra 2.4% in our miss, dodge, parry, and block:

- We need (miss + dodge + parry + block) = 102.4% instead of 100% to remove crushing blows from the table.
- If you're using Shield Block, then our (miss + dodge + parry + block) before hitting Shield Block has to be 27.4% instead of 25%.
- If you're using Holy Shield, then our (miss + dodge + parry + block) before hitting Shield Block has to be 67.08% instead of 64.68%.

Mind that the 102.4% is against level 73 to account for its advantage in weapon skill. For a level 72 that would be 101.6%, and 100.8% for a level 71. 99% of the time we don't care about the level 71 and 72 cases, since they normally can't crush anyway (the Hellfire Warders in Magtheridon's Lair being the notable exception). We generally just talk about the case for World Bosses. After all, if you can reach uncrushable against them, you are automatically uncrushable against everything lower that might be able to crush you. So, we'll only worry about 102.4%.

Where the Numbers Come From
First, the basics:

- You have a basic 5% chance to be missed by an opponent of the same level.
- The tooltip for defense in the character frame will tell you how much more chance to be missed your Defense skill is giving you.
- Your dodge, block, and parry numbers apply as they appear listed in the character sheet in the UI as well.

As above, we need to account for the 2.4% from the level difference, so we use 102.4% as the goal.

Passive uncrushability
That gives us:
5% miss + (miss from defense tooltip) + dodge + parry + block >= 102.4% means you cannot take a crushing blow because you are passively uncrushable.

Yes, you can get to passive uncrushability with careful gear, gem, and enchant choices using Heroic and Karazhan gear. That comes with the price that your health will be low and raid bosses may just outright kill you through their regular damage even if they can't crush you. That's a pretty bad idea. Previous conventional wisdom was that passive uncrushability isn't really feasible until tier5/tier6 gear. Zul'Aman and new badge gear changes that for sure, and moves the viability point forward significantly. The feasability point is definitely still past Karazhan.

As we noted early on, passive uncrushability also brings with it immunity to critical hits. That's actually a moot point, since in the process of becoming passively uncrushable, you'll almost certainly have well over 490 defense skill anyway.

Shield Block uncrushability
For a warrior using the Shield Block ability we get:
75% (Shield Block) + 5% miss + (miss from defense tooltip) + dodge + parry + block >= 102.4% means you are Shield Block uncrushable.

As we see, it is extremely easy for a warrior to become Shield Block uncrushable. In fact, if you are level 70, naked, and have no talent points spent, you have:

- 3.95% chance do dodge (4.95% for Night Elf)
- 5% chance to dodge
- 5% chance to parry
- 5% chance to be missed

That's 18.95% (19.95%) right there. Naked! Now, talents:

- 5/5 Deflection (5% parry)
- 5/5 Shield Specialisation (5% block)
- 5/5 Anticipation (0.8% to miss, dodge, block, and parry; 3.2% total)

Considering just Deflection and Shield Specialisation, you are at 28.95% (29.95%) (miss + dodge + parry + block). A naked level 70 warrior with 5/5 Deflection and 5/5 Shield Specialisation is Shield Block uncrushable. How cool is that? With 5/5 Anticipation and either of 5/5 Deflection or 5/5 Shield Specialisation, a Night Elf reaches 28.15%, while others reach 27.15% - close but not quite. It's not just extremely easy for a warrior to become Shield Block uncrushable - it's trivial.

Holy Shield uncrushability
For a paladin using the Holy Shield ability we get:
35.32% (Holy Shield) + 5% miss + (miss from defense tooltip) + dodge + parry + block >= 102.4% means you are Holy Shield uncrushable.

It's not quite as easy for a paladin to become Holy Shield uncrushable, and health often suffers while the paladin gears to initially reach Holy Shield uncrushability. Patch 2.3 will introduce new health talents that will help paladin tanks make up the stamina they miss out on while making up that extra 39.68%, as well as gettting the amount of spell damage and intellect that they also need.

Now let's come back to the "490 defense makes you uncrushable" thing. We say that it's wrong, but it's only mostly wrong. 490 defense does not make you passively uncrushable. If you have 490 defense, you are definitely Shield Block uncrushable (but probably not Holy Shield uncrushable). In light of the stuff just above, though, 490 defense doesn't actually have all that much to do with making you Shield Block uncrushable - unless you don't have the talents to push you over 27.4% while naked.

Dual Wielding Bosses
Bosses that do not dual wield were discussed above, without mention of bosses that do. Now that we've defined everything else in terms of a boss that does not dual wield, we can speak to bosses that do. Bosses that dual wield (Prince Malchezzar in phase 2, Leotheras the Blind) will almost certainly consume two charges of Shield Block and have a good chance to land crushing blows. A paladin under Improved Holy Shield with 8 charges to consume in 10 seconds rarely needs to worry about crushing blows against dual wielding bosses - the boss would need to have an average attack speed faster than 1.25 in order to consume all the Holy Shield charges, assuming no miss, dodge, or parry. On the other hand, dual wielding bosses also tend to hit considerably less hard than bosses that do not, and so the crushing blows may not be as devastating, unless misfortune hands you two or three in a row.

However, there is another thing about dual wielding bosses: They suffer the same 24% miss chance that players do when dual wielding, rather than the 5% miss for using a single attack. That means it is much easier to become passively uncrushable against dual wielding bosses:

24% + (miss from defense tooltip) + dodge + parry + block >= 102.4% means you cannot take a crushing blow because you are passively uncrushable against a dual wielding boss.

Given the increased ease of becoming passively uncrushable against dual wielding bosses and the fact that they tend to hit less hard than non dual wielding bosses, building a passively uncrushable gear set for them is feasible much earlier than a gear set for bosses that do not dual wield.

Bosses That Don't Crush
And now there are bosses that don't even perform crushing blows such as Hydross, Archimonde, and others. For these fights we don't need to worry about being uncrushable in any form. It's worth noting that against bosses with physical attacks (not Hydross), Shield Block and Holy Shield still guarantee some extra mitigation based on your block value if you do activate them during these fights.

Macros!
As if this wasn't long enough already, but I forgot to reserve a post after this one for new stuff. Copy and paste the macro, press the button and it will tell you how you're doing. Takes Anticipation into account. Do not expose to flame. Keep away from small children and animals. Do not give to characters under level 70.

Warrior and Paladin - passive uncrushable
/run local a,b=UnitDefense("player") a = (a+b-350)/25 ChatFrame1:AddMessage(format("Need 102.4%% combined (miss+dodge+parry+block). Currently at %.2f%%", 5+a+ GetDodgeChance()+ GetBlockChance()+ GetParryChance()))

Paladin - Holy Shield uncrushable
(assumes Libram of Repentence)
/run local a,b=UnitDefense("player") a = (a+b-350)/25 ChatFrame1:AddMessage(format("Need 102.4%% combined (miss+dodge+parry+block). Currently at %.2f%% with Holy Shield", 5+a+ GetDodgeChance()+ GetBlockChance()+ GetParryChance()+35.32))

wanted to share with the mmowned community

CREDIT GOES TO : Uncrushable - TheorySpot. Thanks.

[bthecheat]

damn copy paste ftw?

[eltales]

write the source

[Ebah]

very nice. helped alot.

[Robzz]

That's a great guide, thanks for sharing but you should put the source

[Proxito]

I looked it up, not very hard to find when it's a copy 'n' paste.

http://www.theoryspot.com/forums/evil-empire-guides/33543-uncrushable.html

Yours,
Mike

[Demon within]

That's advanced stuff
Thx

[blackcrank123]

Again mike, i said i wanted to share it with the mmowned community, i don't take credit for making the guide myself. And i will edit with the source.

[Pinky]

Very informative, i didn't even know about theoryspot.com myself 0.o

[Cashcharac]

Amazing, those macros are quite nice. As a pally tank im at 97&#37; w/ holy shield and 61.99% w/o...lots of work to do =).

[REV0LUTiON_]

yeah wow, actually reading this gave me alot more insight into wtf i was doing compared to " oh get to 102.4&#37; "