A note on my many outfits and when I use them.

Thought I would throw this out there for the feral druids wondering how they can optimize gear for different encounters...

I personally have a bunch of different gear combination depending on the fight... or even trash for that matter.

I won't get into particular pieces of gear since not everyone is as fortunate with drops as the next but just a general idea of how I change gear with the ebb and flow of a given raid. You can see if you like the gear I wear in each set listed in the right most column of my blog including how it is enchanted and gemmed.

I have no math to back this up, just what works for me Main Tanking, Off Tanking, and DPSing in current content. As I have posted before I am a Hybrid BearCat so I enjoy mix and matching my gear to take advantage of what I can do on any given encounter.

First my Sets...

1. Main Tanking set - Gear considered tops for tanking based solely on mitigation. With this setup the DPS might have to wait 3-5 secs for me to get solid agro but from there out it isn't much of an issue. I think I have about 78 hit but I am maxed out on mitigation stats and expertise.

2. Kitty DPS set (raiding) - Top DPS gear with making sure to get 2T7.5 bonus in there. Hit capped.

3. Off Tanking/Trash set - A mix of DPS Kitty gear and MTing gear. I am over the hit cap in this set.

4. Tank Stamina set/FR set - Used for Saph or Sarth, I stopped using this set on Patchwerk because taking 2 hatefuls back to back constantly sucks which happens when you get over 50K HP. Again, this set offers very little hit and avoidance stats suffer from the FR gear. Make sure to only gem your Polar gear with stam gems, you only need to be wearing this gear on fights where stam is king anyway.

5. Kitty DPS set (World) - Basically same as above but dropping the 2T7.5 bonus and using my Idol from BT for strength proc on mangle.

I also have a Healing set, Boomkin set (never use now that we have Kitty Swipe), and Naked set ( I will have to screen shot my couple of naked set ups... I have a Aquaman one and a Tarzan one)

So here is when I use which set...

Malygos - Off Tank set. I tank the adds at the beginning of phase 2 so in phase 1 I am in kitty DPSing on Maly. I use my DPS staff and Idol and then switch it between phase 1 and 2.

Sarth - I have been going with my MT set which still puts out good threat. Note I only have 40 Hit in this set so my DPS gives me a couple secs to establish agro with incoming drakes. If/When I MT Sarth I will go to the Stam set obviously. Before we pull Sarth I tank trash in my trash set of course.

VoA - I could prob tank this in my full Kitty set but I usually just DPS this fight.

Hell, I tanked Saph last night from 14% in my full cat gear with FR stuff just swapping weapon and idol with 2 healers, 1 hunter, and 2 Death Knights left standing... damn buggy Frost Tombs. Of course this has more to do with me wearing a lot of Valorous which is very good in slot for both Kitty and Bear.

Naxx - All trash is in my OT/Trash set.

Anub - I am in OT/Trash set... Kitty DPS on boss between tanking adds
Grand Widow - Usually MT gear for this unless I am Kitty DPSing. Usually I am MTing it or tanking all the adds with swipe.
Maexxna - I kitty DPS this one so my Kitty set.

Noth - OT set for snap agro on spawned adds.
Unclean - Kitty DPS set cause I am in kitty for it.
Loatheb - Kitty set and shreding butt again.

Instuctor - OT set usually as I DPS and also grab adds if/when they break MC.
Gothik - OT set again as I need the snap agro on the spawned adds. Tanking Gothik once he comes down has never been an issue in the set either.
4 Horse - I am almost always the first Korth tank on the left but I wear my OT set for max agro and DPS since we like burning the turd as fast as possible. I don't have issues in this set as long as people stay with me as I do the exchange for when the meteor hits.

Patchwerk - MT set. I no longer use the FR stuff because at too high stamina and too little avoidance it is too easy to get smacked by multiple hatefulls back to back. I like to share the wealth with at least 1 more tank as far as getting beat up goes.
Grob - OT set for slimes snap agro when they spawn and splash damage from swipe and mauls on Grob.
Gluth - OT set usually but I think I could easily OT this in my Kitty set. When our warrior MT has him I go kitty and shread butt watching my target of target for when he gets a 3 stack so I can go bear and run back in front and taunt... which might go even better in Kitty gear being hit capped. In the past I have had taunts miss because of my low hit in MT set. As soon as the 3 stack wears off the MT takes him back and I go back to kitty DPSing.
Thad - If MTing I would prob wear my MT set but lately I have been kitty DPSing... usually in the top 5 kitty DPSing at that :) If all I was tanking was one of the 2 adds I wouold prob wear my OT set just in case the other tank misses the jump. Lately though I am the 3rd tank switching to DPS when I can.

Saph - If MTing Saph I would wear MT set and cap out FR with ring, boots, and belt most likey. Lately I have been kitty though except for last night where I started kitty and ended up MT. Lived in kitty gear switching to tank weapon and idol wearing FR ring and belt only... lol... turned out to be a bad night to scrimp on FR wearing... fortunatly we have really good players and I lived. Our guild has this never give up attitude and we hate wiping even with DC's and bugs we find a way :)

Kel - MT set because the adds hit hard. Antoher interesting fight last night the other OT died before they came out so I had to hold all 4. Healers did a great job keeping me up even though a ton had gone wrong and we lost a lot of DPS and went a minute over our last kill. I was getting clobbered and had to burn a lock cookie (a first in naxx), all my cd's when they were availabe, and even a armor potion for good measure.

If you take anything from all this the important thing is to swap gear depending on many factors.

A. How hard does the boss/mosters hit
B. Tanking 1, 2, or many mobs
C. Main Tanking? Off Tanking? DPSing most of the fight?
D. Magic Damage? Physical?
E. How many healers do you have? How good are they?
F. Agro issues? Do the monsters have an agro reset?
G. Can you afford a taunt miss?
H. Hurtfuls? Silences? Incoming steady damage or spike damage?

Do your best to get the gear you need to make different sets. It is a much better idea than balancing one peice of gear to fill many roles especially with Uldar around the corner and difficulty increasing. You are going to want to min/max what you can depending on your role in any given fight.

You don't want to gimp you Main Tanking set for example gemming for hit if you can just swap in a peice of gear with +50 hit when it calls for it. A fight where an agro reset and early miss could spell a wipe or a missed taunt can be an issue on a tank switching fight for example. This wasn't as easy in BC but in Wrath this isn't nearly as bad as a tradeoff.

Try to keep you Main Tanking set focused on Mitigation, Aviodance, and Survival because as a MT your first priority is staying alive. If this means DPS needs to give you an extra couple secs or watch the meters so be it. Hopefully Uldar is going to get away from the AoE fest that Naxx has been and people will start paying attention again to things like Omen and Agro dump abilities.

On the same note, you don't want to gimp your DPS gear gemming with Stamina because you want more threat in Bear.

Gear that you use in both sets you can balance with purple gems, however I would always enchant and thread for DPS unless you are always the MT.

Even if you are always the MT, no matter what, you still need to consider picking up at least some DPS leather for cases when higher threat is called for instead of survivability... that is just the life of a BearCat.