A few questions about Blood

[Verzerrung]

am trying to find ways to streamline what all is going on while tanking so I have a couple questions as to whether these things are viable in a 5man setting and for a raid setting.

1. Since Bone shield is off the GCD is it a big loss in survivability is at all to macro it to blood boil or death strike so i can can just take it off my bar and not really have to worry about that one?

2. Same question but with Blood Tap

3. For fights where nothing is alive for too long, is it really even needed to put up diseases? I cant find anything that says they add to survivability and since its either a 1min CD ir use of Runic power to apply them the dps gain for short fight just seams minimal. Or am I missing something?

4. I am not too clear on the role of Rune tap. Should I be keeping it on CD or holding off for specific attacks i know the boss is going to do? When using it is it worth a death rune? or should I hold off on a blood boil to use only a Blood rune for it?

Thank you in advance

[Mareeta]

1. Yes, since anything removes charges, having it up while some adds are hitting you for nothing is a waste, if you can save it for damage spikes, or something more dangerous hitting you.

2. Yes. Being able to keep a Rune Tap, or Death Strike in reserve is pretty key to what makes us great at responding to the worst-case scenario. Most of Blood Tap's strength comes from having it when you need it the most.

3. Yes. Crimson Scourge procs + the diseases themselves aren't minimal, even in CMs where bosses only stay alive for 1-2 minutes.

4. You should be using Rune Tap in much the same way you use Blood Tap/Bone Shield; keeping one in your hand for when you know you're about to take a lot of damage. Whether you're using a blood, or death rune on it depends on your current rune layout, and the incoming hit you're using it for. That's going to be a judgment call whether losing a death strike in that moment is going to be better, or worse than the 40% DR.

[Lessthanzer0]

1. Yes, since anything removes charges, having it up while some adds are hitting you for nothing is a waste, if you can save it for damage spikes, or something more dangerous hitting you.

2. Yes. Being able to keep a Rune Tap, or Death Strike in reserve is pretty key to what makes us great at responding to the worst-case scenario. Most of Blood Tap's strength comes from having it when you need it the most.

3. Yes. Crimson Scourge procs + the diseases themselves aren't minimal, even in CMs where bosses only stay alive for 1-2 minutes.

4. You should be using Rune Tap in much the same way you use Blood Tap/Bone Shield; keeping one in your hand for when you know you're about to take a lot of damage. Whether you're using a blood, or death rune on it depends on your current rune layout, and the incoming hit you're using it for. That's going to be a judgment call whether losing a death strike in that moment is going to be better, or worse than the 40% DR.

I disagree with your #1. Bones shield should be up as much as possible. It's not a cooldown you sit on and wait to use. If you don't have any charges left and it's off cd then you should use it. Whether or not it should be macroed into blood boil is a different story. Depending on how fast you go through the charges you can end up wasting some if you have bone shield macroed with another ability.

As for #3, I agree diseases should always be used on bosses no matter how long the fight is. However on certain trash, I sometimes get lazy and dont put them up. Typically if the trash is only 1 or 2 mobs and they are gunna die within 20-30 seconds then I sometimes don't bother with the diseases. For AOE trash pulls though, diseases do a lot of dps. Also, depending on if you use plague leech, your diseases do have a survivability factor. Every 25 seconds you can use plague leech and get an instant death strike. It's like having 10 charges of blood tap at your disposal. Plague leech is by far the best talent on that row for blood right now so I'm not sure why you wouldn't be using it. Not sure if I'm forgetting any other aspect of diseases but other than plague leech they are merely a dps increase.

For #2 and # 4, I completely agree.

[Aezral]

1: in my experience, it's good to have on as a buffer when going in to pull, then use off cd. On for example mythic kargath, I like to hold off on reapplying bone shield until the first impale, that way I can stack it with defile and vamp blood for some small CD stacking. 30% reduction and increased healing is a lot.

2: If you're just going to macro it, you're not taking advantage of everything it has to offer. Consider runic corruption for a more passive playstyle.

3. If you spec glyph of outbreak/plague leech (which you should) then you should absolutely dot them up. Just replace your first death coil with outbreak and then you'll have them ticking, and available to leech if you need to DS. Diseases shoudn't be the first thing you prioritize on a pull unless you have the RP and the target away from you, but even then you shouldn't pull with outbreak unless you taunt first, as it does no threat until the first tick 3 seconds later.

4: Use rune tap as proactive mitigation to strong attacks or enrages. Also use it as a gap closer between death strikes as it really smooths out your incoming damage. If you know a boss is going to do something that you don't want to waste a CD on, but know it's dangerous, then you rune tap right before. Timing is everything as it's 3 seconds. I wouldn't hold off on using a blood rune 100% of the time though, as blodo boil/soul reaper gives you scent of blood stacks, and rune tap itself isn't reactive. You would be way better off holding on to a pair of f/u or d/d runes for an emergency death strike.

I disagree with your #1. Bones shield should be up as much as possible. It's not a cooldown you sit on and wait to use. If you don't have any charges left and it's off cd then you should use it. Whether or not it should be macroed into blood boil is a different story. Depending on how fast you go through the charges you can end up wasting some if you have bone shield macroed with another ability.
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Not in every case. It's phenomenal to stack with other small CDs when you need to save IBF or the damage lasts longer than rune tap. You need to use it smart and watch your health.