Shattered Sun Rep: New Paladin Tanking Shield

When the most recent patch came out, I had just come back from a long hiatus. I was focusing on leveling my Blood Elf Hunter, so I didn’t pay much attention to the Shattered Sun dailies or the rep rewards that you could purchase.

Now that I’m playing my Alliance characters more - and my Paladin is quickly becoming my main - I took a closer look at what was available. I had been doing the dailies with my Mage in order to earn some money, but now it looks like I’m going to have to work the ugly grind as a Paladin. The Sunward Crest is a terrific Paladin tanking shield, and it’d be a nice upgrade from my Azure Shield of Coldarra.

Comparing Shields

The shield I’m currently using is Azure Shield of Coldarra. This was the original Badge of Justice shield. At the time, it was pretty good - superior to the alternative vendor items from Sha’tar and Ogri’la.

The Sunward Crest is clearly an upgrade for a Paladin tank, though. There is a slight upgrade in armor and block, due to the item’s higher item value, but the key is the other stats.

The defense (~1.5% total avoidance) is traded for block rating (~2.25% avoidance). It’s nice to have the dodge/parry/miss portion of the defense, but I’ve been swapping some other items and need to boost my overall avoidance again. The spell damage and spell hit add up to a lot of extra threat generation for a Paladin, and this is clearly superior to the paltry damage mitigation that 33 Block Value would provide.

Other Options?

Although I can’t wait to get my hands on this new shield, I wonder if there are any other obtainable upgrades. What other options are there, and how do they stack up?

Shield of Impenetrable Defenses from Kara gets a thumbs down. Minor upgrade on stamina, but no spell hit or spell damage. It’s more or less the same as the shield I already have.

Aldori Legacy Defender, from Gruul, is a nice piece. It’s a slight upgrade for armor/block, but the big boost is in Stamina. Socketed, it would provide an extra 14-20 stamina. The hit rating is a nice alternative to spell hit, now that it affects resists on Righteous Defense. This would be a nice alternative for boss fights, but the other shield is much better for trash and arguably better on bosses where your taunt is useless.

Bulwark of the Amani Empire, from Zul Aman, is an ok alternative. It has some clear upgrades - armor, stamina, block. The Block Rating is nice for overall avoidance. However, there’s neither threat generation nor spell hit rating. Again, good for maxing your stamina, but not a better “overall” piece.

I wouldn’t mind having Aldori Legacy Defender, but I’d be perfectly content to hold on to Sunward Crest for a long time. It’s a great overall shield for a Paladin tank, and I can’t wait to hit Exalted and get my hands on it.

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