challenge modes as dk

[Schizoide]

Frost isn't easier, it's just better at burst AE than unholy. Unholy AE performs better with high-health adds. But challenge modes are timed, so slower AE is not optimal.

[Deleted]

Hey guys, just wanted to say we've finished CMs. I've tanked all of them and we had no problem with brewery. It took us 3 pulls total to clean and we had about 30 seconds left on the timer. Overall, while Blood moves too slow to be really competitive if you're aiming for best server times, I believe if you "just" want gold it may actually be the best tank available. Army trivialises so many pulls over the 9 instances is crazy. Anyway thanks for the help!!

[Deleted]

If i want to do chalenge modes what are the stat prios as unholy and 2 handed frost ? hatse>crit>mastery ?

[Deleted]

I did CMs twice, once as Blood and the second time as DD, both specs. Tried Frost at first but I had way better results as Unholy. Part of the reason may be that Unholy is just the spec I'm best at, and generally there is no problem in bringing a DK DD of any spec with you as gold is very doable. Compared to other melee DKs even are pretty strong.

Still, the "best" spec for CMs is Blood simply because you don't have to defend your spot against things like EleShaman or FrostMage, and amongst tanks Blood is in a very strong position, generally one of the easiest tanks to keep alive when played well while also dealing quite a lot of damage.

[Mormolyce]

If you want to get 9/9 gold, go Blood in pretty much any gear. Just make sure you have a non-legendary meta gem in your helm, and preferably lots of sockets. Talent Remorseless Winter, unglyph Army, glyph your Brez. That's about it, you will get groups very easily and if you know how to use your abilities and know the strats for each CM you will have no problems, DKs are arguably the best tanks for CMs at least for getting golds.

Getting realm best times is another story, you need BiS gear (basically, the most sockets possible) and DKs are not ideal for anything other than SM and maybe Scholo (for Control Undead), simply because Brewmaster tanks put out ridiculous DPS with high vengeance. I don't think the DPS DK specs are much better. If your realm is competitive getting times can be very hard.

I will say that Unholy is probably the least viable choice, and should likely be avoided if you have the choice you should go frost. Having that pet out can cause issues w/ invis pots if you aren't careful and aren't on top of dismissing him, and CMs require on-demand aoe burst which unholy is fairly terrible at.

I'd say Blood >= Frost >>>>>>>>>>>>>> Unholy for CMs

Frost isn't terrible, but all melee are suboptimal for CMs. It is significantly harder to get a group if you're melee, except for a few where having a DK really helps.

Just to be clear: any spec CAN get gold, but you're not going to get a lot of invites if you're a spec that isn't one of the ones people look for for CMs, ie:

Tank - BrM Monk or Blood DK
Heal - Resto Druid or Disc Priest
DPS - Ele Sham (like, seriously), Frost Mage, Destro Lock, SV Hunter

Unfortunately Rogues get the shitty end of the stick, being not only not desired but melee/melee/melee. Also Warriors aren't great, Arms does great DPS but it's melee, Prot is not the best choice for a tank. Paladins often go Holy to get a slot as Ret is pretty bad in CMs. I personally did it as Prot, I thought it was actually pretty good but it's no DK/Monk.

I HAVE gotten golds with Arms warriors, frost DKs and even ret pallies but they are not in great demand.

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Frost isn't easier, it's just better at burst AE than unholy. Unholy AE performs better with high-health adds. But challenge modes are timed, so slower AE is not optimal.

Yeah it is completely about burst because if the adds aren't dead when your stun chain wears off, you're in trouble.

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Okay, the next of many problems to come: Temple of the Jade Serpent
What we do:
- Pull all trash before the first boss together and engage the boss when the trash won't live too long
- use invis Pots on thrash before the second boss (we tried both using it before and after crossing the bridge)
- starting the 3rd boss while fighting the trash
- CC one of the 3 Sha in front of the final boss

We got about 4 mins left after killing the Jade Serpent,
but the last trashpack and the bosses phases break us, we lost with something like 10 seconds over gold time.

Any more hints?

There is a strat where you send a Hunter or Mage or Rogue to run through that last add pack and kite them while the rest of your team enters the room, then feign/invis/vanish/die. The adds should reset, leaving you all in the room. HOWEVER this is pretty freaking tricky in practice and it almost always seems to screw up, with the adds going after the party and not resetting. Not sure how it works exactly, might be based on LoS or distance. NOTE: if you do this strat you have to kill the 2-3 mobs at the start of the invis run before the second boss to make the kill count.

Otherwise, try single targeting them down. Chain stuns and interrupts to stop their cast - it's a DPS/heal debuff. It is difficult for the healer to dispel with 3 adds.

Also, reserve a major CD for each final boss transition and stack. Those adds hurt.

[Deleted]

okey , if im going to blood for challenges wahr are the stat prios what i need the most, and of course the most important, what are the best trinkets for a tank ?

[exshinra]

Blood DK tank is usually pretty needed in CM's
Unholy is viable, but unlikely to be picked up due to melee dps bias.