Status of dk tanking

[Avey]

Just wondering how everyone feels about DK tanks now?

How well are we stacking up against other tanks?

Currently I feel like it's going well, however on my server I'm seeing less and less tanks rolling with dks, is this true on your server as well?

[Deleted]

Yes, i've noticed there's a distinct lack of not only Death Knight tanks but Death Knights in general, haven't personally seen another DK tank on my realm. But I don't see this as necessarily a bad thing, perhaps with less of us we'll shed a bit of the stigma about Death Knights which we had to endure in WotLK.

I'm personally finding tanking heroics a blast and haven't heard any complaints about survivability or threat, which makes a nice change. We've got awesome CD's, great AoE despite a little ramp up, a variety of interrupts, the best taunt in the game. Things are good!

[Nyanmaru]

It's pretty hard to compare ourselves to other tanks right now. Everyone is still in random gear and it's very unlikely to have a second tank in a 5m dungeon. The feeling of being strong in 5m instances may be due to the scaling of DS. If you only get the minimum value of DS it means that the incoming DpS isn't that high and your DS does more.

With a lichborne subspec it's really nice to be tanking in heroics (though I only managed to finish two so far).

[Nudi]

Yes, i've noticed there's a distinct lack of not only Death Knight tanks but Death Knights in general, haven't personally seen another DK tank on my realm. But I don't see this as necessarily a bad thing, perhaps with less of us we'll shed a bit of the stigma about Death Knights which we had to endure in WotLK.

I'm personally finding tanking heroics a blast and haven't heard any complaints about survivability or threat, which makes a nice change. We've got awesome CD's, great AoE despite a little ramp up, a variety of interrupts, the best taunt in the game. Things are good!

Mind posting an armory link to your DK with a space in between (seeing as you are new) or just post the info on name and realm?
I'm in dps gear atm, but I'd like to gear up for tanking, last time I tried tanking a HC, though, I got bashed!

[Maes]

I've been doing really well in heroics so far, normally run with mostly guildies but I have had some pug healers and dps (never all pugs mind you, screw that) and we're normally gotten thru the instances pretty well.

http://us.battle.net/wow/en/characte...a/chubi/simple

Finally got all tank gear lol, had a few dps pieces for a while. Edit: Damnit forgot the stupid relic is still complete fail stonecore hates me for relics.

[kharig]

i love em theyre so easy to heal, still havent grouped with a bear yet though so i cant give an overall rating

[Zao]

I love tanking atm.
Already managed to kill Argaloth yesterday, and I really enjoy doing allnighters. The fact taht I've been playing an average of 12h a day for the past 4 days begins to show though <.<

DK tanking is in an excellent state, although threat could be a bit lower currently it's way too easy to just to threat for the first 10 seconds and then going /afk

[Seregon]

threat could be a bit lower currently it's way too easy to just to threat for the first 10 seconds and then going /afk

On single target I will agree with you, but for those "oh shit someone just pulled an entire pack"-moments, I'm well happy I don't have to wipe because of low threat.

[Deleted]

I'm really enjoying tanking right now, it's the first time i'm trying it and it's working very well. I'm not sure how avoidance is calculated but i'm currently not equipped enough to get into heroics and in some of the harder parts of the normal dungeons some healers are having a bit of trouble either going oom or for some reason not being able to keep me up. Since i'm new at tanking it's likley that i'm doing something wrong.

[Zao]

Healers are having a lot of mana problems anyway.
It's a mix of both, not having good gear and not having enough experience that makes stuff harder currently.

The 329 ilvl you need for heroics is totally sufficent to clear anything if you're in a competent group.

[Deleted]

I have mixed feelings. Got a 339 tank set but really depends on dps awareness and healer managing mana (spamming non efficient heals, no stop casting when i take little dmg i could heal through DS or rune tap) but sometimes it's a pain in the a$$ to run HC.

I love the encounters tho', no more AoE brain dead runs. Guess we need to choose ours partners now since we can't trust any pug in HC runs even if they have ilvl requirements !!

[Nangz]

I would say comparing tanks is almost an insult to tanking at the moment. Instances have such variation in the amount of damage going out. If you have a group with one, two, or three CCs the tank will take very little damage but in a group with one your tank gets pounded. In addition not many tanks are aware that blowing tanking CDs on trash it not only necessary at points but also required.

With a warlock, mage, shadow priest, paladin healer, and myself yesterday in Grim Batol heroic try CCing much of those 4 dragon packs. Without more than the fear CC its brutal.

I guess you could compare on bosses but even then, tanks seem to be spiking up and down across the board.

[TheGreatandMightyMe]

I've been having pretty good luck healing warriors. You can really tell the good from the average now with the good ones timing their stuns nicely and such. I think shock wave is kind of giving them real bonus survivability. I have also seen a couple real nice DK tanks who new how to utilize interrupts and do marvelous things with their incoming damage.

[tyden49]

With a warlock, mage, shadow priest, paladin healer, and myself yesterday in Grim Batol heroic try CCing much of those 4 dragon packs. Without more than the fear CC its brutal.

Kinda had the same problem as well, jus got a mage to kite on of them, whilst burning marked targets and using CD's. Most trash pulls are going to need some kind of CD.

[Donald Hellscream]

on bosses my tps is between 28-38k of course thats after a couple of hits so that my vengeance is skyrocketing, our survivability is also quite good, i usually use vamp blood on every pack i can and pop icebound fortitude on packs where its hairy even with cc(like the 6-7 mob packs in grim batol i believe) all in all i have no problem tanking anything really

[Deleted]

I've just finished my first heroic, all i really have to say is even wether you have good cc or not utilizing your cds with good timing aswell as using interrupt / strangulate really does wonders for healer mana. Bloodworms is a pretty touchy object for some dk tanks, most tanks apparently consider them worthless to get, but as important as mana is right now.. they usually heal me for 11 - 14k and it really helps get some of the pressure away from the healers.

[Fulltimejoke]

I know it's hard to judge tank vs tank since like someone mentioned before there's too many variables right now. I am glad however to see that most of the responders here have positive things to say about their tanking experience. I was a frost spec tank pre-Cataclysm so I had to adjust to the new style after the big patch, but I liked where things were headed with the changes to runestrike and the rune regeneration increase. I've yet to try Cata content cuz my freakin graphics card went haywire ~2 weeks ago (great timing, I know)... so I've been in the dark about the state of things. But like I said, it's good to see positive experiences Now to go check the druid tank forums... lol

[Dreadnor]

ive been doing fairly well. right now i dont think its a matter of what class the tank is, but how the tank plays. I think most of my guild prefer me not because im a dk, but because im doing the fights right, doing pulls right, etc. Heroics ive done and completed: HoO, grim batol, black rock caverns, dead mines, shadowfang keep, stonecore.

all i have to say is this: BIND YOUR COOLDOWNS AND USE THEM! after doing a fight, you should learn if theres moments of specific use, or if its just one of those fights where you need to use them liberally.

i have yet to find a boss fight with real use for dark sim. kinda been useless for now.

[Deleted]

On single target I will agree with you, but for those "oh shit someone just pulled an entire pack"-moments, I'm well happy I don't have to wipe because of low threat.

Vengeance needs nerfing. I saw a Protection Warrior Add Tanking on Halfus Wyrmbreaker (Video), he was Top 1-4 for over 50% of the fight on Recount, and the DPS were World Class. That's just horribly wrong. Nerf Vengeance buff Threat Generation, solved. Could just go with Threat Decay too, but can't stay as is, too boring.

Threat is even less of an issue than it was in WotLK.

DK Tanks are fine. Blood is a bit bloated, there's random scrubs thinking DW Blood actually works etc, but apart from a bunch of minor issues the Class works. Well, if you're willing to push the extra effort required now.

[Soisoisoi]

Status of DK tanks? Well I just did DM Heroic, and the Foundry boss, the healer died at ~90%(gogo walking into Harvest) and I carried on tanking it well into the 30% enrage-buff with no other healers(Warlock, Rogue, UH DK and me).

From my point of view: When used properly, we have so much healing it's unbelievable. Threat is awesome single target and compared to other tanks(have all classes, albeit not at 85, but 80 and played them since 4.0.1) AoE threat is amazing.

From a few PuG healers in heroics(Yes, that's right, PuGing 85 heroics) they've said I'm pretty easy to heal compared to other classes.

I can't actually find a fault with DK tanking atm. :3

To answer your 'question' though, "I'm seeing less and less tanks rolling with dks, is this true on your server as well?" I'm guessing that's because tanking and healing is slightly harder, most of the people who were DK tanks weren't actually great, and have been put off tanking, it seems. On my way to 85 I've only seen two other DK tanks, though I've had an even number of Warrior, Druid and Paladins. - Went as DPS until I had a bit of gear.