Hard to get comfortable Tanking with DH

[Zorachus]

I bought LEGION last night, and created a Demon Hunter, and my God the intro level and zone is pretty freaking cool The starter zone is this bad ass zone, that looks like ShadowMoon Valley from BC but on steroids and meaner. I always play Tank classes, my main is a Paladin Tank, and second most played character is a DK Tank.

But playing a Demon Hunter Tank felt really strange, is hard to get comfortable with it. Feels sort of clunky, kind of like a Death Knight with the runes but different, and waiting for spells to refresh. At times I felt like I was waiting for which spell to use or be ready. Whereas my Paladin Tank is smooth as butter to play, it's one spell after another, and then rinse and repeat, and it all goes straightforward and very predictable, which I like. And the DK is super simple rotation wise for my Tank, single target is literally just a few spells.

Maybe the Demon Hunter Tanking will smooth out now with LEGION being live ? Will the Artifact help, or leveling up to 110, help out that clunkiness I feel, or the waiting for which spell to refresh or use ?

[Varmin]

They play fundamentally different. Demon Hunter builds up pain and spends it as well as manages some medium length cooldowns. Paladin has no resources and just spams a rotation of short cooldowns. DH is more similar to druid/warrior in that you have to build up a resource to use your abilities.

[shammypie]

I bought LEGION last night, and created a Demon Hunter, and my God the intro level and zone is pretty freaking cool The starter zone is this bad ass zone, that looks like ShadowMoon Valley from BC but on steroids and meaner. I always play Tank classes, my main is a Paladin Tank, and second most played character is a DK Tank.

But playing a Demon Hunter Tank felt really strange, is hard to get comfortable with it. Feels sort of clunky, kind of like a Death Knight with the runes but different, and waiting for spells to refresh. At times I felt like I was waiting for which spell to use or be ready. Whereas my Paladin Tank is smooth as butter to play, it's one spell after another, and then rinse and repeat, and it all goes straightforward and very predictable, which I like. And the DK is super simple rotation wise for my Tank, single target is literally just a few spells.

Maybe the Demon Hunter Tanking will smooth out now with LEGION being live ? Will the Artifact help, or leveling up to 110, help out that clunkiness I feel, or the waiting for which spell to refresh or use ?

look up munky's guide it will tell you the basics. Part of your own survivability is in self healing which starts exploding once you pick up the 15% fire damage leech. But the rest is basically a combination of Feed the Demon and and soul generation to keep your Demon Spikes up 100%. Now whether you go straight survivability, mix, or damage afterwords depends on your end game style. I'm assuming raiding but it also depends on the level in which you intend to play. Most high level guilds will want more damage out of you as the healers easily make up for it and mid to lower levels lean towards survivability.

Also to consider if the skill/survivability of the tank your with and your available external healer cds (e.g. pain suppression). If your in a less than mythic group then those CDs will probably be applied to you whenever the healer thinks your about to die (if your lucky lol). If you know the group well enough and have communication it shouldn't be an issue. This is also why more tanks go damage because they just use externals and suck with high damage output to lower the burn time.

Clunky Rotation
This I feel isn't as clunky as people to make it out to be as you have a default spam ability with shear. Furthermore tanking is more about resource management unless your in high end progression. That said you add some complexity to your rotation by the addition of new talents/artifacts. That said they are mostly long cds adding to the clunkiness. For instance adding Felblade gives interesting proc mechanics as well as increased pain generation; however, you can simplify back down to one button if you with wish with a priority cast macro (felblade up - felblade, if not shear). Furthermore the talent Spirit Bomb makes throwing souls at bosses/adds a rotation 15 sec thing for increased healing and some damage but you can also take a 1min burst version. Either way it does get better but it you can also set it up simple as ****.

[Zorachus]

They play fundamentally different. Demon Hunter builds up pain and spends it as well as manages some medium length cooldowns. Paladin has no resources and just spams a rotation of short cooldowns. DH is more similar to druid/warrior in that you have to build up a resource to use your abilities.

Ok thanks for the explanation. I have never played a Druid or Warrior, so that may be while I feel unfamiliar with this Tank style.

I am extremely comfortable with the Paladin Tank style, it plays so smooth, and fast paced I love it in LEGION. Even the DK Tank in LEGION, seems it's more streamlined, and very straightforward. This Demon Hunter Tank feels alien to me, and is very hard adjustment.

I miss the Blood DK Tank from Wrath. That setup was F'ing sweet, and the straightforward rotation the Blood DK had in Wrath was spot on perfect. Really hated how Blizzard changed it all in Cat, and never went back to the old way of straight rotations, with one spell after another, rinse and repeat. IMO was more fun, less stressful.

[zox2]

DH and DK play similarly in the sense that good timing is important for them. DKs have way more room for timings than DH though. I still have to play DH tank in any serious setting to get a feel for it...

[Maxie]

I feel fine on DH except against some extra nasty caster packs. Then again that's based on level 100 with less self healing than with artifact.

[Zorachus]

I am now Level 104, and have gotten much more comfortable with the DH Tank, and actually like it quite a bit. Plus the flying and gliding with the wings is just so much silly fun, my other Plate wearing Tanks feel heavy and slow and stuck in mud, compared to the light footed Demon Hunter.

The self healing is amazing on the DH's too. I am taking on elite monsters in the zones with like 10x more health than me, and beating them down with no fear of killed. Right now at Level 104 I have like 950k health, and I am solo'ing creatures with like 9,000k health with ease

Just curious come Level 110, and running Mythic dungeons, will I regret putting all this time into this class, instead of leaving my main Paladin Tank stuck at 100 still.

[Sovich]

I've done every mythic except the suramar ones as DH tank. They are not hard. I did not feel squishy

[Zorachus]

I've done every mythic except the suramar ones as DH tank. They are not hard. I did not feel squishy

Thanks for the feedback. I do like the DH Tank, is a fresh and fun class to play, plus the self healing is always a great spec to have.

I was thinking of using my '100 Boost' on a Warrior Tank, all these years I never once made a Warrior class, and wondered how they'd be at Tanking ? But I only have so much time in the day to play WoW. And right now leveling up my Demon Hunter Tank, and sort of playing my main Paladin Tank too on the side. Not sure I have the time to play three different classes and get them leveled up and geared up anytime soon.

Unless I do the DH Tank #1, and then the Warrior #2 starting off at Level 100 with the free boost.