UH Tank Spec

[Razamataz]

I've probably spent hours attempting to put together the "best" Unholy build for DK tanks. I like to think I've found it, but if a fellow DK veteran has any input I'd love to hear it.

For anyone else just looking for a good raid spec, I'd highly recommend this one. Keep in mind it's designed for well-geared DKs, so frost may be a better choice for starting out.

http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=j0EMZhxZfg0hxcogcoMcout

I generally top out at a little over 10k TPS on Patchwerk (with Betrayer) and I can generate more AE threat than our guild's protadin.

If you have any questions about the build I'd be glad to answer them.

[Ohdi]

Necro is not very good for tanks because we spend so much time rune striking we lose all of our auto attack. The build all around seems to have a lot of points wasted in things that don't help tanking.

http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=j0vZhg0zZfghhz0kgxooskut

This build has more tanking tools as well as some nice toys (night of the dead) This build would take a lot less damage 5% less magic all the time and AMZ while not as good as it use to be.. Still great for when you know the damage is coming. And if you are worried about not having the rune when you need it. Just use Rune Tap to get the death rune.

[Razamataz]

When I mentioned that it's designed for geared tanks, I was implying that it's a threat-focused build. When you have enough gear that you don't need quite as many "tanky" talents and more threat talents to stay ahead of the 4-5k+ dps in progression raids.

You do bring up an interesting point on Necrosis, and I'll probably have to look over WWS a little more on that. However, I think I still get about 20-25% of my damage from white attacks, so Necro should still be giving me nearly a 5% damage boost which is on-par for its talent cost.

[hnd]

Any points in night of the dead as a tank is a waste.
1 point in wandering plague is also a waste.
Gargoyle is pretty much wasted as a tank.
I find virulence to be a waste as a tank.
Magic suppression and anti-magic zone are highly situational, and I think generally a waste.
Unholy aura is very good(unless you have another unholy dk who is always there with you so you don't need it)

I would spec exactly as the OP posted if I were going back to unholy. The only difference is possibly moving the point from master of ghouls to corpse explosion(I haven't used it since the patch, so it would only be to try it out). More aoe is pretty redundant, but they did make it use runic power now so it wouldn't hurt really.

Edit: I wish we had betrayers drop, we've only gotten one and we keep getting that stupid fist weapon over and over

[Ohdi]

1 point in WP is perfect for a tank. Due to our semi low crit (10% unbuffed) It would be a waste to put more then 1 point in there but 1 point adds an AOE to your diseases. Its great for any kind of AOE tanking. And you are right about Night of the Dead. It is a waste as a tank I also made sure to point out that it was a toy. 5% less magic damage when almost every fight I do has magic damage can really add up. It also makes it so you take 0 damage when you pop AMS. And I dont know about you but I pop AMS a lot on Dragon fights. Any magic fight where there is any kind of casting AMS is golden at 100% less magic damage.


For 1 point Garg is great not for tanking but for extra damage. If you have BoSanc you are already full RP all the time even spamming RS. I think its better to put that 1 point to good use with a ton of extra damage. When your DPSers are doing 4-6k dps the fights are gunna last very long anyways so that 30 sec of your pet can really add up.

[hnd]

I find as a tank wandering plague, either 1 or 3 points, is pretty useless. Some people may like it I guess, but I find other talents to be much more worthwhile because it isn't like you need more aoe damage(or threat, if you do something is wrong).

The only fight in the game right now that I would consider magic supp/AMZ is sarth 3drakes, but to take them I'd have to lose other talents that I would not give up unless I had to.

It's more of a personal thing I guess, but for gargoyle... I mean if you have an extra point it would be ok, but I leave the dpsing to the dpsers. On our last patchwerk kill, the other 2 unholy DKs we had, their gargoyles each did around 24k. In the end its negligible from a tanking standpoint.