[Guide] Active Mitigation Hipsters - 5.4 DK Tanking

[ant13]

Hey guys, I would like some info/tips considering tank gearing for 5.4, cause I dont really have much time to step into ptr. I was playing 2H frost, until our tanks decided to quit/afk/etc. then I switched to tanking but I used my dps gear through out ToT, including some hcs (loved trolling dds on recount:P). My build is haste/crit heavy, and I didnt have much trouble at all. Now, that the new patch is underway, is it viable to start with that gear (we dont expect any tank recruit atm) or should I acquire actual tanking gear and reforge to some mastery?
Thanx in advance.

[Omertocracy]

Hey guys, I would like some info/tips considering tank gearing for 5.4, cause I dont really have much time to step into ptr. I was playing 2H frost, until our tanks decided to quit/afk/etc. then I switched to tanking but I used my dps gear through out ToT, including some hcs (loved trolling dds on recount:P). My build is haste/crit heavy, and I didnt have much trouble at all. Now, that the new patch is underway, is it viable to start with that gear (we dont expect any tank recruit atm) or should I acquire actual tanking gear and reforge to some mastery?
Thanx in advance.

Probably reforge some Mastery, at least for now. The tier16 pieces are all supremely well optimized for survivability (except the chest, but gotta have an offpiece somewhere amirite?) when you get those. I say acquire tanking gear when you can, but don't go way out of your way for it.

Recount trolling: Got in trouble with the GM last week for going "Grats to all the dps above the tank" while I was sitting at #1 on Jin'rok N because I couldn't make progression night.

Reniat: I just realized. Do the glasses on your Tauren (formerly Dwarf) mean you are the Active Mitigation Hipster this guide is named after?

[Hunter Extraordinaire]

How good is the T15 lfr 4 set? For tanks.

Currently I'm using 2 T14 + 2 T15 (all lfr) since I don't think the t15 4 set is very good, compared to 20sec reduction to vampiric blood.

Currently I'm only doing T14 normals and starting to slowly move into ToT normal (1/12)

Would it be better to get the stat upgrade, or keep the old tier set?

Thanks.

[Nyanmaru]

Since most of the tier 15 set is horribly itemized and the set bonus rather bad.... Nope, not worth it.

Meaning: Stat upgrades are good (offset/dps gear), but T15 pieces are bad.

[Omertocracy]

I have scoffed that 4p since I first saw it. It's what? 6x15=90 RP every minute? 3RSx.4=1.2DS/min from a 4p isn't worth the mastery loss.

[Hunter Extraordinaire]

Since most of the tier 15 set is horribly itemized and the set bonus rather bad.... Nope, not worth it.

Meaning: Stat upgrades are good (offset/dps gear), but T15 pieces are bad.

Thank you! Guess I'll get some 522's soon then...if stats are good

I have scoffed that 4p since I first saw it. It's what? 6x15=90 RP every minute? 3RSx.4=1.2DS/min from a 4p isn't worth the mastery loss.

Yeah, was quite surprised it went through as that...don't play the dk all that much, hadn't really noticed it till recently, should of had a buff, in5.3 at least.

Anyway, thanks to both of you

[Deleted]

I couldn't find a thread about tank help for DKs so I'd thought I'd ask here.

What could I do better and what am I doing straight out wrong.
Logs: http://www.worldoflogs.com/reports/rt-xaki739p9b28dkyw/
Armory: http://eu.battle.net/wow/en/characte...oyful/advanced (Yes, more or less all DPS gear but it's been keeping me alive quite well, but any tips on gearing and such is very much welcome as well.)

[Reniat]

The biggest thing that i see is cooldown usage. Sometimes you don't use CDs hardly at all, and there are a couple times that you use CDs re-actively instead of pro-actively. Look at your megaera kill. You can track when you bursted down by looking at your Will of the Necropolis proc. Only 1 WoTN in a fight is ok, but you didnt use IBF at all the entire fight and you used VB but not until AFTER you had dipped below 35%. You didnt proc purgatory so it obviously didn't kill you, but it's a place you can improve on. Always but especially when using DPS gear, you need to be aware of when your going to take a burst hit as best you can so you can use a cooldown to mitigate it. There are sometimes gaps in your Soul Reaper placement, which means you could have a bit more dmg output there. Outside of that there is nothing that sticks out in logs.

That's all I can really glean from logs at face value. Do your healers complain at all? Is your damage below what you expect? If you want a bit more help a video of you (from your point of view) will reveal a lot and will also let me help you with non-DK specific tanking stuff. If you have fraps/bandicam or you stream, that would be the next step.

[Deleted]

The biggest thing that i see is cooldown usage. Sometimes you don't use CDs hardly at all, and there are a couple times that you use CDs re-actively instead of pro-actively. Look at your megaera kill. You can track when you bursted down by looking at your Will of the Necropolis proc. Only 1 WoTN in a fight is ok, but you didnt use IBF at all the entire fight and you used VB but not until AFTER you had dipped below 35%. You didnt proc purgatory so it obviously didn't kill you, but it's a place you can improve on. Always but especially when using DPS gear, you need to be aware of when your going to take a burst hit as best you can so you can use a cooldown to mitigate it. There are sometimes gaps in your Soul Reaper placement, which means you could have a bit more dmg output there. Outside of that there is nothing that sticks out in logs.

That's all I can really glean from logs at face value. Do your healers complain at all? Is your damage below what you expect? If you want a bit more help a video of you (from your point of view) will reveal a lot and will also let me help you with non-DK specific tanking stuff. If you have fraps/bandicam or you stream, that would be the next step.

Yeah I do feel that I lack a bit in the planning of a fight with CDs so that's where I think I'll work on. And I haven't been told that I am all that hard to heal, though I have another set with a bit more mastery which I used when we were attempting Horridon HC.

I will try and get fraps and see what I can do on our next clear.

[Reniat]

in my opinion bandicam is better. if you're gonna buy one, get bandicam. just my 2 cents

[Riemu2k3]

Hi,

I have a question regarding DK Progress Tanking in its current state and in anticipation of 5.4. I haven't really be paying attention to the current DK Metagame because I've rerolled to Prot Paladin at the start of 5.3. However, content is clear and I'm trying to bring my Blood DK up to speed again.

Coincidentally I came across a twitch stream the other day showing a Blood Dk (13/13 HC) in 10man. At that time, he was reforging his gear so I was able to get a good look at his stats and his gear. And, he is completetly haste centered.

No idea if hes actively posting in this forum so I'm just going to like you the Armory:

http://eu.battle.net/wow/de/characte...nherz/advanced

He is running full haste gems / full dps set (including 4pc damage set) / full dmg enchants (even on shoulders/legs).

Apparently, he is doing very well with it - you can see his rankings here:

http://www.wow-heroes.com/character/...he/Aschenherz/


My Question now:

Is this the new Meta? Can you completetly ignore Mastery in a 10-man heroic progression environnement and get away with it?

Or is it not advisable / just for rankings when you have the content clear? However, he achieved his rankings a while back (megaera for example). So he appears to have been raiding like that since the beginning.

[Nyanmaru]

The answer to your question is easy: Ask your healers. Can your healers keep you up with a full haste getup while you are undergeared? If yes, go haste. If no, go mastery.

Haste makes you lose defense for offense. That's all there is to it.

[Enosh]

Capacitive Primal Diamond, and Legendary melee cloaks (Fen-Yu, Fury of Xuen, and Gong-Lu, Strength of Xuen) now have a 40% reduced chance to activate its effects for characters that are in a tanking specialization.

http://us.battle.net/wow/en/blog/101...t_14-8_14_2013

sooo still worth it to run with dps meta and cloak after that change?
well guess if you want every single bit of dps it will still do more dps

edit:

Indomitable Primal Diamond's effect now grants a 20% damage reduction to all damage taken (up from only physical damage), and its activation rate has been doubled.

holy shit

[Ikrekot]

Vengeance has received several changes.
Characters in a tanking specialization now generates 40% more threat.

They nerf damage from vengeance but buff threat generate in tank spec.

[Sukoidha]

http://us.battle.net/wow/en/blog/101...t_14-8_14_2013

sooo still worth it to run with dps meta and cloak after that change?
well guess if you want every single bit of dps it will still do more dps

edit:

holy shit

In regards to this, would it be better switching to the tanking meta once the patch drops?

[Deleted]

In regards to this, would it be better switching to the tanking meta once the patch drops?

Probably yes! The Tank meta will become damn strong, and its even strong now. For tanking in progression it will be the better choice. For farm oder dps race still the dps meta. Same for cloak. Proc rate for DPS is being nerfed for tanking classes. It's about 50% and really hard.

On PTR Purg and Cloak go both off at the same time. This makes the Tank Cloak bit weaker. So I go for progression
Tank meta, DPS Cloak, except for special mechanics or hard hitters. Then I'll go Tank Meta, Tank Cloak and for farm DPS Meta and DPS Cloak.

[pkm]

Can blood dks get away tanking normals with death striking after big attacks and reactivly using cds?

[Nillo]

Can blood dks get away tanking normals with death striking after big attacks and reactivly using cds?

You can but that would be extremely ineffective o0

[Omertocracy]

So next patch Plague Leech gives 2 runes. Is it gonna be tasty to glyph Outbreak, take Plague Leech, and use them together on cooldown for 30RP and 2 gcd for a DS?

[Deleted]

So next patch Plague Leech gives 2 runes. Is it gonna be tasty to glyph Outbreak, take Plague Leech, and use them together on cooldown for 30RP and 2 gcd for a DS?

That sounds pretty good. With riposte it will be really strong in CM or Addfights. Castsequencemacro and DS every 1-3 sec. Hopefully it will go off gcd for bloods.