Well, BC's about to drop, and I want to level to 70 with prot spec AoE grinding. That means I'm going to want a quality reflective damage shield.

At the moment, my terribly undergeared pally has a Crest of Retribution (http://www.thottbot.com/?i=23345), which does supply a significant amount of added damage in AoE pulls. I'm looking for better options in the AoE damage area.

So far I know about:
-Force Reactive Disk (http://www.thottbot.com/?i=39944) - 30 AoE damage on block, but loses durability very fast. I get the sense that the repair costs and time taken out of grinding to repair make this a bad idea.
-Drillborer Disk (http://www.thottbot.com/?i=27683) - This'd be great, but I'm not planning to raid inbetween now and BC release.
-Skullflame Shield (http://www.thottbot.com/?i=11613) - This sounds like it'd be good, with a lifesteal proc and an AoE damage one, but neither is tied to my very high block rate.

Who's got some advice for me? Are there any other shields I should know about out there?

Skullflame is a POS, Drillborer will do less damage, and the Disk is nice but will break too often to be more than a novelty.

Use the Crest, it's a nice reflective shield. As far as I know, there aren't any reflective-damage shields in Outland, so you'll probably be switching to something with +dmg or more defensive stats. Might as well tank your way anyway.

Grind rep with Sporegaar.

http://www.thottbot.com/beta?i=5311

Each proc is 12 damage every 3 seconds for 12 seconds. Stacks to 5 and refreshes with each application.

::edit::
fixed numbers >.<

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Q u o t e:
Grind rep with Sporegaar.

http://www.thottbot.com/beta?i=5311

Each proc is 15 damage every 3 seconds for 15 seconds. Stacks to 5 and refreshes with each application.

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Ooo, that's tasty. Good tip!

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Q u o t e:
Grind rep with Sporegaar.

http://www.thottbot.com/beta?i=5311

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That shield looks absolutely amazing for prot grinding... but for now, I'd have to echo Psiven. Crest of Retribution is very good since it provides a pretty decent amount of damage that is tied to your block rate, instead of a flat percentage. It just synergizes so well with Redoubt and Holy Shield compared to other shields. The only one that is arguably better in live is FRD, but that shield comes at a huge cost (rare recipe drop in MC, then mat farming, then you gotta pay to repair it every couple of pulls...)

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Q u o t e:
Grind rep with Sporegaar.

http://www.thottbot.com/beta?i=5311

Each proc is 12 damage every 3 seconds for 12 seconds. Stacks to 5 and refreshes with each application.

::edit::
fixed numbers >.<

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Ooh, I forgot about that one. Guess I'll have to grind some rep up with them when I'm not busy with Honor Hold :)

On the note of AoE grinding, these may also be useful...

Essence of the Pure Flame
http://thottbot.com/?i=38134

Naglering
http://thottbot.com/?i=5297

Cloak of Flames
http://thottbot.com/?i=37840 (Good luck finding one - I got lucky)

Crystal Spire
http://thottbot.com/?i=6404 (doesn't stack with Thorns or Fire Shield)

Razor Gauntlets
http://thottbot.com/?i=35698 (I dont use this one, the damage returned isnt worth giving up the stats on what I have access to)

Fetish of Chitanous Spikes
http://thottbot.com/?i=52637

Styleen's Impeding Scarab
http://thottbot.com/?i=40808

Heart of the Scale
http://thottbot.com/?i=4902

Talisman of Binding Shard
http://thottbot.com/?i=38094 (Ok, so it wasn't suppossed to have dropped, and you absolutely cannot get it anymore. The legendary item idea got reworked into the Thunderfury quest. I think this was the original thought though)


Damage Shield on items seems to cost an insane amount on the item budget. Look at Essence of pure flame, it's ilv75 and all it does is 13 damage. Kind of depressing, that if an item gets damage shield, it's sacrifing so much else.
Regardless, I've not seen any items or gems in BC give a similar damage shield effect. This saddens me deeply, as it''s easily my favourite mechanic.

Personally i like the Skullflame shield, because the spell damage coefficient on the lifesteal proc is 100%
So, if you have 300 spell damage and the lifesteal procs, it'll steal 335 instead of 35. :-D

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Q u o t e:
Damage Shield on items seems to cost an insane amount on the item budget. Look at Essence of pure flame, it's ilv75 and all it does is 13 damage. Kind of depressing, that if an item gets damage shield, it's sacrifing so much else.
Regardless, I've not seen any items or gems in BC give a similar damage shield effect. This saddens me deeply, as it''s easily my favourite mechanic.

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Yeah, I'd probably consider working on other stats than damage shield. Things like +spell damage (greater return on Consecration.....btw, does Consecration still scale?), or like +m/5.

That little tidbit about Skullflame is pretty interesting. If you can't get your hands on that, then I suggest something which increases your chance to block and/or your block rating, or provides +m/5.

I have two shields that I carry around...depending on the situation I use one or the other.

http://www.thotbott.com/?i=38259


http://www.thotbott.com/?i=53331


Keep in mind the stats on these have increased since the last patch.

Hope this helps.

I don't think the GMA has been mentioned. That's right up there with Skullflame for a good shield choice.

Great video. Great advice. Has me rethinking my holy/prot build as I level up.

My pally is 50 with http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/classes/bc-paladin/talents.html?055031025001305000000532010000000000000000000000000000000000000
as his talent build.

I'm mildly regretting getting Aura Mastery and not maxing out Imp Blessing of Wisdom, but all said, I'm happy. I don't like having Blessing of Kings, as I only use it on others, I prefer Blessing of Wisdom on myself.

If I do change to a Prot/Holy build, for leveling from 50-60, what would you recommend for a talent spec?

Hey, great info guys, keep it coming. So far I'm leaning towards getting a skullflame.

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Q u o t e:
Great video. Great advice. Has me rethinking my holy/prot build as I level up.

My pally is 50 with http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/classes/bc-paladin/talents.html?055031025001305000000532010000000000000000000000000000000000000
as his talent build.

I'm mildly regretting getting Aura Mastery and not maxing out Imp Blessing of Wisdom, but all said, I'm happy. I don't like having Blessing of Kings, as I only use it on others, I prefer Blessing of Wisdom on myself.

If I do change to a Prot/Holy build, for leveling from 50-60, what would you recommend for a talent spec?

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Spec up to ardent defender in prot, and make sure to max out the defensive skills, reckoning, and of course the shield mitigation stuff. For safety it can be handy to have spiritual focus, but really everything is optional after ardent defender.

Another quality item for AoE grinding looks to be the Demon Forged Breastplate (http://thottbot.com/?i=23125). Not a ton of stats, but the 3% 120 drain life proc will go off constantly.

http://thottbot.com/?i=21010

Argent Defender
No stats, but a 1% chance to raise block chance by 50% on being hit.
Its situational, but it allows you to pull many more mobs than you usually do (even as protection spec!) because once that argent dawn proc goes off,it's 10 seconds of god mode, and it's not limited by charges like redoubt/holyshield, yet stacks with holy shield/redoubt for a near-constant 80% block rate.
Also all blocks under the proc get full Spike/Sanc damage which is like crest damage except you mitigate additional damage.

As long as the amount you block is a significant portion of the enemy damage. (Styleen/Gluth neck help out a lot here)

I grinded the naxx invasion undead nodes with that thing on and it was greatly superior to immoveable object/drillborer. I don't have skullflame so can't say how that works out, I'd imagine it's decent with high +spell damage. With Argent Defender I could pull about 10-20 MORE than I could with other shields, and it would go off several times per fight.