Tanking Style

[gathanasiou]

Hi MMO-C.

I eventually started lvling my DK, and took the decision of turning him into tank fro lvl 80(currently on lvl 77 but with 2 bars rest, ful bonus xp heirloom gear.)

And here comes the point: Frost DW or Blood 2h tanking? I mean, what do u think is best to start with and easiest to gear up and get ready for ICC10?

I have been playing the DK of a friend of mine, just to get used to the mechanincs and the rotations.

So what do u think?

[Alvito]

For 5 mans and being new to DK tanking frost is most likely the way to go. Multiple mob threat is better for a frost tank and once you get into end game stuff like icc heroic bosses blood is the way to go but prior to that or when just learning frost is better imo.

[tyggyr]

Frost has rather better AoE tanking; chances are people will be just barely more tolerant of you as a new tank than as blood. There aren't any gearing differences between the two specs (other than weapons of course); you could get a 2h mace crafted for blood, but personally I don't think it's worth doing.

I have to say, though, I hope you're really thick-skinned because new tanks are treated like trash in heroics these days, and DKs have it worst of all (somewhat deservedly, as newer DK tanks tend to be pretty tough to heal - but not the way 99% of the healers today are geared).

If you do tank, and people start giving you grief, just say "If you'd prefer, I can drop group and you can wait for another tank, or you can let me tank at my pace" - this should shut most people up; if it doesn't, drop group and go to a quest while waiting for your debuf to wear off, earn some cash. Chances are you'll get into your next dungeon before the obnoxious group gets their next tank....

[Millhi]

Frost has rather better AoE tanking; chances are people will be just barely more tolerant of you as a new tank than as blood. There aren't any gearing differences between the two specs (other than weapons of course); you could get a 2h mace crafted for blood, but personally I don't think it's worth doing.

I have to say, though, I hope you're really thick-skinned because new tanks are treated like trash in heroics these days, and DKs have it worst of all (somewhat deservedly, as newer DK tanks tend to be pretty tough to heal - but not the way 99% of the healers today are geared).

If you do tank, and people start giving you grief, just say "If you'd prefer, I can drop group and you can wait for another tank, or you can let me tank at my pace" - this should shut most people up; if it doesn't, drop group and go to a quest while waiting for your debuf to wear off, earn some cash. Chances are you'll get into your next dungeon before the obnoxious group gets their next tank....

could work yes but depending on the server there could be a fast group reform if the healer stays in the group.(debuff 15min and with some luck they got a new tank in 5minutes)

ot: i would go frost tank for heroic due o better aoe and good snap aggro with howling blast, when you are ready to raid you could go blood (yes i said could, i still like frost 2h as OT duty)

[Joesgetndown]

I leveled as a blood tank and I never had any aoe tanking problems... Dnd is your friend. I hit 80 and went frost tank for heroics, because I love frost. When it came time for icc I went blood again but I would still spec frost no prob. (personal preference)

---------- Post added 2010-08-27 at 01:21 PM ----------

could work yes but depending on the server there could be a fast group reform if the healer stays in the group.(debuff 15min and with some luck they got a new tank in 5minutes)

ot: i would go frost tank for heroic due o better aoe and good snap aggro with howling blast, when you are ready to raid you could go blood (yes i said could, i still like frost 2h as OT duty)

Depending on the battle group.

[gathanasiou]

Thanks for all the advice guys. I have to say that I'm not new to tanking in general, just still a bit unfamiliar with the DK rotations, and I learn fast.

I'll take all into consideration thanks again

[Foibles]

If you go the normal gear route of heroics then raids at 232/245 gear, you should go 2h Frost (better stam)-> dw Frost (if you do more heroics than raids)->2h Blood when you start getting mostly 245+.

[Aldurok]

Erm, don't go 2h frost.

I've been playing my alts, gearing them up, and every single time I run into a 2h frost DK tank, they have aggro issues.

And I'm not talking tanks that have low gear or don't really know what they're doing. Since my main is DK tank, I'll sit back and watch for a second at start of fights (gives them a chance to get more threat lead anyways) and see if I can figure out what they're doing wrong. Usually it's nothing, they simply can't get threat going well enough.

I've had DK tanks like that with 5.6k gs while my alt (rogue or mage right now) has 4.2k gs. I still have to spam tricks/mirror image on every cd on trash, pop invis/vanish, etc or I risk pulling.

Single target threat seems okay for most part, but still not as good as DW or Blood.

[Deleted]

I'd definetly recommend frost DW tanking to start with (heroics, anything pre 3.3) until you build up some decent gear, then definetly switch to blood it is the best .


off topic, what's up with all the people I see saying "either accept me or wait 30min for a new tank". that's just not how it works. if you leave your group as a tank (or any other role) your group is put at the top of the que and you'll have a tank within seconds... It's an empty threat.

[Exxile87]

I went Blood right away. The people that tell you to go Frost have a point that the snap AoE aggro is better to start off with, but if you've already had experience tanking before, you can comfortably jump right in as a Blood. I'd also have to recommend you consider doing this because we're likely less than two months away from the patch that eliminates the option to tank as anything other than Blood, and it would be wise to go ahead and learn the spec.

[Deleted]

Frost has rather better AoE tanking; chances are people will be just barely more tolerant of you as a new tank than as blood. There aren't any gearing differences between the two specs (other than weapons of course); you could get a 2h mace crafted for blood, but personally I don't think it's worth doing.

I have to say, though, I hope you're really thick-skinned because new tanks are treated like trash in heroics these days, and DKs have it worst of all (somewhat deservedly, as newer DK tanks tend to be pretty tough to heal - but not the way 99% of the healers today are geared).

If you do tank, and people start giving you grief, just say "If you'd prefer, I can drop group and you can wait for another tank, or you can let me tank at my pace" - this should shut most people up; if it doesn't, drop group and go to a quest while waiting for your debuf to wear off, earn some cash. Chances are you'll get into your next dungeon before the obnoxious group gets their next tank....

Have to say Ive leveled my dk and had never done any tanking on another class so was a total noob and ive had no comments about being rubbish or how crap my gear was.
Even joining groups where the DPS had more hp nobody said anything, maybe im just really lucky.

Had one person say after I was having trouble i need to learn how to tank, turned out dual spec had dropped all my spells to rank 1, updated it and he didn't say a word the rest of it, one guy mentioned my hp at the end of a run and that's it.

I would advise against going as DPS and rolling tank gear as your not going to learn anything and maybe piss off the tank.

Also learn top accept that most rogue and hunters seem to be retards when it comes ot tricks or miss direct, even had a twat today fast pulling ahead of me not even bothering to use it, took all my will power to taunt the stuff of him rather than letting him die.

[Rageissues]

Frost DW has good aoe threat and amazing single target... by amazing I mean like 15k-20k+ tps for the entire fight (icy touch spam).

Blood 2H does less threat than frost, but it's still a good amount. What they lose in insanely good threat they gain in more defensive cooldowns. Don't be fooled into believing these people that say "I'm blood! I have terrible AOE!!!" -You are still a DK... you have perfectly good aoe.

[errosync]

I'd definetly recommend frost DW tanking to start with (heroics, anything pre 3.3) until you build up some decent gear, then definetly switch to blood it is the best

Unless it's the hardest hardmodes in the game which definitely call for the survival, or you're doing progression, that's debatable. IIRC, Frost has more actual damage mitigation than Blood, where as Blood has a slightly larger health pool; I've even seen a few Unholy tanks who were pretty good, but they didn't lend me any secrets, so I can't comment on how actually 'viable' it is in non-progression raiding. With the ICC buff and heroics just being stupidly easy in general, I'd say it comes out in the wash when it's not progression-style raiding and to tank however you feel. I've even seen a few Unholy tanks who were pretty good, but they didn't lend me any secrets, so I can't comment on how actually 'viable' it is in non-progression raiding.


Unless you're using progression/ hard modes like PP and Sindragosa as your benchmark, then Blood definitely wins out.

OP: Short and sweet, do whatever. It's pretty moot now until it all condenses into Blood come Cataclysm.

[LQDMTL]

Just please, for the love of god, don't go DW Blood. Especially with the cookie-cutter Blood 2h spec. I wouldn't even mention it if I hadn't seen it with my own two eyes. Actually, I've been forced to pug with several of them lately. It'd be one thing if they at least grabbed some DW talents, but they didn't. DW'ing the tank mace from FoS in blood spec doesn't make you a tank. It's horrible threat. When the hunter in group MD's to you and then has to FD a few seconds later while focus firing your target, it should be a clue (to those who've attempted this).

I personally run my DK as 2h Blood tank / dw Frost dual spec. I was a frost tank through Nax, Maly & Sarth pre-Ulduar and swapped to Blood shortly before Ulduar's release for better HP to try Sarth 1d, 2d, 3d as MT. He's since been retired but I do play him now and then.

Blood aoe tanking takes more work. It just does. Howling Blast is all of the threat of DnD's full duratino, but instantaneously. There is no competing with that. As a Frost tank I never even used DnD, it was a waste of time. As a blood tank I live by DnD & BB.

Frost also has more damage reduc tank talents & cooldowns (as opposed to healing boost cd's, or hp gain cd's). It's thus easier to survive when undergeared.

[Mammoth]

If you want to get ready for the talent changes that are coming pre-cata-launch go 2h blood.

On the otherhand, if frost interests you, go Frost DW. Because once the talents change you won't get the chance to do it again (well not without a lot of QQ noob comments).

[Foibles]

Blood aoe tanking takes more work. It just does. Howling Blast is all of the threat of DnD's full duratino, but instantaneously. There is no competing with that. As a Frost tank I never even used DnD, it was a waste of time. As a blood tank I live by DnD & BB.

No....