Help a blooduh out

[Taidaisher]

Not sure if something has changed with blood in the past few weeks, but it seems it is getting harder for me to hold my threat. I start off the normal way, depending on the situation, with a D&D, IT, PS to get my diseases going. Step into the rotation, throw in a pest to refresh my diseases, RS when available, etc.


Here is my armory, http://www.wowarmory.com/character-s...&n=soulsdemise

Also, I've been getting alot of flack for having my D so high (564) while still not being above 40k HP. Did I misunderstand previous posts, wasn't high D a little more important for DKs since we don't have block, and the additional D translates into more damage mitigation?

I would appreciate any thoughts/suggestions, be they spec, gear, or rotation base.

Thank you.

[Priesten]

I would say that having additional def above the crit immunity is a waste as dk especially because they can't block. Paladins and warriors get more out of that stat because it also raises their block making it a decent stat overall. On a DK however I'd say you are better of just gemming for pure avoidance (ie dodge/parry) or stamina, if you are already crit immune from def.

[jai151]

Gonna need a little more information. Threat issues, are they AOE, single target or both? If you're dropping D&D single target, it is a major waste of runes. RS should be macroed in to all your attacks, since it is your highest source of threat. Are you having issues in raids or heroics? If you only run heroics, blood is actually one of the worst specs to run, since our AOE threat blows.

Looking at your gems and enchants, you have issues. Especially as blood, you should have stamina wherever possible. Your cloak should have the armor enchant, your chest should have the 275 HP, and that's just on a quick glance. Defense does absolutely nothing for mitigation, it is purely avoidance, and gemming/enchanting for avoidance is worthless in the current state of the game.

Stamina is a form of mitigation, if you think about it correctly. Look at your health as a pool from 0-100%. if you have 20khp, a 10khp hit does 50% of your health pool in damage. At 30k, it only does 33%. With as much self healing as blood has and as quick and spammy as healers are, the actual numbers are nearly meaningless.

[Orccy]

your rotation is fine and all that also you have both the same specs as i have.

i think your main problem is your expertise, its sitting at a measly 9 and your over hit capped which isn't needed and your way way way over def cap. once over def cap i think it give a deminishing return so anything over and above isn't gonna help you that much.

change your cloak enchant to something else, get the ilvl 245 helm from emblem vendor, also get the emblem vendor 226 belt, new neck from icc 5 mans hc, swap out a trink keep your dodge one maybe but atm i find its easier just to have 2 stam trinks.
also saronite sword breakers would be a massive upgrade for your bracers.

try and get at least hit and expertise capped at all times expertise stops you getting dodged or parried which really matters as a tank

also quick note added, if your main problem is in Hc's then glyph for DnD would sort most probs out and drop GoD, as in most cases your primary target is dead by that time especially considering you have epidemic in spec

[Deleted]

Any +def over the required crit immunity cap is fine as its free avoidance and it also improves the dmg reduction when you pop IBF.

But you should be able to attain the def cap from purely gear + gargoyle alone, there is no need to gem for it at all, thats when it becomes a waste.

[Taidaisher]

@Priesten,
Thank you. Obviously I was mistaken with my understanding of D beyond the crit cap.

@jail151,
My threat issues are both single and AoE, though not as bad in single target. For single target it's normally when someone is pulling 4k+ dps in a heroic, or doesn't wait at all for me to acquire threat before they start going at it. I don't use DnD unless it is an AoE pull. Runestrike is macroed in to all of my melee attacks. I do run alot of heroics, though I've encountered similar problems in the few raids that I've been in, (don't have much time for full scale raiding).

@Orccy,
Thank you for the gear suggestions. I have been saving up for some of those pieces and upgrading as I go. I recently upgraded a few pieces of my DPS set. I am back to saving for my tank upgrades, as well as working towards my 264 pieces.

[Orccy]

i am just the same as you mate as in i am not a massive raider although proggressing through ICC last night (10 Man) i'm not ready to step up to 25 yet.

with regards to your heroics and aggro though, try tabb switching targets for your heartstrikes, granted this takes a little time but you will find thatjust 1 heart strike is enough to bring em back, also if your dps is pulling 4k + then most of the stuff should be dieing so fast.

also did you take on board the glyph suggestions glyphing DnD would be the simplest way. i often switch glyph of rune strike out when i'm not raiding as rune strike in hc's generates enough threat and you do more AoE damage and aggro with the dnd one, but i would strongly suggest switching your glyph of disease out as you have epidemic and the glyph just is not needed.

[Taidaisher]

Orccy , regarding the belt upgraded you suggested
you suggested, http://www.wowhead.com/?item=45825, which would increase my armor, D, str, dodge & hit over http://www.wowhead.com/?item=47227. But I would be taking a hit on parry, and an approximately 38 point hit on Stam. If stam is what I should be shooting for, would that be a wise upgrade?

I will most likely take the glyph of DnD into consideration. I had been using GoD for the disease refresh on my primary target. Though in an AoE situation, I guess it would be better to use pest on my current target, tab to different target and use pest again to refresh diseases on my initial target. Single target situations, I normally Obliterate and reapply diseases.

[Gerian]

Single target situations, I normally Obliterate and reapply diseases.

No.

Never.

Please, don't use oblit as blood for any reason. Death strike hits harder, heals you, and doesn't cause your diseases to fall off.

[Orccy]

Orccy , regarding the belt upgraded you suggested
you suggested, http://www.wowhead.com/?item=45825, which would increase my armor, D, str, dodge & hit over http://www.wowhead.com/?item=47227. But I would be taking a hit on parry, and an approximately 38 point hit on Stam. If stam is what I should be shooting for, would that be a wise upgrade?

you would be taking a slight hit on your parry if you only upgrade your belt and nothing else, alot of other upgrades are gonna really hurt your hit rating but boost your parry and dodge stats. also there is more of your basic threat stat on that belt which is str and dont forget you can add a socket 2 it ofc for that 30 stam gem you want, it may end up as a slight EH loss but you will be making that up no end with other gear.

its not a priority upgrade but it would be helpfull when you get newer items that are gimping your hit rating.

also never use oblit as a blood dk, for single targets just start IT-PS-HS-HS-DS and your sorted, you already gonna pown aggro on a single target due to the nature of the blood spec and your attacks. i dont even have oblit in my action bar

Slight edit aswell here:

your sigil needs a change up get the dodge 1 its pretty cheap in terms of emblems and this will easily make up for any losses via the belt. i don't advise the frosty sigil just seems craptastic to me, as tooltip states the entire effect only lasts 20seconds or something lets hope they change it.
also another point on the belt, i was doing some working out last night cause i was tanking and your thread popeed into my head, as the 226 belt has 127 stam already, if you socket with eternal belt buckle (standard practice i know) and whack in a 30 stam gem you are only losing out 8 stam in total, which is a measly 80hp or something.

[Dimerock]

No.

Never.

Please, don't use oblit as blood for any reason. Death strike hits harder, heals you, and doesn't cause your diseases to fall off.