Is DK tanking fun?

[Saphyron]

It's not. Feels like 2-3 button fest atm tbh and I am growing more tired of it.

would definitely not say its only a 2-3 button spec.

https://www.warcraftlogs.com/reports...casts&source=7

please disregard my shitty playing. I am not a very good dk and this was a random raid from group finder.

In regards to question, yes its fun. But I prefered it much more in Cata. Which is why I barely play on him lately.

[Heinouka]

i was blood main spec over last 4 years.

just quit, changed to dps main spec now. why? cause 3button rotation is boring !

death strike, blood boil, death coil .... rince and repeat.

spam these 3 button while managing defence CD... getting boring quit.

[dr_AllCOM3]

I literally need to stop pressing 1/3rd of my Buttons on Tectus when the Shards come up so my Warrior Comrade can grab them without my Blood Boil taking them off of him.

What? Since the hotfix my Warrior comrade gets all the threat on Tectus and I can even get one add with extreme BB spam. Once I have them it's cool, but Warriors have insane burst aoe threat (Bladestorm etc). Maybe your Warrior sucks or you do something special to generate that much threat.

[Deleted]

2-3 buttons really?

deathstrike, bloodboil, blood tap, rune tap, shell, icebound, vamp, bone shield etc ...

i cant imagine to play dk tank with 2-3 buttons on a mythic raid - its by far the most button tank if played to maxium mitigation

Im not saying DK's are easy to play or anything. But you are insane if you think that those abilities is " a lot " of buttons compared to others...

[Raiju]

Im not saying DK's are easy to play or anything. But you are insane if you think that those abilities is " a lot " of buttons compared to others...

DK's have a lot of small cooldowns - comparable to monks that they tend to rotate. The same isn't really said for druid/pala/warrior

How I'd rate tanks 'difficulty'

Monk > DK/Warrior > Paladin/Druid

adding a caveat that paladins have so much raid utility if they used it effectively they'd arguably be up with monks, but that skillcap doesn't even appear attempted by 99% of paladin tanks.

[skiddrow]

<--681 Blood DK here, don't mind the BB spam talk. Which is only used on aoe trash, at most you blood boil twice in a rune rotation. Otherwise deathstriking mostly, if you want to make it fun theres the BoS uptime gameplay, being the top dps on Mythic Imp

[corebit]

I hate how my DK spends more time shouting at enemies than hitting them with my weapon. DK tanking doesn't feel satisfying anymore with Heart Strike removed.

[dementedlogic]

I do not see how Bear allows for mistakes at all except maybe that the base survivability is higher if the players cast no abilities at all. As DK, you can talent Purgatory as a beginning player and survive Situations which you totally failed. There is also rune tap lighting up and becoming free so even a clueless player who has little idea what and wastes all Blood RUnes on BLood Boil will see it and be able to cast that - every thirty seconds.

I'd argue that druids and warriors are by far the most simplistically designed tanks. You use abilities (on CDs) as frequently as you can to generate rage, you then spend that rage with either a damage ability (heroic strike/maul), a healing ability (frenzied regen/shield barrier), or a mitigation/physical based AM (savage defense/shield block). I would argue that post healing nerf the majority of tanks (ie non mythic progression tanks) could drop shield barrier and frenzied regen altogether. They could also macro in their savage defense/shield block to their spammed ability and probably do perfectly fine on non-mythic content (especially if they are the only one tanking). As long as they have a rough idea of when they won't have their AM up they can use their short CD to cover the spread (or stun for warrior, varying on the content).

DKs and Monks both have a more robust dual resource system. Monks have multiple abilities that generate chi and multiple ways to spend that chi. DKs have multiple abilities to spend runes (though how intelligent you have to be about that now is pretty much gone), one ability to spend runic power, and then actively monitor a third resource (blood charges) to regen runes (similar to mistweavers mana regen).

Paladins are kind of a middle ground in terms of their base resource system. Like warriors/druids they have abilities that generate one resource (rage/holy power) and another set of abilities that spend that resource. The difference is that they have a tighter GCD, all abilities on CD, and minor differences in their priority list make a huge difference in either their dps or their survival. They also have a heal that isn't completely worthless that is largely based on the stacks of another buff, so it's hard to say to drop WoG like you can say to SB/FR.

If I were helping someone choose a tank class and they had *never* tanked before and this was their first class in WoW I would say warrior or druid (I'd say warrior, they are better and just as easy to play). I would probably recommend paladin next and monk/dk as they get more experienced with managing their resources, tracking buffs, and making on-the-fly decisions. I would recommend coming back to paladin after getting their buff/debuff management down on DK/monk because I feel paladins have the highest skillcap once you begin factoring in their various tools/utility.

edit: OP - I find DK tanks probably the most overall engaging tank of the lot. I find myself enjoying playing on a DK roughly about as much as Paladin. I generally would rank tanks (in terms of enjoyment) DK = Paladin > War > Monk > Druid.

[Deleted]

<--681 Blood DK here, don't mind the BB spam talk. Which is only used on aoe trash, at most you blood boil twice in a rune rotation. Otherwise deathstriking mostly, if you want to make it fun theres the BoS uptime gameplay, being the top dps on Mythic Imp

Yeah, then Crimson Scourge goes off right as your first Blood Rune is coming back, so that's 2, then another one procs so that's 3, & then by that point even if you break for a Death Strike, your second Blood Rune is coming up off its cooldown as well. Ergo - Fwoom - Fwoom - Fwoom - Swish - Fwoom. Then at this point you should be Runic Power Capped, so your next move is more spamming - Green Skull - *Swish - Green Skull - Green Skull - pause - Fwoom (BR1)/Green Skull - Green Skull/Fwoom (BR1) - Oh, Crimson Scourge is back! Hurray! - **Fwoom...... Oh yeah, that's a lot of Death Striking in there, me thinks. Yup, yup, yup.

*One Death Strike since your Runes are up, but after the first DC so you're no longer RP-Capped, obviously.

**Or D&D probably by this point, which results in that going back on Cooldown for the next 30 seconds, leaving you right open for more delightful FWOOM, FWOOM, FWOOM Spam.

Sure, you could say - But, but.... D&D! But.... but..... BoS! Yeah, one has a 30-second CD, the other has a 2-min CD. Though I suppose we should throw in one more Death Strike from Blood Tap somewhere in there, sure, so that's say 3 Death Strikes, in that entire part of the fight right there. Yippie ki-yay.

What? Since the hotfix my Warrior comrade gets all the threat on Tectus and I can even get one add with extreme BB spam. Once I have them it's cool, but Warriors have insane burst aoe threat (Bladestorm etc). Maybe your Warrior sucks or you do something special to generate that much threat.

Right, meant Pre-Nerf. Doesn't even matter any more these days since we're far better Geared, experienced, & everyone's semi-AFK on the Heroic Farm Bosses anyway. Not sure what he's doing though, I'll look into it, cheers. Haven't played a Warrior myself since BC.

[gumb]

In our casual guild last night, we lost our pally tank that seemed to die a lot with an item level in the high 650's. I had mentioned that I wanted to move away from my dps main and do something else. They asked if my DK tank was ready for Heroic. She was 640 at the time. She went in, took out the first boss and took out Tectus with no problems. We ended the night at twins which was an interesting fight, our other tank died (along with everyone else) and they called wipe. I said hold on, let me see how long I can tank these two without dying, just to see. I lasted a good amount of time on my own. I think I was 644 at that time having gotten a helm earlier in the raid.
That's what I love about DK tanking. The ability to hang in there for a good while on your own. Everyone dead with a few percent to go? You might be able to get it (depending on the fight etc). I also got my wish, I'm now the other tank.

TLDR: I love DK tanking.

[Racthoh]

i used to love my blood dk. now it's super lame since WoD.

[Spiel]

used to be one of my fav tanks til WoD, paired with the warrior. But with the current changes... Not so much. My heart broke when I saw we no longer have heartstrike nor runestrike Blood boil as the go-to for sinlge and aoe doesn't feel too god for me. I now prefer brewmaster & warrior really.

[Deleted]

DK tanking has evolved quite a ways, and is more fun now than at any other point in time, and I say that as a Day 1 DK.

Is it more fun than the others classes? I don't know. I'd say it's the same amount of fun but a different kind. It doesn't have the strong thematic appeal that paladins and monks have. It does, however, benefit from mechanic appeal - if you time your abilities with absolute precision, you feel invincible.

So in short, I do recommend it. The one time I've turned my back to it in Mists to go monk, I came back immediately. Just wasn't the same rewards.

[Nnyco]

imo the only one close to bdk is brm when its about fun

[britishbubba]

Fun is subjective and completely based on opinion. I find bear tanking to be god awfully boring, but I know people that swear by it as the most fun thing they haven played in this game so far. People can go on about how it's a 2-3 button spec as much as they want, and people can argue as to whether or not it's actually a 2-3 button spec or if the array of CDs we have count as "buttons".

What will likely make blood fun for you is the part that our active mitigation is a little unique compared to other tanks. Yeah, we have RT now for premptive use, but most of our AM is based around DS. If the slightly slower playstyle of runes, and the reactive playstyle of ds appeal to you, then you should give blood a try. If you want to be all about stopping the damage happening in the first place, and want a little more spammy playstyle (blood does have occasional downtime, while BrM, warrior, paladin and bear have none) then you likely want to try a different class.

[Unclekreepy]

did cm's in MOP as warrior tank , dk tank.... BY FAR dk tank was easiest.

I would drop dnd spread my dots with chillblains then run in circles till they all died, mobs would never touch me.