You are going to take more dmg, but you are also going to heal yourself for a ton more and be able to save a lot of situations where other tanks wouldn't. I know there is a huge range of guild progression out there so I will go over a few things from each boss that would be relevant for a DK tank to know and implement. Keep in mind, any of this information could vary depending on how your guild does the fight and your role involved.
Also, this isn't a complete 'how to' strategy session, but rather a quick outline of cds for a DK tank looking to step into these encounters and help out their guild. If you don't see a cd listed, that's not because its not being used, just use it as you see fit. The way most of the dmg bursts come in the fight ensures you have some form of a cd active for each of them. However, the periods of time where you are unable to attack the boss suck quite a bit since you are unable to DS - so try and have VB or BS up during those times.
IBF if you are ever forced to be outside the group for Shadow Conductor. I would recommend using double stm trinkets on this fight due to how much physical dmg you are taking and how it comes in much more dangerous bursts than the magic dmg on the fight. Maloriak: It's best suited for a DK to be tanking the boss. During the Dark Phase, ensure you refresh Bone shield and move out of melee range until he starts casting again.
Also, AMS the first breath and it will be up again near the end of the phase, and the same goes for the TB resist trinket. Save IBF for the Green phases. Use your other cds how you see fit throughout the rest of the fight. That is the main cd you need to make sure happens. Bone shield glyph is awesome in this fight as well during air phase , but you can also get away with running around in UH pres during that time so it's not really a must unless you specifically want to have full RP going into the following ground phase.
Chimeraon: Death Knights make an amazing double attack soaker. Blood Shield helps a ton in making sure you're above 10k after the first of 2 hits from the dbl attack. During the feud's, depending whichs ones you are assigned to tank, ensure you have up IBF 4pc here is phenomenal. AMS the slime volleys during this phase to minimize dmg intake. Also, this is one of few fights I would put an emphasis on avoidance over mastery. Nefarian: Nef is one of my favorite fights to tank this teir.
Your management of cds is paramount and knowing when to use each of them can mean the difference between consistent wipes and consistent kills.
Below is an example from this week's Nef kill it's not perfect, but it gives a good visual of what exactly I'm referring to : As you can see, there is a viable cd active for quite a bit of the final phase from in the timeline. This is easily done without much if any additional focus from the healers. Just make sure you have a Shaman riptide rolling on you or a Priest paying attention to you in the last phase. DK's are better used on Drakes due to the MS debuff applied from Halfus although it doesn't effect the Blood Shield, it does effect your self healing.
If you do find yourself on Halfus, it would probably be a good idea to focus on avoidance for this fight. Double Dragons: Another pretty fun and unique fight to tank. Tank dmg intake isnt' exactly trivial either. It's not insane enough to require a ton of focus from healers, but it's also not trivial enough to ignore.
IBF during the heavy movement of the breath strafing. Assist your healers as much as you can and don't sit on your cds until its too late. You have plenty at your disposal and they are on short cds. Use them. Outside of those, use cds as seen fit.
Cho'gall: There are quite a few different ways to tank this fight and that all depends on how your guild handles their strat. If you find yourself on Cho'gall, you should line up your cds to assist with the Flame and Shadow debuffs. The flame one is obviously the most critical and should be prioritized when figuring out your cd mapping. If you find yourself tanking the large adds, it fits pretty well.
DRW for each set pickup 90sec cd, 90sec spawn rate. Reapply BS prior to picking them up so it will be active off the start of each set pickup.
Once in the last phase, do your best to chain cds as much as possible when it is your turn on the boss. Keep in mind you can also AMS the magical portion of the Fury spell not a game breaker, but can help in certain situations. Sinestra: TBD. I'll post more on this once its more of a common interest. However, here is another link to a vid if anyone is interested: YouTube - Blood Legion vs Sinestra 25hm -Throne of the Four Winds- Conclave: Conclave is another fun encounter for this teir.
Flying thru jet streams and changing platforms is always fun to do as a tank. As far as DK's and their cds go on this fight - It is important to have a cd up for the breaths on Nezir frost dude. You need to save IBF for the high dmg output on Anshal nature dude coming out of his Ulti again, 4pc owns for this.
Outside of those, weave in the other cds as seen fit. Al'akir: Alakir is another fight where DK tanks can be a huge xfactor. Ensure you are spell hit capped to land your DG's every time. AMS'ing off the acid rain stacks is a huge benefit as well. FRAPS is a good tool also to see how you are performing. It's not really any diff than an NFL player watching film on games - same principle. If you're serious about raiding and your role as a tank, you need to get used to taking the extra steps to ensure your job is done as efficient as possible.
Just to reiterate, these aren't any 'strats' or guides on how to kill the bosses. They are just a quick summary for each encounter from a DK tank's perspective on how to best use cds.
Also, understand these aren't mandatory or the ONLY way to do these fights. There are a ton of different options and ways to get the job done. These are just from my own experiences and proven to work.
If someone disputes or has questions on any of this, please post. Hopefully this helps out anyone who is stepping into the fights for the first time or is having issues with fights they are currently on. Thanks for reading. Now that Rag is finally dead, progression is over, and our small break was enjoyed I guessed it was time to sit down and give my input on this entire shitstorm that has become DK tanking. Spec s : Here is the current spec that I am using and have been using for several weeks now: Talent Calculator - World of Warcraft The Blood spec is pretty baseline with only small variants of that being needed.
Crimson Scourge - I don't really ever find myself specing into this, but could see it being useful if you were add tanking. Add the points as you see fit. Epidemic - If you are or are not in charge of keeping up tanking debuffs, keeping 2 or 3 points into this is a must. Death Coil - Surv gain. I tend to use this one quite often and switch it with the DS glyph when I do. Major Dancing Rune Weapon - A staple glyph as long as you are in a guild with dps even somewhat competent. The threat change will probably negate the need for this so hopefully the remodel the glyph.
Rune Tap - A common theme in most heroic encounters - crazy raid dmg. This is more or less a utility glyph that provides a decent gain on healing within your group. A lot of times during progression, any and all healing helps. Trust me, it adds up. Vamp Blood - The most amazing glyph in our arsenal. HP is to the point of being at a softcap. Anytime that you die, it is because of several seconds of shit that leads up to it secs and not really something that is going to 'global' you.
A tank with k hp will gain 33k hp from VB. The 33k hp during that time will not outweigh the amount of healing you will get from both yourself and healers in a 10 sec timeframe. It just synergies with our class too well to not glyph it. I'm not saying it will NEVER need to be unglyphed, but unless you're at risk of getting globaled, then you should be glyphing it. Anti-Magic Shell - The amount of people I see that say this glyph is a necessity makes me wonder if they're playing the same game that I am.
If you need 2 more seconds of time on your AMS, you're doing it wrong. AMS has a 5sec window and you should be able to use your cd to the point of it not needing to be longer.
The only time you can justify having this over another Major Glyph is in a fight where you would NOT take the capped amount on your AMS from 1 event and would still somehow need it to be active for up to 7 seconds. Bone Shield - I've been a fan of this glyph for quite some time, but it hasn't really been that useful this tier.
Even when it would be, the way BS is weaved into our tanking 'rotation' keep you from having it up when you would need the speed boost most of the time anyway. Rest in peace. The 4pc is not a gamebreaker, but is worth picking up for the simple reason it is bonus survability gain at no loss. I will elaborate a bit more on this a bit further down in the post.
Like I said, it's not a gamebreaking 'must have' by any means, but there is just no point in not picking it up. To highlight a bit more on several non tier items I wanted to go into the following: Trinkets - The trinket slot is one that will change quite a bit from fight to fight.
As a whole though you will find yourself using the same trinkets that are linked in my profile above more times than not. The only exception to that being a fight where avoidance takes precedence eg Baelroc.
Also, it can crit heal. Spidersilk Spindle- This trinket is the best option for a DK by leaps and bounds. A 20k absorb on a 1min cd that you don't have to manage is not even comparable to any other option.
Not to mention it is loaded with mastery. This greatly helps out with anyone experiencing 'spike dmg' deaths that I see referred to a lot in this thread. TB Mirror- This trinket still has its place on any fight that has a lot of magic dmg. Fights that have significant magic dmg coming at a faster rate than your AMS is off cd, it is a must. I found great use from this trinket on Baelroc, Domo orb soaking , and Rag only -needed- during p4.
The value of Hit and Exp- I see this debate quite often as well. The bottom line is that you need to pick up only what is defaulted to the gear already. No matter what you're not going to exp cap nor hit cap, and if you do, then you're wasting tons and TONS of viable mitigation and avoidance stats in the process.
You are better suited putting all available points into survivability stats. High wpn dmg and try and get Mastery and Haste if at all possible, but one of the two will suffice if the other stats outweigh the alternative ie Rag 2h vs Skullstealer Greataxe. If you can afford to, pick up a 2nd weapon and toss on Rune of the Fallen Crusader, keybind a weapon switch macro and swap back to your SSG wpn once threat is well established.
With that being said I wanted to get into the meat of an important topic that I still get asked more than any other question even though this was addressed last tier and hasn't really changed. If you're into end game raiding and are trying to press content at bleeding edge, one thing you want to provide is consistency. That is the main component in being able to kill bosses at a top level. And girls!
Three 12 AP sockets gives it 86 attack power, more than Honed Voidaxe, possibly giving it a better top-end. Depending on your level, which has more crit depends. Lower levels may benefit from the 22 rating, higher levels will probably prefer the 30 agi on Voidaxe.
As a leveling warrior, though, I much prefer Honed Voidaxe on account of Poleaxe specialization. Simply because until I get better gear than questables, my crit is horrendous. Leveling players will probably find it easier to get the Voidaxe, and will also love the huge stam boost 45 stam.
It only has the capability of having more attack power than Honed Voidaxe. Being lazy, I of course have not checked any numbers on how the AP would affect your DPS or top-end damage, but it's just a thought. Comment by Cybersonix Got the hammer with my paladin. Very good hammer. Socket it with 2x 3Crit rating and 3 strenght and 1x 3strenght and 4 stamina.
With that you also get socket bonus. Fantastik hammer. I think this is THE best 2her for lvl Comment by Tetsugashi I have this on my pally atm and i fell it will last til Honed Voidaxe. Comment by Do enchants show up on this? Comment by actually I almost forgot If you are a paladin you really want this, the encounter is not hard and the full run of the instance will not take more then 40 minutes! Sidenote, get aload of DK's in your party. They can't use 2h maces! Edit: Don't do as I did, go spending a bunch of cash on this weapon T.
Comment by Sidenote, get aload of DK's in your party. You can probably get away with grabbing uncut gems for about g each and getting a JC to cut it for you. Either way cant see this getting replaced soon.
On a side note: Rune of Cinderglacier and other various Rune enchants do not overwrite current weapon's "Dark Smoke Glow". Comment by Unbelievable flexible weapon! And with the new gems from wotlk, this mace becomes quite overpowered. While leveling, your equipment may be lacking some important stats, like hit and expertise. You could add a lot, if you want. Don't forget that this mace can be a very powerful tanking weapon for a dk!
Try to find another 2-handed weapon where you can get tons of stamina, defense or other tanking stats of your choice. Comment by Elder Am i missing something? Comment by TG DW this and socket 6x 24stam gems for the immortal feeling Comment by Also great for a frost DK.
Just got it yesterday and put 3 solid sky sapphire 24 stam and it gives 93 stam and i now have 9. Comment by Sokur This is a very nice Feral Druid tanking mace. Quite a versatile weapon that is well worth the attempts to get it. It would be great for a tanking druid or dk.
Great for dpsing aswell if socketed differently. But that was just me. Just re-read my post I meant crit cap at 75percent, not haste. Thanks for your quick reply. With the lack of hit rating on the t10 gear what pieces are you looking at to fulfill the hit rating.
Kalon, Thank you very much for the work you have put into these lists. It really helps to put things into perspective for gearing. The questions I have now, which will probably become clear once more gear is obtainable - 1. For regemming to haste instead of crit, at what gear point do you actually hit the crit cap, and is it attainable without ilvl gear? For eventually pushing towards passive arp cap, I assume the first requirement is to have passive arp in nearly every slot on your character.
Thanks again for the help! Ah, Willow - sorry, I misunderstood. I'll go into that a bit more, but I did do an article recently on that the cat in the cap post which details some of it. It's really going to depend a lot on your trinket procs and your weapon enchant, but the important point is to note that most of the time, it's still okay to get some; it's just not as great as it might be.
Anon - as I said above, I'm likely going to go with hit on rings and maybe the cloak, and then possibly use hit food and some hit enchants depending. Precious is looking like it'll be a better enchant than agility right now at higher end gear levels. I'm not going to wear worse things to get hit capped though. Hit will be very valuable when you're getting closer to the arpen cap and the crit cap, but 'really valuable' doesn't mean 'get hit capped or fail' like it does for spellcasters.
Delane - those are all really good questions, and thanks for asking them. I'll probably have to go into those more in their own post, as they require a bit more work and explanation than works as a comment. But to quickly answer the questions: you can certainly hit the crit cap for white attacks see the above link with procs from trinkets and goose and debuffs using pre gear.
You can even hit it pre gear. Weights for arpen will change somewhat as you get more of it until you get , but for the most part it's not going to ever be so valuable that you want to forsake everything just to get it. For instance, it's not a good idea to use lower level gear just to get the arpen cap. My personal goal is to switch to arpen when I get at least arpen with gear and gemming.
Deathbringer's Will, Helkamr, Death's Choice would all make me swap to arpen. I suspect that if I don't get the trinket I want I'll swap around the time I get 4pT10, since all of that has arpen on it. I'm a bit curious what your plans are to get to the ArPen hardcap. You've mentioned Distant Land as being the best non-heroic weapon for cats, but it doesn't have even a whisper of ArPen on it.
Willowbear - I haven't quite figured that out. My gut feeling is that I won't be quite hitting the cap, but that's okay; it's still going to be more valuable provided I can get DBW. This isn't like casters where you have to hit the cap first and foremost; it's that arpen is more valuable as you get more of it.
But it's not so much more valuable that you should kill yourself getting it. My rational for Hersir's was the ArPen and Hit on it. But the difference between that and Distant Land is so great that I'm rethinking things. We just had DBW drop last week. We use a double suicide kings list and my best bidding number was near the top of the list. There was only a couple dps that could out bid me and I knew one wasn't interested.
But of course I lost my bid to the other, a fury warrior. It was a good loss though. She always tops our dps meters. I run with her in 10 mans too. So I don't know if I have missed something or if I am just crazy. We have 2 feral kitties in our guild on fail furnace I mean blood furnace, myself hornybulls and lilroche.
Now was have been doing an ongoing experiment on gemming agility versus arm penn. I have always been a fan or gemming for agililty and picking up the arm penn from gear. Prior to my glove upgrade to T I find that he has a greater burst dps first seconds then I do, but I always tend to finish above him on a pure dps fight with a higher sustained dps.
I am just curious as to what the dps numbers are across kitties on say a 25 normal Saurfang fight since there isn't a lot of moving required by melee. So my original intent when icc came out was to hit ArP hard cap ASAP, and next week i could have feasibly done it, I got both cryptmaker and distant land Not only am I losing tons of ArP from the staff, my hit situation is absolutely horrid now Especially if I want to grab the Noose in my belt slot to finish out the arp hard cap.
I'll get my t10 helm this week and replace Mask of Lethal Intent 82 hit rating. The point I'm trying to make is how bad is simply soft capping ArP? Though I realize GT is pretty poor now, I'm currently using Banner of Victory, and the 83 hit is a perfect replacement, while allowing me to push well above 2k agility My other trinket is DBW, so I imagine the dual procs would be huge burst as well. Can someone talk me out of this ludicrous idea?
Or support my theory? I have been doing a lot of number crunching as well trying to figure out a way to balance hit, exp, crit, agility, and arm penn.
I currently gem pure agility and have DBW and a 2 set T I have the frostbitten furr boots on me, but had the footpads of impending death crafted to make up for my expertise lost when I replace my helm.
I found I took a dps loss getting rid of the sets so I'm going to hold off on the helm for now and keep the footpads for my tank set. My gear choices and itemization is based on my thoughts to benefit both my dps set 25 mans and my tanking set 10 mans MT.
I am trying to keep a few cross spec pieces chest, shoulders, gloves. My plans as of now are to try to cap hit and expertise with some of the avaiable gear pieces. I'm going for a 4-set between shoulders, hands, helm, and legs. I'm going to try to get my hands on the chest from the gunship as it has a hell of a lot of hit rating and would be an awesome shared piece between tanking and dps set. With the toskks wrists, badge cloak and belt, frostbitten fur boots, distant land, wodin's lucky neck, exaulted ring, band of bone colossus and DBW I would be at exactly hit and about expertise.
Would be about arm penn and crit from gear alone and enchants no gems. I have these numbers written down somewhere, so if they are off it is because I am typing this off the top of my head.
Our main boomkin has quit wow, so I will be trying to hit the cap for hit in case we don't get a new one soon. I think once I get all the gear I want I will be balancing the arm penn and agility gems to keep close to the crit cap while still benefiting from arm penn.
I am hoping we get some of those drops this weeks and that our rogue and other feral back off of my stuff. Kind of sad when the most undergeared of the 3 me does the most dps. Just a side note, with the gear I have now, I do about 7. It is nice beating classes that just sit and dps and dont have to worry about brezng and innervating : I hope my rambling helps a little, now I'm sure there will be some arguments that I am wrong, but whatever.
What more can you ask from a lady. Dean - soft-capping ArPen can be more effective than hard capping it. It really depends on how much you have to sacrifice in order to get there. It's not some magical place where if you hit it you're going to be unstoppable or hugely more powerful than before.
That being said, the emphasis is not going to be on crit; crit is going to decrease significantly as you get closer to the white hit cap. AP also isn't so hot. What is hot is haste, and especially hit and expertise.
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