DK tank spec

[Deleted]

I really can't figure out what spec to choose. I hear a lot of people saying that both blood, forst and unholy are good tanking specs, but what to choose and what setup?

I am getting quite confused with everyone telling me different stories about DK tanking spec... So please help me

[Druchii]

Blood spec for raid boss tanking. (Great sustained single target threat, awesome cooldowns (Vampiric Blood))

Frost DW or 2H for heroics. (Lovely snap AoE threat, slightly more avoidance for pulling bigger packs).


At the end of the day however, both would do fine at either.
Try both, find the one that suits you?

This is a 2H Frost spec, which people say is dead: http://www.wowhead.com/talent#j0ERZh...buzAo0g:adwmV0
This is the one i use (Improved Icy Talons): http://eu.wowarmory.com/character-ta...rupter&group=2

[Blonk]

Blood is the superior raid tanking spec as stated above. Frost is great for the passive mitigation to small hits for heroics, but don't try a frost spec without addons to track rune cooldowns and announce killing machine/rime procs.

[mhp]

If you're just starting, frost is the way to go. Once you're comfortable, you can evaluate whether it is worth trying another spec (it's not *hint*).

[Ahpuch]

Just tank blood.

[Shiveron]

Blood is the way to go. I tank everything in blood. Solo heroics, Icc 10/25, Ulduar HM's 10/25, etc etc.

Here's my armoury if you wanna give my spec a shot.
http://www.wowarmory.com/character-s...er&cn=Shiveron

[Seregon]

This is the spec I use. I tank in blood. A lot of people say it's tricky to tank heroics with, but I like it for every situation...

[Apostolic]

When leveling, frost would be better due to better snap aoe and single target threat. You also take less damage and have more avoidance. This will help out the leveling healers more then you think.

Once you hit 80 frost will work until you gear yourself out for raids. Then go Blood.

[Rukie]

I would recommend trying blood first, the only thing i dont like about the spec is when ppl aggro shit during heroics while DnD, and both taunts are on cooldown. This almost never happens and no one ever really dies as a result, but it is definitely an annoyance. I also think that the rotations for blood are more simple, you dont have to watch for procs at all. The hysteria factor is also nice, being able to assist dps is a nice little addition.

[mhp]

While blood is dead simple, for a starting tank, frost's snap threat is superior to blood's simplicity, in my opinion.

[Muttz]

Well come Cata, Blood will be our definative tanking tree. However until then (when no doubt talents will be moved / changed etc), I've toyed with Frost & Blood.

For the time being, I've stuck with 2H Frost (12/51/8). I've also played DW frost as well (excellent aggro!), but preferred the 2Hander due to the weapon I use & the extra Stamina it gave me. As has been said on here, I just love the SNAP! that Howling blast gives you.

Either way Blood or Frost Tanking has its own advantages and you shouldnt have too much trouble.
If you check out Elitistjerks site you'll find a few specs there listed (with glyphs / Rotations etc).

[Deleted]

This is the spec I use. I tank in blood. A lot of people say it's tricky to tank heroics with, but I like it for every situation...

Hm. No. This. Better.

If you check out Elitistjerks site you'll find a few specs there listed (with glyphs / Rotations etc).

OP: Use whatever you want until you get to ToTC 25/ICC 10/25. There its either DW Frost or Blood, ToGC and ICC HC is only Blood.

[Sharpopiev2]

I tank in blood. I've tanked both ICC 10 and 25 with my blood spec and it is awesome. I prefer the self-healing abilities that blood gives you. The spec is a slight variation of one that I found I think at Deathknightbuilds.com

Hope this helps ya!

http://www.wowarmory.com/character-t...gderan&group=2

[Deleted]

Imp. Blood Presence is worthless.

GoD? No. Not since IT's Threat Modifier.

[Apostolic]

Blood and Frost are viable to at least 7/12 HM-ICC25

[Apostolic]

Cause the ultimate tanks are unholy.

/Sigh I only speak from my experiences. Hence why I stated 7/12 HM. Obviously Blood can tank 12/12 and I believe there are a few Frost that have also tanked 12/12. Not sure on that though. Since exactly 402 tanks have killed LK on Hard Mode.

But with the 25% buff, yeah I think Unholy COULD tank any encounter in the game.

EDIT: Also, you have very little, to any, language comprehension. I added the modifier of "AT LEAST" in there. Not "UP TO".

[Deleted]

Yeah......................

No. Blood is the only viable HM Build with Frost being viable up until ToGC 25/ICC 25 and Unholy being viable up until end Heroics and an overgeared ToTC 10 run. Unholy Tanking on LK Heroic? Hahaha. I'd like to see a Tank that can survive that in Unholy, it's impossible.

[Deleted]

I will agree blood is the superior specc. That's because of two things:
1. A better CD. 25% armor? Lol. 15% hp and 35% more healing? Yay. Seriously.

2. Flexibility. You have 4-6 blood runes every rotation (2-4 being death runes) allowing you, as you use one HS after another, spend some of those runes on anything else: VB, rune tap (i seriously don't understand why people aren't picking it, it saved me several times and there's hardly anything better to pick), icy touch a suddendly appearing add, pestilence or blood boil several times. You're doing your normal rotation and suddendly you're in danger? Oh, np, 6 blood runes, Vampiric Blood. As frost for example, if you already used both your obliterates, you might need to use blood tap.


Also, i was wondering why unholy is no longer cool. I haven't bothered trying it, but bone shield is ok-ish, i'd say it's still better than UA, and unholy basically gets another defensive CD. Most people don't realise, but if you pick a perma-ghoul, you can have it up all fight and sacc if in danger. You can't always do that as a blood or frost tank, as you need to be able to predict the damage, and you can't just pop the ghoul that much before it, because without the talented 90% AoE avoidance, for example Festergut's gas will eat it in a couple seconds. So yeah, why unholy is THAT bad?

[Sharpopiev2]

I think the only reason unholy is "bad" to tank icc runs is that there are very few good cds you can to save yourself. Granted Bone Shield does reduce damage from all sources by 20%, but its only for three hits and its a 1 min cd I believe. Also Blood has talents that increase stamina and strength combined with help from self-healing, Frost has some fairly good armor increasing talents with damage mitigation thrown in there. Unholy really isn't a bad tanking spec, its just more difficult since you really have none of those.

Now yes you can have your perma-ghoul out there then sac him for health, but thats like a rune tap and you can talent into having it only a 30 second cd and gives 100% more health. The pet sac is only 40% of pet health and cannot crit (I think thats right, please tell me if i'm not). But when you look at all three trees, I see Unholy purely as a damage tree, Frost as dual wield damage or tank, and blood as the best spec for tanking imo.

I have gotten into debates with my guildies on how they believe frost should be the tank spec. Their belief that the extra armor and slight chance to not be hit by melee attacks outweighs the self-healing and extra stamina that blood provides. Personally, I prefer self-healing which is why I took 2 points into Imp. Blood Presence. Some people think its not worth it, I took it for the extra help.

Hope this helps ya

[mhp]

I beg to differ with frost not being viable for ICC25 HM. It sure as hell is. Apart from the wing end bosses, there aren't many that punish a tank so much as to mandate VB + WoTN (which is what makes blood superior). I can think of Festergut, but.. that stopped being hard around 15% buff.

With 25%, and even less skilled guilds on 11/12 HC, tanking 11/12 as frost is entirely viable.

I know I tanked about six as DW frost, around the time of ~10%, and had no issues at all on neither Marrowgar, nor LDW, nor Gunship (lol). Saurfang I didn't manage to kill on 25HC, because marked people kept dropping: we tanks were alive and well. Same goes for Fester & Rotface. Valithria - I can't imagine it being punishing on tanks so much so to make frost not viable. Princes aren't hard on the tank (at least, the role I was assigned to: tanking Keleseth - which is a breeze).

Prof, BQL & Sindy might pose a problem, but frost resist gear, and frosts' longer IBF should make it just fine for Sindy (been there, tried it, the other tank kept dying, I lived) - haven't tried the other two as far as I remember, not as tank anyway, so can't comment on that.

But saying frost is not viable in ICC25 HM is very far from the truth, sorry. Especially now when we're at 25%. At this point, even unholy could tank half of it.

As for the problem being with UH: The other two trees are quite ok even without their tree-specific CD. When VB or UbA is on CD, the tank still has talents that improve his survival (VotW, WotN, self healing for Blood, Damage reduction and 3% miss for frost). When Bone Shield is on CD, unholy is naked: it doesn't have anything to help survival at that point.