Low lvl DK tanking

[Moridinn]

So i have looked into the spec and have the general idea of rotation and game play down. I just wanted to ask at what point can i start tanking randoms.

I cant post any links atm so my armory is.
wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Bleeding+Hollow&cn=Ariilyn

Only tanking item i have atm is a ring so i know im not going to be helping my healer much. Is it possible for me to start tanking or should i wait to pick up more gear first ?

Thanks in advance.

[masterkiller]

Long answer:
The only real requirement I would recommend is getting the defense required to be uncritable or as close to it as you can.

A mob has a weapon skill that is calculated by 5 x Level, and a player has a base defense that is 5 x Level. When an equal level mob is attacking a player, the mob has a 5% chance to critically strike the player. For every level beyond the player, there is an additional 0.2% chance for the mob to critically strike the player. Each point of defense beyond the player's base reduces the chance to be critically struck by 0.04%. Therefore, to become immune to critical hits dealt from a mob 3 levels higher, a player must have 5.6% / (0.04% per defense) = 140 additional points in their defense skill to avoid a critical strike. Therefore a level 80 player with a base defense of 400 must have 400 + 140 = 540 Defense to become immune to critical hits through defense alone.

So at level 72 you have 6 defense skill (17 rating) above your base defense (only your ring has defense). 6 * .02 = .12% less chance to be crit. So same level mob has 5 - .12 = 4.88% chance to crit you.

Remember however that elite mobs your same level are actually 2 levels higher then you. So to be crit immute to a level 74 you need the following:

Mobs 2 levels above you have 5.4% chance to crit you (dungeons)
Defense required at level 72: 5.4 / .04 = 135 defense skill

135 defense above your base is going to be pretty standard regardless of your level. However the amount of defense skill you get per defense rating will scale. The lower level the more skill you get per rating.

At level 70 you get 1 defense skill for every 2.36 defense rating. You have 17 defense rating.
17 / 2.36 = 7.2 defense if you were level 70.

So trying to put all this math together, what you want to see is (+135 defense) in parenthesis when you hover over your defense. At level 70 that would be 135 * 2.36 = 319 defense rating.

Short answer
When you can get close to +135 defense skill above base. I don't know what the exact rate is for level 72, but it'll be somewhat close to 70s. Aim for +135 defense skill which is going to be around 330 defense rating from gear?

Remember you get +25 defense from Rune of the Stoneskin Gargoyle. So you need 135 - 25 = 110 from gear.

[Siight]

If you have some spare money, you can go buy the cobalt tanking set for 70s. Fairly cheap. There is a saronite set as well, later on.

[masterkiller]

My above post showed what you need to be uncritable, lots of tanks run dungeons and are still critable. If you do this, just add a lot of stam and you'll still be ok. However your current gear is all dps gear except for the ring so you will take a big beating. I recommend you fill up almost all your slots with tank gear before tanking dungeons your same level. Maybe someone that has low level tanked lately can help you more with where the thin line is

[potfur]

I started to tank heroics with 490 defense and heirloom axe. All are facerolls except fos/pos/hor.

[Haté]

You can easily get a full set of defense gear from Blacksmithing (Like two stacks of Cobalt bars), and I recommend getting the +45 stamina trinkets from Alchemy, they are BoE and are not unique, so you can have two (+90 stam ftw) at least until you get better, more functional tanking trinkets.

[Genoside]

The defense cap is super not necessary for 1-80 tanking. My paladin was never defense capped during leveling (and actually started tanking 80 heroics not defense capped) and I never had the slightest problem with incoming damage. I often pulled large groups too, the damage in normal level dungeons is so ridiculously low that unless your healer is previously unknown levels of fail you shouldn't be in danger of dying as long as you have a few pieces of tanking gear on. I never took my heirloom chest and shoulders off during leveling, and probably only had 4-5 pieces of tanking gear on from 70-80. It's also pretty safe to head into 80 heroics close to the defense cap, or if you have honor saved up buy a wrathful neck/cloak/bracers as they give -.6% crit each to cover the gap and have more stamina than most ilvl 200-226 tanking pieces you'll find.

[rofltroll]

Everything masterkiller said is correct, but also a bit over the top. If you achieve defense cap at low level you will leave your healer insanely bored. So imo it's not "necessary" till shit gets more difficult.

I have 3 tanks, and having just leveled a DK tank through 80 2 months ago, and in the process of a Prot Warrior (level 67), my experience is of course grab the tank gear where you can get it, (Few craftable sets are super nice, and "of the Champion" on the AH) but it's not super necessary. I spent tons of money gearing the DK for it, and the runs were easy. But this time around I'm just tanking in dps gear for the most part, with the exception of whatever loldrops for tanks there actually are, and it's going just as smooth. No healer complains and my stam is high from heirloom gear/gemming for it.

My advice would be just make sure you learn and USE your cooldowns. On trash pulls. On bosses. Everywhere. You are a DK so this is amplified cuz you have many short cooldowns. And watch your healer, make sure he/she isn't spam healing you to keep you up. There's just a balance in there at low level, you'll find it.

[masterkiller]

I'll defer to the people with the actual experience instead of my theorycrafting :P I haven't low level tanked since WotLK was released and am probably over the top in my reasoning

My server is down for 24 hours today...maybe I'll go DK tank at 55 for some fun/experience!

[evan_s]

I don't recall ever being crit immune while tanking while leveling up. I started tanking randoms at about that same level with very little tanking gear. I just grabbed what I could from quests/instance drops and it went well. Only time I recall having a problem tanking was really an issue with a fail healer (asked how to target other people in the group during the instance and was setting off rankwatch on their healing spells). I would recommend watching for upgrades for your couple slots that have no sta on them. They don't need to be "tanking" pieces with defense on them. Even alternate dps pieces for your gloves/cloak/belt with sta on them would be good.

The saronite crafted pieces are decent while leveling up and can be worn starting at lvl 75, if memory serves. I'd even watch for some cheap "of the champion" green pieces on the AH. Not worth spending a ton on but if you can pick them up for 10-20g they can work well.

[Gazgul]

lvled countless tanks have 4 mains atm druid/pala/warrior/dk

(dk running icc 25 10/12 hc)

and for lvling ... dont worry too much about your gear .. your out grow it very soon .. grad what prot pieces u can from quests or AH .. but dont brake your bank doing it.. as long as u can hold agro and use your cooldowns and dont over pull ... you can tank any non hc dungeon ez.

grabbing some cheep sta gems from the ah wont hert +18 sta gems are like 3 gold.

[Apostolic]

I would beg to differ on needing Def gear. It works out fine when tanking adds. But as a healer, a fight like the last boss in Nexus is hard enough to keep the retarded DPS up much less a tank that is critable.

Its not about the healer not being able to heal, its about the MANA required to heal that much. Sure I can spam heal the tank, but to keep the rest of the idiots up, you just make it 10 times harder.

Had and incident where a lvl 69 DK Tank with no Def gear, horrible spec, etc tried to tank it. He as getting insta-gibbed before I could finish a flash heal. Had a warrior come in with def gear on, had not issues.

Sure it can be done if the healer out gears/lvls the instant, but its not a guarantee.

All it takes is a LITTLE effort for you to do it properly.