Why do people think DKs can't tank?

[yovmit98]

Many people have just ran across many bad dk tanks they don't want to waste thier time with them. If you know you're gtg, don't sweat it. Just insta qu back into another run.

[nerthus]

Because most death knights are crap.

Edit: My main was a death knight until I quit raiding, before you go say some random shit.

[Shieldd]

Blame the player, not the class.

[Deleted]

OK, so I have a DK tank, 45k health very cappable of off tanking 25man ICC, I'v done it before. Why then do I find so many people who say, the DK's cant tank, or leave Heroics becouse I'm a DK. Whast peoples problem? Is it becasue poeple r pissed cause I started at 50 or what. CAuse I'm a fine tank, I have no agro problems ( execpt a Shadowmourn wielding pally, or a REALLY gear bomkin), I dont take rediculas damage I just dont get it. Sorry about any spelling mistakes, just quickly throwing this post in.

Cause Dk's are the hunterz of WOTLK and DK's are rarely good, and its a rtarded class and no im not trolling.
There are 3/4 dk's i know who are actually proper on my server , and the rest is terribad.
Dont worrie its not just that its either you or others, but it will change next exp most worgen's will be utterly shit and get picked on

[Necroparadox]

ive never gotten a complaint on me being a DK, just me being a dick, so ive never had this problem. possibly the healer doesnt want to pay attention.

[Lagwin]

Thats easy...the first impression a class gives is usualy the one that sticks....i dont mind dk's as i never realy did any dungeons with them when getting from 70 to 80 my first time seeing one tank was in naxx where they were OP tanks...where as most other ppl remember them from leveling through the tbc content and them fail tanking in dungeons.

[escobar]

Dk's are capable of tanking anything in the game. The reaon for the bad stigma is of course the amount of horrible players the class attracts. Also as a healer i can tell you dk's are my least favorite tanks to heal, first there damage is very unpredictable, and rune starved during aoe sections can turn things into a mess. I sometimes refuse to heal a random dk too if i feel like being lazy. Its easier to heal our two 5.6ish off tanks (pally/warrior) then the 6.2 gs DK

[Howard Moon]

Having levelled my Resto Druid entirely by healing dungeons, I have now a somewhat traumatic fear of DK tanks. It started when my druid was around lvl 60 when suddenly every single dungeon I got was with a DK tank.

Needless to say, 90% of these DK's were in dps gear, had not the slightest idea about tanking, and had just selected the tank roll to get a faster dungeon queue.

Today, I have respect for some very awesome DK tanks that I know, and don't believe they are per definition bad tanks. Still, whenever I am healing in a raid with a DK tank I can't help but feel a little uncomfortable.

[Higg]

people who leave groups when a DK is their tank probably levelled in dungeons recently and had to deal with all of the DKs who were 58-70 thinking they were a tank just because they were in Frost Pres (now Blood Pres).

[zerozenx]

Tanked on a DK just after WOTLK released, all through Naxx and a little into Ulduar. Never had anyone complain that I was a DK. As many have said, I think it's just the mentality that some have because there are so many bad DKS out there. They were the flavor of the month/EZmode/faceroll class for a while but I think they're a bit more balanced now.

One thing to keep in mind is how you present yourself as a tank of any class. Using good grammar and such actually goes a long way. I only mention it because of some misspelling and such in your post.

[obao98]

My main spec has always been Unholy DPS, but my off tanking spec is very good too. I actually put some effort and time into gearing his off. My DK has today 6,1k GS on his off. I´ve tanked everything in the expansion without ANY problem (Including LK10 H and normal LK 25). In fact, many people from my guild, and many other people I know on the server, come ask me for help when they need a tank, and sometimes I even OT in some of the guild's raids, when something stopped our MTs from showing up.

In fact, our guild MTs are a Druid and a DK. And I must say, this DK tank in our guild is one of the best tanks I've ever seen.

That and the fact that we actually have good healers. So yeah, my point is: DKs can tank just as fine than any other class, if not better. And with patch 4.0.1, and the new Blood Shield ability, DK tanks have become monsters.

[FertsBlert]

As an aggro\AE happy lock I like DK tanks, haven't run into any seriously bad ones most of the bad tanks I've come across running randoms were Warr\Pally.
I must admit I tend to not pay that much attention to the Tanks health and spikes thereof, I'm more concerned with watching Omen\Recount\mobs going loose and munching the healer, but if the tank dies I do notice cause I'm usually next, then I hope like hell that meta is off CD and the healer is on the ball. I can tank heroic trash in form but I'd prefer not to.

[Dazu]

My dislike with random DK's is due to every dps DK I get seems to think taunt is a good thing, and every tank DK only focuses one target. Especially in HoR where you get 2-3 range attacking. Last random I did on my shammy and got HoR the DK tank had less healing recieved than my shammy, and yet he was blaming me for him dying because my GS was only 4.3k or some such. Also, some DK's take only average damage, others seem to spike like crazy, im guessing CD usage is a big factor aswell.

As most people say, so many idiots playing the class makes people wary, and its so hard to tell anymore on players quality. Gear and achievements are able to be gotten by terrible players aswell.

My guild has a awesome DK at both dps and tanking, and a good friend plays a DK tank as his main right through most 25 heroics. I love playing with these 2 and a couple of others, but I see more bad than good ones now.

[sosleapy]

I just leveled a dk after yes it being 2 years out. and i like it but i find this when i do randoms too. now i am only 75 but it is funny that when i join a group ppl are like oh great another dk tank how did i figure that one out. i tell them i know what i am doing and if you dont like what you see after a few pulls they can leave. well i have never had anyone leave and actually have ppl compliment me on tanking that i was the first dk tank they ran into that day that could actually tank and know wtf i am doing. so it all stems from kids not knowing what to do early on and thinking they can tank. if ppl would actually look at the gear the tank was wearing before making the assessment then it would be better.

[apepi]

When my dk was my mt it was hard for him to find nax groups.

[satori sartori]

People must be really stupid or something... Iv tanked fos heroic as dps 10 Icc geared unholy... From start to just before last boss, cause real tank queued up right as we pulled.... And most with unholy presence, the healer was nax10 geared with shield and wrath wep....lalwd

[patrins]

For a while pre 4.0 dks were easily the best endgame raid tank. No other tank could eat heroic lichking burst so reliably with proper cooldown usage.

But to be fair mr OP... I'm not exactly in BiS gear and have 15k hp on you unbuffed.

[Buoyant]

People hate them because of the experiences they've had with very bad ones, they're close minded and see every DK as a noob. Pre 4.0.1 they were the best tanks, only druids had them beat in effective health, otherwise they have more anything than any of the other tanking classes, people just didn't know how to play them properly.

[Kechlion]

Because most death knights are crap.

This.

I obviously do not mean all, and I have seen a few exceptional death knight tanks. But from my own personal experience with them, I always cringe when I see a DK tank. I do, however, let them show me what they are capable of before I make my judgement. Just thinking to this last few random queues I have had 1 out of 5 DK tanks be decent. The rest were awful: Not holding threat, not paying attention, not gearing for tanking and taking huge amounts of damage, queuing as tank but not blood so they can get crit.

I did a Heroic UP last night on my healer and after having to heal myself more than the tank because he would not pull any adds off of me I make a macro along the lines of /y HALP! DEATH! and spammed it when I had aggro to get his attention. The worst was where someone pulled an extra pack of ads by sidestepping too far and I picked up healing aggro from them. He finished with the main pack and LEFT ME with the adds as he ran to the next pull. One of the dps finally said something to him, I was too busy healing to move or type.

Basically my reason I'm iffy on DK tanks is because out of personal experience most of them have been awful.

[Ripthingz]

It's not a healer problem it's a tank problem. If the tank can't handle the damage he or she is taking then he shouldn't be tanking.

A good healer can make any tank look great. Playing a resto shaman and a DK tank I know for a fact. On my resto shaman I've come across god aweful tanks in my time, but I have never ever had a problem keeping them alive.

A healer that lets the tank die is at just as much fault. Granted if the tank grabs a bunch of mobs and dies, thats his fault, his mistake. He learns from it that he cant handle that much. But if your a healer and you let a tank die when hes tanking 4-6 things, your not very good yourself.

And on the topic of DK's taking a lot of damage, yes they do. Especially now with this patch, all tanks are taking tons of damage. But its a matter of knowing how to use your cooldowns and when the proper moment is to use them. If you die and you still had cooldowns up, obviously you didnt do ALL you could to stay alive. Whats the point of having a 1 minute cooldown on Vampiric Blood if your not going to utilize it as much as possible. It's an amazing talent, especially when glyphed.