Tank + Ghoul = ?

[Torture]

Hey chaps, let me start by apologising profusely if this has already been discussed, I did search through but didn't find what I'm after. If I missed something just point me in the right direction and hit me with a fish

I'll be levelling a DK alt with Wrath so I have a toon to level alongside the Mrs (my main will level a lot faster than her simply due to available playtime etc.) and I really do want to tank 5 mans and heroics. I'm not worried about raiding as my main will fulfil that role.

Now, I don't mind levelling without all the 'zomfgwtf DPS' talents, I just want to be a solid tank with a bit of solo ability thrown in if it's possible.

However, the one essential, and I mean essential component is that the build must have the pet ghoul. I don't care if that means I lose 0.007% mitigation or 1% DPS, I just love the darned thing! I'm pretty sure no 5 man tanking build can't afford to lose a talent or 2 to facilitate ghouly

I'd jump on the talent calc and look into it myself, but not being on Beta I have no clear sense of relative merits so it seemed far more sensible to ask here. I can then tinker with it on live as I become familiar with the mechanics.

Thanks for any help you chaps can give.

[Darkskeleton]

Personally I haven't been on the beta either, but I also intend to obsess over my ghoul as well.

For myself, I will be doing something like this most likely, its specced for unholy tanking and grabs all the ghoul talents.

http://talent.mmo-champion.com/?deat...50101223103151

[Gilfan]

Not grabbing Reaping there doesn't give you much in the way of mixing up your rotation. You're forever stuck with Icy Touch, Plague Strike, 2x Blood Boil, then Scourge Strike since you have no way to get death runes, which means no way to work in extra Scourge Strikes (which is your strongest attack). You can also get away with only 1 point in Night of the Dead. It'll let you get rid of the cooldown before the last one dies unless you have it tank.

[badrsadiq]

why would you put 2 points into 2 handed weapon spec and none into necrosis?

2HW: 4% extra damage
Necrosis: 10% extra damage as shadow.....

maybe because all abilities r based on weapon damage and not necrosis ? necrosis only adds shadow dmg to your white attack and not abilities.

[psicorp]

maybe because all abilities r based on weapon damage and not necrosis ? necrosis only adds shadow dmg to your white attack and not abilities.

he is right actually, you get more juice out of two handed specialization then you do necrosis, and two handed is oly 2 points, as opposed to 5

[Gestalt]

As others have pointed out, Necrosis is less useful than it may sound like. It is, by no means, a flat 2% dps boost per point, while 2H weapon spec is very close to that level of returns.

If you're gung-ho about having the ghoul available (and I don't blame you at all), consider speccing deep unholy. Unholy is entirely tank viable, all the way through Wrath endgame. Most of my betatanking was done with slight variations on this spec:
http://talent.mmo-champion.com/?deat...50151023103151

Few points worth clarifying:
-Dirge RP returns are fairly poor. While Butchery may seem an odd choice for RP gen, the constant RP ticks are reliable and flexible and the "on kill" effect goes off far more often than you might think. Ultimately, this or Dirge. Matter of personal preference.
-I see a lot of Unholy builds skip Impurity. Don't. Synergizes especially well with Bladed Armor.
-I see a lot of Unholy builds skip the Gargoyle. Don't. It's one of the best burst abilities a DK can get.
-Reaping is less desirable than it may seem. It's handy, but Unholy generally uses its blood runes AS blood runes.

[Knighthonor]

lvl 60
http://talent.mmo-champion.com/?deat...53151023111101

70
http://talent.mmo-champion.com/?deat...53151023111101

80
http://talent.mmo-champion.com/?deat...53151023111101

[vodalus]

-Reaping is less desirable than it may seem. It's handy, but Unholy generally uses its blood runes AS blood runes.

It's used to add extra scourge strikes into the rotations.

[Gestalt]

thanks, well aware of that. Catch being that if you're using Blood Boil, you'll want to keep using Blood Boil. If you're using Blood Strike, there is very legitimate debate over whether you want to use BSx2 or SS (given the RP gen difference and the BS glyph synergy with Desecration).

[rufryde2000]

This is the currently build i was using in the beta for tanking. I was in about 1/2 epics across the board. i was fully capable of tanking Naxx and Maylgos and all the other content currently in the game. I full y intended to get rid of the 5 in frost once my mitigation was high enough to not have dual wield to Def cap. but in the beginning you will find this necessary.

http://wotlk.wowhead.com/?talent=jbh...g0fxcogcV0cout

It had nice threat, especially when blight counted as a disease, and i was fully capable of soloing any 80 elite, without a problem, i rolled around 24.5k hp unbuffed (no professions) i would of course still throw on 2h for dps when solo, though my 2 1h's were also strong enough. i hope this was helpful.

i love this class!

[Gestalt]

heh. I was in the same position, Rufryde: dw`ing to get uncrittable, took almost full Naxx25 drops to let me use a 2h (and by that time I'd gotten used to Runestrike rotations).

[CrimsonRipper]

As others have pointed out, Necrosis is less useful than it may sound like. It is, by no means, a flat 2% dps boost per point, while 2H weapon spec is very close to that level of returns.

If you're gung-ho about having the ghoul available (and I don't blame you at all), consider speccing deep unholy. Unholy is entirely tank viable, all the way through Wrath endgame. Most of my betatanking was done with slight variations on this spec:
http://talent.mmo-champion.com/?deat...50151023103151

Few points worth clarifying:
-Dirge RP returns are fairly poor. While Butchery may seem an odd choice for RP gen, the constant RP ticks are reliable and flexible and the "on kill" effect goes off far more often than you might think. Ultimately, this or Dirge. Matter of personal preference.
-I see a lot of Unholy builds skip Impurity. Don't. Synergizes especially well with Bladed Armor.
-I see a lot of Unholy builds skip the Gargoyle. Don't. It's one of the best burst abilities a DK can get.
-Reaping is less desirable than it may seem. It's handy, but Unholy generally uses its blood runes AS blood runes.

Okay that's really nice... but from what I've been reading lately... I think Necrosis is more useful than you give it credit. Scince I read on the front page that most bosses in WotLK are getting an armor increase... then perhaps that 10% extra shadow damage may be more useful for tanking, considering that the shadow damage isn't mitigated by armor.

Anyways this is what I came up with myself... granted I think I might actually consider losing Dark Conviction in favor of runetap, 2 hander, and butchery.

http://talent.mmo-champion.com/?deat...50151023103151

[Gestalt]

The issue with Necrosis is that it's a 10% boost to white swings only. White swings account for a smaller dps % for DK's than any other melee class. It's not useless, just iffy for 5 points (especially in a tree with no "filler").