[Guide] Active Mitigation Hipsters - 5.4 DK Tanking

[Nillo]

Well while gearing strategy doesn't matter that much in regards to defense you did need the extra dps to be able to compete so no avoidance wasn't all that viable.

Come 5.4 who knows, but I guess it'll still be a dps loss to use avoidance (partly because you won't have 100% uptime) and it still won't be as good as mastery for defense. Enough to make it worth considering using avoidance+x pieces but I'd still pick haste/mastery over double avoid.

[Deleted]

Since I'm going from backup tank to full time tanking, I was wondering what trinkets to use.
My guild is very casual (6/12) and will only be doing 10m normal.
I myself outgear the content already (ilvl 532) and I'm planning to reforge/regem my gear to get +-160% mastery unbuffed and the rest into haste.

So which trinkets are best used to boost my dps out of these:
- 530 Brutal Talisman of the Shado-Pan Assault
- 530 Spark of Zandalar
- 510 Fabled Feather of Ji-Kun (could see a 522 soon, but already too much hit though)
- 502 Primordius' Talisman of Rage

[Deleted]

Sorry to interrupt the flow of conversation but I gotta ask something fast.

I've been tanking ToT HC on my Protadin main so far (you can check'em out in my sig) but now we're doing some alt runs to pass time, since our main runs have been severely gimped by people going on vacation and shit (we're a mostly F&F guild) so I decided to give my brand new DK tank a chance.

Last night we killed the 4 bosses in normal mode, with me starting with only 471 ilvl or so, and it went ok, I guess. I got a bunch of loot in the meanwhile and I was checking some threads and, apparently, haste is also cool for 10man and shit.

What I was wondering is, considering my iLvl, and knowing I already have tanking exp in this tier (Even if in another class) should I follow the haste build?

If so, would any of you be so kind to approve/improve my AskMrRobot weights?

Here's my DK's armory: http://eu.battle.net/wow/en/characte...6tunn/advanced

Here's the weights I came up with and would ask improvements on:

Hit (7.5%): 2
Stamina: 1.4
Exp (7.5): 1.3
Mastery: 1.35
Haste: 1.3
Strength: 1.1
Armor: 0.8
Exp (15%): 0.4
Dodge/Parry: 0.3
Crit: 0.9

[Goil]

I would stick with Mastery and Stamina for a until you manage to get a little bit more gear behind you. Once you get the gear it is just a case of balancing out Mastery and Haste to your playstyle. I From what I have found, gemming for mastery and reforging for haste suits me fine.

[Deleted]

I would stick with Mastery and Stamina for a until you manage to get a little bit more gear behind you. Once you get the gear it is just a case of balancing out Mastery and Haste to your playstyle. I From what I have found, gemming for mastery and reforging for haste suits me fine.

I agree with what Goil said above in that you should get a bit more EH and Mastery for now.

....
Hit (7.5%): 2
Stamina: 1.4
Exp (7.5): 1.3
Mastery: 1.35
Haste: 1.3
Strength: 1.1
Armor: 0.8
Exp (15%): 0.4
Dodge/Parry: 0.3
Crit: 0.9

On the otherhand, here are the stat weights I use on AMR (taking it with a pinch of salt as always):
Hit to 7.5%: 1.4
Exp to 7.5%: 1.4
Haste: 1.2
Mastery: 1.2
Dodge: 1
Parry: 1
Stamina: 0.9
Strength: 0.9

My armory

[Deleted]

Why do you keep Dodge/Parry with 1 weight?

And shouldn't exp be a bit lower than hit since DS can't be parried?

[Nillo]

1)Why do you keep Dodge/Parry with 1 weight?

2) And shouldn't exp be a bit lower than hit since DS can't be parried?

1) Agreed - makes no sense whatsoever
2) Unless you're in sub 500 gear and your gear is exclusively D+P there should be no difference, because you'll be able to cap both of them easily.

- - - Updated - - -

My armory

Why the hell are you using parry gems?

[Deleted]

Was initially Mastery>Avoidance, and I'm shifting slowly towards Haste.
Never said I was finished

What would you use for Red slots where you want the socket bonus? (others can be pure Haste)

[Deleted]

Was initially Mastery>Avoidance, and I'm shifting slowly towards Haste.
Never said I was finished

What would you use for Red slots where you want the socket bonus? (others can be pure Haste)

On my Paladin I usually pick Fierce gems (Str + Haste), though you also have Exp + Haste and whatnot. There's also alternatives that have Mastery instead of Haste.

[Judic]

Hello,

I skimmed through a bunch of the posts but didn't see the answer I was looking for and I'm sorry if it has been said before. I am just now starting 10m heroic raiding as we killed Lei Shen for the first time last week. At what mastery level do people switch to haste? I am currently at around 160% mastery. Here is my armory http://us.battle.net/wow/en/characte...Judic/advanced . Our DPS is pretty good for the most part so I don't think we'll have to much of an issue. We are going to run 2 healers for heroics on most fights.

Thanks in advance to any advice you can give me!

[Deleted]

Hello,

I skimmed through a bunch of the posts but didn't see the answer I was looking for and I'm sorry if it has been said before. I am just now starting 10m heroic raiding as we killed Lei Shen for the first time last week. At what mastery level do people switch to haste? I am currently at around 160% mastery. Here is my armory http://us.battle.net/wow/en/characte...Judic/advanced . Our DPS is pretty good for the most part so I don't think we'll have to much of an issue. We are going to run 2 healers for heroics on most fights.

Thanks in advance to any advice you can give me!

There is no set Mastery level. If you are tanking comfortably start switching slowly with reforges or gemming. It's a personal choice really.

It's the same logic as Reniat mentioned below about switching to Crit. It's all about how you feel comfortable and not a set level.

depends on you. I know people who tank with 13k haste, and i know people who go to 10k and then go into crit. It depends on when YOU are GCD capped, which could be different from when the next guy is GCD capped. Things like latency, framerate, how good you are at resource management, all affect when you are gcd capped. If you feel you are not able to use all your resources effectively in the 1s GCD you have, then you should look into dropping your haste for crit.

If you get the chance you can easily start replacing your gear that have Dodge and Parry on them.... and get Haste/Mastery/Hit/Exp/(maybe even Crit) gear instead.

[Sukoidha]

We started the Tier late, and we are very casual guild, only raid 2 nights a week for 3 hours a night, but we are starting to progress on Heroics, and the next one that we have chosen is Horridon, because I feel that we have the gear for it. Our Healing and DPS is very strong for what we are doing.
Our Composition is this:
Tanks: DK, Guardian Druid
DPS: BM Hunter, Boomkin, Shadow Priest, Aff Warlock, Elemental Shaman and a Frost DK.
Heals: Disc Priest and Holy Paladin.
We two heal all the fights and I am hoping to continue it for Heroic Horridon.
http://us.battle.net/wow/en/characte...tieas/advanced this is my charcter and I have bene going the full Mastery spec for fights but I was wondering if I could change my gems to all Haste as to help with Raid DPS as we are starting with Heroics. Would doing that, gimp the raid for Heroic Horridon? Or would it still be able to be ok? I would like to start doing more dps to help the raid out so the fights are downed faster. I do not have a problem with damage intake during the normals or Heroic Jinrohk, so thats what got me thinking in going full haste for gems.
Any help is appreciated and any criticism about my charc is also welcome, as I can only improve on what I am doing.

[Ikrekot]

Try get tanking trinket from Ji'kun for expertise and spark for haste. Going in to 15% expertise isn't good as DK but it isn't bad too. It will increase your dps and threat.

[Deleted]

Hey guys... yes I do know that I'm a little behind in gear, since I just hit 90 on my Death Knight a few days ago. I've been reading up on guides and stuff, and I believe I have the most basics down. However, I'm in the lucky situation that I've aquired enough valor points to pick my first item from the shado-pan assault place.... here's a link to my armor profile: http://eu.battle.net/wow/en/characte...iroth/advanced

I do realise that my items are a bit of a mess at the moment, both sporting PvP items, and having all kinds of gems... this is because I'm getting help gaining conquest points for 5/5 pvp set and offset items, which will boost my hp and become temp. gear till I can get better.

Noooow.... to the question really.... should I go for the brutal talisman or the steadfast?? I understand the differences between the two, but which one is a safe choice? I'll be doing mostly LFR, and some soloing old content, and perhaps challenge modes. No raiding at this point. (maybe if I get gear though)

Thanks in advance!

[Nyanmaru]

Hey guys... yes I do know that I'm a little behind in gear, since I just hit 90 on my Death Knight a few days ago. I've been reading up on guides and stuff, and I believe I have the most basics down. However, I'm in the lucky situation that I've aquired enough valor points to pick my first item from the shado-pan assault place.... here's a link to my armor profile: http://eu.battle.net/wow/en/characte...iroth/advanced

I do realise that my items are a bit of a mess at the moment, both sporting PvP items, and having all kinds of gems... this is because I'm getting help gaining conquest points for 5/5 pvp set and offset items, which will boost my hp and become temp. gear till I can get better.

Noooow.... to the question really.... should I go for the brutal talisman or the steadfast?? I understand the differences between the two, but which one is a safe choice? I'll be doing mostly LFR, and some soloing old content, and perhaps challenge modes. No raiding at this point. (maybe if I get gear though)

Thanks in advance!

Brutal Talisman has potential uses as DpS and Tank, Steadfast is purely used for tanking. (or well, it can be used for DpS but it's just a bit of mastery and the proc is wasted)

Which one is a safe choice? The one that fits into your vision of gearing yourself.

[Lonefighter]

[QUOTE=Asheriah;18172677]On like... three fights every expansion, yeah.

on just 3 fights? lol some good crack ur smoking. i went threw my head and only fight that ams was useless was tortos. all the other fights have some magical u can negate or just get free runic power from. first boss guess u wouldn't need the glyph but when negating static burst u get bout 60+ free runic and many other fights u can stop from receiving a debuff.

[Dahfak]

Pretty nice guide, except that AMZ is lot better than the other two, since most of the fights are magic damage based. I'd pick AMZ.

[Deleted]

on just 3 fights? lol some good crack ur smoking. i went threw my head and only fight that ams was useless was tortos. all the other fights have some magical u can negate or just get free runic power from. first boss guess u wouldn't need the glyph but when negating static burst u get bout 60+ free runic and many other fights u can stop from receiving a debuff.

Yeah, I was talking about AMZ, not AMS.

Who's smoking what again?

[Enosh]

i went threw my head and only fight that ams was useless was tortos

you mean the "every ~45s magic dmg" fight?

[Nillo]

Pretty nice guide, except that AMZ is lot better than the other two, since most of the fights are magic damage based. I'd pick AMZ.

No it's not.