Leveling Frost Tank DK

[Neverlife]

Hey, I'm brand new to the Death Knight world, but I figure I would give it a shot.

I'm looking to level as a frost tank (or any build of tank honestly), and I've been looking around and I can't get any good answers.

-When leveling as a frost tank, what talents should I go into? Some sights have said, NEVER NEVER level with a frost tank spec.
-Can, or should I Dual Wield as a leveling frost tank?
-Is there another leveling spec that I could tank with that would make life easier?

Anything else would also be very helpful, thanks. I'm just trying to figure out what I'm gonna do

-Neverlife

[Indigol]

It's been a while since I leveled a Death Knight, so it is undoubtedly going to be a slightly different experience. However, while I tried all three specs, Blood seemed to be a juggernaut among class/specs. Not once during the entire experience did I end a fight low on health. Obviously Death Knights have been nerfed a lot since then, but I think Blood would remain the best leveling spec. As a bonus, Blood is generally considered to be the best high end raiding tank spec for Death Knights, so get used to it now if you're planning on taking it that far.
If you insist on dual wielding, the way to go is indefinitely Frost. There are issues with dual wield tanking that are entirely seperate from leveling that incline me to advise you against it. You're just leveling, though, and tanking an instance here or there. Nobody is going to care, so you should play it the way you want.
Honestly, even if you don't choose to go Blood, your spec isn't going to matter too much. Pick up Blade Barrier, Toughness, and Anticipation and go from there. It's pretty hard to mess up your talent trees for leveling as a tank, seeing as 90% of the talents are not designed for tanking in the first place.
Good luck.

[Deleted]

Step 1: Go in Frost Presence.

Congratulations, you are a tank.

[Strykzor]

If you want to level decently solo, spec blood, if you want to level via instances as much as possible, go unholy.

Blood is very capable of tanking, but requires u to think a little more than unholy.

ie
for Blood DnD > IT > PS > Pestilence
For Unholy DnD then faceroll any key u like.

[KaynDarksbane]

You can get to 80 in pretty much any spec, including 0/0/0.

Blood is by far the best solo spec; you never ever ever have to stop, and if you gear/spec well, you can solo most group quests (yes, even the 5-mans) up to and including 80 group quests (although those are much more difficult).

That being said, if you prefer Frost or Unholy, you won't have a problem. Blood is considered the best end-game spec, but the others are by no means so inferior as to be not viable. If you do go Frost, go Dual-Wield.

For tanking, go with the Rune of Stoneskin Gargoyle (when you get it... I don't remember when that is) or Rune of the Nerubian Carapace for DW when 3.3 comes out.

If you really want some spec advice, go read the forums on ElitistJerks.com. Those are mainly for endgame, though, not leveling.

[xanddra]

Like most have said, Blood is the best spec to level with because of the self heals. Don't worry about whether you're a tank or not, because we have the build in tanking button called "frost presence", and during leveling, you'll do just fine with a piece or two of Def gear.

Personally, I went Unholy, but that was pre-3.0.8, and I was dead when I finished a good chunk of the kill quests... Master of Ghouls was fun, but I can see why it was murdered by the nerf bat.

[Stieger23]

Why would you level as a tank spec anyway? Honestly, if you want to be a tank, be one at 80. Otherwise, if you want to tank instances as you level up, just go frost pres. It's not like it's hard. The 51 point talent changes have made the 55-75 instance tanking/healing trivial.

[Royalite]

Why would you level as a tank spec anyway? Honestly, if you want to be a tank, be one at 80. Otherwise, if you want to tank instances as you level up, just go frost pres. It's not like it's hard. The 51 point talent changes have made the 55-75 instance tanking/healing trivial.

Agreed. Lvling in an tank spec is like trying to level as a healer unless you mean to do just dungeons and BGs...questing is going to be slow. You're just not going to be putting out the dmg for fasting questing.

[mattepatte]

Step 1: Go in Frost Presence.

Congratulations, you are a tank.

That is so retarded, thats like saying just cause a warrior has a shield he is a tank.

[Whitcher]

That is so retarded, thats like saying just cause a warrior has a shield he is a tank.

Considering warriors have a dedicated tree for tanking and DKs don't, no it isn't.

[Stieger23]

That is so retarded, thats like saying just cause a warrior has a shield he is a tank.

Considering warriors have a dedicated tree for tanking and DKs don't, no it isn't.

You're both wrong.

Pre-75(ish) a warrior in defensive stance with a shield IS a tank (effectively). Even if he's fury or arms.

A DK has dedicated tanking talents in each of the three trees. At 80, being a tank is more than being in frost. However, pre-75(ish) you don't need ANY tanking talents to tank as a bear, warrior or dk.

[Evolixe]

As said above... you can effectively tank anything under lvl 75 with only using frost presence, you dont have to level as tank. Instead lvl as dps either unholy or blood.

You shouldnt even end up with low health, just use deathstrike once ina while (with both diseases on ofc)