4.3 Death Knight Tanking Guide and Discussion

[pkm]

how hard is dk tanking compared to pally ?

[Zao]

It's certainly harder, because you need to keep an eye out on far more cooldowns simultaneously. And getting the maximum out of your runic empowerment procs can be hard work. In addition Death Strike timing plays a large role, so our tanking style is far more active.

I suggest you play one for a while to get a better feeling for it. Because the definition of hard and easy will differ from person to person.

[Bloodfrog]

So from reading this thread looks like I have a lot more mastery then I need. My parry to dodge ration is off also. We are not a hardcore guild, pretty laid back. But we are looking to start doing more Heroics. Any suggestions for me I would be appreciated.

---------- Post added 2012-05-23 at 03:58 PM ----------

It will not let me post links, guess I am to much of a noob. So the name is Shindå on icecrown server. Thanks.

[Pope]

So from reading this thread looks like I have a lot more mastery then I need. My parry to dodge ration is off also. We are not a hardcore guild, pretty laid back. But we are looking to start doing more Heroics. Any suggestions for me I would be appreciated.
It will not let me post links, guess I am to much of a noob. So the name is Shindå on icecrown server. Thanks.

This is you http://us.battle.net/wow/en/characte...d%C3%A5/simple

Don't sweat it about your parry/dodge-ratio. You have to substract swordshattering, so you're at 14,27 to 16.xx (with HoW and BoK). Yes, you lose a bit to Diminishing returns, but it's not much. You're already heavily reforging to dodge, so there's nothing much you can do about it.

In terms of Mastery: It's hard to tell how much mastery is "too much". Mastery is a very interesting stat for us, and most of the time, you can't have too much.

That said: Most people tend to use one or two stamina trinkets (like you already do) starting heroics. They also start to gem stamina, just because it makes heroics a bit easier. That's always a heated discussion... I guess since BC, but the jist of it is: More stamina makes you a bit harder to heal, but you'll be more likely to survive a few hits. And that's what counts.

So... TL;DR: Char looks good, if you're having trouble you can start gemming stamina.

[Bloodfrog]

Yeah that is my toon, Thanks

[Alter Ego Pablo]

In full BiS can you afford to swith out ESS for Gurthalak?

[hyperionx]

Whether or not you can afford to is determined by whether or not you need the mastery. The amount of mastery you need is dependent on your personal skill level and what you feel comfortable with. Personally, I don't see much point to using gurth unless I wanted to cap hit and expertise and worry more about doing damage than surviving. With my raid groups constant healer rotation, worrying about dps isn't a luxury I can afford. I'm sure there are plenty of dk's using H gurth, and just cuz it works for them doesn't mean it will work for everyone.

[SunbakedDuck]

i have a question about the viablity of rune of the fallen crusader ?15% str for the extra threat and 3% heals very often , it procs like every 10 seconds so during a fight its a lot of healing.

---------- Post added 2012-06-21 at 10:31 AM ----------

So from reading this thread looks like I have a lot more mastery then I need. My parry to dodge ration is off also. We are not a hardcore guild, pretty laid back. But we are looking to start doing more Heroics. Any suggestions for me I would be appreciated.

---------- Post added 2012-05-23 at 03:58 PM ----------

It will not let me post links, guess I am to much of a noob. So the name is Shindå on icecrown server. Thanks.

UR defenetly geared for DS... What id suggest is get all stamina gems and reforge all to mastery , 4k is the cap for mastery. I went into DS heroic with under ilvl 390 and we killed bosses pretty easily.

[Keju]

Threat hasn't been a mechanic that tanks have to even pay attention to ever since the stupid instant Veng patch quite some time ago...

---------- Post added 2012-06-21 at 07:25 PM ----------

Oh and the healing of the Fallen Crusader rune is miniscule, quite a joke actually. My last heroic warmaster kill logs show it only healed me for 74k in total.

[Deleted]

In full BiS can you afford to swith out ESS for Gurthalak?

D in 10m a few months ago (15-20% buff cant remember) used almoust full dps gear on every boss. Ofc I was healing so np but yeah you will not die and doing huge numbers is quite nice. He did 42k on Ultraxion for example is quite nice.