Laughing best, and how best to enchant said laughing

So like I mentioned in my previous post, I picked up the best-in-slot tanking weapon, Last Laugh, last night. The situation in which I picked it up was a little tense (something I’ll go into further detail with in my next raid recap post), but what I really wanted to focus on was the little crisis this axe inflicted upon me: how to enchant it.

Right now it is tankadin gospel (see: Letter of St. Uther to the Demon Hunter Supplicants 10:2-4) that you put Enchant Weapon – Potency on your tanking weapon, dammit. No other enchants need apply.

And, generally, rightfully so! The +20 strength from Potency works out to 23 strength and 15 block value, with the right talents, which is gravy for shield slams and damage reduction. Far and away it is an excellent choice.

But this… this is Last Laugh! I ripped this axe myself from the icy claws of the Archlich himself, the Lord of the Dread Citadel Naxxramas! Surely, there was a, er, more recent enchant that would better fit this god amongst T7 tank weapons.

I’ve had my eye on Enchant Weapon – Accuracy for some time now. To say the mats make it a bit cost-prohibitive would be an understatement (6 abyss crystals among others, natch). But does the math justify such an exorbitant enchantment?

I did some research and I found in a thread at Maintankadin an amazing breakdown of TPS mechanics. The jewel in this thread was this particular table that I was searching for: numbers crunched showing the DPS/TPS difference between Potency and Accuracy. In short, Potency is 21.6 DPS and 55.9 TPS, and Accuracy is 25 DPS and 65 TPS.

The main caveat is Accuracy is only more threat as long as you are not soft hit capped, as the soft cap affects most of our attacks: auto-attack, shield of righteousness, hammer of the righteous, avenger’s shield, judgements, and hammer of wrath. Once you hit that soft cap then Potency is better for threat generation. Considering how little hit a tank should be stacking, that should never be an issue.

So, yes, for the moment, Accuracy is the superior tankadin enchant. A bit of a luxury, but superior nonetheless.