1. #1

    Coming back to WoW- new Blood DK needs some advice

    Let me start with some backround info, I played Wow from Vanilla to Cata's launch, and quit after I cleared the first tier of raids on regular; so I've been out of the game for a while. I played only a tankadin or healadin- but I wanted to try something new.

    I have read all the guides, am fairly familiar with the theorycrafting and rotation, but what I'm here for is any tips on blood DK tanking currently.

    Is it an acceptable tank currently? Will I be forced into trash tanking, i.e. tankadins in TBC? And I have never played with LFR, should I grind instances for full heroic blues and jump in a certain raid first? Or just get the minimum ilvl and just jump into the max content?

    Sorry for the dumb questions, I'll probably have more but this is just a start.

    Edit: one more question: If there was one thing you guys knew @ 85 (where I am at right now)- what would you tell me to do while getting to 90 and gearing up?

  2. #2
    Quote Originally Posted by Boomcats View Post
    Let me start with some backround info, I played Wow from Vanilla to Cata's launch, and quit after I cleared the first tier of raids on regular; so I've been out of the game for a while. I played only a tankadin or healadin- but I wanted to try something new.

    I have read all the guides, am fairly familiar with the theorycrafting and rotation, but what I'm here for is any tips on blood DK tanking currently.

    Is it an acceptable tank currently? Will I be forced into trash tanking, i.e. tankadins in TBC?
    Tank balance is actually really good right now. Any tanking class can be a main tank with little to no disadvantages (not counting fight specific balances. looking at you garajal). How well you play matters drastically more than which class you are, which is good. There will always be fights that favor one tank or the next, but the balance is much better than it has been in the past.

    Quote Originally Posted by Boomcats View Post
    And I have never played with LFR, should I grind instances for full heroic blues and jump in a certain raid first? Or just get the minimum ilvl and just jump into the max content?
    It all depends on how well you play the class. The more gear you have the easier it will be, so if you aren't comfortable with blood quite yet get a bit more gear. If you feel good with how blood feels at 90 and are doing fine in heroic go ahead and do it. Reading up on the fights will matter more than your gear. Don't be that tank to goes in there with no idea how the fights work.

  3. #3
    Field Marshal Halland's Avatar
    10+ Year Old Account
    Join Date
    Apr 2012
    Location
    New Mexico
    Posts
    70
    The biggest thing is to not get caught with your pants down with no mitigation up for long periods of time. DKs are very prone to spike damage, so you need to know when to pop them CDs. There's some good information in this thread. Reniat shows a log where the DK in question definitely got caught with their pants down and took some large spikes, and later I linked a log where the DK in question showed improvement in CD timing.

  4. #4
    Great information, 2 more stupid questions though.

    I tried some regular instances and found myself sitting on runes because I was waiting to death strike for a good chunk of health restored. You guys don’t spam it right? But it shouldn’t ever sit off CD for a long time? I’m just trying to get a feel for a medium here.

    Last one, need a couple of good addon’s for keeping track of death strike and available CD’s. Right now I use DBM, Omen, Grid, and a some other misc stuff that isn’t relevant to tanking (cosmetic stuff). What do you guys use?

  5. #5
    Quote Originally Posted by Boomcats View Post
    Great information, 2 more stupid questions though.

    I tried some regular instances and found myself sitting on runes because I was waiting to death strike for a good chunk of health restored. You guys don’t spam it right? But it shouldn’t ever sit off CD for a long time? I’m just trying to get a feel for a medium here.

    Last one, need a couple of good addon’s for keeping track of death strike and available CD’s. Right now I use DBM, Omen, Grid, and a some other misc stuff that isn’t relevant to tanking (cosmetic stuff). What do you guys use?
    For the addons part: I'm using TellMeWhen, probaly one of the best tracking out there, totally costumoizable and so on, you can track anything with it.

    For the DS: Im waiting for the last runes to have <2 seconds from recharge, but in dungeons i dont care it at all since there are litteraly no damage.

  6. #6
    MV was made to be done in blues. I think a couple of purples would be nice for HOF, but honestly I never felt undergeared in MV. The only difference between wearing blues and having better gear is how lazy more gear makes you.

    The waiting on DS thing is useful for when you know spike damage is incoming. Most major boss abilities have a timer on DBM and you can sit on it for a bit for that. Also, you can spec into Blood Tap if you want to use your DS as more of a cooldown.

    As far as addon's, I use blood shield tracker, it's pretty much mandatory for DK's. I also really like GTFO simply because with so many things to keep track of it's nice to have an audible warning when your screwing up. I use Magic Runes at the moment for rune tracking, and i have my action bars configured with bartender, inline aura, and omnicc for CD tracking. I used to use fortexorcist for CD tracking in cata but haven't configured it for pandaria. I think CLCDK also has some pretty good CD tracking tools but I don't recall if i have them turned on.

    Also, I don't know how well your geared, but if you want to practice tanking in 5 mans I suggest going in all dps gear. Not for dps reasons though, but mainly because at least you might take enough damange and get spiked so that it forces you to get used to using cooldowns. Your other options for getting used to cooldown usage would be to solo some difficult content, like 25man marrow or cata 5 man heroics. PVP is also a useful for providing "omg save me jebus" moments that will force you to think of your cooldowns.
    The more of my behavior you accept, the less you will have to forgive.

  7. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by Boomcats View Post
    Great information, 2 more stupid questions though.

    I tried some regular instances and found myself sitting on runes because I was waiting to death strike for a good chunk of health restored. You guys don’t spam it right? But it shouldn’t ever sit off CD for a long time? I’m just trying to get a feel for a medium here.*

    Last one, need a couple of good addon’s for keeping track of death strike and available CD’s. Right now I use DBM, Omen, Grid, and a some other misc stuff that isn’t relevant to tanking (cosmetic stuff). What do you guys use?**
    *in 5-mans, shotgunning is the way to go, they really don't hit hard enough to time things. if the healer is paying attention i personally don't even regularly use Death Runes for Death Strikes, using them on blood boil/heart strikes instead, depending on how many i pulled and only really DS when i have 5 stacks of Scent of Blood

    **BloodshieldTracker and Magic Runes are the tracking addons i use. as long as BST is green, you'll get more than the min DS heal/shield, and shows what your current shield is, though with it stacking since forever ago that's not really a big deal.

  8. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by hyperionx View Post
    Also, I don't know how well your geared, but if you want to practice tanking in 5 mans I suggest going in all dps gear. Not for dps reasons though, but mainly because at least you might take enough damange and get spiked so that it forces you to get used to using cooldowns. Your other options for getting used to cooldown usage would be to solo some difficult content, like 25man marrow or cata 5 man heroics. PVP is also a useful for providing "omg save me jebus" moments that will force you to think of your cooldowns.
    Seconding this, especially the soloing stuff. Try to take on some harder to solo bosses, it forces you to learn how to keep yourself alive. Not sure what would be a good test right now, perhaps patchwerk 25.

  9. #9
    Quote Originally Posted by Boomcats View Post
    Great information, 2 more stupid questions though.

    I tried some regular instances and found myself sitting on runes because I was waiting to death strike for a good chunk of health restored. You guys don’t spam it right? But it shouldn’t ever sit off CD for a long time? I’m just trying to get a feel for a medium here.

    Last one, need a couple of good addon’s for keeping track of death strike and available CD’s. Right now I use DBM, Omen, Grid, and a some other misc stuff that isn’t relevant to tanking (cosmetic stuff). What do you guys use?
    with addons i use X-perl Unit frames because it has a nice large rune frame so i can clearly see my rune, i have recount for damage just so i can yell at my DPS when they are lacking, Deadly Boss Mods and i have mik Scrolling Battle Text which tels me how much damage and healz im taking and how much damage im doing.

    With your rune problem i dont really wait to use DS unless i know there is massive damage incomming.

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •