[Guide] Active Mitigation Hipsters - 5.4 DK Tanking

[Reniat]

Im actually writing them up. I should have the ToT blood specific encounter guide up with all 12 normal and 5 heroic bosses (with more heroics as we progress on them) within the next day or two. I've got the outline written for most of them, it's just wrapping up the actual text. It won't take long, but I do need to finish some homework projects tonight before I finish those, which is why it might be tomorrow that the guide gets done.

So school hit me HARD after that. I've got a test today and then raid tonight but i PROMISE i will get on this after raid tonight.

[Valkner]

So I was just wondering if someone here might be willing to help me out a bit. I've been tanking on my DK for a little over two years now, never had too many problems, but recently I've kind of felt that I'm under-performing a bit. We've started on heroics in the last couple of weeks and I just want to make sure that I'm not doing anything glaringly wrong.

Here's the logs from our raid last night: http://www.worldoflogs.com/reports/9w2gpa0bh26ewhpr/

My character is Valkner on Draenor EU

I'm currently reforged for hit/exp soft cap mainly for the extra dps, at times I've even needed to go with str flask and food, and even used Fallen Crusader to help beat the enrage so not sure whether I can get away with dropping hit/exp for more mastery and avoidance. My gemmings a little bit all over the place at the moment as I was messing about with it last night.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

[Nyanmaru]

Just looking at your Jin'rokh kill
- timid usage of AMS over the 4:43 minutes (used only 3 times and gained only an average of 60 RP per use)
- some DS could have been timed better for more uptime but it's looking good overall
- minimum amount of blood charges wasted
- soul reaper usage seems a bit low (but that should be more of a concern for your DpS DK *g*)

Polish your skills and stay focused and you should be all good.

[Valkner]

Thanks for the input.

I was using AMS to avoid the application of Static Burst so we weren't having to tank swap as often, but yeah I probably could have used it a little bit more.

What are your thoughts on trinkets this tier? I mostly use my upgraded Shado Pan trinket + the new Shado Pan trinket, are there any that really stand out are is just personal preference?

[Reniat]

Added the first 4 normal and heroic bosses to the encounter guide. Have 2 more heroics and all the normals ready to go, but class in a few hours means sleep now, and i'll have those written up sometime tomorrow.

[Nillo]

Added the first 4 normal and heroic bosses to the encounter guide. Have 2 more heroics and all the normals ready to go, but class in a few hours means sleep now, and i'll have those written up sometime tomorrow.

Just a few notes about Tortos:
The Crystal can be hit without leaving melee range (I usually mark the area where that is possible before the fight)
Also the stomp is generally the main reason for the shield to drop off (with it dealing 100% of max hp) so I'd use IBF here (also prevents the stun) and VB (can be used every single time with t14 2p)

[Deleted]

So I was just wondering if someone here might be willing to help me out a bit. I've been tanking on my DK for a little over two years now, never had too many problems, but recently I've kind of felt that I'm under-performing a bit. We've started on heroics in the last couple of weeks and I just want to make sure that I'm not doing anything glaringly wrong.

Here's the logs from our raid last night: http://www.worldoflogs.com/reports/9w2gpa0bh26ewhpr/

My character is Valkner on Draenor EU

I'm currently reforged for hit/exp soft cap mainly for the extra dps, at times I've even needed to go with str flask and food, and even used Fallen Crusader to help beat the enrage so not sure whether I can get away with dropping hit/exp for more mastery and avoidance. My gemmings a little bit all over the place at the moment as I was messing about with it last night.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

I'm no expert but you could have used rune tap more than 5 times in the fight. I'm rubbish with Rune Tap too but since getting the 2 set I've put in a lot more effort with it.

Your diseases only had 81.5% uptime. It might be an item level difference, although I only have about 180 more strength than you, but my diseases ticked for about 30k average and yours were 25k. Did you reapply and try not to overwrite them when you had the buff from the pool? The DKDots addon is good for showing you disease strength so you can remember to reapply or not overwrite strong high vengeance/buffed diseases for as long as you can.

You also didn't use Army, I got 2 million damage from mine on that fight which probably could be improved.

[matthias9742]

Thanks for the update Reniat. Just a quick clarification from people that have done the fight recently. For Malakk AMS does NOT block the stacking debuff? I didn't really notice since we usually just do a tank swap before the stun goes off.

Also Gorefiend's grasp for the double grip makes DKs amazing for the council fight. Was able to keep shadow loa in the same spot long enough to have melee cleave murder it without needing a DPS swap by using Chillblains to Pestilence(RB)->grip->CoI->Gorefiend's I suppose you could use Asphyxiate instead but the snare/root feels like it buys more time than the stun.

Not sure if this fits but for tortos was thinking about swapping to Frost spec+BP+chillblains to kite bats. Is it worth doing over just staying as a tank and grabbing them? Was hoping to find someone on here that has tried both methods.

[Riemu2k3]

@Reniat:

Tortos: Recommend taking IBF glyph so you can IBF every 2nd? quake stomp (they are on a 40-45sec timer if i remember correctly) to negate the stun/dont drop your shield too much. Use Army/VB/BS for the others. Also, take dnd glyph and drop DnD underneath the boss in the tunnel path, so turtles are slowed before blood boil / warlock slow can reach them. Helps your warlock slow them in time. Glyphed AMS is great for every stomp so you dont take too much damage from the rockfall aoe and your healers/you have more time bringing up that shield again.

@Matthias9742: No, AMS does not block the stacking debuff on malakk. As for Tortos, you talking nhc oder heroic? Frost spec kiting with chillblains and blood presence is fine on tortos hc if you need to (like, when you have no monk and not the dmg/setup to kill them). You cant really tank them with a blood dk on hc - they'll destroy you. As for normal, killing is probably easier. But if you wanna practice kiting, its totally viable. But you wanna glyph for shifting presence then and also take dnd slow/gorefiends grasp. Glyph for IBF and ams aswell (reasons as states above in this post). Gorefiend to reset the adds if they come at you from all directions/front. You will need to switch to unholy presence in between bat spawns to have that extra movement speed (thats where shifting presences comes in). Also, run in frost spec but with tank gear, reforged for mastery and gemed for stamina. Stamina for the bonus shield power and mastery for howling blast damage.

@Reniat: Maybe you could add a DK-Kiting-Portion for Tortos HC?

[Kiqjaq]

The most damaging thing to you on this encounter is Frost King Malakk and his Frigid Assault, so save your cooldowns for that (DRW can help reduce the frequency you get stacks).

Unless they've changed it recently, DRW doesn't affect stacks at all. He still applies stacks if you Parry the melee, it's only when you Dodge that you avoid the application.

Here's a log of a Druid and Warrior taking a round of Frigid Assault
Notice how the Druid keeps dodging, and getting stacks one at a time or none at all, while the Warrior parries but still gets full stacks.
(do note when looking at logs that he dual wields, and both attacks strike at once, with 0, 1, or 2 Frigid Assaults following shortly after as appropriate)

[Deleted]

So, I am currently on Iron Qon 10NM with my guild and I thought I would start to optimize more my BDK as we are close to HM, and I was wondering : is the 4p T15 worth it? Because, I don't see where it could count a lot, I almost never lack RP and can gain some really fast most of the time, only way it could help me is when my raid is asking me to BR someone, but that seems very situationnal to me, is there any really good combination that we can use with the 4p set other than RS > BT to get runes or am I missing something ? Oh, and just in case, I never use Lichborne, I don't like playing with that talent at all.
Other thing I was wondering about :
Is it worth it to sometimes overheal with DS if the boss never goes through your shield (Thinking about Jin'Rokh 10NM where I could solo tank the boss just with that) or should I always wait until my shield goes off to DS again?

[blackspark]

The 4p T15 isn't really worth it since runic power comes by quite easily and with proper AMS soaking you'll be wasting resources, you should go for the 2p bonus using the tier head and shoulders while using better itemized off pieces for your other slots.

If you are sure that tank damage isn't dangerous for you in a particular boss, feel free to spam Death Strike or trade them for more Heart Strikes and more DPS. Otherwise you should try to build a shield while making sure you'll have runes for 1 or 2 Death Strikes when you need them.

[Deleted]

If I didn't have perfect offset pieces I'd probably consider using the t14 4p on some fights, purely for the added dps. For survivability purposes having two (possibly thunderforged) pieces with mastery is far better than the poorly itemized t14 pieces (t14 head+shoulders, and the rest offset with mastery, should be ideal), hence I'd never even consider taking the t14 tokens over any other spec.

[Revenantparadigm]

I’ve recently made the switch from dps to tanking to fill in for an AWOL tank. I’m still playing catch up gear wise so was hoping someone would be kind enough to provide some advice on how to best spend my valor.

When I cap this week I’ll have 1750 VP. I don’t need gloves, legs or cape. Accordingly I was looking at

- Replacing the 496 tanking ring from Vizier with the VP ring;
- Getting the 489 VP trinket (Lao Chin’s Liquid Courage)
- Getting the 522 Shado-Pan Trinket (Steadfast Talisman)

For reference I currently have the following trinkets: Vial of Dragon’s Blood, Relic of Niuzao, Stuff of Nightmares, Brutal Talisman of the Shado-Pan Assault.

Progression is 1/13H. Will be working on H Horridon or H Ji’Kun as our next progression kill.

Thanks!

[Deleted]

what im looking for is an addon that shows me specific debuffs on a fellow tank so i know when to pull aggro. to be honest id like it be in red letters, font 40 something right in the center of the screen that just screams pull now or else....im clumsy and i cant constantly check the other tank for debuffs and typing midfight is also kinda bad.

[Roc]

what im looking for is an addon that shows me specific debuffs on a fellow tank so i know when to pull aggro. to be honest id like it be in red letters, font 40 something right in the center of the screen that just screams pull now or else....im clumsy and i cant constantly check the other tank for debuffs and typing midfight is also kinda bad.

/focus

Pretty much any raid frame add-on that also displays your focus target, with debuffs, should suffice. I think even standard blizzard frames would do the trick. In addition, DBM usually can do an audio/visual warning when the current tank has a dangerous level of a particular debuff for each encounter. This combined with you having the other tank on focus should be more than enough.

[matthias9742]

is the datamined 200% RS a tooltip thing or we getting yet another ST DPS buff?

[Deleted]

is the datamined 200% RS a tooltip thing or we getting yet another ST DPS buff?

It's 200% atm so I'd assume a tooltip change.

[matthias9742]

It's 200% atm so I'd assume a tooltip change.

After being able to login finally our tooltip is already 200% for RS /boggle
Oh well, ill chalk it up to PTR oddity

[Deleted]

Hello.. my guild is progressing thru normal tot (havent had tries on the bird after maegra Jin-Kun? ) and in general i would like some stat advice for my char.. maybe gems/Reforges and so forth.

I am running on 630k ish HP and 180% stamina unbuffed (might be tad more tad less) and i am also hit/exp capped.
AND should it be ok to raid with rune of fallen crusader or stoneskin gargoyle/Swordshattering.. with my stats ?

ps. so i am asking to suggest reforges and maybe gem/enchant changes and general tips on gear.

Armory link: Search eu.battle.net Chaoskeeper (Dwarf Death Knight in Aszune ) since i cant post links yet.