[Paladin] WotLK - getting uncrittable

My RL was talking to me last night about bears being broken. I launched into my crusade of how I'm trying desperately to get bears nerfed before WotLK (no joke, I actually am right now - but that's because we're broken), but he wasn't interested in that.

No, bears were broken because they could get uncrittable via talents. And how it was impossible for warriors to get uncrittable before Naxx.

Naturally my first statement was to tell him 'welcome to druid tanking in TBC' and sent him off after some resilience gear. :) But seriously - Blizzard couldn't design a whole expansion and force all non-druids to use PvP gear to tank in, could they? Turns out they didn't, and they even gave tanks pretty easy ways to get there.

I kept thinking that there's got to be something like a list for gear for warriors and paladins to use...but so far there's nothing. It turns out that it's pretty easy to get to uncrittable, though it's not trivial like it was in TBC. The magic number to hit is 689 defense rating, in order to get to 540 defense skill. And here's how you get there and then some without relying on a single rare drop, enchant or gem.

Chest: Breastplate of the Solemn Council - requires revered with Wyrmrest Accord. If that's not to your liking, you can do a quest to get the Silver-Plated Battlechest.
Defense rating total: 76

Feet: Sabatons of Draconic Vigor - requires revered with wyrmrest accord.
Defense total: 134

Hands: Tempered Saronite Gauntlets - Blacksmithing BoE.
Defense total: 200

Head: Tempered Saronite Helm - Blacksmithing BoE. If you want something a bit tastier but lower on defense, go for Armored Titanium Goggles or Helm of the Ley-Guardian, which drops in the Oculus.
Defense total: 283
Legs: Daunting Legplates - Blacksmithing BoE.
Defense total: 371

Shoulders: Pauldrons of Reconnaissance. Quest reward from Halls of Stone.
Defense total: 417

Belt: Tempered Saronite Belt - Blacksmithing BoE.
Defense total: 474

Bracers: Tempered Saronite Bracers - Blacksmithing BoE.
Defense total: 522

Cloak: Cloak of Peaceful Resolutions - Honored with Wyrmrest accord.
Defense total: 565

Shield: Titansteel Shield Wall - Blacksmithing BoE.
Defense total: 629

Neck: Titanium Earthguard Chain - Jewelcrafting BoE.
Defense total: 663

Ring: Titanium Earthguard Ring and Gal'darah's Signet. The first is a JC BoE, the second drops from Gundrak normal. There's also a lot of other 25 def rings out there. We're just counting the first one, since this is a no rare drop zone.
Defense total: 688

CURSE YOU! Almost there, but not quite.

Weapon: Crescent of Brooding Fury - quest reward from Zul'Drak. If you want to grind a bit more and get something better, you can go for the Cloudstrider's Waraxe, a drop from Heroic Oculus, but that's not necessary.
Defense total: 714

If you're a warrior, you get this beauty too:
Gun: Armor-Plated Shotgun - Engineering BoE (and doesn't require engineering to use).

Trinket: Seal of the Pantheon, a normal drop from Halls of Lightning (ETA - thanks, anon). It's not required to make the def value though, but I figured I'd include it for completeness.

Not a single drop in the bunch that's required (and point of fact, most of the drops actually have less defense than the crafted stuff), only a couple require any dungeons at all, and most can be found at the AH or from your friendly neighborhood crafters. And this doesn't factor in the head enchants, shoulder enchants, cloak enchants, chest enchants, wrist enchants or anything else; with those, you should be able to be fairly flexible with a few of these slots until you get some better gear. Or, if you like, shave off some of that defense requirement with some of the PvP gear/enchants out there.

Definitely a far cry from the pains of getting uncrittable/uncrushable as a paladin in TBC before Kara.