Vengeance Demon Hunter Frequently Asked Questions — Season 4

This is the main question most people will ask with tanking. The basic answer is that if you are doing progression or are on a character you do not feel comfortable playing offensively with, you should play defensively. As you start to get comfortable, you should start looking at DPS a bit more and play a more mixed style, where you start pushing DPS while slowly giving up survivability. Once you feel completely comfortable with the encounter and you will not hold your raid back, you can then go for DPS. This point is different for every person, as it depends on your group, your character, your gear, and your skill level.

Generally speaking, if the item level difference between the new item and the old item is 5 item levels or less, you should use the stat priority to decide which piece to use. If the item level difference is 6 item levels or more, the new piece is likely to always be better.

Between these two thresholds, you will have to evaluate what stats you are giving up by replacing the old item. If the old item is very poorly itemized, and the new item very well itemized, you can replace them, but otherwise it is generally still not worth replacing.

It is difficult to give an answer, because what is an upgrade for you may not be an upgrade for someone else. In other words, there is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all answer, even when talking about 2 completely identical comparisons from you and someone else. All your gear has an effect on what other items or changes you could make, and making any change will affect these interactions and what would end up being the best for you.

This applies to gear, set bonuses, trinkets, legendaries, and even talents in certain situations.

The only exception to this rule is when a specific fight dictates a certain set of optimal talents, for example. If you are curious about what kind of setup to go for a specific fight, WarcraftLogs.com's rankings and statistics are a good place to see what others are doing.

For the most part, there is no set "amount" of any stat that you should have. Nor are there stat goals or a particular distribution of stats that you want to go for. It is very common for people to overestimate the importance of having the "correct" secondaries, when in reality, having a higher quantity of stats will almost always beat having "better" stats. Having 120 of your worst stat is often better than having 100 of your best stat, since the differences are not as big as many people think.