| [ Classes] DK best TANK spec I geared my hunter and got bored, so I rolled a DK. I have a shaman in the mid 70's that I've healed with since vanilla, so I decided to try tanking.
I studied up on warrior and pally tanking during BC, but DK's are obviously a bit different not having a shield and all. I figure their most important stats must be dodge and parry followed by defense and stamina. How important is hit and expertise to a tank? Should I get it capped before moving onto other stats? Agility for extra armor over strength? (I know str contributes to block, but they don't have shields so no block right?)
As I level, I'm using a blood heavy spec to heal myself while tanking. My build - »wowdata.getbuffed.com/talentplan···z015001y
I hear that unholy is the level 80 tanking build. It always seemed like it would be frost to me.
Are there any DK tanks out there that can give me some advice on stat priority (gear, gems, enchants) and build?
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 ArchivisYour DaddyPremium
join:2001-11-26
Earth
kudos:17 | Don't we already have like 4 of these threads?
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I melt faces. |
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 awesomePremium
join:2008-03-03
Reedsville, OH | reply to Graytooth13
Eh, your build is kind of all over the place.
Having never tanked blood, I'd probably go with something more like this.
»wowdata.getbuffed.com/talentplan···05z005yd at 65.
Shooting for »wowdata.getbuffed.com/talentplan···z0351y00 at 80.
Anyone who has experience feel free to correct me though. Just seems like a stronger build to me. Keep in mind those trees are changing a lot after the patch.
Stats: You want STAM & STR & DEF. After that parry. Then you can start worrying about the benefits of Agility. It isn't want of your primary stats though.
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»wheresmedrink.wordpress.com |
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| reply to Archivis
said by Archivis:Don't we already have like 4 of these threads? No! They're all DK DPS or DK are OP threads.
said by awesome:Having never tanked blood, I'd probably go with something more like this. »wowdata.getbuffed.com/talentplan···05z005yd at 65. I can see ditching your self healing talents at 80 because you can expect your healers to be up to par. When leveling it's harder to find good heals which is why I chose blood.
Anyway, I do plan to respec to something more plausible at 80.
What's up with str and why is it such a benefit to tanking? Is it just extra dps to improve threat? |
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awesomePremium
join:2008-03-03
Reedsville, OH | You also get Parry from STR. |
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| reply to Graytooth13
I once saw a DK tank another DK. It was wild.
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»www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2008/8/8/ |
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 KrisnatharokCaveat EmptorPremium
join:2009-02-11
Earth Orbit
kudos:3
 ·Comcast
| reply to Graytooth13
I've heard frost is the best tanking spec (lichborne, unbreakable armor, etc.), though I've never tanked extensively (I'm deep and heavy blood dps). When I tank I just throw on a different set of gear, I don't bother respeccing or re-glyphing. I still top dps charts too.
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Violence has resolved more conflicts than anything else. The contrary opinion that violence doesn't solve anything is merely wishful thinking at its worst. |
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| frost or unholy.... 1 is AoE and 1 is more of a cc/single tgt tank... |
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uvray
join:2008-08-15
Fredericton, NB | reply to Graytooth13
Here's my unholy tanking build: »chardev.org/?t=dk,1u2,a352,16,92···11,1jlb6
It has lichborne in it, but after 3.1 it'll be next to useless as the 25% miss chance is getting removed. A few points in unholy can be rearranged on preference (gargoyle, master of ghouls, dirge, etc...) but obviously anything increasing your AoE dmg is essential to hold threat.
IMO, stam and str are the 2 key stats and after you get 541 def rating, work on parry then dodge. |
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| 5/5/5 and then fill a tree as you please, hey presto, tank spec!  |
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| reply to Graytooth13
said by Graytooth13: I studied up on warrior and pally tanking during BC, but DK's are obviously a bit different not having a shield and all. I figure their most important stats must be dodge and parry followed by defense and stamina. How important is hit and expertise to a tank? Should I get it capped before moving onto other stats? Agility for extra armor over strength? (I know str contributes to block, but they don't have shields so no block right?) As I level, I'm using a blood heavy spec to heal myself while tanking. My build - » wowdata.getbuffed.com/talentplan···z015001y I hear that unholy is the level 80 tanking build. It always seemed like it would be frost to me. Are there any DK tanks out there that can give me some advice on stat priority (gear, gems, enchants) and build? First off, Def is more important than anything else until you cap. Then you would want to have a healthy mix of stam vs dodge/parry. Also parry is still "broken" so you gain more of a benefit from stacking dodge or dodge/stam gems. Every spec can tank, it just depends on what you want to do. Blood = Highest Single Target threat Frost = Highest mitigation through the use of cooldowns like UBA and LB Unholy = Highest Aoe threat
Now all this being said, any spec can AOE tank and any spec can MT but some are a little better than others. Picks your play style and have fun with it.
Hit/expertise is ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT THINGS FOR DEATH KNIGHT TANKS. Expertise give more of a benefit than hit does in the threat generation department. Melee hit cap = 8% or 265 hit rating spell hit cap = 17% expertise soft cap = 6.5% or 26 expertise
With 3.1 looming over our heads, Blood tanking is receiving a buff to its avoidance, Unholy is receiving a buff to its Aoe damage and frost is receiving a slight nerf to their avoidance. Honestly I run 7/53/11 right now which works for me. I will probably run a similar spec when 3.1 hits because I just don't use my CDs that much anyways. |
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 NOCManMacChatterPremium
join:2004-09-30
Colorado Springs, CO | reply to Graytooth13
It all depends.
I do not like Unholy because the rotations are clunky at best.
Blood needs setup time to get any threat for AOE pulls and lacks any good mitigation past the extra health and other heals.
Frost is where the core mitigation abilities lie. You have lichborne, frigid dreadplate, frost aura, acclimitazion, and howling blast for great AOE..
However Dk's are gear dependent for great tanking. We'll get nerfed in 3.1, but I still believe we will be one of the better tanks.
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uvray
join:2008-08-15
Fredericton, NB | said by NOCMan:It all depends. I do not like Unholy because the rotations are clunky at best. Blood needs setup time to get any threat for AOE pulls and lacks any good mitigation past the extra health and other heals. Frost is where the core mitigation abilities lie. You have lichborne, frigid dreadplate, frost aura, acclimitazion, and howling blast for great AOE.. However Dk's are gear dependent for great tanking. We'll get nerfed in 3.1, but I still believe we will be one of the better tanks. Clunky? For AoE tanking trash or single target bosses? Either way, I have a hard time seeing the "clunk"
Single - IT, PS, BS, BS, SS, UB, runic dump
AoE -DnD, DG, IT, PS, Pest, UB, BB, runic dump
Are you saying that it gets troublesome after the initial sequence? I've found that even with extremely high DPS and my moderate gear, I can face roll after the opener in any encounter. |
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| reply to Graytooth13
I tank in a 54/5/12 and really like it. Blood spec doesn't have as much mitigation as frost but it gives a few extra bonuses for tanking like Blood Aura for raid members to heal themselves, Improved Rune Tap for healing your party (I've crit healed myself for 16k which is a very nice os button to have), and Mark of Blood which is nice to throw on a boss (the way it works if my health is 35k each hit on me heals me for 1.4k). As for getting aggro, not really a problem, even on multiple trash pulls. Only time I've had problems were when people were being stupid and trying to get aggro. |
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| I am currently specced Unholy now and i think that Unholy Blight is probably my best friend with Dirge and Wondering Plague helps as well, I hear that unholy blight will be moved more than half way up the tree It is an amazing tanking tool for constant TPS withought even attacking, So i imagine we will see many more Unholy DK tanks come 3.1 |
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ArchivisYour DaddyPremium
join:2001-11-26
Earth
kudos:17 | Unholy Blight and Gargoyle are trading places. |
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KrisnatharokCaveat EmptorPremium
join:2009-02-11
Earth Orbit
kudos:3 Reviews:
·Comcast
| said by Archivis:Unholy Blight and Gargoyle are trading places. Arch, what are your thoughts on tanking after 3.1? With the loss of parry bone shield might be harder to keep up, but Lichborne is losing its ability as a tanking CD. It seems it's getting plain harder, although Frost presence is getting buffed.
Will all serious tanks be frost due to the added AoE utility of non-tree-dependent spells (blood boil)? What are your thoughts on that? |
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| reply to Graytooth13
»www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/cla···nts.html
^Imho that is the best heroic/trash tanking spec^
its amazing because i can hold aggro with 3 ppl over 3k deeps in a heroic just popping DnD every CD cause of all the bonus AP and then Impurity (spells recieve 25% of AP)
»www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/cla···nts.html
^this is my boss spec(without a shammy)^
»www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/cla···nts.html
^this is my boss spec(with a shammy)^
i just cycle through 1min CDs(besides Unb. Ar. cause i dont wanna screw my rotation up) and trinkets
And as far as 3.1 is concerned, im happy theyre making it harder. I positively hate the fact that i can sleep through a 10man boss that doesnt require me to move. Ill post my talent build if/when 3.1 ever comes out  |
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KrisnatharokCaveat EmptorPremium
join:2009-02-11
Earth Orbit
kudos:3 Reviews:
·Comcast
| How do you think 3.1 is changing things? Frost is now a reduction to all damage instead of just magic/physical (forget which). Lichborne is losing its usefulness to a tank. The parry nerf means it will be even harder for an Unholy DK to keep bone shield up, even with 6 charges. Will frost be the better tanking spec now?
I'd check out your builds but I'm at work. Check out getbuffed.com for a 3.0.9 talent calculator that isn't blocked for me. :P
I got my Titansteel Destroyer last night gifted for free to me by a friend. That was a MAJOR FTW! |
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| reply to Graytooth13
After trying strait frost for tanking i went to this build about a month ago.
»www.wowarmory.com/character-tale···=Wymoren
its been working well for me aside from minor agro probs, mainly with rogues pulling it off me. I have tanked 10 man naxx and 10/25 OS with no probs. (other than rogues pulling agro) |
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